January 2006. The start of the year meant a new company had kind of just popped in the media world. That being, Viacom. That's a weird thing to say, but in 2005, Viacom and CBS broke up, a marriage they felt was a failure. (They still had the same arching major shareholder though.) CBS Corp was the old Viacom, the new Viacom took the cable assets. There's one asset that was created by the old Viacom, that would be UPN. UPN had turned turned 10 in 2005, it made it!
UPN had a competitor, the WB network, owned primarily by Time Warner. In the world of pie (stay with me) network TV was 6 major slices. (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN, the WB) But now let's pretend that pie wasn't cut in equal shares, because it's not, and some have the bigger slices. (ABC, CBS,NBC, and even FOX) So two have to fight over the remaining smaller slices, well, why not combine two smaller pieces into one bigger piece. (This analogy is weird.) That was the idea of the announcement on January 24, 2006. CBS and Warner announced that they were shutting down their networks and working together on a new network called The CW (CBS -Warner) The media called it a merger but it was more a combing of resources and making a subsidiary company/network.
The idea was that UPN and WB were fighting each other, plus cable, plus other broadcast networks, so instead of fighting each other they join together like a World War and fight the others. Then, it became a gym class, where shows with the better perceived strength would get line up and the rest would be cast into the sea of sadness. Also the stronger stations , since WB and UPN, in most markets were on two different stations, why not put your network on the stronger station? (There's more that soon) I grew up in an area that had no CW station on broadcast TV, it was piped in on cable from the nearby city (Denver), we had a UPN station that launched in 1999. (KXTU) The CW ended up on that UPN station meaning the people without cable could now watch the final season of "7th Heaven". (oh)
Let's go back to the WB, back when it launched, Warner didn't own any broadcast stations at all. Most networks have a core of stations owned by themselves, (Owned and Operated Stations or O&O's) Viacom and Chris Craft had this for UPN in the early days (more on that soon). Most networks have owned stations in the top major markets: New York , Los Angeles, and Chicago. This is a heritage thing but also a core for the biggest audiences of the three biggest time zones in the US. The WB had to make an agreement with Tribune Broadcasting to distribute their network on their stations which included : WPIX-11 New York, KTLA-5 Los Angeles, and WGN -9 Chicago, plus other stations. They were the key stations for the WB. WGN's cable feed aired WB from 1995-1999 for those that didn't have a station. Meanwhile, UPN didn't have that problem at the start. In New York and LA Chris Craft owned WWOR- AND KCOP ,plus few other stations, but Viacom, the other UPN parent company owned stations as well.
In 1999, Viacom wanted to own CBS, after that , thanks to new rules where you have duopolies (two stations owned by the same company in the same market) in many markets with other rules applied. Viacom also made an ultimatum with Chris Craft: Buy UPN fully or sell it to us. Chris Craft decided to sue and try and stop the Viacom purchase of CBS. This didn't work. C.C couldn't find someone who wanted to run UPN with them so they sold to Viacom. But wait the stations? C.C owned those and found a different buyer: FOX.
Either C.C wasn't intentionally going to sell them, Viacom didn't think to buy them, or this was a power spite move they sold these stations like KCOP, WWOR, KUTP (but not KTVX or KMOL) to FOX (Viacom did end up getting what is now KBCW-TV, so? Victory?) This means that a company that owns a broadcast network owns affiliates of a network owned by someone else. (FOX later also bought WPWR-TV in Chicago from Newsweb, this was also a UPN station). By default, the largest owned station in UPN from the parent company was market 4, Philadelphia's WPSG-TV.
Any speculation that FOX would just up and kill UPN's reach did not happen. In 2003, they renewed the contract with UPN for 4 more years (source) which math is a sign here.
This is the story of My Network TV. When the CW was announced an automatic agreement with Tribune landed the top 3 markets plus many others (like Denver) to a 10-year agreement with the CW.(Bold to assume that 10 years later the CW would exist, I mean yeah it did but, bold) This meant that the CW while, not owning their own stations in these markets did have some stable footing for 10 years. In markets where CBS owned the UPN station they ended up with the CW, except in Boston and Miami, while Tribune's WB stations ended up with the CW, except in Philadelphia and Seattle. Hold on, what about FOX? Apparently, that 4 year agreement with UPN could be voided if no UPN existed (guy taps forehead). They were left out in the cold. FOX took this not well. Most of the FOX UPN stations were branded as UPN Number and maybe UPN (City name) like WWOR was UPN 9. Quickly FOX removed all references to UPN on their stations WWOR's logo was cut to a "9" the UPN box removed. UPN was dead to them.
It wasn't just UPN stations owned by FOX many UPN and WB around the country were going to be left network-less. The idea was maybe they would go back to be indepdent stations. (KTXA in Dallas actually did) FOX had another idea.
February 22, 2006. My Network TV. The name is kind of stupid, but can't throw stones at it too much. Around this time, Myspace had taken off as a big social media site and Newscorp (then owners of FOX) had bought it. This network's name is from that idea, maybe. ( https://www.nexttv.com/news/news-corp-unveils-my-network-tv-78935) Makes it feel personal, like hey look CBS isn't your network, we are?! Don't touch!
