Buzzr Discussion

[gsfan85]

Did Double Dare and Beat the Clock also start from the beginning?

[jimlangefan]

This was discussed and explained over at Golden-Road earlier today. The reason for the short loops is because of the costs of digitizing the tapes, and Buzzr needs to see more of a profit in order to get more episodes digitized and hence on the air.

If the cost of digitzing tapes is the issue(not saying it isn't true mind you), then for some shows what is preventing new episodes?  Card Sharks & Match Game are currently airing on GSN and Sale was just taken off last year.  Those shows should already be digitized ready for Buzzr to air them, if possible.

[jage]

If I were them, which I'm not, and if budgets are tight for digitizing, I'd focus on 4-6 hours max of programming per day and then repeat it. At least there you'd have a few hours of steady new content each day. Plus once you're several weeks in, you can play the first weeks of shows in a different time slot while trudging ahead with new shows. It's an interesting challenge. For a sitcom, you have maybe 100-200 shows and you're done. No complaints about rerun abuse there because there's only so many shows to rerun.

[clemon79]

Those shows should already be digitized ready for Buzzr to air them, if possible.

Why would GSN let Buzzr use those tapes?

[jjman920]

If the cost of digitzing tapes is the issue(not saying it isn't true mind you), then for some shows what is preventing new episodes?  Card Sharks & Match Game are currently airing on GSN and Sale was just taken off last year.  Those shows should already be digitized ready for Buzzr to air them, if possible.

My thinking here is one of two things (or both I suppose):
1. GSN owns the tapes. Yes, it is not their content, but since they/Sony most likely paid for the cost of transferring the originals to Digibeta, or whatever the current format is, the copies belong to them. The copies just don't go into a public "if you want them, you can use them" area. They hold on to them and when they want to air them, they must pay Fremantle to do so.

2. GSN uses a different format than Fremantle. Meaning that Fremantle would perhaps have to start conversion almost practically from scratch. That takes time and money that clearly Fremantle isn't willing to invest in this upstart.

I think this is a case of people being spoiled. Compared to Buzzr, Decades has had quite the contrasting startup. I don't know what kind of ad revenue they're pulling in, but CBS did a pretty good job of recruiting (I'm not sure how many more O&Os CBS has compared to FOX), and having content ready to go. It's quite the undertaking to produce a new program looking back on history for five days every week with presumably no breaks at all. And they still have more episodes to produce after their first year, since they don't do weekends. They had a pretty good start and continue to do so.

I know there are probably a few differing logistics between the start up of Buzzr and the startup of Decades, but if one giant television conglomerate can get a somewhat niche subchannel up and running, why can't another?

[snowpeck]

My thinking is we're not going to see any major changes in Buzzr's programming until they get at least one or two more of the major station groups on board. Right now they only have the Fox O&Os and an eclectic bunch of smaller stations, mostly owned by mom and pop operations. And almost six months in to the channel's life, that isn't a good number. Part of the reason is how crowded the subchannel marketplace is getting. You have to wonder how much more growth it can withstand.

[Thunder]

If I'm a independent station owner, do I pay Buzzr to run their channel on my .4 subchannel? Do they pay me? Is it bartered where I pay nothing and I get X number of minutes for my local commercials every hour?

[Marc412]

Did Double Dare and Beat the Clock also start from the beginning?

Yes.

[Sodboy13]

The "we have to digitize our own copies" issue is one I never would have considered. That said, I watched Family Feud tonight, and in addition to the video seeming second-generation in quality, the intro really felt like it had been given the GSN speed-up treatment.

[thomas_meighan]

My understanding is that the G-T masters were transferred to (what was then) a modern format at TV City around 1994, and that one of the copies made for each program went to Goodson (or whatever the parent company was then -- All-American?)
http://www.j-shea.com/TVCity/History.html
http://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/preservation-research/television-videotape-preservation-study/los-angeles-public-hearing/

But it may be that these transfers no longer meet Fremantle's wants/needs. In my non-professional opinion, recent transfers of Norelco PC-70-era TPIR (for the DVD set and for the clips on Winc.'s channel), just to name one example, look much clearer and more pleasing than what GSN ran from around the same time. Other material from the Fremantle library may benefit similarly.

[clemon79]

If I'm a independent station owner, do I pay Buzzr to run their channel on my .4 subchannel? Do they pay me? Is it bartered where I pay nothing and I get X number of minutes for my local commercials every hour?

Probably depends, but I would imagine it's a barter deal in the majority of cases.

[snowpeck]

If I'm a independent station owner, do I pay Buzzr to run their channel on my .4 subchannel? Do they pay me? Is it bartered where I pay nothing and I get X number of minutes for my local commercials every hour?

Probably depends, but I would imagine it's a barter deal in the majority of cases.

Some of the more prominent subchannels do revenue sharing deals and allow stations to sell some of the commercial time. Others flat out lease the space from the stations and all the stations do is pass through the signal and insert a station ID once an hour. The smaller ones tend to follow the latter method.

[TimK2003]

My thinking is we're not going to see any major changes in Buzzr's programming until they get at least one or two more of the major station groups on board. Right now they only have the Fox O&Os and an eclectic bunch of smaller stations, mostly owned by mom and pop operations. And almost six months in to the channel's life, that isn't a good number. Part of the reason is how crowded the subchannel marketplace is getting. You have to wonder how much more growth it can withstand.

The other factor is that the FCC is working on reducing the number of UHF digital channels again on the TV spectrum to make room for more cellular/smartphone broadcast spectrum, or something like that.  Meaning that empty channel spaces will be harder to come by and those existing digital channels will only keep or switch to the most popular sub-channel networks.  Weaker diginets will have no place to roost in a few years, so Buzzr needs to start spending some money to get on these diginets now and provide enough of a product that will keep them on those sub-channels once the TV spectrum is reduced again.

[clemon79]

Weaker diginets will have no place to roost in a few years

Do not concur.

[BrandonFG]

The other factor is that the FCC is working on reducing the number of UHF digital channels again on the TV spectrum to make room for more cellular/smartphone broadcast spectrum, or something like that.  Meaning that empty channel spaces will be harder to come by and those existing digital channels will only keep or switch to the most popular sub-channel networks.  Weaker diginets will have no place to roost in a few years, so Buzzr needs to start spending some money to get on these diginets now and provide enough of a product that will keep them on those sub-channels once the TV spectrum is reduced again.

With Roku, AppleTV, and Fire sticks becoming the next big thing, I wouldn't be surprised if at least one channel tries out an app with classic programming. Something along the lines of Warner Archive or Crackle, which is Sony.