This May Explain Why We Have a Shirtless 'Magnum, P.I.' On Our Cover Today

We take a look at the lively digi-net landscape in our new issue–specifically, how the arrival of multicast channels from the NBC Owned Stations (Cozi TV) and Fox Television Stations (Movies!) affect what was already a pretty packed entertainment channel landscape.

Cozi, showing old series and a handful of originals, debuted in January. Movies! is shooting for Memorial Day.

One leader in the space is Me-TV, with 190 affiliates covering 85% of the U.S. Antenna TV, for its part, weights in at 72 affiliates covering 62% of the nation. This TV, showing films, is a biggie in the space too.

Booming in the broader digi-net space are the likes of Bounce TV, targeted to African Americans reaching 68% of the U.S, and MundoFox, the new Spanish-language entry from Fox with 50% U.S. coverage. 

Next week, Me-TV begins receiving national ratings from Nielsen.

“It’s the duopoly you don’t have to buy,” says Neal Sabin, president of content and networks at Me-TV/This TV parent Weigel. “It’s a very economical way to get another stream into the market.”