Is it programming?
Is it time slots?
Is it their promotion?
Is it the credit crunch?

Or is it the fact it antenna tv hasn’t been around as long as Me TV? What would it take for antenna tv to see the success as Me TV?

Personally I love both Stations. Like anything Me TV & antenna tv both have their pros & cons.

What would you like to see Me TV & antenna tv improve on? What do you enjoy about both stations?

Please keep an open mind.

I have both.

MeTV just has better marketing. They have an online store, and they market, market, market. *If* they can get a celebrity from one of their classic shows (cough Carol Burnett cough), they do their best. It shows that they are head over heels into classic TV. They aren’t limited to just sitcoms either.

MeTV also retains the closing credits, for classic TV geeks like me.

MeTV also has joined the 21st Century (for better or worse), by re-fitting for 16:9. Seeing as I still use analog TV for the most part for viewing, it *can* be a handicap.

MeTV’s owner, Weigel, has branched out considerably: they own Story TV, Decades, MeTV+, StartTV (oh well), etc. Weigel knows how to use TV subchannels.

As to AntennaTV, apparently they have a much harder time procuring “new classic TV” shows. One can only watch Hazel, Dennis, Dad Knows Best etc. so much. They *did* score quite the coup 7 years ago this month, grabbing Johnny Carson. Unfortunately the Carson shows with musical guests are quite limited—licensing rights and all that. Even when Johnny is bombing and he goes into the tap dance, the original “Tea for Two” is dubbed over! I remember when Buddy Rich was a guest, but no music played; all I remember was him arguing with the band. All in all, it’s great to have Carson, for those who never saw him and can see what late night USED to be!

Also—I don’t think that all shows on Antenna are digitized.

As to MeTV improving, what I’d like to see mainly are:

CHANGES 7-8 pm & 10-11 pm EST (even a Weigel CEO admits he cannot watch Hogan anymore, in so many words). With MeTV getting the Warner cartoon library, I’d like to see MORE cartoons, maybe one hour more on Saturday mornings.

cd

(my notes are about digital broadcast not cable)
MeTV (MeTv+, Decades) has better classic shows on the whole
Antenna's classics are confined to mornings and late night
MeTV has HD 720p in my market
MeTV shows the complete opening and closing and theme for every show without interruption and shrinkage (otherwise great H&I also loses points on their shrunken end titles lately)
MeTV mostly uses better fresher digital masters
Antenna is not in HD (401i) or in the right aspect ratio (I have to change it from the norm to avoid stretching or squeezing) in my market
MeTV has more clever and playful bumpers and marketing (reminds me of old Nick at Nite)
Antenna plays a lot of 80s shows that haven't aged as well as 50s-70s (for me anyway)
Antenna's best shows are Bewitched, Jeannie and other Screen Gems that should play in prime time (or on MeTV channels)

MeTV just has better and more diverse programming. Even the better Antenna offerings - like the Dick York Bewitcheds and That Girl - sort of get lost amid their more bland programming.

I also like both MeTV's and Antenna TV's programs. MeTV's promotions are way better, they are innovative, and my perception of Antenna TV is that they are "schlock." Their ads are gutter ads, so what did they do several years ago? They cut the credits to squeeze in 30 seconds more of them. They also follow the TV Land practice of inserting their breaks anywhere but where the program logically breaks. Their affiliate (at least here) doesn't sync their clock so the local breaks always cut off dialog, but no one cares. Like some podunk local station would do. So MeTV is more 'big time."

When Antenna TV was part of Tribune they were in a struggling media company. Now I think Nexstar probably just has them on auto-pilot and hardly even knows they exist. Their results are probably on page 789 of a report, and the big boys at corporate don't even read that far in.

They *did* score quite the coup 7 years ago this month, grabbing Johnny Carson. Unfortunately the Carson shows with musical guests are quite limited—licensing rights and all that. Even when Johnny is bombing and he goes into the tap dance, the original “Tea for Two” is dubbed over! I remember when Buddy Rich was a guest, but no music played; all I remember was him arguing with the band. All in all, it’s great to have Carson, for those who never saw him and can see what late night USED to be!



Yes, Carson was a coup, but that music is a problem. Not their fault, licensing all the performances would be prohibitive. But we'll never see Stump the Band, for fear someone jackal out there would make some kind of claim. Have someone put their silly lyrics to music that was obscure but under copyright--they couldn't chance it. Someone had to clear "Tea for Two" or blanket-clear via some service Stump the Band for the original broadcast, but alas, they never thought to clear it for a 2023 syndicated airing.

I agree, it was a great score for Antenna TV, even as it is.

Yes that’s true—no Stump the Band. AND, one thing that I HATED on Carson was “The Edge of Wetness,” where normal folk are picked out by camera and are told by “the narrator” that he/she is the town drunk, the town pervert, et al. But I guess that stays, unless the background organ music is copyrighted too….

At least we have Carnac! He never had to sing….

Back to the topic at hand….

cd

Carnac, Aunt Blabby, and the Teatime Movie segment and other Mighty Carson Art Players bits.

