New Digital Subchannel from Sony Called getTV Launching in Fall 2013; Final Season of Futurama Begins in June on Comedy Central

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

New Digital Subchannel from Sony Called getTV Launching in Fall 2013; Final Season of Futurama Begins in June on Comedy Central

The digital subchannel space is now more crowded. We told you about Movies! launching on Fox owned networks digital subchannels later this spring (late May), now we have another movie-themed network, Sony Pictures Television (SPT) Networks announced plans to launch getTV, a new US digital broadcast television network airing classic movies, in the fall of 2013. The third wholly owned Sony-branded channel in the US, getTV will premier on the digital subchannels of Univision Television Group owned television stations. SPT is in active discussions with other stations groups in advance of launch. getTV will bring viewers the best movies from Hollywood's golden era. Programming will be primarily from the Sony Pictures library, featuring more than 3,500 films, including 12 Best Picture Academy Award® winners. A sampling of movies from the library include: Lawrence of Arabia, It Happened One Night, and The Bridge on the River Kwai. getTV will be carried on the digital subchannels on Univision Television Group owned television stations in 24 markets, including 17 of the top 20 DMAs. These DMAs account for 44% of all US television households, representing more than 50 million homes.

getTV will join the new Movies! and existing networks which air classic TV and/or movies like Antenna TV, MeTV, ThisTV, Bounce TV, Cozi TV and RTV in this space. We'll have more on this network soon, but it doesn't appear it will be newsworthy for us since there will be no sitcoms or TV series like on Antenna TV, MeTV, ThisTV, Cozi TV and RTV. But of course stay with us for continued updates on this network and all of those other ones as well.

Futurama rockets into space for the (second) final time as the Emmy(R) Award-winning series will conclude its long history with this summer's all-new season. The thirteen-episode summer run will premiere on Comedy Central with back-to-back episodes on Wednesday, June 19 at 10:00pm with the emotional series finale scheduled for Wednesday, September 4. Special guest stars for the final season include Larry Bird, Dan Castellaneta, Sarah Silverman, George Takei, Adam West and Burt Ward. The show's entire original voice cast will be returning. Including the yet-to-air season, this will bring the total number of episodes in Futurama's storied history to 140. Comedy Central will celebrate the final season of Futurama with a host of bonus content on cc.com including weekly episode previews, highlights and photo galleries featuring concept artwork from the upcoming episodes. The site also contains clips from the entire library of Futurama episodes and features exclusive interviews with the show's cast, as well as with Matt Groening and David X. Cohen, plus a "making of an episode" mini-documentary. Later this month, Comedy Central will begin its summer-long celebration of the final season with the launch of "Countdown to Futurama" on Facebook, where its fan base has grown from one million "likes" prior to its 2010 resurrection on Comedy Central to over 26 million "likes" today, making it one of the top television pages on Facebook. The "Countdown" celebration will feature new and exclusive content daily, including clips, episode stills, character designs and more. In addition, the celebration will extend to the Comedy Central Tumblr which will offer a "Futurama Fanarama" feature spotlighting fan tributes to the series and its final season.

The series first aired on Fox from 1999-2003 and then was brought back in 2007 with four direct-to-DVD movies that subsequently aired as 30-minute episodes on Comedy Central. Based on their success, Comedy Central ordered new seasons of the series which made a triumphant return to television in June 2010. Over the course of its storied run, Futurama has earned six Emmy(R) Awards--including two Outstanding Animated Program, seven Annie Awards, two Environmental Media Awards and two Writer's Guild of America Awards.

Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Thursday, July 3

Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - "A Sportsbook and a Breakup" (CBS, 8:00PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Mandy finds out Meemaw runs an illegal sportsbook and decides she wants in on the action. Meanwhile, Georgie struggles to keep Mandy’s new job a secret.

Ghosts - "His Girl Shiki" (CBS, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Pete makes good on his promise to find someone for Sasappis by bringing in a wisecracking 1940s screenwriter who also has the ability to roam.

Bob's Burgers - "The Shell Game" (Fox, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Bob competes in a competition to inherit Mr. Fischoeder's 100-year-old tortoise.

Grimsburg - "Molly" (Fox, 8:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
When Flute forgets to buy Stan a gift for his birthday, he steals an AI doll from the evidence locker; Wynona is forced to confront her ex-boyfriend.

Family Guy - "Row v. Wade" (Fox, 9:00PM ET/PT)
Brian wins a boat on "The Price is Right" and decides to sail to Texas to help women seeking legal abortions.

The Great North - "Silence of the Dams Adventure" (Fox, 9:30PM ET/PT) (Repeat)
Honeybee accidentally revives an old Lone Moose curse, sending a terrifying creature after her and the Tobins.

Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of June 30)

Thursday, July 3

Steve Martin (Only Murders in the Building) - Catch Steve on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Zach Cherry (Duncanville/I Feel Bad/Crashing) - Zach is a guest on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Joel McHale (Animal Control/The Great Indoors/Community) - Joel appears on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Sandy Honig (Three Busy Debras), Mitra Jouhari (Clone High/Three Busy Debras) and Alyssa Stonoha (Three Busy Debras) - Sandy, Mitra and Alyssa are guests on a repeat of After Midnight at 12:37am on CBS.
Rob Lowe (Unstable/The Grinder/Parks and Recreation/A New Kind of Family) - Rob discusses cancer research and how it changed his life with GMA lifestyle contributor Lori Bergamotto on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Laurence Fishburne (black-ish) - Laurence chats with the ladies of The View on a repeat on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT.
Justin Bartha (The New Normal/Teachers) - Justin talks about Nuked on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am and on CBS Mornings Plus in the 9am hour.
Brooke Shields (Suddenly Susan) - Brooke guest co-hosts NBC's Today in the 10am hour.
Adam Scott (Ghosted/Veep/Parks and Recreation/Party Down), Britt Lower (Ghosted/Man Seeking Woman/Big Lake) and Ben Stiller (Arrested Development) - Adam, Britt and Ben talk about Severance on a repeat of The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.