Country United States Parent organization Katz Broadcasting Founded 3 April 2014 Motto Television with Backbone | Owner Grit Media, LLC Founder Jonathan Katz Launch date 18 August 2014 | |
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Type Digital broadcast television network
(Movies) Availability Nationwide via OTA digital television
(covering 93% of the U.S.) Slogan Television with Backbone Key people Jonathan Katz (president/CEO, Katz Broadcasting)
Bill Cox (SVP of programming, Grit) Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia, United States Profiles | ||
Grit tv network top 5 facts
Grit is an American digital multicast television network that is owned by Katz Broadcasting. The network features classic TV series and feature films targeted at men between the ages of 25 and 54 years old.
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The network is available in many media markets via the digital subchannels of broadcast television stations and on the digital tiers of select cable providers through a local affiliate of the network.
Originally, Katz sold the network to affiliated TV stations via ad split but by October 2015 had moved to paying carriage fees in exchange for distributing the network's ad inventory.1 Grit used direct response advertising as a meter of viewers before switching to Nielsen rating C-3.3 It is available on Dish Network channel 217.
History
Grit was announced by Katz Broadcasting along with a sister network Escape on April 3, 2014, with a formal launch scheduled for that summer with initial affiliates announced at this time being Univision Communications owned stations. On August 11, 2014, Katz announced that the two networks would launch simultaneously on August 18. Grit launched at Noon Eastern Time on that date, with the 1952 film High Noon as the network's inaugural broadcast, leading off a week-long festival of John Wayne films.
Katz estimated, based on direct response advertising business by September 2015, the network had over 250,000 prime time viewer and available in 91 million homes and 81% of the country. At that time, Grit along with its sister network, Escape, were signing up for national ratings from Nielsen. Previously handling the network's direct response advertising, Marathon Ventures would continue after the change over with advertising and sponsorship sales.
Programming
Grit's program schedule is a mix of action/adventure television series such as Sgt. Preston of the Yukon and Lassie (particularly the U.S. Forest Service era of the program), westerns such as Laramie, Walker, Texas Ranger, and Zane Grey Theatre, and movies encompassing all of the aforementioned genres.
Katz Broadcasting president and CEO Jonathan Katz based the demographic-targeted concept of Escape and Grit after Bounce TV, a network Katz co-founded with Martin Luther King III and Andrew Young in 2011 that is targeted at African American audiences. Katz stated Escape and Grit are "the country’s first ever male-centric and female-centric broadcast networks," featuring different programming from other classic television multicast networks that Katz referred to as "generic brands with generic names, created by studios to serve the studios."
Movies
Grit's program schedule features an extensive library of films through multi-year program licensing agreements with several major film studios: Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Affiliates
As of June 2016, Grit has current or pending affiliation agreements with television stations covering approximately 78% of the United States.
When the network was first announced, Grit entered into an affiliation agreement with Univision Communications, which launched the network in 24 markets served by a station owned by the group or operated through local marketing agreements with Entravision Communications – giving Grit affiliates in 12 of the 20 largest U.S. television markets (including markets such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth). The network immediately sought carriage on the digital subchannels of television stations owned by other broadcasting companies; on June 17, 2014, Katz signed group deals to carry Grit on stations owned and/or operated by Raycom Media in 26 markets.
On July 17, 2014, Katz announced affiliation deals with the Cox Media Group to carry Grit on WFTV in Orlando and KMYT-TV in Tulsa; as well as KJWP in the Philadelphia market, and Citadel Communications-owned stations in Providence (WLNE-TV) and Lincoln (KLKN). It also expanded its affiliation deal with Univision Communications to add stations in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Phoenix to the network's originally announced Univision-owned charter affiliates.
On October 9, 2014, the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that it would carry the network on stations it owns and/or operates in 47 markets.
On November 16, 2015, Katz announced an affiliation deal with Media General adding the network to five more markets.
On June 15, 2016 Katz announced a more affiliation deal with Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Cordillera Communications's KATC-TV.