Decades/MeTV - Is There A Connection?

[Mysterious Benefactor]

Something that I find interesting is that over the past year or so Decades has been showing a lot of programs that have previously been shown on MeTV. Of course, the most glaring example for us is DS - but the latest example is Kathy Cody's Love American Style. I wonder if Decades and MeTV are owned and/or operated by the same entity? Or it's just a coincidence that suddenly both networks have access to the same shows?

[patrickm]

After doing some research, the ownership question is yes and no...but mostly yes.

ME TV is owned by Weigel broadcasting and distributed by MGM. Decades is a joint ownership venture with Weigel broadcasting and CBS. When CBS started Start TV, they switched their owned and operated affiliates from Decades to Start. That's why a lot of big cities no longer receive Decades. Here in Orlando, our CBS affiliate which isn't owned by CBS still carries Decades. Our ME TV affiliate here is the NBC affiliate, so ME TV  has more flexibility in getting local stations to carry it. Like Antenna TV, Cozi TV, Start TV and others, they aren't true cable networks and must be broadcast digitally by some network affiliate locally then can be carried by your local cable system.

As far as programming goes, some older shows have fallen into public domain but I suppose it depends on what sort of syndication deal is worked out whether a channel gets it exclusively or if it can run on other channels. I remember a few years ago some local stations that were paying big bucks for the latest sitcoms actually blocked the same shows if they were airing on like TBS or WGN but that went by the wayside. As a consumer, I think the more choices available the better...but we don't necessarily need I Love Lucy on 10 channels..lol.