Sinclair said TBD, one of its digital over-the-air multicast networks, will add the comedy series Key & Peele, Punk’d and Whose Line Is It Anyway? to its lineup in the fall.

Key & Peele, which originally appeared on Comedy Central, will air nightly from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET

Punk’d, which ran for nine seasons on MTV, will air from 11 p.m. to midnight.

The CW series Whose Line Is It Anyway? will air from 7 p.m. to 10 pm.

TBD previously announced it will be airing The Laugh LIst, a new series from Vin Di Bona Productions.

The new series join shows including Wipeout, Fear Factor and World's Dumbest on the TBD schedule.

“These iconic network comedies have consistently captivated the younger audience TBD attracts,” said Adam Ware, senior VP, Growth Networks Group at Sinclair. “By continually investing in successful, proven programming, TBD stands out as the clear contemporary alternative to other multicast entertainment networks.”

In the first six months of the year, TBD has registered an 11% increase in prime time in prime time, 18% in prime access and 17% in daytime, according to Sinclair citing Nielsen. 

Sinclair Broadcast Group’s collection of over-the-air multicast networks — Comet, Charge! and TBD — has acquired new programming to take advantage of their beefed-up distribution and viewership gains ahead of the upfront advertising market.

TBD will be adding The Laugh List, an exclusive original series from Vin Di Bona Productions, creator of America’s Funniest Home Videos, in the fall

Charge! will add Law & Order: Criminal Intent to its lineup of procedural dramas in October.

And Grimm will join the sci-fi and fantasy-filled lineup at Comet. That network will be holding its first virtual Comet Fest June 16-18, saluting Star Trek. Comet Fest will lead into the launch of Grimm in June.

All three networks are scheduled to launch on YouTube TV on June 1.

“The networks are on a roll as viewers continue to leave cable TV networks in search of new entertainment options such as free over-the-air multicast networks and streaming,” said Adam Ware, senior VP of Sinclair’s growth networks group.

At a time when some digital broadcast networks are seeing decline, the Sinclair networks — marketed as The Stack — are up 21% among viewers 25-54 in primetime this year through April. That should appeal to ad buyers looking for ways to replace the reach of cable with familiar programming.

Ware told Broadcasting+Cable that TBD, originally designed to show short bits of social-media type programming, has moved up to longer-form funny unscripted series including Wipeout, Fear Factor and World’s Dumbest.

In February, TBD ordered a test of an original series from Vin DiBona Productions. Sinclair tested the show in several markets to see how it would perform and then ordered 50 half-hour episodes of The Laugh List.

“It looks like America’s Funniest Home Videos without an audience,” Ware said. “They have a formula and it really works. They celery know how to produce this kind of content.”

Comet has found a fandom niche with a primetime block featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer and X-Files. “If Buffy and X-Files had a baby, it would be Grimm,” Ware said. Grimm was a Friday-night hit for NBC, running from 2011 to 2017 and peaking with 8 million viewers.

Grimm will be introduced to Comet with Comet Fest, which in its inaugural year will celebrate Star Trek from June 16 to 18. Comet will air the first four Star Trek films — Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home — and The Captain’s Closeup, a series featuring William Shatner interviewing Sir Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew and Scott Bakula. All of that will lead into a preview of Grimm on June 18, a Sunday night. The series will debut in its primetime timeslot on June 19.

Comet Fest will also feature a cosplay contest and giveaways.

Grimm will also run in the afternoons, and possibly in late night. “We’re really high on it,“ Ware said. “I think Buffy, X-Files and Grimm are a really powerful package and I think fans will dig it.”

Charge! has established itself with procedurals with CSI: New York and CSI: Miami in prime time, Ware said. Law & Order: Criminal Intent should be a good fit on Charge! “It’s a very distinct show,“ Ware said. “I just like Vincent D’Onofrio. I think that positions us quite nicely against other networks that are declining with series that are appealing to a similar audience.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group said its free, over-the-air multicast networks Comet, Charge! and TBD have made deals that will add 2.4 million TV households to their distribution footprint by the end of the second quarter.

