Will Me TV Toons survive?

[vcr1980]

I love Me TV Toons.

I am worried because I rarely see any actual commercials. Sometimes a cartoon show will actually air with zero commercials.

Will the channel survive? Are there enough advertisers?

 

[Justin Hill]

The channel is nearly three months old, having launched last Summer. It's too early in the game to tell if the new network succeeded or not. Most of the cartoons are aimed towards Generation X and Millennial viewers who watched those same exact cartoons as kids.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They do have a normal commercial load. And from what I am hearing they are doing very well, and have been adding a lot of new affiliates each month. Plus some cable systems are also starting to pick up the channel.

I have this channel on a lot myself, fun to watch or have as background noise.

One of the best new channel launches in a long long time.

 

[Justin Hill]

I'm a fan of cartoons myself, having watched different kinds cartoons since I was only four years old as a form of escapism from the doldrums of everyday life.

I'm glad there's another option for cartoons besides watching free streaming services, buying and watching/binge-watching DVD/blu-ray discs or paying a premium for cable TV or a streaming service for the specific types of cartoon shows I want to watch/binge-watch.

 

[vcr1980]

They do have a normal commercial load. And from what I am hearing they are doing very well, and have been adding a lot of new affiliates each month. Plus some cable systems are also starting to pick up the channel.

I have this channel on a lot myself, fun to watch or have as background noise.

One of the best new channel launches in a long long time.

Most excellent.

 

[mwdxer1]

Lots of great old cartoons not seen in years. We have a Weigel Class A here on the Oregon Coast on ch 36 (3). No MeTV-Toons added as yet, but the rest are there H&I, Start TV, Movies!, Catchy TV, METV+, Story TV, and METV. Both H&I and METV are in HD. The only way I can get METV-Toons is either off Philo or Frndly TV. I already had Frndly TV that carries all of the Weigel channels so I have it. I am hoping METV-Toons ends up on our Class A. Weigel has great channels!

 

[orac]

Love it! Able to see all the old Gerry & Sylvia Anderson Supermarionation shows I've never seen before - Supercar, Fireball XL5, Joe 90, Captain Scarlet. They are mysteriously not airing Stingray, though. (Already seen all the Thunderbirds.)
__
Neil

 

[KaptainRandom]

Was really hopin for some
Heckle n Jeckle

 

[Justin Hill]

The channel's only three months old (as of September 27, 2024), and it was great that the new channel's launch coincided with the launch of Weigel Broadcasting's owned and operated MeTV station WMEI, channel 31 in Green Bay, Wisconsin in June 2024.

Green Bay, despite being home to the Packers football team, was one of many TV markets left without MeTV when the channel was purged by the E.W. Scripps Co. stations in favor of their own networks a few years back.

WGBA-TV 26.2, was one of the former MeTV affiliates, with the channel being replaced by Scripps' very own Defy TV, which has since been replaced by a revival of Ion Plus.

MeTV Toons launched on WMEI 31.2, and I liked watching it ever since.

I enjoyed watching the Harvey Toons (Casper, Baby Huey, Herman and Catnip, etc.), the Looney Tunes (especially Bugs Bunny), The Jetsons, The Flintstones, Top Cat, Inspector Gadget, Underdog, The Real Ghostbusters and their two E/I-compliant cartoons, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and Histeria. I like how the channel cycles through different cartoons to keep the schedule fresh.

MeTV Toons mostly has the feel of early 1990s Cartoon Network, yet it is not afraid to do its own thing and differentiate itself, by acquiring some more recent cartoons from before 2010 for the schedule, like The Mask or the modern Duck Dodgers cartoon series, as well as other syndicated cartoon shows outside the Warner Bros./Hanna-Barbera catalogs, including Inspector Gadget, Mr. Magoo, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, as well as airing imported Supermarionation TV shows from the UK, including Thunderbirds, during the late night "Known Strings Attached" block...

I also like how they air the "Cartoon College" and "MeTV Toons Tunes" interstitials during the commercial breaks of each cartoon, with interesting facts about the cartoons on the channel in the former and cartoon-themed music videos in the latter.

They even celebrated Bugs Bunny's birthday with a Bugs Bunny TV special and also celebrated the premiere of the new 2024 film, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice," with a marathon of the 1990s Beetlejuice cartoon series.

I also liked how they also air Toon in with Me on MeTV Toons, as an encore presentation of the same episode, which aired on original MeTV just a few hours earlier that same day.

This channel is a fun, welcome change from all the boring news, religious and home shopping channels already found in my broadcast market.

 

[Justin Hill]

In spring 2025, MeTV Toons is going to get a dose of "turtle power," when they start airing the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, which ran from 1987 to 1996, starting in syndication, before moving to Saturday mornings on CBS during the cartoon's regular run...

