Two Atlanta-based free over-the-air broadcast channels launch on Monday, August 18, one targeting women called Escape and one targeting men dubbed Grit.
Escape will be available locally on 34.4 (WUVG), a Univision-owned channel. Grit has not found a home yet in Atlanta.
"We're actively involved in conversations with several local stations and their corporate groups and expect that Grit will be carried in Atlanta soon," said a spokesman for Atlanta-based Katz Broadcasting, which owns and operates the stations.
Grit will launch in 50 markets Monday, including those in Columbus and Augusta. Escape, with the slogan "slip away," will start in 35 markets. The two channels will cover about half the country.
Grit, with the liner "television with backbone," will debut with Gary Cooper's "High Noon" at noon Monday while Escape will open with Kathleen Turner's "Body Heat" at the same time.
"Kathleen Turner contemporized the femme fatale in 'Body Heat' and her steamy performance is the consummate way to seductively introduce viewers to Escape, which will feature daring and sexy stories of crime, justice and mystery," said Jonathan Katz, president and CEO of Katz Broadcasting.
Like most start-up networks, both stations will rely heavily on older films. Don't expect any original programming in the near future.
Some of Escape's early offerings include the Nicole Kidman thriller "Malice," co-starring Alec Baldwin; Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter teaming to track down a serial killer in "Copycat"; Sharon Stone in "Sliver" and the psychological thriller "Final Analysis" starring Kim Basinger and Richard Gere.
Escape’s prime time line-up also features true crime series such as "Snapped," which debuted on Oxygen in 2004; "Unsolved Mysteries," which has aired over the years on different networks; and "Forensic Files," which originally aired new episodes on TLC and then Court TV and HLN from 1996 to 2011.
Katz said he looked at holes in the over-the-air digital channel marketplace and found no channels going after gender-specific audiences.
Research showed there are 32 million female Americans and 27 million male Americans who do not get cable or satellite TV and only have access to broadcast channels.
He said based on Katz's internal research, women love drama with a taste of sex, peril and mystery, subjects which "help women break free from their daily lives."
The men, after sports, prefer drama as well. Research found a big group who enjoyed war, Western and action films such as "Eraser," "Top Gun," "Silverado" and "The Outlaw." Their iconic heroes? John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.
And with fewer people paying for cable and satellite, Katz sees an opening in the land of the free. "As more people look for alternatives to cable, the broadcast spectrum grows in value," Katz said.
He and Ryan Glover, former Turner Entertainment executives, launched majority black-owned over-the-air digital channel Bounce TV in 2011, which has been an unqualified success, bringing in enough adult black viewers to rank ninth, ahead of Centric and TV One. That network has already started investing in original programs including sitcom "Family Time" and stand-up comedy show "Off the Chain." It's available on WATL's subchannel.
When television in 2009 converted to a fully digital mode, it opened up space on the broadcast dial for new digital subchannels. WSB-TV's subchannel, for instance, is called ME-TV and runs old series such as "Adam 12," "M*A*S*H," and "Gilligan's Island." On WATL-TV's third subchannel, Antenna TV plays repeats of "All in the Family," "Green Acres" and "Good Times," to name a few.
The local TV stations are responsible for getting the channels on cable carriers such as Comcast. (DirecTV and Dish cannot carry subchannels.)
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