The added distribution reflects new broadcast affiliation agreements with Nexstar Media Group, Gray Television and Entravision in markets including San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego and Hartford/New Haven.

The networks are also adding distribution on cable. 

“These affiliate additions are a continuation of the distribution and ratings momentum that began in 2022, as we moved into new DMAs or upgraded coverage within the networks’ existing local broadcast affiliate footprints. As viewers continue to watch less cable TV, we’re excited Comet, Charge! and TBD will be available to an additional 2.4 million viewers across the country,” Adam Ware, senior VP, Growth Networks Group, said.

Also: With Ratings Surging, Sinclair Eyes Adding New Digital Net

Charge! Is being carried on KRON San Francisco; WWAX Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut; WVLT Knoxville, Tennesee; KVSN Colorado Springs, Colorado; and KEUS San Angelo, Texas.

Comet is being carried on KGHB-TV in Colorado Springs.

TBD is being picked up by KPHO Phoenix; KBNT San Diego; and KZBO Lubbock-Midland, Texas. ■

Big viewing gains at Sinclair Broadcast Group's digital multicast networks have the company looking to expand its portfolio, adding another network as soon as next year.

In the third quarter, Sinclair's Charge jumped 32% in total day among 35-to-64-year-olds and TBD was up 27%, the two biggest gains among digital multicast networks, according to Nielsen. Sinclair's third network, Comet, was up 9%, making it No. 5. TBD and Charge each registered gains of more than 30% in prime. Comet posted a 31% increase in access.

"Digital broadcast television is on the rise as new viewers continue to discover a broad range of free over-the-air digital TV networks," Adam Ware, senior VP of Sinclair's Growth Networks Group, said.

The gains came as the networks added distribution and improved their programming slate, adding popular series like CSI: Miami and Buffy the Vampire Slayer to their schedules.

Ware told Broadcasting+Cable that instead of hoarding shows for streaming, studios are now more interested in selling to third-party networks like Charge and Comet.

"There's a lot of options out there for shows and there's not a lot of places where we can put those shows. Maybe we need to launch a fourth network," he said.

Ware wasn't kidding. "We've been looking pretty hard at 2023. That would be a good time to roll out another one," Ware said.

Ware notes that some studios are considering launching their own channels, both over-the-air digital and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST), but said they're better off working with an established operator like Sinclair. 

"We have the market size and the station footprint to be able to launch new networks," he said. And that's not even including the added bandwidth coming as ATSC 3.0 NextGen broadcasting ramps up. 

"We're bullish on 3.0 and a big component of 3.0 is the ability to add more channels," Ware said.

The new programming brought Buffy the Vampire Slayer to sci-fi oriented Comet, CSI: New York to Charge, which has shifted its focus from action shows to police procedurals; and World's Dumbest for TBD, which airs a lot of quick-bite, internet video-style programming.

Sinclair also secured additional distribution for the networks and upgraded carriage on lower-numbered digital channels on stronger stations. For example, Charge moved to Nexstar owned WFLA-TV in Tampa on digital channel 8.2.

More than 13 million new households came online in June and another 2 million are expected to join by the end of the year.

Sinclair has also been adding carriage of its growth networks as FAST channels, giving them a multi-platform profile.

"The TV component is where the growth is," Ware said. "FAST is a complementary addition and something you need to have, but by no means is a driver of your business."

Viewers who have cut the cord or bought a stripped-down pay TV package are going to broadcast to find some of the sports, news and entertainment programming they’re looking for on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates.

"They scan and all of a sudden they start discovering stuff on digital broadcast networks and the quality of those networks have only improved," Ware said.

Sinclair stations and other affiliates have also stepped up their marketing. Ware said the networks didn't reserve ad time for promos until this year. Sinclair's strategy was to promote primetime. Primetime ratings rose, but other dayparts showed significant gains as well. Viewers were spending more time on the networks and coming back more frequently.

