Equity's RTN Sold to Luken Communications; Me-Too in Chicago Airing Classic Movies Now, Too, More TV Shows Added

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Equity's RTN Sold to Luken Communications; Me-Too in Chicago Airing Classic Movies Now, Too, More TV Shows Added

Equity Media Holdings Corporation announced it has closed an asset sales transaction with Luken Communications, LLC, a group led by Equity Media's largest shareholder Henry Luken III (the "Investors"). The Investors purchased Equity Media's Retro Television Network (RTN) subsidiary for $18.50 million. Equity Media has the option to repurchase RTN at any time during the next six months. Concurrently with the closing of the RTN sale, the Investors purchased for $1.50 million warrants to purchase up to 8,050,000 shares of Equity Media for $1.10 per share. Equity Media also has entered into asset purchase agreements with the Investors for the sale by Equity Media of certain television stations. Equity Media has received a $5 million prepayment on the stations sale from the Investors. The stations sale will be consummated, and Equity Media will receive the remaining payment of $12.5 million, upon receipt of FCC and certain other approvals. Following consummation of the station sales, Equity Media will continue to own and operate 100 stations in 35 markets representing 24.8% of U.S. television households based on Equity Media's current stations roster.
View the full press release for more details. So what does this mean? It is hard to tell. I have asked RTN to see what is up, so I'll let you all know what they say. I think it won't affect current RTN affiliates. It doesn't mean the network is on its way out or that it won't add more stations since it was sold to another group, but I don't know if this is good or bad. We'll have to see in the coming weeks.

Beginning Monday June 30 at 7:00pm, Me-Too (WMEU-TV) in Chicago rolls out the red carpet for "Me-Too Movie Classics," a showcase for a wide variety of Hollywood's greatest movies, stars and directors. From the classic to kitsch to cult, "Me-Too's Movie Classics" brings back classic films to free, over the air television with minimal content editing and only five minutes of internal commercial break time.
Theme weeks include a look at significant movies of the 1970s featuring Easy Rider, Bob, Carol, Ted & Alice and Butterflies Are Free. A week of screwball/classic comedies includes The Twentieth Century, Born Yesterday and the original Brewster's Millions. A week of Joan Crawford classics include the truly classic as well as campy Crawford performances from the 1950s and 1960s.
Adding classic movies to the schedule of Me-Too serves to further distinguish Me-Too as the snappy sibling of Me-TV, Chicago's beloved home of Classic TV, and provide a unique and uncluttered environment for advertisers seeking an engaged, loyal and receptive audience.
The movies will air weeknights at 7:00pm and Saturdays at 1:00pm with many other stars like Jack Lemmon, Jack Nicholson, Jackie Gleason, Jane Fonda, Carl Reiner, Peter Falk, Dick Van Dyke, Burt Reynolds and John Ritter. The movies for the summer are available in a list form on our message boards. You may also discuss the movie list and stars there, which also has a lot of classic TV stars in feature films.

Adding movies is not the only thing happening on June 30. Me-Too will change their classic TV line-up a bit too. Me-Too launched back in March with this launch schedule, that has continued until today, but now some changes are coming. Gilligan's Island, Ozzie and Harriet, Rawhide, are among the new series coming to Me-Too. View the new Me-Too schedule.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Wednesday, July 9

Shifting Gears - "Gummies" (ABC, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Riley is horrified when she finds weed gummies in Carter’s pocket, prompting surprising advice from Matt. Meanwhile, Eve inadvertently lands Gabriel and Stitch in hot water after asking them to donate to a charity auction.

Shifting Gears - "Kiss" (ABC, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Jimmy returns with a new job and a proposition for Riley and the kids to move into his house, Riley is torn between her past and her future. Meanwhile, Matt's feud with Eve flares up once again after she damages his car.

Abbott Elementary - "Volunteers" (ABC, 9:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Ava announces the school district is sending a group of volunteers to help out at Abbott; however, when they arrive, things don’t go as planned.

Abbott Elementary - "100th Day of School" (ABC, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
During Abbott’s 100th day of school celebrations, Barbara receives a surprise from her daughter. Melissa, Jacob and Mr. Johnson join forces to conduct a search party.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "The Gang F***s Up Abbott Elementary" (FXX and FX, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Months after the Gang visited, Abbott's Principal Ava walks viewers through some of the unseen footage of the Gang's volunteerism and reveals their true intentions.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - "Frank Is in a Coma" (FXX and FX, 9:33PM ET/PT)
The five stages of grief set in for Dee as Frank lies on his deathbed; the Guys plot their new path forward by pitching their business ventures to Philadelphia's elite.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of July 7)

Wednesday, July 9

Anthony Anderson (black-ish/Guys with Kids/All About the Andersons) - Anthony guest hosts Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Salma Hayek Pinault (The Sinbad Show) - Watch Salma on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Jean Smart (Hacks/Samantha Who?/Center of the Universe/In-Laws/Style & Substance/Designing Women) - Jean is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Cole Escola (Human Resources/Search Party/Mozart in the Jungle/Difficult People) - Cole appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Richie Moriarty (Ghosts), Betsy Sodaro (Ghosts/Duncanville/Disjointed/Animal Practice) and Punam Patel (Ghosts/Return of the Mac/Kevin from Work) - Richie, Betsy and Punam are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Ronny Chieng (Young Rock/Ronny Chieng: International Student) - Ronny hosts Comedy Central's The Daily Show at 11pm.
Tika Sumpter (mixed-ish/Final Space/The Game) - Tika sits down with the Tam Fam to talk about her new children's book I Got It From My Mama a repeat of Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
Isabela Merced (100 Things to Do Before High School/Growing Up Fisher) - Isabela chats about her film Superman on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Anna Camp (Perfect Harmony/Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt/The Mindy Project) and Justin Bartha (The New Normal/Teachers) - Anna and Justin discuss their film Nuked on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
Simon Helberg (The Big Bang Theory) - Simon talks about Peacock's Poker Face on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.