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We mentioned back in early September that Tribune is launching Antenna TV in January 2011, but now we have the FULL launch schedule! Before we get to the schedule, I'll remind you once again what Antenna TV is. Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV is a classic television and general entertainment movie network to air as a digital multicast on Tribune's broadcast stations. Tribune markets include New York's WPIX, Los Angeles' KTLA and Chicago's local WGN. The Chicago affiliate for Antenna TV will be WGN-DT 9.2. Antenna TV will also be offered for national distribution to non-Tribune stations, such as in Cleveland, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, and Milwaukee. View the full list of affiliates thus far on the Antenna TV website.
Moving on to the schedule, the digital station will launch on January 1, 2011 rather than the previously announced Jan. 3 -- so two days earlier! On January 1, 2011 there will be a New Year's Day marathon of first episodes! We'll have a schedule for that soon. The regular weekday schedule will have movies start the day off starting at 5am. Then sitcoms will take over from 1pm-1am. A black and white sitcom block from the '50s & '60s will start things off (originally these sitcoms were slated for overnight) with two episodes of Burns & Allen in the 1pm hour. At 2pm it will be Hazel, followed by The Farmer's Daughter. In the 3pm hour, it will be two more all-time classics, Father Knows Best and Dennis the Menace. Oh Mr. Wilson, indeed! Then we head into the '70s until 10pm, with an hour each of hit comedies. At 4pm, c'mon and get happy because it's an hour of The Partridge Family. At 5pm, back-to-back slapstick episodes of Three's Company will air, but Mon-Thurs only. The two spin-offs, The Ropers and Three's a Crowd, will be included in the rotation! How so? When the Ropers move to their new house after episode 52 ("An Anniversary Surprise"), you'll see episodes of The Ropers in the second half-hour until it finishes its 28 episode run and then we get back to Three's Company in this half-hour (the first half-hour will remain Three's Company, of course). Then later when Three's Company finishes its 172 episode run, all 22 episodes of Three's a Crowd will air, likely in the first half-hour, while the second half-hour will start with Three's Company from the beginning. It's a nice and unique way of scheduling these spin-offs and all fans will be pleased for sure!
Anyway, back to the weekday line-up, Fridays in this 5pm hour will be two episodes of the Ted Knight sitcom Too Close for Comfort. Then Mon-Sat in the 6pm hour its two episodes of Bea Arthur's Maude. In the weekday 7pm hour, we get back-to-back dyno-mite episodes of Good Times. The primetime line-up from 8pm-12am will air Sun-Thurs, with an hour each of Sanford & Son, All in the Family, Married...with Children and The Nanny. At 12am, Mon-Thurs will see more of Three's Company with the two spin-offs mixed in like they will be at 5pm. Too Close for Comfort will air in the 12am hour on Sunday nights. From 1am-5am more movies will air on Sun-Thurs.
Fridays and Saturdays will see a block of Three Stooges and Benny Hill in primetime. On Fridays, Three Stooges will air from 8pm-11pm and on Saturdays it will air from 11pm-2am. Meanwhile, the British comedy Benny Hill will air from 11pm-2am on Fridays and 8pm-11pm on Saturdays. The Monkees will air on both Fridays and Saturday nights in the 2am hour following this block and then a movie at 3am.
On weekend mornings and afternoons, we also have some variations. A movie starts both days off at 5am, followed by children's programming on Saturdays from 7am-1pm such as Totally Tooned In and classic Columbia westerns on Sundays such as Adventures of Rin Tin Tin. Sitcoms follow at 1pm, with Too Close for Comfort on Saturdays and Here Come the Brides on Sundays in the hour. Then both days will be the same from 2pm-6pm with an hour each of Gidget, The Flying Nun, The Monkees and The Partridge Family. As we mentioned earlier, Maude airs at 6pm, like it does Mon-Fri, but on Sundays we get Good Times in the 6pm hour. At 7pm, we get Archie Bunker and family in All in the Family on Saturdays and Too Close for Comfort on Sundays. The rest of the weekend line-up we mentioned earlier.
All of these shows are from Sony Pictures Television or DLT Entertainment. They will be adding in series frequently from these libraries, so stay tuned. We will certainly have more information on this network as we get closer to the launch. We will let you know what the first day will feature on Jan. 1 with classic first episodes, when we get the highlights. For now, you might want to take a look at a video preview of this network and browse their website for affiliate information.
View and discuss Antenna TV's launch schedule. Keep it right here as always for news and information on this network. We will be the first to announce anything, I'm sure!

Moving on to other news, fueled by skyrocketing ratings, significantly younger audience and a major expansion of programming featuring its first original movie (The Passenger) and first original special (Chiller 13: The Decade's Scariest Movie Moments) Chiller today announced a creative redesign effective October 27 in time for Halloween! Chiller is introducing a new logo and on-air look, embracing its tagline, Scary Good.
Joss Whedon's iconic Emmy Award-winning Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar and aired on The WB/UPN from 1997-2003, will join the Chiller schedule Sunday, November 7, beginning with a 24-hour marathon at 6AM (ET/PT). On Monday, November 8, the series will assume its regular time slot weekdays at 6PM and 7PM (along with 7am & 8am) (ET/PT). There will be a Thanksgiving Day marathon as well starting at 6am. And the series will remain on Viacom's LOGO as well.
Starting this December, Chiller's programming will be boosted by its first ever original special, Chiller 13: The Decade's Scariest Movie Moments, a countdown special featuring pop culture mavens and horror movie experts looking back on the top scary movie moments of the past 10 years. Chiller's very first original movie The Passenger, based on the novella by best-selling author Jack Ketchum, is slated to premiere in Spring 2011.
Various other series air on weekdays at different times like Monsters, Millenium, Dark Shadows, Twilight Zone, Night Visions, Ripley's Believe It Or Not, Freddy's Nightmares, Forever Knight, Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, Poltergeist: The Legacy, Friday the 13th and more. Saturday in primetime has Fear Factor, while Sundays has Masters of Horror.