Sinclair Puts Online Video Over-the-Air With Upcoming TBD Network
Online video is watched on a variety of platforms, and now it will be watched over-the-air (OTA), as well. Sinclair Broadcast Group announced the launch of TBD, an OTA channel that will target millennial viewers with content created by online media companies including Legendary Digital Networks, Jukin Video, Whistle Sports, Canvas Media Studios, and others.
The network will debut early in 2017 on Sinclair-owned digital subchannels. Sinclair will work with QYou, a company that curates online video for TV, to program the network. Sinclair didn't announce any original programming, so it sounds like all shows will be repurposed.
Besides being available OTA, TBD will be viewable online, as well. It's the same platform agnostic approach that Sinclair used with Comet, a science fiction and supernatural network it launched in 2015. Comet is available in 65 million homes, or 60 percent of U.S. households with a TV. TBD will offer online videos in a variety of genres, including comedy, lifestyle, e-sports, music, web series, and viral hits.
The launch will be a departure for what's called the multicast market, which currently focuses on repurposing classic TV shows and movies, notes Chris Ripley, Sinclair's CEO. "With the launch of TBD, we aim to pair the very best premium digital-first content with the unmatched branding power of traditional television," he says.
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