SitcomsOnline.com News Blog

As we mentioned earlier this year, USA Network has acquired CSI. USA Network will have non-exclusive rights to seasons 1-10 (shared with Spike TV) when they premiere the show next month. Starting Fall 2011, USA Network will also have the exclusive off-network rights to premiere CSI Seasons 11 and beyond. Then finally, beginning September 2014, USA Network will be the exclusive home of CSI, as Spike TV will lose the rights to the series.
So we knew all of that, now to where CSI will air on USA Network! CSI will join the schedule on Friday, January 14, 2011 with a 24-hour launch marathon starting at 6am! The series will then air every Friday from 8pm-1am ET/PT starting Jan. 21. The rest of the USA Network schedule will remain the same with blocks of many shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent, House, NCIS, and Law & Order: SVU. There will also be continued airings of Walker Texas Ranger, JAG, Monk and sitcoms Becker and Wings.
Original series wise, January rings in the year with the mid-season premieres of returning series White Collar and Royal Pains and the launch of USA's newest offering, Fairly Legal. Seasons 2.5 of both White Collar (7 episodes) and Royal Pains (6 episodes) premiere on Tuesday, Jan. 18 at 10pm and Thursday, Jan. 20 at 9pm, respectively. Royal Pains will be the lead-in for new drama Fairly Legal, which premieres Thursday, Jan. 20 at 10pm. Prior season episodes will air over 3 weeks on Tuesday mornings for White Collar, which includes a White Collar season 2 marathon on Tuesday, Jan. 18 from 6:30am-2:30pm to platform the season premiere later that night. Two months later, a White Collar season 2.5 marathon will air on Tuesday, March 8 from 6am-2pm to platform the season finale later that night at 10pm. For Royal Pains, prior season episodes will air over 3 weeks on Thursday mornings starting January 6 to promote the return and a Royal Pains "Ladies Man-a-thon" will air on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 6 from 10am-12am. The season finale will be on Thursday, Feb. 24. And finally, new series Fairly Legal will have 10 episodes, including the pilot. A mid-season marathon will air on Saturday, Feb. 26 from 9am-1pm (prior to the first week without a Royal Pains lead-in). The series will continue to air though Thursday, March 24.
And finally, we will cover marathon stunts for USA Network in January. USA welcomes 2011 with a weekend of marathons of NCIS and Law & Order: SVU! The NCIS "Resolve to Watch" marathon will air on Saturday, Jan. 1 from 6am-4am, while the SVU "Resolve to Watch" marathon will air on Sunday, Jan. 2 from 6am-4am. An NCIS marathon will air on MLK Jr. Day, Monday, January 17 from 6am-9pm. NCIS marathons will also air on Sunday, Jan. 16 from 9am-11pm and Sunday, Jan. 30 from 12pm-11pm. A Law & Order: SVU "Happy Birthday Mariska" marathon is planned for Sunday, Jan. 23 from 12pm-12am.
That about covers USA Network January 2011, series wise. Stay with us for any further updates, but as of now CSI will air Fridays in primetime on USA Network.

Moving on to Antenna TV, with less than a month to its Jan. 1 launch, we now have affiliate substation numbers details for the digital service. In New York City, Antenna TV will be free over-the-air on WPIX's 11.3 substation. With this addition, THIS tv moves to the new 11.4 substation, while Estrella remains on the 11.2 substation. In Los Angeles, Antenna TV will be on KTLA's 5.2 substation, as THIS tv moves to the new 5.3 substation. As previously announced, in Chicago Antenna TV will be on WGN's 9.2 substation. Antenna TV will be available in 32 markets so far, including the 19 Tribune markets. View the stations so far for launch. Antenna TV will of course be available on many cable services in these markets as well, you just have to ask your cable company if they will be carrying it. Call and e-mail your local cable service providers and ask! Request it, if they have no plans! Word is Comcast will be adding it in many of these markets, including channel 353 in Chicago.
50 million homes will be reached in this first wave of station launches. Antenna TV also announced that legendary announcer Gary Owens is the voice of the channel. View some of our previous stories on Antenna TV, including the New Year's Launch Weekend marathons of Three Stooges & Benny Hill and the actual regular schedule featuring series such as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, Father Knows Best, Married...with Children, Maude, Good Times, Three's Company, Too Close for Comfort, The Partridge Family, Dennis the Menace and Burns & Allen.
Get ready for Antenna TV by watching some promos and join their Facebook page. Jan. 1 can't come fast enough!