Ion Television is a broadcast television network first broadcast on August 31, 1998. The network is owned by
Ion Media Networks (formerly Paxson Communications).
As of 2006, the network was viewable in approximately 91 million homes, "or 83% of primetime television households in the U.S. through
[1] broadcast television station group and pursuant to distribution arrangements with cable and satellite distribution systems."
[About ION] The network has 94 owned-and-operated or affiliate stations in the U.S..
The network changed its name from
PAX TV to
i: Independent Television on July 1, 2005, and then to Ion Television on January 29, 2007.
History
[
], 1998 to
July 1,
2005]].
Named PaxNet, then shortly after, PAX TV in 1998 by
Lowell 'Bud' Paxson, co-founder of the
Home Shopping Network and chairman of Paxson Communications, the network can be seen as a "semi-descendant" of
InTV, launched in 1996; a shared-time specialty broadcast network service similar to cable channel Product Information Network, broadcasting infomercials and other paid advertisements on various affiliates, most being UHF channels. The network also aired religious programming at night from
The Worship Network during the late night hours and contemporary Christian television network Praise TV Friday and Saturday nights from 12:00-3:00AM ET/PT.
Paxson, a
born-again Christian since 1985, was unhappy with the amount of sex, violence, and profanity on network television and decided to create a network which would carry only programming devoid of such content. About all of InTV's affiliate stations ended up affiliating with PAX. PAX's initial schedule was much larger in scope than it is today and consisted of general entertainment programs from 12:00PM-12:00AM ET/PT weekdays and paid programming from 12:00-1:00AM and 5:00AM-12:00PM ET/PT and all afternoon Saturdays and Sundays. PAX continued on with the airing of programming from Worship from InTV.
Initial programming on the network consisted of new shows, such as
It's a Miracle (the network's longest-running program, airing from just after the network's inception until 2003), the
game show The Reel to Reel Picture Show, and
talk shows
Woman's Day and
Great Day America, along with reruns of older programming, including
Highway to Heaven,
Here's Lucy,
The Hogan Family,
Dave's World, and
Touched by an Angel.
[It’s not TV, it’s TV Barn, now with video!] While the network was known as PAX TV, it created some original dramas such as
Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye and
Doc, which have since been cancelled, but reruns of the two shows were being shown on Ion Television as of October 1, 2007.
The network's wholesome family-friendly format was lampooned by other television series such as
The Simpsons,
Will & Grace, and
MADtv.
From PAX to i
[
independent television logo.jpg|75px|left|thumb|i logo, used from [[July 1], 2005 to
January 29,
2007]].
On
June 28,
2005, Paxson announced it would rebrand PAX as
i, in order to reflect a new strategy of "providing an independent broadcast platform for producers and syndicators who desire to reach a national audience." After the transition was complete, PAX TV would continue to air programming under its PAX brand on one of its digital channels over the air and in select cable homes (
see below). Some media observers jocularly postulated that
i was code for "
infomercial."
With this rebranding also came the following changes to the programming lineup:
- i dropped overnight programming from The Worship Network, which had been airing late nights on the network since its launch in August 1998. The time period is now leased to infomercials. Worship programming moved to a digital subchannel on local i affiliates.
- In many markets starting in the Fall of 2002, i had aired editions of local newscasts from local NBC affiliate stations. Two i stations, KPXB in Houston and WQPX in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, aired newscasts from non-NBC affiliate stations (CBS affiliate KHOU and ABC affiliate WNEP, respectively). This was discontinued from some i station lineups on June 30, 2005. The change also displaced local news on WVPX in the Cleveland market, which was aimed at the station's former target area of Akron, Ohio. The newscast was produced by NBC affiliate WKYC in Cleveland, and moved to Time Warner Cable's systems in Akron and Canton, Ohio.
- Also dropped was "Tomorrow's Weather Tonight", a five-minute segment featuring current weather and forecasts from WeatherVision which had aired on the channel since 2000.
