After carrying the free movie digital sub-channel, ThisTV, KVLY in the Fargo-Moorhead area has switched its digital sub channel of choice. It has substituted another property owned by Weigel Broadcasting , MeTV. The “Me” in this case stands for “Memorable Entertainment.’ The station primarily carries old TV shows.
Both Nick at Nite and TVLand have long abandoned TV shows form the sixties and seventies, and this is where digital sub channels like MeTV have stepped in. When Congress passed the law requiring digital transmission of all broadcast TV signals, this gave TV stations a number of opportunities. One of those opportunities is the ability to carry more than one program stream on a channel. So, in the case of KVLY, channel 11, the main NBC network affiliation is carried on 11.1. There are some networks that have sprung up, primarily to serve these digital sub channels.
This TV and MeTV are both owned by Weigel Broadcasting. As mentioned before, ThisTV is primarily a free broadcast movie channel. It has a rather idiosyncratic programming philosophy that is motivated by what the station can get rights to. Movies enter into a rotations schedule and you might see a certain movie several times over the course of a month.
ThisTV was carried on Fargo station KVLY for about two years. They switched over to MeTV on December 31st, 2012.
MeTV has a schedule of about 50 TV shows that is shows on weekly basis. The content ranges from sitcoms like The Bob Newhart Show and Bewitched to action and adventure shows like The Wild, Wild West and Mission: Impossible.
It also carries horror film host Svengoolie on weekends.
They also carry some shows on its website, like, The Loretta Young Show.
KVLY does seem to be promoting MeTV more than it had ThisTV. Two years ago, ThisTV was launched with little fanfare on KVLY, when it got it first got its digital sub channel. KVLY rolled out the change to MeTV with a one-hour infomercial that featured Family Affair cast member Kathy Garver and The Rifleman’s Johnny Crawford.
The station also runs identifiers mentioning KVLY and MeTV together. They also run identifiers portraying Valley News Live. MeTV might be an easier sell in this marketplace than the odd movie schedule that was run on This TV. Hopefully the future might contain room for both Weigel properties in the future. MeTV is also available via satellite and on local cable outlets.
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