is a broadcast and
Cable Television network first broadcast on
August 31 ,
1998 under the name '''PAX TV''' (early on in its development, it was called PaxNet). The network is owned by
ION Media Networks (formerly Paxson Communications), in which
NBC Universal had a 32% share, up until
2004 .
Programming was initially family-oriented and contained little or no
Sex , overt
Violence , or
Strong Language .
The network changed its name from to '''i: Independent Television''' on
July 1, 2005 , and then to '''ION Television''' on
January 29 ,
2007 .
,
1998 to
July 1 ,
2005 .]]
Named PAX TV in 1998 by
Lowell 'Bud' Paxson , co-founder of the
Home Shopping Network and chairman of Paxson Communications, the network can be seen as a semi-descendant of
InTV , launched in
1996 ; a shared-time specialty broadcast network service similar to cable channel
Product Information Network , broadcasting infomercials and other paid advertisements on various affiliates, most being UHF channels. The network also aired religious programming at night from
The Worship Network during the late night hours and contemporary Christian television network
Praise TV Friday and Saturday nights from 12:00-3:00AM ET/PT.
Paxson, a
Born-again Christian since
1985 , was exhausted with the amount of sex, violence, and profanity on network television and decided to create a network which would carry only programming devoid of such content. About all of InTV's affiliate stations ended up affiliating with PAX. PAX's initial schedule was much larger in scope than it is today and consisted of general entertainment programs from 12:00PM-12:00AM ET/PT weekdays and paid programming from 12:00-1:00AM and 5:00AM-12:00PM ET/PT and all afternoon Saturdays and Sundays. PAX continued on with the airing of programming from Worship from InTV.
Initial programming on the network consisted of new shows, such as '''' and ''
Doc '', which have since been cancelled.
The network's wholesome family-friendly format was lampooned by other television series such as ''
The Simpsons '', ''
Will & Grace '', and ''
MADtv ''.
Unlike most TV networks in the
United States such as
ABC ,
CBS ,
FOX , or
NBC , the network also has national feeds that are part of basic
DBS and cable packages, in addition to having its affiliates carried by cable systems (
PBS is the only other network to have a
National Feed ). ION programming consists of some original programming, reruns of various TV shows and movies, and paid religious and commercial programming. The network is currently in somewhat of a gap between the
Big Five and smaller networks.
As of
2006 , the network was viewable in approximately 91 million homes, "or 83% of primetime television households in the U.S. through
broadcast television station group and pursuant to distribution arrangements with cable and satellite distribution systems." [http://www.ionmedia.tv/about/ The network has 94 VHF and UHF-owned-and-operated or affiliate stations in the U.S., although these stations are mainly poorly watched UHF stations, and not all of the stations air the network's complete nightly transmission. Some local stations used to rebroadcast that market's NBC affiliate's newscasts at a later time, but have since discontinued that practice.
ION is not considered by many to be on par with the six existing major national broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, CW, MyNetworkTV). ION has no over-the-air stations in several major markets, most notably
Charlotte ,
Cincinnati ,
Pittsburgh , and
St. Louis (the last city received the network only by way of a low-power repeater of a station in
Mount Vernon, Illinois , which has subsequently changed affiliations).
In addition, in several other markets, ION's predecessor lost its affiliate station and no other station in those markets have replaced them. They include:
- affiliate WBUI )
- )
- )
- affiliate KTFQ )
- )
- affiliate KKYK )
- (now CW affiliate)
- affiliate WAHU-CA )
- (now CW affiliate)
Finally, local affiliate programming is not available on DirecTV. Although the local station in some markets (e.g.
WPXN or
KPXN ) is listed in the on-screen program guide, this is only a simulcast of the national feed.
In several markets, the station's
City Of License is considered outside the main portion of a market's metropolitan area, like
Minneapolis-St. Paul , where that area's affiliate station transmits from
St. Cloud , fifty miles north, and
Milwaukee , where the affiliate is licensed from
Kenosha , with their analog transmitter south of Milwaukee in
Racine County (although their digital transmitter is located in the traditional Milwaukee tower cluster on the north side of the city). In
Cleveland , ION airs on the former ABC affiliate in
Akron (
WVPX ), which had formerly targeted their audience away from Cleveland.