- PAX engaged in "identity theft" when Brandon Burgess decided to change the name of the company to "ION Media Networks" and television channel to ION, knowingly ripping off the ION name and infringing on Positive Ions' intellectual property and its ION Network - featuring over 1,500 ION Channels. The injunction driven lawsuit went all the way to trial in Federal Court, as Paxson, then a public company - attempted to overwhelm the much smaller ION. Many observers expect the original ION Network, founded by media, technology and sports pioneer Dave Behar, to be the more successful, and certainly the more honest venture, due to its following and social media methodology.
Programming
Ion operates on a 48-hour network programming schedule, which it adopted in September 2008. It provides 45 hours of
prime time general entertainment programming to affiliated stations from 4-11pm weekday/6-11pm weekends (all times ET/PT), along with a 3-hour children's programming block known as
qubo on Wednesday-Fridays from 3:00 to 4:00pm ET/PT. All other times are filled with religious programming or infomercials.
Current primetime schedule
Comedies are in
pink; dramas are in
green; movies are in
red; news programming is in
brown; health programs are in
blue; game shows are in
orange; other programming is in
grey.
All times are Eastern/Pacific time zones. Some programming is not shown in all areas.
Among series slated for future broadcast;
Criminal Minds and
Ghost Whisperer will be added to the Ion Television lineup beginning in 2009.
[ION Television Gets in Your Head with "Criminal Minds", Yahoo!, April 24 2008]["Ghost Whisperer" Brings Supernatural Energy to ION Television, Yahoo!, April 29 2008]
On
May 1 2008, Ion Television released its new programming plan for the 2008–2009 season at the
New York Public Library in
New York City. In addition to the "new" programming as described, Ion plans on starting its regular programming at 4PM ET / PT. The new season will also see a new logo and slogan for the network,
Positively Entertaining.[ION Television Presents "Positively Entertaining" Program Lineup at 2008 Sales Presentation, Yahoo!, May 1 2008]
The Ion Television schedule is subject to frequent change.
Mama's Family had been, since the network revamped, the only permanent fixture in ION's schedule;
Diagnosis: Murder (the lone carryover from the PAX days) had also been on ION's schedule for all but a month, although its time slot had been changed numerous times and both shows are no longer aired on the station.
ION Life and
48 Hours have also been more recently added on a near-permanent basis; the other programs are frequently rotated in and out of the schedule.
Children's programming
As PAX, Ion aired a four-hour children's programming block called
PAX Kids, which featured mostly religious children's programming. The lineup lasted only a year and a half, presumably due to low ratings (The last animated show that got axed was
Archie's Weird Mysteries). What was unusual about the lineup is that although it was a weekend-only lineup like ABC, CBS and NBC, it was spread over two days, Saturday and Sunday (
CBS does allow some of its affiliates to air its children's programming on Sundays, however only one or two programs are usually aired on Sundays and not all affiliates do this).
Until UPN ceased network children's programming in 2003 with the loss of that network's
Disney's One Too lineup, Ion (as PAX) was the only one of the eight broadcast networks (along with various religious networks) not to have a children's programming block.
In May 2006, Ion (as
i) announced plans to launch a new children's block on Saturday mornings starting in September 2006 as part of the qubo endeavor (
see below), teaming Ion Media Networks with NBC Universal,
Scholastic Press,
Corus Entertainment's
Nelvana and
Classic Media and its
Mike Young unit. qubo includes blocks airing on
i,
NBC and
Telemundo (NBC Universal's Spanish-language network) along with a 24/7 digital broadcast kids channel, video-on-demand services and a branded website. On Ion along with
PBS, is the only broadcast networks that has a children's program lineup airing on weekday afternoons (NBC moved children's programming to weekends-only in 1956, other networks didn't follow until the 1980s and 1990s and The WB was the last to move its children's programming to weekends only) as it airs Wednesdays-Fridays from 3:00 to 4:00PM Eastern Time.
