# .2 Network



## Glen_D (Oct 21, 2006)

About a year ago, a new digital multicast service called .2 Network was announced with a scheduled launch date of December 2008. One of the affiliates was to be a station in my local market.

But ten months after the scheduled launch, we still don't have this service, and apparently, it hasn't started anywhere, yet.

Anyone know the status of .2 Network? Does anyone actually have this service up and running in their local market? If it isn't operational yet, I have to wonder if it can really become a viable service.


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## LarryFlowers (Sep 22, 2006)

It took about 2 minutes on Google to find all of this information:

1. .2 network has a website... on that website they provide NO information about where they can be seen, only that you should contact your local provider. One would think that were they actually on the air somewhere they would be shouting about it.

2. The San Antonio affiliate was to have been KSAT TV, whose web site also shows no information about their pkans for .2 Network.

3. A list of all the planned affiliates for .2 can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.2_Network as well as a record of their delays. It may well be that they have ceen the victim of the delays in the digital transition and the general economy.


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## lwilli201 (Dec 22, 2006)

Another commercial tv outlet. 14 minutes of commercials per hour. :nono:

http://dot2network.com/national/press/firstaffils

Looks like it will have some good movies. I am oiling up the fast forward button. :lol:

Will have to see how an additional HD channel will degrade the primary channel.


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## Glen_D (Oct 21, 2006)

So, it sounds like .2 hasn't started yet.



LarryFlowers said:


> One would think that were they actually on the air somewhere they would be shouting about it.


You would think they would make an announcement, and maybe they would on a national level, but in my local market, I would say multicast services have been added with little, if any fanfare. Most just showed up unannounced when scanning channels. Station websites also provide little or no information on these multicast channels, save for a programming guide. YMMV in your particular market.

Makes me wonder if the local affiliates of major networks have some kind of pact with those networks not to promote multicast channels?


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## Jon Ellis (Dec 28, 2003)

I have worked for three big-four affiliates and I've never heard of any such restriction. In fact, one of them actively promoted their subchannel. I have also seen promos for subchannels on many other stations.

More likely, stations decide they don't want to use their resources to promote a channel until it reaches a majority of households in the market. Since cable/satellite penetration is roughly 85% (national figure), adding an extra multicast channel alone only reaches about 15% of households. Even if it's added on digital cable, in most cases it still doesn't reach more than half the households in the market since satellite doesn't carry it.


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