Diginets suddenly airing fewer movies?

[dtv_junkie87]

Have you noticed that over the past year and a half that the digital subchannel networks have drastically reduced the amount of movie hours, or have just eliminated movies from their schedule altogether? It just makes me cringe to look at a schedule two weeks into the future just to see either several hours of movies replaced with either more shows or just repeating a schedule for the West Coast.

Examples:

- Weigel's MOVIES! will start showing actor documentaries (and you thought AMC veering into TV show territory was bad...)
- Sony's getTV has been airing extremely rare variety and western shows
- MGM eliminated movies on Saturday nights on This TV and added wrestling one weeknight on Comet TV
- Katz eliminated Disney movies from Bounce TV, reduced the meager film offerings on Escape, increased the number of TV shows on Grit, and basically slashed the amount of movies on LAFF just for more "Night Court".
- ION adding season binges to Sunday afternoons
- Decades not always playing a daily feature film as often as they used to

And now, the two networks that killed off showing movies entirely:

- COZI TV
- Antenna TV

That being said, do you think there should be another digital subchannel that (excepting the required 3 hours of E/I programming) should ONLY show movies, and movies ONLY?

Also, who should step to the plate to start such a new diginet? I think ABC Owned Television Stations should; having that Live Well Network loop nothing but cheap old DIY programs on only 8 stations seems like a waste to me. Such a relaunch could mimic NBC Owned Television Stations replacing Nonstop with COZI.

Or better yet, if ABCOTS should replace Live Well, it would be really cool if they could adapt the 80s/90s Disney Channel formula (play nothing but classic family movies and shows 24/7; seeking E/I content in that case should be no problem)!

Okay, maybe the Classic Disney idea is a little bit "out there". But seriously, can over-the-air TV support another diginet that only plays movies? I'm not bashing TV show reruns at all (I honestly love Me, Antenna, COZI, Buzzr, etc. I really do!); I just think it would be really nice to have a true movie channel for free.

Thoughts? (Please be nice; this is my first contribution to SatelliteGuys!)

dtv_junkie87

 

[primestar31]

So, how much programming do you think exists in the world since it all started, and how much of that can they get the rights to for airing? Sometimes rights holders won't allow things to be aired during certain time periods. Then there's all the various money angles. The cheaper stuff is to get the more profit they make that they can keep from ads.

There's so many "networks" now, and so little product that people haven't seen multiple times, that the same stuff gets aired over and over ad-nauseum.

I think just wait a little bit, and your movies will come back without yet another network being created.

Iceberg will be around soon to explain it better than I can, lol

 

[osu1991]

I don't know, I watch movies all the time on GetTv. I think they do a pretty good job of showing a variety of things from the Sony library.

The variety shows are just 3 hrs a week repeated for west coast that same night and again later Thursday or Friday. I like seeing many of those as most of them haven't been shown in decades.

Westerns are mainly on the weekends. Usually I find the old war movies or detective movies on during the week. I recorded all the Boston Blackie movies last month. I also got the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movies and a few Rita Haworth movies recently.

Now Grit Bounce and Laff are in a heavy repeat rotation on movies and have moved to a lot of series too. This TV seems to have actually started showing a greater variety of different movies lately. I've recently recorded a few oldies on ThisTv, that I haven't seen in a while


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk

 

[Trip]

The problem with movies is that viewers have a hard time with them. If you sit down to watch something (not something specific) and you get to a movie that's half over, will you stick around? I suspect most people will not, and you've lost that viewer for a while since movies are so much longer than TV shows. I suspect that's why there are fewer and fewer movies, but can't say for sure.

- Trip

 

[Mr Tony]

That being said, do you think there should be another digital subchannel that (excepting the required 3 hours of E/I programming) should ONLY show movies, and movies ONLY?

no.
(note I am not a movie person. I dont have the patience to see a 2 hour movie)

- MGM eliminated movies on Saturday nights on This TV and added wrestling one weeknight on Comet TV

Sinclair actually owns Comet. They also own Ring of Honor Wrestling. That is why ROH is on Comet for one hour a week...for the markets that have Comet but not a Sinclair station (Sinclair owned stations show ROH weekly)

basically slashed the amount of movies on LAFF just for more "Night Court".

as a Night Court fan nothing wrong with that (wish I could get Laff)

As for some of the stations (Get. Grit, Movies!) it seems like they show the same movies over and over. That is why I always chuckled when people would complain that Sinclair would pre-empt a movie on GetTV for sports. My response was "well I'm sure it will be on again in a day or so"

Heck even the so called "premium" movie channels don't show movies 24/7. HBO has Sesame Street for goodness sakes!

 

[Mr Tony]

- Decades not always playing a daily feature film as often as they used to

They do have films weekdays

 

[FaT Air]

Film - a word destined for obscurity.

as for some of the stations (Get. Grit, Movies!) it seems like they show the same movies over and over.

So do HBO, TMC, Sho and the rest of 'em. Reason I got rid of 'em, followed by (but not soon enough IMHO) ridding of cable all together.
OTA is costly enough. The 'cost' is sittin through all those inane commercials.
Movies - a contraction of MOVING and PICTURES. Pretty sure it'l be replaced by HD Videos.
I Like a good movie now and then but would rather hear reviews by people I personally know, so I don't need 'first run', so I can wait for 'other means' to watch. For the last year only about 60% are favorable with an even smaller percentage, almost minuscule, as must see. And I think I've only seen about 30% (1 or 2) of that 'must see'. I've got better, more interesting, things to do.

 

[danristheman]

Westerns are on metv and cozi on Saturday my mom enjoys watching them. The romance movies are on Saturday on movies but I agree wis they showed more movies.

 

[waylew]

Film - a word destined for obscurity.

Can add "tape" to that too.
The lack of film is part of the reason I don't have a job anymore.Quoting the,former,boss from an interview he once did,"I don't need a projectionist anymore".

 

[Mary Lou Maloney]

The problem with movies is that viewers have a hard time with them. If you sit down to watch something (not something specific) and you get to a movie that's half over, will you stick around? I suspect most people will not, and you've lost that viewer for a while since movies are so much longer than TV shows. I suspect that's why there are fewer and fewer movies, but can't say for sure.

- Trip

That is true with me. A film has to be really good for me to look at the film until the end.

 

[andy_horton]

I personally like the made for TV movies. Columbo comes to mind

 

[ejb1980]

I am very much not a movie person, but I can get roped into one sometimes. There is a very small chance of me getting roped into a blurry, bandwidth starved, SD subchannel...

 

[N5XZS]

Wish the movies were shown uncut ota just like in Europe, it's too bad the FCC likes to censor good quality made in USA R rated moves.

 

[FaT Air]

The 'rules' were drawn up before a VCR and most TV went off the air around midnight. I think that

Wish the movies were shown uncut ota just like in Europe, it's too bad the FCC likes to censor good quality made in USA R rated moves.

could be accommodated in the early AM, while the youngins are asleep, for DVRing.

 

[andy_horton]

I've noticed THIS TV has been showing more titles lately. Turned one on at 2am this morning I hadn't seen. Of course, at 3 I had to turn on McCloud on METV

 

[Mr Tony]

I've noticed THIS TV has been showing more titles lately.

noticed that too

 

[jegrant]

I like the idea of a classic Disney channel, and I think it would be plenty popular, especially if they revived some version of the "TGIF" lineup on Friday nights, with the old family-friendly ABC shows. And with all the relatively adult/older skewing themes of many diginets (crime, justice, violence in many forms) it seems like a family-targeted diginet (meant for younger families/kids to watch together) would be a good addition.