The
qubo lineup on Ion features the same programming as the NBC qubo lineup. On Friday,
September 15,
2006 i started airing the qubo programs,
Veggie Tales;
Dragon;
3-2-1 Penguins!,
Babar;
Jane and the Dragon; and
Jacob Two-Two.
| qubo
| 3:00 PM
| 3:30 PM
|
| Wednesday
| My Friend Rabbit
| Jane and the Dragon
|
| Thursday
| 3-2-1 Penguins!/LarryBoy Stories
| Zula Patrol
|
| Fridays
| Veggie Tales
| Turbo Dogs
|
Sports
Previous network sports event telecasts included
Conference USA college football games (produced by
College Sports Television), the
Women's United Soccer Association,
Real Pro Wrestling (which more resembles the amateur form than the theatrically-based ring sport), the
Champions Tour of golf,
Paralympic Games, and most recently,
BodogFight.
Some Ion O&Os broadcast local and regional professional sports on their stations; an example of this is the
Tampa Bay Rays'
baseball games on local affiliate
WXPX. However, since they have no backup programming of their own and an almost-total reliance on ION's satellite feed, sports on these stations often causes ION's programming to be joined in progress, and, on occasion, even be interrupted mid-program for a scheduled sporting event.
Ion Television has purchased the rights to air
NFL Films' weekly highlight program, the
NFL Films Game of the Week, Saturdays at 6PM ET beginning
September 15, with the
Giants-
Cowboys game from
September 9,
2007.
[ION Media Networks Secures Rights to Air 2007 Season of "NFL Game of the Week" Produced by NFL Films, Yahoo!, September 10, 2007] The series ran from
September 9 through
December 29, but was not renewed for 2008.
Ion Television was supposed to begin coverage of the
American Indoor Football Association beginning in March 2008.
[This Week In The AIFA Previews Season Kickoff. AIFA press release. 4 March 2008.] However, the game's producers did not provide a live broadcast and the deal was cancelled.
Game shows
Ion, in its PAX TV incarnation, carried many game shows, some original and some reruns. Examples include
Supermarket Sweep,
On the Cover,
Shop 'til You Drop,
Balderdash, and
Family Feud.
Currently, only
Family Feud is on the Ion schedule. The network apparently retains the rights to
Supermarket Sweep and the original
Michael Reagan-hosted 1987 run of
Lingo, among a few other game shows, though it does not air them.
Ion Plus
Separate national feeds have been made available to DirecTV,
Time Warner Cable,
Comcast, and non-O&O stations, featuring programming from
Ion Life in place of paid programming that airs on the main network.
Prior to the launch of Ion Life, the Ion Plus feeds carried reruns of cancelled PAX original programs (
Miracle Pets,
Beat the Clock), as well as
public domain movies and
sitcom episodes (
I Married Joan,
The Beverly Hillbillies).
The feeds used the PAX name and
bug long after PAX had changed its name to
i, until about September 2005.
Ion HD
ION Media Networks plans to launch Ion Television HD by the first quarter of 2009.
[ION Media Networks Launches High Definition, Yahoo!, October 20 2008]
Multiplexing
On its O&O affiliates, Ion has made notable use of "multiplexing," or splitting a digital TV channel into separate digital subchannels. On these subchannels, it has carried/will carry several digital channels.
Qubo on Ion Television
On May 8, 2006, Ion Media Networks, NBC Universal,
Corus Entertainment's Nelvana,
Scholastic Books, and
Classic Media and its
Big Idea Productions unit announced plans to launch qubo, a new children's entertainment endeavor spread across all medium platforms, including
video-on-demand on
digital cable.
[Press] The new project features new and library programming from the partners, each one producing a new series a year.
The primary goal for qubo is to "champion literacy and values in the children's television category".
qubo made its debut on
NBC and
Telemundo on
September 9 2006, with NBC's qubo block repeating on Ion Television on Fridays at 3:00pm.