Meanwhile, yes, back on topic--I haven't done a count, but with their ratings, MeTV also probably has a higher affiliate count. Not to mention their national feed for areas that have no affiliate.
The local affiliate affiliate here, WTHR, dropped NBC SN for MeTV several years ago.

I did read somewhere, MeTV went from 4:3 SD to 16:9 HD a few years back, due to advertisers' ads in 16:9. Most affiliates can't do the HD, since many are on digital subchannels, which lack the bandwidth for HD. I'm quite happy that the TIWM cartoons are 4:3 aspect ratio, undoubtedly since they are rebroadcast on MeTV+.

IMO- Antenna TV focuses primarily on sitcoms- prefer it over METV
METV is ok- but has other type of shows, and way to top heavy with Westerns.


METV: Launched nationally: 12/10/2010
Number of Affiliates: 555
Population Covered: 291,645,283
Percent of Total: 93.34%


ANTENNA TV: Launched: 1/1/2011
Number of Affiliates: 479
Population Covered: 280,974,457
Percent of Total: 89.92%

(Also there are more affiliates that feature METV as there main channel and not on a sub channel compared to Antenna TV)

I am surprised that there are still people who rely on and watch the retro channels for classic TV shows.

For several reasons, I've stopped watching the retro channels and since I have DVD's of most of my favorite shows, I watch those for classic TV entertainment.

The last time I relied on one of the retro channels for anything was in 2017/18 when I was recording episodes of The Joey Bishop Show from Antenna TV.

For me it's laziness. If I'm doing other stuff, I'll just have Beaver or Father Knows Best (for example) on TV, rather than bothering to load up the DVD.

But if you're just going to view the program, the DVD versions are far superior, most often unedited, and of course without those annoying ads.

The video quality and Svengoolie, They make a lot of money off of Svengoolie. If they keep doubling down on The beverly Hillbillies they are on the road to nowhee.. They really need to start working shows like Early Edition into the line-up

What I like about MeTV and the Weigel channels is that most of their half hour programs without commercials run 23 minutes while most hour long dramas run 46 without commercials. When a 25 to 26 minute program is compressed, about a minute is gone and so there is approximately 1:00 to maybe 1:45 of content missing from an episode. Antenna TV time compresses the already edited for syndication episodes of their programs and they come out to 21:00 approx. (I timed a Three’sCompany episode including the credit crunch. Plus what everyone else has pointed out, the quality is better, the episodes have been reformatted to 16:9, etc. I do like Antenna TV too, (and Rewind which is just a more updated version of Antenna TV).

Antena TV runs basically every program you can get for free on the Roku. With endless commercials and horrendous video quality. They make their money off of the endless commercials they run.

MeTV has good video but depends on Svengoolie. They put the Beverly Hillbillies at the 9 spot. Prime-Time - uh.....n I don't think they will ever move MASh.

While it's great to have DVDs blurays and streaming options to access specific shows and episodes, I also value the experience of random broadcast TV surfing as I often catch things I never would have thought to watch by choice. There are lots of surprises and episodes forgotten and things to learn beyond the preplanned expectations. I feel it broadens my horizons - though within the era/genre/tone of programs I find comforting (why I like MeTV, MeTv+, Decades, H&I, Antenna, Movies!, Story, Cozi, etc.).

For me it's laziness. If I'm doing other stuff, I'll just have Beaver or Father Knows Best (for example) on TV, rather than bothering to load up the DVD.

But if you're just going to view the program, the DVD versions are far superior, most often unedited, and of course without those annoying ads.

Edited episodes is one reason why I don't watch the retro channels, another reason is because none of them seem to have a full screen picture anymore, it's all been reconverted to that widescreen 16:9 garbage.

I agree that classic TV DVD's are superior, the picture is full screen and most of the shows in my collection have unedited episodes. One show that has a problem with edited episodes is Gomer Pyle USMC, several episodes are edited because of music. The Gomer Pyle DVD's are probably the worst ones in my collection because of all the edits. Barnaby Jones is another one, those DVD's have mostly edited episodes on them.

Me TV’s
Pros
A Very Merry Me TV
The Summer Of Me
Programming itself
Nice Variety
Promos
Online Quizes & Games

Me TV’s
Cons
The Scheduling
LateNights/overnights


antenna tv’s
Pros
Monday’s-Saturday’s 5:00AM-4:00pm Programming & Sunday Mornings
Marathons/Stunts like Classic Christmas Collection and etc.


antenna TV’s
Cons
All the 80’s and 90’s Programming on During Evenings/Primetime/latenight/overnights.

Taking away the Saturday NITE Fun of the 50’s & 60’s

Promos


Me TV I would like to see them improve on changing out programming & Returnning programming more thru the year.


For both Me TV & antenna tv I would love to see them add more comfort programming of the 50’s & 60’s to there lateNights 11pm-thru the night. Kinda giving you that NICK at NITE Feeling.