We get to see all four Turtles (Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael), who were trained in the martial art of ninjitsu by their master, Splinter, as they fight against Shredder, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady and their army of Foot soldiers, and save the Channel 6 News crew, consisting of TV reporter April O'Neil, and her friend Irma Langenstein, as well as their fellow co-worker Vernon Fenwick and their miserly boss Burne Thompson, who always blames the Turtles for his TV station's problems throughout the series' run, and even more so in the final "red sky" seasons, when Shredder destroys the original Channel 6 TV studio...

This is great news that makes me want to yell "Cowabunga!" and celebrate with a pizza for dinner...

The acquisition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was confirmed by Neal Sabin of Weigel Broadcasting, the parent company of MeTV Toons, who relayed the message to YouTube user "BlackNerdComedy."


View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tBwEyktS5dU

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

This channel and the regular MeTV are now my most watched channels. Love them!

Thanks Neal!

 

[vcr1980]

In spring 2025, MeTV Toons is going to get a dose of "turtle power," when they start airing the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon series, which ran from 1987 to 1996, starting in syndication, before moving to Saturday mornings on CBS during the cartoon's regular run...

We get to see all four Turtles (Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello and Raphael), who were trained in the martial art of ninjitsu by their master, Splinter, as they fight against Shredder, Krang, Bebop, Rocksteady and their army of Foot soldiers, and save the Channel 6 News crew, consisting of TV reporter April O'Neil, and her friend Irma Langenstein, as well as their fellow co-worker Vernon Fenwick and their miserly boss Burne Thompson, who always blames the Turtles for his TV station's problems throughout the series' run, and even more so in the final "red sky" seasons, when Shredder destroys the original Channel 6 TV studio...

This is great news that makes me want to yell "Cowabunga!" and celebrate with a pizza for dinner...

The acquisition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was confirmed by Neal Sabin of Weigel Broadcasting, the parent company of MeTV Toons, who relayed the message to YouTube user "BlackNerdComedy."


View: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/tBwEyktS5dU

Thank you for letting us know. I am so glad!

 

[vcr1980]

This channel and the regular MeTV are now my most watched channels. Love them!

Thanks Neal!

Toons never fail. They work great in the background or as something you sit down and watch intently. They often speak to real timeless truths especially with their comedy. Toons are always doing something unexpected in often humorous ways. And, toons have the absolute best artistry including their musical scores, sound effects, voice talents, and animation styles. Many are drawn by hand! And no matter how many times I've seen a toon, I'm absolutely interested in watching it again.

 

[navychop]

I have a Turtle Soup recipe. It's not "mock."

 

[Justin Hill]

I typed up this spreadsheet at Google Sheet over at Google Sheets of all the Weigel Broadcasting networks (including MeTV, MeTV Toons H&I, Movies!, etc.) and where to to find them in your broadcast market:

View: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jACKphVTDs0ZfGM-TBzuFZ4svcvyVrwO7J-h1iYa2QI/edit?gid=816097958#gid=816097958

 

[localclassictvfan]

Lots of great old cartoons not seen in years. We have a Weigel Class A here on the Oregon Coast on ch 36 (3). No MeTV-Toons added as yet, but the rest are there H&I, Start TV, Movies!, Catchy TV, METV+, Story TV, and METV. Both H&I and METV are in HD. The only way I can get METV-Toons is either off Philo or Frndly TV. I already had Frndly TV that carries all of the Weigel channels so I have it. I am hoping METV-Toons ends up on our Class A. Weigel has great channels!

I would love to have a Weigel owned station where I live.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Glad we have them here....

I just wish Dish and Tablo would add guide data for them.

MeTV, MeTV+, Catchy TV and MeTV Toons are the channels I watch most.

 

[Bruce]

Glad we have them here....

I just wish Dish and Tablo would add guide data for them.

MeTV, MeTV+, Catchy TV and MeTV Toons are the channels I watch most.

I am amazed that these station owners do not offer these type of channels to providers for free, while no per sub fee ( which providers seem unwilling to pay for them), more eyeballs makes it easier to sell advertising time and better rates.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Providers want these channels to PAY THEM for coverage.

This is why MeTV was dropped from DISH. If these channels were on DISH I would be watching via DISH instead of watching directly on my TV via my OTA antenna. I would be recording a lot too! From Svengoolie on Saturday Nights, to some of the classic cartoons they only air at night.

 

[RaiderPower]

Glad we have them here....

I just wish Dish and Tablo would add guide data for them.

MeTV, MeTV+, Catchy TV and MeTV Toons are the channels I watch most.

Am curious about this as I receive all the Weigel stations in my DMA and the guide data is populated on all of them on my 4th-gen Tablo. Is yours a DMA-specific issue?