[Press] A 24-hour digital television network began
January 8 2007;
[How To Get qubo Channel] programming on the digital channel features a daily repeating 4-hour block of shows, all featuring programming exclusive to the new channel. As a consequence to this, the
i secondary feed was replaced on
i O&Os with a repeating promo loop in late September 2006.
Ion Life
On May 31, 2006, Ion Media Networks announced plans to roll out a "24-hour digital broadcast network dedicated exclusively to consumer healthcare and healthy living." The network finally launched on February 19, 2007 as
Ion Life. Ion been airing samples of Ion Life programming on Friday evenings.
The Worship Network
The Worship Network was originally founded in 1992 to "create an atmosphere in the home to inspire and encourage a quiet time to worship God." When PAX launched in 1998, The Worship Network provided overnight programming. The next year, PAX and The Worship Network struck a deal in which the network would be carried on a digital subchannel of PAX 24 hours a day.
Today, The Worship Network continues to be carried on digital subchannels of Ion O&Os and in some cases, is used as an alternative to the main Ion network feed. It is also seen around the world through its 250 broadcast affiliates.
[www.worship.net/history.html]
Subchannel ordering
Though each channel map may vary by market, usually the main Ion feed is carried on subchannel -1, with Qubo on -2, Ion Life on -3, and Worship on -4.
Recent programming deals
In 2006, Ion Media Networks reached several programming deals. Two were with major programming suppliers announced within a week of each other. Another would bring original programming to the Ion network, among other things.
On June 27, 2006, Ion announced a comprehensive programming deal with
Warner Bros. Television Distribution, giving them broadcast rights to movies and programming owned by Warner.
[Press] On
July 5,
2006, Ion announced a similar deal with
Sony Pictures Television, giving them broadcast rights to movies and programming owned by Sony.
[Press] Starting in September, programs and feature-length movies from both libraries were phased into the primetime schedule.
On October 25, 2006, Ion announced "an exclusive programming alliance" with
RHI Entertainment (formerly Hallmark Entertainment). Under this agreement, RHI will program the 7-11 PM time periods on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights for two years starting June 29, 2007.
[RHI Movie Weekend to Debut on ION Television on June 29th, FinanzNachrichten.de, June 20, 2007] The agreement also makes way for the US broadcast premieres of at least six RHI productions each year.
[Press] During March and April 2008, Saturday nights on the
RHI Movie Weekend will be Western-themed.
[Prime Time Saturday is Cowboy Country on ION Television: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance]
Ion also struck a deal with
NBC Universal for library content.
[Press]
In January 2008, Ion and
Comcast reached an agreement to continue to carry Ion, as well as add
qubo and
Ion Life to Comcast's channel lineups.
[ION Media Networks and Comcast Announce Affiliation Agreement for Channel Suite, Yahoo!, January 14, 2008][ION Media Plugs In New Comcast Accord, Multichannel News, January 14, 2008]
In September 2008 Ion reached a multiyear agreement with
Warner Bros. Television Distribution to allow Ion to air 27 theatrical films, including
Batman,
Batman Returns,
Batman Forever and
Batman & Robin, throughout the summer of 2010.
[ION Television Inks Multi-Year Film Acquisition Deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Yahoo!, September 22 2008]
Differences between Ion and other broadcast networks
Ion Television, unlike other broadcast networks, does not necessarily allow its owned and operated stations to air
syndicated programming during the daytime and late night hours. In the United States, syndicated programming accounts for a majority of local network affiliate and independent stations revenue.
Network programming (on stations that have a network affiliation) and infomercials make up the rest. Since paid programming makes up most of Ion's schedule, the "pro" is that it is the main source of revenue. However, this is also a "con" since Ion relies more on infomercials rather than sitcoms and dramas; sponsors of
television series often have qualms about their message being lost on stations whose primary content is infomercials and other paid programming. During the 2005–2006 season, Ion (as
i) launched only one new series,
Palmetto Pointe, a teen drama series which only lasted six episodes, and in 2006–2007, the network went entirely to a lineup of reruns (except for iHealth/Ion Life specials). However, beginning in July 2007, this changed, as Ion inked a deal with RHI Entertainment, who is producing new series for Ion.