Also on antenna tv I would like to see them have promos from the 50’s & 60’s remember Better Living Through Television (50’s & 60’s back stock & Adventures/The Milkman).


Reguarding what they can do to help improving Me TV keep doing what you’re doing because it’s working. Maybe add some Retromercials.

antenna tv you have a lot of potential just put someone in charge who loves Classic TV programming from the 50’s & 60’s and remembering what life was like in the 50’s & 60’s to create fun promos and Fun Marathon Stunts

The day I go out and buy Dvd's of programs will be the day I stick my head in the oven. I am not spending money to see a show on tv for free. So there is a few edits. If I had never seen the show, how would I know what was edited out. Also I can do other things than watch tv.

Honestly I prefer Decades over MeTV and Antenna TV. Although I watch all 3. MeTV aspect ratio is somewhere between 4x3 and 16x9. Same with Decades TV. Not sure why. The only programming on MeTV that's 4x3 are the cartoons shown on Toon in with Me.

I often will follow channels' schedules and actually watch the show/episode on a streaming service. Less intrusive commercials. Credits intact. And more of a change to see unedited content.

Also MeTV has original programming that doesn't detract from the classic TV format.

DVD's are not that expensive but for those who don't want to buy them that is their choice.

I think DVD's are well worth the price of investment, I have a library of favorite old shows that I can watch anytime I like without commercial interruption. Just pop a disc in the player, sit back, relax and enjoy. :)

24/7,

Got to agree with you! I’m also watching more Decades than antenna tv & Me TV as of late.

Honestly I prefer Decades over MeTV and Antenna TV. Although I watch all 3. MeTV aspect ratio is somewhere between 4x3 and 16x9. Same with Decades TV. Not sure why. The only programming on MeTV that's 4x3 are the cartoons shown on Toon in with Me.

I often will follow channels' schedules and actually watch the show/episode on a streaming service. Less intrusive commercials. Credits intact. And more of a change to see unedited content.

Also MeTV has original programming that doesn't detract from the classic TV format.

I think some cable boxes manipulate the MeTV signal to some variation of 16:9--I know Comcast's newer boxes do, and you end up with a nearly-full screen with reduced-size black bars on the side. I also have an old pre-HD Comcast DTA box, and it totally hoses the 16:9 signal by blowing the aspect ratio way up. But the 4:3 cartoons look just fine.

MeTV has been around for 18 years since 2005, and Antenna TV for 12 years since 2011. MeTV has always been pretty clever with the marketing of their channel and the shows they run. There was also that MeTOO channel but that one doesn't exist anymore. ThisTV was also an offshoot of MeTV. I don't know about all of the shows, but when MeTV was new, some shows were aired unedited and there were fewer commercials. But this only lasted for a few years and eventually the shows were edited and the commercial time increased.

What makes MeTV unique these days are the cartoons they run in the mornings, and Svengoolie on the weekends. Johnny Carson is unique to Antenna TV.

24/7,

Got to agree with you! I’m also watching more Decades than antenna tv & Me TV as of late.

I’m in one of the many markets (Miami) where Decades bowed out to StartTV. Some deal between Weigel and the CBS O&O’s like WFOR here, I believe.

Decades began with a very ambitious game plan. “Through the Decades” was their Weigel-produced anchor program.

I have seen that even after Decades left here about 6 years ago, the 9-to-5 lineup really has changed VERY little. It isn’t like Weigel is outta programs to run.

That being said, having the entire one-hour Carol Burnett Show would be quite the view for me. I never cared for Carol singing, but getting musical guests (somehow footing the licensing bill) must be nice.

I would LOVE to watch the overnight “smart” sitcoms. Decades is on in nearby West Palm Beach, but it’s on a low power station that even my outdoor antenna cannot get. So.

cd

Cd,

You should try to get Frndly TV it has Me TV & Decades one time payment for 1 year and your set for a year. Or 6.99 a month.


It would be nice if the Decades Schedule 9AM-6pm shows was the Decades Schedule from 9pm-6AM. It would be NICK at NITE. Just minus the promos & Special Marathon Stunts.

Cd,

You should try to get Frndly TV it has Me TV & Decades one time payment for 1 year and your set for a year. Or 6.99 a month.


It would be nice if the Decades Schedule 9AM-6pm shows was the Decades Schedule from 9pm-6AM. It would be NICK at NITE. Just minus the promos & Special Marathon Stunts.

No thanks. I haven’t paid for TV AFAIK since I dropped cable in October 1993! I know that streaming is the thing now…. But I also wanna record stuff to my TV to save it.

I just saw that the Binge this weekend is “Family.” I thought they wanna ATTRACT eyeballs! For me, “Family” would be a cure for insomnia….

cd

I think you can record episodes off of Frndly.


I understand. Just wanted to throw the suggestion. So that way you can enjoy Decades. I do understand and respect on what you’re saying.

Decades is on in nearby West Palm Beach, but it’s on a low power station that even my outdoor antenna cannot get. So. cd

I think that's a problem in many places. I know it's here, too, but nobody can get it.