On Halloween, Comet will mark its seventh anniversary with a special Buffy watch party on Twitch. The series' acclaimed musical episode will be featured and James Marsters, who played Spike on the series, will join Buffy influencers on the stream.

Ware said that in test runs of Buffy watch parties 15% of the 18- to 34-year-old audience Comet normally gets came to the watch party on Twitch.

More programming is on the way to the Sinclair networks. 

Comet will be adding Stargate SG-1, which had been the channel's most-viewed show when it launched as a joint venture with MGM, on January 16. Comet will also be airing episodes of The X-Files in daytime. Ware said there is less than 5% duplication between Comet's primetime and daytime audiences.

Other programming that will be coming online on Comet includes the Friday the 13th series, Tales From the Darkside and some Godzilla movies.

Charge will be getting Without a Trace and Elementary in March. More shows from the CSI franchise might also be finding their way to Charge.

Also: Sinclair Makes Deal with Producer Anthony Zuiker for Original Content

Digital broadcast is becoming more attractive to advertisers than FAST at this point, Ware said. For media buyers, "these are networks they're used to and they have shows they know and they can bet on," he said. "These are known commodities to them and that’s a much safer way for them to get their impressions than to start spreading their money out among streaming services."

Also: Upfront 2022: Sinclair Seeks 20% of Cable Budgets For Its Over the Air Channels

Digital broadcast now accounts for about 6% of viewing but collects only about 1% of total ad dollars, Ware said, which means the segment has a big opportunity to increase its revenues.

In the last upfront, the Sinclair growth networks saw increases in dollars committed and the number of advertisers buying in. New advertisers came from the pharmaceutical category, telcos and retailers.

"Advertisers are following viewers," Ware said. "That bodes quite well for this space." ■

Now that digital over-the-air networks have proved to be a real business, just making them available in a market isn’t good enough.

Sinclair Broadcast Group said its digital broadcast networks — Comet, Charge! and TBD — will reach an additional 14 million homes by September through a series of upgrades and new affiliations in top 50 markets.

In addition to the larger number of households available, the deals make it more likely that viewers will find and actually watch the channels, Adam Ware, senior VP, Growth Networks Group at Sinclair, told Broadcasting+Cable.

Also: Upfront 2022: Sinclair Seeks 20% of Cable Budgets For Its Over-the-Air Channels

With the continuing wave of cord-cutting and the growing adoption of antennas, over-the-air networks are attracting additional viewers and ad dollars. In addition to Sinclair, big players in the OTA network market include E.W. Scripps, Tegna and Weigel Broadcasting. 

Networks like Court TV and MeTV ride on the secondary digital channels of TV stations.

“We did a real analysis to see, how do you grow these networks? What’s the next step?“ Ware said. ”And it goes back to the early days of broadcast. You need to be where the viewers are and fish where the fish are.”

In some cases, that means moving the network to a stronger station in the market, such as in Atlanta, where Comet moved from The CW affiliate WUPA on channel 69 to powerhouse WSB on channel 2. 

If a station’s main feed is on channel 7, an over-the-air viewer will find it on channel 7.1. Multicast channels will be on 7.2, 7.3 and so on. Ware said that to attract channel surfers, it’s advantageous to be on a lower number, closer to ABC or NBC programming. 

These upgrades have to be achieved on a market-by-market basis, using the same tools Ware used when he was signing up affiliates in the early days of Fox and UPN (later combined with The WB to become The CW).

Digital broadcast networks usually pay stations for carriage. The better the station, the more the network pays. Ware said Sinclair is trying to provide benefits to stations other than payment that will boost the value of the station’s spectrum, such as better programming and customized promotions. But he said that writing a check helps maintain a good network-affiliate relationship, unlike the big broadcast networks, which once paid their affiliates but now engage in reverse compensation, with the affiliates paying programming fees to the networks. Most affiliates aren’t happy with that arrangement.