As a result, there are a small number of stations (such as
WKFK-LP, for instance) that have taken dual affiliation with both Ion and another smaller network, usually either
America One or
MyNetworkTV.
The fact that Ion airs more infomercials than they do series programming is the main reason why some satellite operators dropped Ion affiliates from their channel lineups.
Besides
Retro Television Network, Ion is the only broadcast network that has never filled its entire primetime schedule with originally produced programming and replaced series that have ended with newer programming, opting to air past series instead.
Also, although
DirecTV technically carries the local affiliates in many areas, no local programs actually air on those stations. Instead, the "place holder" simulcasts the national modified feed (for example,
Los Angeles area viewers watch Ion on both channels 30,
KPXN, and 305).
MyNetworkTV and Ion Television were also the only English-language commercial broadcast networks in the United States that were largely unaffected by the
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, due to the fact that Ion's schedule is composed of reruns of old shows rather than new scripted series and MyNetworkTV's schedule is composed of reality shows and feature film repeats.
Market absences
ION has no over-the-air stations in several major markets, most notably
San Diego, California;
Charlotte, North Carolina;
Cincinnati, Ohio;
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and
St. Louis, Missouri (though St. Louis at one time received the network by way of a low-power repeater of
WPXS, a station in
Mount Vernon, Illinois).
In addition, in several other markets, Ion's predecessor was sold to another television station group to affiliate with a different network or a Spanish service, and through either a lack of channel space or interest in the network. Ion has not reappeared in those markets. They include:
- Champaign-Springfield, Illinois: WPXU (now CW affiliate WBUI)
- Green Bay, Wisconsin: WPXG (now CW affiliate WIWB)
- Albuquerque, New Mexico: KAPX (now TeleFutura affiliate KTFQ)
- Fresno-Visalia, California: KPXF (now TeleFutura affiliate KTFF)
- Little Rock, Arkansas: KYPX (now RTN affiliate KKYK)
- Reno, Nevada: KREN (now CW affiliate)
- Baton Rouge, Louisiana: WLFT-CA (now independent religious)
- Charlottesville, Virginia: WADA-LP (now Fox affiliate WAHU-CA)
- Lafayette, Louisiana: KDCG-LP (now RTN affiliate)
- Shreveport, Louisiana: KPXJ (now CW affiliate)
- Montgomery, Alabama: WBMM (first to Daystar Television Network, now a CW affiliate)
- Sioux Falls, South Dakota: KAUN-LP (now RTN affiliate)
- Madison, Wisconsin: W43BR (now America One Affiliate)
In several markets, the station's
city of license is considered outside the main portion of a market's metropolitan area, like
Minneapolis-St. Paul, where that area's affiliate station (
KPXM) transmits from
St. Cloud, fifty miles north, and
Milwaukee, where the affiliate
WPXE is licensed from
Kenosha, with their analog transmitter south of Milwaukee in
Racine County (although their digital transmitter is located in the traditional Milwaukee tower cluster on the north side of the city). In
Cleveland, Ion airs on the former ABC affiliate in
Akron (
WVPX), which had formerly targeted their audience away from Cleveland, in Akron and
Canton.
Network troubles
In 2003, the predecessor Pax network scaled back its operations. It was originally offering five or six new series each season. That year the number of new series airing on Pax dwindled to just two:
Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, which was pulled in 2005, and
Doc, which were pulled in 2004 because Pax's international backer,
CTV, pulled out of producing the shows. The organization seemingly recovered a year later when seven TV series made it to Pax's 2004-05 schedule.