Typically, the network's television shows average only 1% of the viewing audience, which is considerably lower than any other (major) broadcast network. To compare, the "
Big 3 " networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) frequently garner 5-7% of the viewing audience (Nielsen Ratings, Season average, 9/2006-8/2007).
,
2005 to
January 29 ,
2007 .]]
On
June 28 ,
2005 , Paxson announced it would rebrand PAX as ''i'', in order to reflect a new strategy of "providing an independent broadcast platform for producers and syndicators who desire to reach a national audience." After the transition was complete, PAX TV would continue to air programming under its PAX brand on one of its digital channels over the air and in select cable homes (''see
Below ''). Some media observers jocularly postulated that ''i'' was code for "
Infomercial ."
During the transition period, the PAX and ''i'' logos were both placed on-screen: the former in the bottom-left corner, and the latter in the bottom-right corner.
With this rebranding also came the following changes to the programming lineup:
- ''i'' dropped overnight programming from The Worship Network , which had been airing late nights on the network since its launch in August 1998 . The time period is now leased to infomercials. Worship programming moved to a digital subchannel on local ''i'' affiliates.
- In many markets starting in the Fall of 2002, ''i'' had aired editions of local newscasts from local NBC affiliate stations. This was discontinued from some ''i'' station lineups on June 30 , 2005. The change also displaced local news on WVPX in the Cleveland market, which was aimed at the station's former target area of Akron, Ohio . The newscast was produced by NBC affiliate WKYC in Cleveland, and moved to Time Warner Cable 's systems in Akron and Canton, Ohio .
- Also dropped was "Tomorrow's Weather Tonight", a five-minute segment featuring current weather and forecasts from WeatherVision which had aired on the channel since 2000.
ION Television, unlike other broadcast networks, does not necessarily allow its owned and operated stations to air
Syndicated Programming during the daytime and late night hours. Syndicated programming accounts for a majority of local network affiliate and independent stations revenue.
Network programming (on stations that have a network affiliation) and infomercials make up the rest. Since paid programming makes up most of ION's schedule, the "pro" is that it is the main source of revenue. However, this is also a "con" since ION relies more on infomercials rather than sitcoms and dramas; sponsors of
Television Series often have qualms about their message being lost on stations whose primary content is infomercials and other paid programming. During the 2005-2006 season, ION (as ''i'') launched only one new series, ''
Palmetto Pointe '', a teen drama series which only lasted six episodes, and in 2006-
2007 , the network went entirely to a lineup of reruns (except for iHealth/ION Life specials). However, beginning in July 2007, this will change, as ION inked a deal with RHI Entertainment, who is producing new series for ION.
As a result, there are a small number of stations that have taken dual affiliation with both ION and another smaller network, usually either
America One or
MyNetworkTV .
The fact that ION airs more infomercials than they do series programming is the main reason why some satellite operators dropped ION affiliates from their channel lineups.
ION is the only broadcast network that has never filled its entire primetime schedule with originally produced programming and replaced series that have ended with newer programming, opting to air past series instead.
Also, ION, along with the newly-launched
MyNetworkTV , are the only broadcast networks never to air a
Sitcom produced for the network.
In 2003, the predecessor Pax network scaled back its operations, presumably due to financial losses. It was originally offering five or six new series each season. That year the number of new series airing on Pax dwindled to just two: '''' and ''
Doc '', which were pulled in 2004 because Pax's international backer,
CTV , pulled out of producing the shows. The organization seemingly recovered a year later when seven TV series made it to Pax's 2004-05 schedule.
In the Spring of 2005, it was reported that Pax intended to break its contract with
NBC Universal , which eliminated most of their entertainment programming, and rely on
Infomercial s, talk shows, and other paid programming to help increase cash flow. However, the network issued a press release on
May 25 ,
2005 , in which Paxson Communications chairman
Lowell "Bud" Paxson was quoted as saying:
In November of 2005,
NBC Universal was granted a transferrable option to purchase a controlling stake in Paxson Communications. If this option is exercised, NBC would acquire approximately 63 ''i'' affiliates. As part of the agreement, Lowell Paxson left the network (and its parent company).
According to a statement on its website ,
DirecTV planned to terminate its agreement with the ''i'' network in February of 2006 and would drop ''i'' as well as its local channels from the DBS service. DirecTV cited that "most of (''i ''Network's) programming consists of infomercials and other promotional shows", despite an earlier promise by network executives that the network "would consist of general, family-oriented entertainment". To appease DirecTV officials, the network decided to junk some
Infomercials and shopping shows and replace them with old
Public Domain programming and cancelled PAX originals (''see
Below ''). The channels were expected to be removed from the service by
February 28 2006 . However, in
May 2006 , it was announced that DirecTV and ION Media had come to a new carriage agreement.