In Portland and Providence, Charge! moved to stations owned by Sinclair. In both markets, the network has the dot-two channel position.

In Las Vegas, Comet moved to Sinclair’s KSNV-TV.

Any money the networks save by being on an “owned” station is offset by the revenue the station is losing from the network the Sinclair channel is displacing. 

Similarly, after Scripps bought Ion, it began to move its networks to Ion stations as existing distribution deals expire, in part to cut costs.

In some markets, getting on the right stations also means added distribution on cable. For example, in Boston, Comet moved from WSBK, a MyNetwork affiliate with no cable carriage for secondary channels, to Fox affiliate WFXT, which has full-market cable carriage.

In markets where no over-the-air signal is available, some of the networks are carried by virtual stations on cable, such as in New York, where Charge! is carried on channel 148 by Altice USA. 

Charge is also being carried nationally on Dish Network in homes with internet-connected set-top boxes, and on Dish’s Sling TV streaming TV service.

TBD moved to CW affiliates owned by the CBS station group in Atlanta and Boston, and launched in Indianapolis on Nexstar Media Group’s CBS affiliate WTTV. 

Also: ‘Planet of the Apes’ Marathon Brings Record Viewing to Sinclair’s Comet

Sinclair has also been upgrading the programming on the networks, adding Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Comet, CSI: New York to Charge and World’s Dumbest to TBD. Buffy drew 543,000 total viewers in its premiere, boosting the time period by 100%. CSI: NY opened with 348,000 total viewers, a 38% time period improvement. World’s Dumbest averaged 28,0000 viewers, increasing the time period by 4%.

“These dots allow these stations in many ways to be quite relevant in a cord-cutting world, beyond just their primary channel,” Ware said.

Meanwhile, Ware is in pursuit of more hot programming for Comet, Charge! and TBD.

”These are meaningful shows that we’re targeting and they’re available,” Ware said. ■

Sinclair Broadcast Group wants advertisers to move 20% of their cable ad budgets into its free over-the-air digital networks to capture cord-cutters.

In addition to its slew of TV stations, Sinclair owns Comet, Charge and TBD, collectively branded as The Stack. In its upfront pitch, Sinclair is informing buyers that those cord-cutters leaving cable aren’t just moving to streaming channels; they’re also buying antennas to watch familiar shows — soon to include Buffy the Vampire Slayer — for free on its diginets.

Adam Ware, VP of growth networks and content at Sinclair, told Broadcasting+Cable that ratings in the cable universe are down 28% since 2015, while OTA ratings are up 90%. 

More remarkably in primetime among viewers 25-54, just 18 out of 139 channels measured by Nielsen were up last year and five of those were OTA digital multicast channels, including the three channels that make up Sinclair’s Stack. Excluding sports, news and Hispanic channels, six are up, including the three Stack channels and two other multicast networks, Ware said.

The Stack as a whole was up 32%. Comet, the sci-fi channel, jumped 50%; TBA, which offers internet-type content, grew 40%; and Charge!, focusing on action stars, was up 6%. 

Sinclair is telling media buyers that if you move $1 out of every $5 now being spent on comparably sized cable networks to The Stack, campaign reach goes up 21% and duplication of viewers is only 3%. 

Advertisers looking to maximize reach should buy all three networks in the Stack because only 6% of the audience watches all three, and just 16% watch two.

"The media buyers are all dealing with the same issue with cable ratings going down,“ Ware said. ”They often think viewers are going to FASTs and we’re saying, yeah, but they’re also going to OTA. These channels can easily fit into any buy. They have content buyers have purchased before, so it’s trusted. There’s no content risk here.”

Some media buyers are already looking at digital broadcast seriously. “We’ve been actively buying OTA nets for several years in the upfront,” David Campanelli, executive VP and chief investment officer for Horizon Media, said. “We consider those networks as comparable to most tier-2 or tier-3 cable networks.”