In the Spring of 2005, it was reported that Pax intended to break its contract with
NBC Universal, which eliminated most of their entertainment programming, and rely on
infomercials, talk shows, and other paid programming to help increase cash flow. However, the network issued a press release on
May 25,
2005, in which Paxson Communications chairman
Lowell "Bud" Paxson was quoted as saying:
In November 2005,
NBC Universal was granted a transferrable option to purchase a controlling stake in Paxson Communications. If this option is exercised, NBC would acquire approximately 63
i affiliates. As part of the agreement, Lowell Paxson left the network (and its parent company).
According to a statement on its website
[PAX],
DirecTV planned to terminate its agreement with the
i network in February 2006 and would drop
i as well as its local channels from the DBS service. DirecTV cited that "most of [
i Network's] programming consists of infomercials and other promotional shows", despite an earlier promise by network executives that the network "would consist of general, family-oriented entertainment". To appease DirecTV officials, the network decided to junk some
infomercials and shopping shows and replace them with old
public domain programming and cancelled PAX originals (
see below). The channels were expected to be removed from the service by
February 28,
2006. However, in May 2006, it was announced that DirecTV and Ion Media had come to a new carriage agreement.
In early 2006, it was announced that the
i affiliates in
Memphis, Tennessee (
WPXX-TV),
Rapid City, South Dakota (
KKRA-LP) and
Greenville, North Carolina (
WEPX, as well as
WPXU-TV in
Jacksonville, North Carolina) would add programming from
MyNetworkTV in September 2006, thus causing programming airing on
i to be unavailable on these stations while MNTV is broadcasting. This blow came after losing some affiliates in New Mexico, New York, and Illinois completely (although the New York station,
WWBI-LP in
Plattsburgh, subsequently rejoined
i after a sale that resulted in the affiliation change fell through). In April 2006, it was reported
i owed more than US $250,000,000 to creditors.
[Burgess' Burden - 4/24/2006 - Broadcasting & Cable] Standard & Poor's reported a much higher debt in March 2008, owing $867,000,000 to creditors and having a bond rating of CCC+/Outlook Negative.
[Standard & Poor's 'Weakest Links' list. USA Today. 22 March 2008.]
In 2006,
i struck several major content deals (
see details above) in hopes of assuring its long-term future.
Days after the network changed to
Ion Television, a small California-based entertainment group named Positive Ions, Inc. sued Ion Media Networks, claiming that the network stole the "Ion" branding.
[Positive Ions Continues Fight with ION Media Networks over ION(R) - BroadcastNewsroom] Positive Ions has registered trademarks on the word "Ion" and has used the mark commercially since 1999. On May 14, 2007, Positive Ions filed for an injunction that, if granted, would require ION Media Networks to change its name once again.
[Federal Judge to Decide Whether ION Television Can Continue as ION, Yahoo!, May 16, 2007]
Network slogans
- Pax TV: A Friend of the Family (1998-2005)
- Pax TV: Share It With Someone You Love (1998-2005)
- Pax TV: Share The Wonder (1998)
- Pax TV: Feel Good TV (2001-2004)
- Pax TV: Feel The Spirit (2003-2004)
- Pax TV: Oh what a night! (2004-2005)
- i: Independent Television (2005-2007)
- What's Your ION? (2007-2008)
- ION: Your Home for Popular TV Favorites (2007-2008)
- ION Television: Positively Entertaining (2008-present)
Logos
TV network logos
The network has shown several icons over its history, citing its different names. They are shown below.
Image:PAX1998.jpg|PAX TV network logo from 1998
Image:PAXlogo.png|PAX TV logo, used from August 31, 1998 to July 1, 2005.
Image:WPXN-TV.jpg|WPXN-TV logo, from 1998
Image:i independent television logo.jpg|i logo, used from July 1, 2005 to January 29, 2007.
Image:IONTelevision.png|Ion logo, used from January 29, 2007 to September 8, 2008.
Image:IONlogo2008.png| Ion logo, used from September 8, 2008 to present.
Image:Ionlifelogo.jpg|Logo of Ion Life
See also