In early 2006, it was announced that the ''i'' affiliates in
Memphis, Tennessee (
WPXX-TV ),
Rapid City, South Dakota (
KKRA-LP ) and
Greenville, North Carolina (
WEPX , as well as
WPXU-TV in
Jacksonville, North Carolina ) would add programming from
MyNetworkTV in
September 2006 , thus causing programming airing on ''i'' to be unavailable on these stations while MNTV is broadcasting. This blow came after losing some affiliates in New Mexico, New York, and Illinois completely (although the New York station,
WWBI-LP in
Plattsburgh , subsequently rejoined ''i'' after a sale that resulted in the affiliation change fell through). In April of 2006, it was reported ''i'' owes more than US $250,000,000 to creditors
{Link without Title} .
In 2006, ''i'' struck several major content deals (''see details
Below '') in hopes of assuring its long-term future.
Days after the network changed to ''ION Television'', a small California-based entertainment group named Positive Ions, Inc. sued ION Media Networks, claiming that the network stole the "ION" branding.
Positive Ions has registered trademarks on the word "Ion" and has used the mark commercially since 1999. On May 14, 2007, they filed for an injunction that, if granted, would require ION Media Networks to change its name once again.[http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070516/20070516005435.html Federal Judge to Decide Whether ION Television Can Continue as ION , ''Yahoo!'',
May 16 ,
2007
See Also: List of programs broadcast by ION Television
Despite being a 24-hour-a-day broadcast network, ION presently operates on a 35-hour network programming schedule, which it adopted in January 2006. It provides 35 hours of
Prime Time general entertainment programming to affiliated stations from 6-11pm everyday (all times ET/PT). Other programming will also be provided 12am-1am weeknights, 6-8pm Saturdays and 7-10am and 11pm-12am Sundays (religious programming) and 3-6pm Fridays (a three-hour Friday afternoon animation block under the name
Qubo ) (see
Below ), with infomercials and other paid programming making up the remainder of the schedule.
Comedies are in ; dramas are in '''
green'''; movies and other programming are in '''
purple'''.
All times are Eastern/Pacific time zones. Some programming is not shown in all areas.
The ION Television schedule is subject to frequent change. ''Mama's Family'' and ''Diagnosis Murder'' (the lone carryover from the Pax days) have been, since the network revamped, the only permanent fixtures in ION's schedule. The other programs are frequently rotated in and out of the schedule. Shows recently aired on ION but not currently in the schedule include ''
Amen '', ''
Alice '', and ''
Moral Court ''. Please see
List Of Programs Broadcast By ION Television .
As PAX, ION aired a four-hour children's programming block called ''PAX Kids'', which featured mostly religious children's programming. The lineup lasted only a year and a half, presumably due to low ratings (The last animated show that got axed was Archie's Weird Mysteries) . What was unusual about the lineup is that although it was a weekend-only lineup like ABC, CBS and NBC, it was spread over two days, Saturday and Sunday (
CBS does allow some of its affiliates to air its children's programming on Sundays, however only one or two programs are usually aired on Sundays and not all affiliates do this).
Until UPN ceased network children's programming in
2003 with the loss of that network's ''
Disney's One Too '' lineup, ION (as PAX) was the only one of the eight broadcast networks (along with various religious networks) not to have a children's programming block.
In
May 2006 , ION (as ''i'') announced plans to launch a new children's block on Saturday mornings starting in
September 2006 as part of the qubo endeavor (''see
Below ''), teaming ION Media Networks with NBC Universal,
Scholastic Press ,
Corus Entertainment 's
Nelvana and
Classic Media and its
Mike Young unit. qubo includes blocks airing on ''i'',
NBC and
Telemundo (NBC Universal's Spanish-language network) along with a 24/7 digital broadcast kids channel, video-on-demand services and a branded website. On ION along with
PBS , is the only broadcast networks that has a children's program lineup airing on weekday afternoons (NBC moved children's programming to weekends-only in 1956, other networks didn't follow until the 1980s and '90s and The WB was the last to move its childrens programming to weekends only) as it airs Fridays from 3:00 to 6:00PM Eastern Time.