Like other emerging networks, particularly those on multicast, Comet, Charge and TBD have been supported mostly by direct-response ads. Ware said Comet sold some general market advertising in last year’s upfront and this year, he’s aiming to have 20% of the three networks' ad revenue come from general-market advertisers.

Some advertisers have already taken the plunge, sponsoring programming stunts, like Comet’s recent Planet of the Apes marathon, which was sponsored by Claritin. Other sponsors of special programming on The Stack include Walgreens, Little Caesars and GEICO.

Sinclair is investing in additional acquired programming for The Stack, including Buffy, which will come to Comet with a 10-hour marathon on Sunday, June 5, before settling into its regular timeslots at 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, said Ware, who earlier in his career launched Buffy on UPN after the show moved from The WB network. 

Buffy will follow Farscape in the Comet lineup and will lead into The X-Files.

Ware said that multicast’s profile has been raised by growing ratings and by the E.W. Scripps purchase of Ion Media. Scripps is using Ion’s stations to broadcast multicast channels including Bounce, Grit and Court TV.

“They brought clarity to the market and started to unlock this space,” said Ware. Too often, media buyers are surprised by the number of viewers over-the-air digital networks attract or unaware that diginets, OTA and free TV are all the same thing.

Ad sales for Sinclair’s digital networks are handled exclusively by T Media Sales, which also represents Fremantle’s Buzzr, NBC's Cozi and LX, Gray Television’s Circle and other channels. T Media has specialized in direct response but has been beefing up its general market capabilities, hiring former Turner sales exec Joe Dugan as president last year. 

T Media has already made about 40 presentations to advertisers and buyers, Ware said, with another 30 to 40 scheduled over the next two weeks.

If they don’t remember the presentation, media buyers might remember the Stack Pack swag bag assembled by Ware. It all comes in a  laptop sleeve Ware found in a store in Los Angeles. Inside is a new model over-the-air antenna with cord snaps. For Charge, there’s a device charger. For Comet, there are Buffy, Farscape and X-Files collectible trading cards. And there's a red stress ball that should remind buyers of the obstacle course on Wipeout, which airs on TBD. 

They also get Knight Rider T-shirts. Some say “Kitt Happens.” During the upfront, media buyers and sellers say that, too. ■

While many in the TV business are investing billions in subscription streaming services, big broadcasters are focusing on free over-the-air digital channels.

Sinclair Broadcast Group has been investing in its digital channels — Comet TV, Charge and TBD — and is seeing a healthy increase in advertising revenue since getting ratings from Nielsen and upgrading their programming. In June, for example, Charge is adding CSI: Miami to its schedule.

“What we’ve tried to do with these networks is level up the programming to make them general-market worthy,” Scott Ehrlich, Sinclair senior VP, growth networks and content, said.

Sinclair is calling its channels The Stack in their first-ever upfront presentations. The 70 one-on-one meetings are aimed at getting media buyers to understand that digital channels offer familiar programming and a growing number of consumers are looking for free entertainment.

“Cord-cutting isn’t necessarily our goal as a company, but over-the-air is a quickly growing segment of the audience,” Ehrlich said, noting that Sinclair generates significant revenue in retransmission consent for its stations and subscriber fees for its regional sports networks. 

“There’s a technology change coming that we’re highly invested in as a company that is certainly going to enhance the over-the-air experience,” he added, referring to NextGen TV.

Sinclair and other stations have started converting stations from the current broadcast format, ATSC, to the NextGen ATSC 3.0 standard. Sinclair expects half the country to be covered by ATSC 3.0 in 2022.

“This is a new part of the company and the part that’s obviously pretty exciting,” said Adam Ware, VP and general manager, national networks and platforms at Sinclair.

Multicasting Is Now a Business

Digital multicast channels have been around since the broadcast industry went digital in 2009. Most of the early channels subsisted on direct response advertising. More recently, larger broadcasters have been accumulating larger portfolios of channels.

