BUZZR's Ron Garfield & The State of His Channel

[TimK2003]

BUZZR's GM Ron Garfield recently (3/12) posted a live FB video discussing the latest happenings, which sound positive.  Among the topics he touched on:

•  Converting and adding around 1,000 new-to-Buzzer episodes of the game show classics within the next few months (a.k.a. "Speeding up the one-inch tape to digital conversion processes??).

•  Adding several new affiliates to the BUZZR network in the near future (no markets mentioned).

•  Maintaining and expanding the BUZZR name on Amazon Prime, Twitch, and other media platforms (No mention of Nosey, which still has the same 1-2 dozen episodes of shows since last June).

•  Starting a live viewer interactive game to coincide with episodes of Card Sharks later this month.

So pretty much, it might be the same old same old aspirations, but it wasn't too long ago that some of us were questioning the health and viability of the network as a diginet in the future.   This should calm some of those fears, as it does sound encouraging that they are in the middle of converting a thousand old tapes instead of a few dozen or hundred.

BTW, the 7-minute video can be found on BUZZR's Facebook page.

[Sodboy13]

The optimist in me is excited at the prospect of new-to-Buzzr content.

The realist in me is okay with casually watching the existing content and just wishes there was a bit more variety to it.

The pessimist in me thinks its probably a lot easier and speedier to "convert" Harvey Feud and American Idol.

[clemon79]

•  Maintaining and expanding the BUZZR name on Amazon Prime, Twitch, and other media platforms (No mention of Nosey

Just hazarding a guess, but when you have a significant relationship with major services like Amazon Prime and Twitch, you probably don't really give much of a fark about Nosey anymore.

[TLEberle]

Nosey is a noun and not an adjective?

[clemon79]

Nosey is a noun and not an adjective?

It is the name of an obscure streaming service that was carrying Buzzr programming before the real services got on board.

And the fact that you did not know that is absolutely no indictment on you, but certainly more evidence as to why Buzzr isn't especially concerned with investing in that relationship.

[TLEberle]

It is the name of an obscure streaming service that was carrying Buzzr programming before the real services got on board.

And the fact that you did not know that is absolutely no indictment on you, but certainly more evidence as to why Buzzr isn't especially concerned with investing in that relationship.

To that point, Double Dare starring Alex Trebek has become a Saturday night tradition as viewing either before or after an Oilers game on HNIC.

On Amazon Prime.

So there's that.

[MSTieScott]

•  Converting and adding around 1,000 new-to-Buzzer episodes of the game show classics within the next few months (a.k.a. "Speeding up the one-inch tape to digital conversion processes??).

If the video quality is going to look as fuzzy as Trivia Trap and the most recent batch of Dawson Feud, then I'd rather they take their time.

On the other hand, while I wasn't carefully analyzing the picture on last night's episode of the Card Sharks game show host tournament, that didn't strike me as low-res. I hope this means Buzzr identified the problem and corrected it.

[BrandonFG]

The optimist in me hopes my market is one of the unmentioned.

/Should check out the Amazon Prime channel
//My Prime account is really underused with the streaming services

[aaron sica]

The optimist in me hopes my market is one of the unmentioned.

If I see a press release that mentions Hearst, Howard Stirk Holdings, Sinclair, Nexstar, or Tribune, then I'll be excited.

[BrandonFG]

The optimist in me hopes my market is one of the unmentioned.

If I see a press release that mentions Hearst, Howard Stirk Holdings, Sinclair, Nexstar, or Tribune, then I'll be excited.

I've lost track of who even owns what around here anymore. I think it's Nexstar, Tegna, and Sinclair, so I'll be on the lookout for at least one of those three.

[WarioBarker]

BTW, the 7-minute video can be found on BUZZR's Facebook page.

Here's a direct link (hopefully it works), as it'll undoubtedly get pushed down over time:

https://facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1980169308866521&id=1594990200717769

Sounds like "Lost and Found" will be back again this year, which is cool since Fremantle's still got a ton of pilots that haven't been aired yet (and with Temptation on the schedule now it'd be a good opportunity to show the 2006 pilots).

[Chief-O]

The optimist in me hopes my market is one of the unmentioned.

If I see a press release that mentions Hearst, Howard Stirk Holdings, Sinclair, Nexstar, or Tribune, then I'll be excited.

I've lost track of who even owns what around here anymore. I think it's Nexstar, Tegna, and Sinclair, so I'll be on the lookout for at least one of those three.

NE Wisconsin's locals are owned by Gray, Nexstar, Sinclair, and Scripps. Note there's 2 groups that we all have in common here.....and if either of them are involved, Buzzr's going to get quite the shot in the arm.

[Blanquepage]

He mentioned and showed an example of the one-inch tapes, but I thought the entire G-T library was already converted to Digital Betacam many years ago?
 

[snowpeck]

He mentioned and showed an example of the one-inch tapes, but I thought the entire G-T library was already converted to Digital Betacam many years ago?

That was done for GSN though, does Fremantle not have access to those now? And even if they did, they'd have to be digitized to hard disk storage in real time just like the 2" and 1" tapes.

[gamed121683]

He mentioned and showed an example of the one-inch tapes, but I thought the entire G-T library was already converted to Digital Betacam many years ago?
 

Back in the '90s, the entire G/T library was converted to the Betacam format over at CBS Televsion City. Two copies of each episode were made: One for GSN, the other for Fremantle. Therefore, the previous poster is correct in saying that they still have to be digitized to a hard disk storage.

Source: http://www.j-shea.com/TVCity/History.html

The example Mr. Garfield showed was an episode of "Supermarket Sweep": A show that Fremantle only acquired...what, 5 months ago now? Conversions take time.