The qubo lineup on ION features the same programming as the NBC qubo lineup. On Friday,
September 15 ,
2006 ''i'' started airing the qubo programs, ''
Jakers! The Adventures Of Piggley Winks ''; ''
Dragon ''; ''
3-2-1 Penguins! '', ''
Babar ''; ''
Jane And The Dragon ''; and ''
Jacob Two-Two ''.
Currently, ION airs ''
BodogFight '', a
Mixed Martial Arts series. The program debuted in 2006 with a casting call special; the current run, which premiered on
February 13 ,
2007 , features matches taped in
St. Petersburg, Russia . The show is paid for by the online casino
Bodog .
{Link without Title}
Previous network sports event telecasts included
Conference USA College Football games (produced by
College Sports Television ), the now defunct
Women's United Soccer Association ,
Real Pro Wrestling (which more resembles the amateur form than the theatrically-based ring sport), the
Champions Tour of golf, and the
Paralympic Games .
Some ION O&Os broadcast local and regional professional sports on their stations; an example of this is the
Tampa Bay Devil Rays '
Baseball games on local affiliate
WXPX . However, since they have no backup programming of their own and an almost-total reliance on ION's satellite feed, sports on these stations often causes ION's programming to be joined in progress, and, on occasion, even be interrupted mid-program for a scheduled sporting event.
Separate national feeds have been made available to DirecTV,
Time Warner Cable ,
Comcast , and non-O&O stations, featuring programming from
ION Life in place of paid programming that airs on the main network.
Prior to the launch of ION Life, the ION Plus feeds carried reruns of cancelled PAX original programs (
Miracle Pets ,
Beat The Clock ), as well as movies and
Sitcom episodes (
I Married Joan ,
The Beverly Hillbillies ).
The feeds used the PAX name and
Bug long after PAX had changed its name to ''i'', until about September 2005.
On its O&O affiliates, ION has made notable use of "multiplexing," or splitting a digital TV channel into separate subchannels. On these subchannels, it has carried/will carry several digital channels.
See Also: qubo
On
May 8 ,
2006 , ION Media Networks, NBC Universal,
Corus Entertainment's Nelvana ,
Scholastic Books , and
Classic Media and its
Big Idea Productions unit announced plans to launch qubo, a new children's entertainment endeavor spread across all medium platforms, including
Video-on-demand on
Digital Cable {Link without Title} . The new project features new and library programming from the partners, each one producing a new series a year.
The primary goal for qubo is to "champion literacy and values in the children's television category"
qubo made its debut on , 2007 [http://www.qubo.com/qubo247.asp ; programming on the digital channel features a daily repeating 4-hour block of shows, all featuring programming exclusive to the new channel. As a consequence to this, the ''i'' secondary feed was replaced on ''i'' O&Os with a repeating promo loop in late September 2006.
See Also: ION Life
On
May 31 ,
2006 , ION Media Networks announced plans to rollout a "24-hour digital broadcast network dedicated exclusively to consumer healthcare and healthy living." The network finally launched on
February 19 ,
2007 as
ION Life . ION has been airing samples of ION Life programming on Friday evenings.
See Also: The Worship Network
The Worship Network was originally founded in
1992 to "create an atmosphere in the home to inspire and encourage a quiet time to worship God." When PAX launched in
1998 , The Worship Network provided overnight programming. The next year, PAX and The Worship Network struck a deal in which the network would be carried on a digital subchannel of PAX 24 hours a day.
Today, The Worship Network continues to be carried on digital subchannels of ION O&Os and in some cases, is used as an alternative to the main ION network feed. It is also seen around the world through its 250 broadcast affiliates.
{Link without Title}
In
2006 , ION Media Networks reached several programming deals. Two were with major programming suppliers announced within a week of each other. Another would bring original programming to the ''i'' network, among other things.
On ,
2006 , ION announced a similar deal with
Sony Pictures Television , giving them broadcast rights to movies and programming owned by Sony.
{Link without Title} Starting in September, programs and feature-length movies from both libraries were phased into the primetime schedule.
On ,
2007 The agreement also makes way for the US broadcast premieres of at least six RHI productions each year.
{Link without Title}
ION also struck deals with
CBS Paramount Television and
NBC Universal for library content.
{Link without Title}
