Fans of vintage TV shows rejoice. A thicket of digital subchannels is filling up with creaky old “classic” fare.
“Father Knows Best,” “Burns and Allen,” “The Partridge Family” and (less ancient) “Married . . . with Children” beckon on Antenna TV, owned by Tribune TV and recently launched on 31.2, subchannel of the local Fox affiliate KDVR.
“Sea Hunt,” “Highway Patrol,” “Mr. Ed” and other oldies run on This TV, a joint venture of Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer and Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting Co., now beaming on KWGN’s digital subchannel, 2.2.
“Gunsmoke,” “M*A*S*H” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” are among the offerings on MEtv, yet another vintage TV syndication service popping up on subchannels nationally. MEtv is not yet available locally.
It will join KCDO in Denver, already broadcasting a slew of oldies — including “Charlie’s Angels,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “Star Trek” and the original “Hawaii Five-O” — on Channel 3 in Denver.
RTV, a vintage TV program supplier, PBJ the sister kids service, and RTV2 — based on classic programming — are also in the game, not currently showing up locally. KCDO parted ways with RTV last year. Retro TV is working on signing a Denver affiliate, according to spokesman Neal Ardman. Stand by for “Buck Rogers,” “I Spy” and “Lassie.”
Making use of extra spectrum space that came with the switch to digital, stations are filling their subchannels with quasi-networks, actually syndication services, that offer dusty libraries of old shows. This programming doesn’t cost much and can be a source of local ad money for stations.
For viewers, it fills a need too. Those who still use rabbit ears or an antenna can get these channels, some of which are also available on cable.
And they’re valued for their nonviolent, family-friendly tone. They may be dated, but they’re innocuous — and fun. (Sometimes they rise to the level of camp. Have you seen 1985’s “She-Ra, Princess of Power,” twin sister of He-man, fighting the forces of evil?)
“There are so many of these services,” according to KUSA’s Mark Cornetta. “We’ve been approached by most of them.” For now, KUSA is content with its two subchannels, Accuweather on 9.2, and Universal Sports on sister-channel 20.2.
The Universal Sports channel was moved from 9.3 to sister-station subchannel 20.2 because it has more bandwidth. Sports action requires more bandwidth to look good; a weather map does fine on 9.2. Currently subchannel 9.3 is not in service.
Industry insiders say nobody is making buckets of money on multicast channels at this point. In some cases the cheap “classics” serve as place holders until something better comes along.
But fans of old-time TV shows are not complaining.
Al-Jazeera on CPT12.
Another use of subchannels: Al-Jazeera English is on KBDI Channel 12.3, which carries MHZ WorldView programming from around the world. Also find WorldView on Comcast 252; not 2 4/7, but the al-Jazeera English portion was expanded during the Egyptian crisis.
Generally, public TV stations were among the first to jump into subchannels. RMPBS has the Spanish V-ME on 6.2, Create on 6.3. CPT12 has the Documentary Channel on 12.2.
It’s a jungle out there.
“Justified” on FX.
Timothy Olyphant is surrounded by a stellar guest cast as season 2 of “Justified” begins at 11 p.m. Wednesday on FX.
Deputy U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens (Olyphant) and, not least, his hat are about to face off against a brutal Harlan County crime family, plus bad boy Boyd Crowder (Walton Goggins).
The moonshine-making matriarch of the crime family is played by the wonderful Margo Martindale. Jeremy Davies (Daniel Faraday on “Lost”) recurs as the latest villain.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