The E.W. Scripps Co. bought Katz Broadcasting in 2017 for $292 million. Katz’s networks include Court TV, Bounce, Laff and Escape. It plans to launch two more channels, Defy and TrueReal, in June. Tegna launched Twist in April following its $77 million acquisition of Justice Network and Quest in 2019.

Comet TV launched in 2015. The science-fiction channel was owned by Sinclair and managed by MGM Television. In 2017, Sinclair and MGM launched Charge, which focused on action films with a sense of humor. Sinclair took over management of both channels in 2020. TBD, a youth-oriented channel, launched in 2016, owned by Sinclair and operated by Jukin Media.

Comet TV began getting Nielsen ratings in 2018, with Charge following in 2019 and TBD in 2020, letting the channels sell a mix of direct response and general-market advertising.

“General-market advertisers really started to look at these channels’ audiences, as opposed to the responsiveness of those audiences,” Ehrlich said. 

According to Nielsen, after Comet TV started airing episodes of The X-Files in the 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. time period, viewing among 18-to-49-year-olds rose 357% second quarter to date, compared to the first quarter. After TBD added Wipeout and Fear Factor from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m., viewing in the demo rose 46% from Q1 and 103% from a year ago.

TBD in particular is more attractive to general-market advertisers because of its relatively young audience. Those young viewers were less likely to call an 800 number or log onto a website because of a direct response ad, Ehrlich said. The audiences of the channels are pretty distinct, he added.

Sinclair doesn’t break out revenue figures for its digital networks, but Ware said they’ve gotten a good response in the scatter market and revenues have exceeded the budget so far. 

Comet TV, Charge and TBD are also multiplatform with a presence on Stirr, Sinclair’s streaming service, where some of their programming is available on-demand nationally.

Ware said the opportunity for free-over-the air channels will expand as NextGen TV takes root. ATSC 3.0 promises bandwidth for stations to carry more networks and makes it easier for viewers to tune them in.

“All of a sudden you’ve got real capacity,” Ware said. Now is the time to be proactive and launch channels, build their brands and get more digital channels to market. “Some might be paid and some might be free,” he added.

More Nets in the Offing

Sinclair is looking to launch more networks. The company is using Stirr to test channel concepts with an eye towards them becoming distributed as digital OTA networks, Ware said.

At some point, the networks will produce original programming, Ehrlich said. TBD dipped its toe in the water with a clip show called The Link and interstitial content featuring David Hasselhoff, star of Knight Rider, which aired on Charge.

To some degree, the digital broadcast channels are mirroring the way cable channels were built in the 1980s, targeting genres such as science fiction and comedy and relying on off-broadcast programming until the market demands original series.

Digital channels will be easier to watch because they’re being integrated  with streaming channels in increasingly sophisticated smart TVs. But Ware warns, “If you don’t own a station group and you’re trying to do these, good luck.”

And channels are thriving because “there’s real content out there that people want to watch.” Ehrlich said. “I was sort of skeptical, a little bit, until I started to see the numbers.”

Sinclair is launching its second multicast network, TBD, in early 2017 on the digital subchannels of Sinclair stations, the company said Wednesday (Dec. 7).

The broadcast net will offer short films, Web series, comedy, lifestyle, eSports, music and viral content from digital companies including Legendary Digital Networks, Jukin Media and Whistle Sports.

The QYOU has been hired to program the net, which will bring digital-first content to broadcasting.

“Our recent focus has been on expanding our business with new digital multicast networks that leverage our broadcast spectrum and household reach,” said Chris Ripley, President of Sinclair. “Much of the multicast market today focuses on classic TV and movie content, with little aimed at audiences for whom fresh and relevant pop culture content is important. With the launch of TBD, we aim to pair the very best premium digital-first content with the unmatched branding power of traditional television."

The launch comes as the FCC continues to reduce the amount of spectrum it is reclaiming for wireless broadband and more broadcasters will be staying in the business and retaining their channels.