So, you got you a network? That doesn't impress me much, you have to air stuff. They were going to use UPN's 10 hours, 2 hours a night, 5 nights a week format then add one more night for Saturday. (The former UPN stations would lose a weekend night of couple hour's syndication, while the former WB stations would be getting Sunday night back in exchange) It doesn't seem FOX just randomly got mad that the CW was announced and also iced them out, because they had plans for syndication version of English language telenovelas.
Paul Buccieri, the head of Twentith television (the then FOX owned syndication studio) thought that maybe audiences wanted soap programming but telenovela styled formats but in English for those who might not speak Spanish. This is around the same era where a new network soap hadn't been launched since 1999. The idea was to syndicate them which was bold one, as first-run scripted shows on syndication as a market were wavering and especially programming that would require stations to clear 1 hour of time to air them.
Unlike daytime soaps in the US, telenovelas usually have shorter runs, so the idea was they were going to run 65 episodes, or 13 weeks of new content then switch to a different series. These were going to be under the umbrella name, Desire . That was moved from the syndication idea to My Network TV. They needed something for the other hour and well those plans never happened. They decided that two was better than one 2 hours of telenovelas 5 nights a week , plus Saturday being a recap night (maybe to allow stations that had sports or something to make up a night) The other show was called Fashion House. The umbrella titles of Desire and Secret Obsessions were removed, (well my night is ruined) and replaced with Desire and Fashion House. (Source) They had big goals, they were like nobody believed Fox would make it and it's been the air almost 20 years by this point, Fox News, the same thing, so they were like magic will strike again. 
Desire to be on TV for a few months at least/ Copyright FOX
It's 2006, let's talk about something My Network was going to innovate in before we get to rest of the story. Their website, was going to have catch up of the shows you watched, a kind of new concept for 2006, and on the TV side, they were going to be an all HD network meaning every show (all 2!) where going to be in HD when other networks hadn't gotten there yet.
They also had to include other series the idea of the 52 week all new episodes was that every 3 months you'd have two new shows and they'd run on the station all year long. No reruns (minus the Saturday clip shows) and no breaks. Each telenovela series would be 65 episodes running 13 weeks. Also cheaper than other network shows (even the CW) The nailed down the concept, they had more stations sign up, like the two Tribune stations passed over for the CW (WHPL and the station now known as KZJO) also the CBS owned UPN station in Miami. (Later Boston joined in too) The former Tribune now Gannett(Tegna) owned station in Atlanta also joined. They also got agreements with others who had stations whom were like oh no! Since this was 2006, there was something new that might have helped the WB and UPN years before if it had existed. Digital Television. Digital Television offered the concept of channel streams having multiple feeds eg: Channel 5 has Channel 5.2. This mean that the CW and My Network TV could end up in markets that UPN and the WB couldn't and have OTA carriage. (Like in my home town, KKTV 11.2 picked up My Network TV)
Even though, Fox owned My Network TV there was really no plans of co-operation. Unless your station was owned by FOX or your local station was co-owned with a FOX affiliate, there was probably no reason to have cross promotion. Not even some sports nationally , though that would have helped if FOX had grabbed some sports. Branding of the stations was simple, like WWOR and KTVD were My 9 and MY 20, which sounds fun. (MY21 Get your own!) My Network TV didn't have a channel bug during national programming, a local station could pop one on if they wanted to.
The launch date, they seemed to want to a) jump a head of all the networks fall premires, b) beat the CW. My Network TV launched on September 5th 2006, the Tuesday after Labor day. This mean that some UPN/WB stations either didn't air the final two weeks of reruns and the WB farewell night , and new Smackdown (UPN) or delayed them to later in the night. Logically it makes sense, have something new when everyone else is on reruns and reality shows, and just kick UPN while it's already down in New York, LA, and Chicago and other areas just for fun. (Sorry WB)
They jumped in the lake first, and found freezing cold water. Maybe people were still on summer moods, maybe they didn't know what My Network TV was, or maybe something but maybe it was a sign. (Also apparently, their sister network FOX, also started early and what was that) (source) The ratings for the first night weren't strong. Neither was Fox or FOX News, they had the long game, they said. Again this network really only became a concept 6 months before, FOX had longer planning, The CW had advantages of taking shows people liked up to their line up. It was going to take some time, all they really needed was some hope.
Telenovelas in English were becoming a thing that networks were kind trying around this point. ABC had a hit adaptation, you may have heard of "Ugly Betty". The idea was to use the stories from shows and try to make their own that would fit in American television style or in English. There are some problems witth idea. The viewers who watch telenovelas in Spanish or in Portuguese in the US, if they spoke English but also those other languages could just continue to watch the Spanish shows because they are the pure original source. (My Network TV wasn't dubbing shows) The fans of these shows were watching what they were already use to; have a format change slightly might be a turn off. That's atleast one problem I could have seen happening.
The format was also different for these shows versus how they are like when watching an original one. I mentioned this earlier, but the 65 episode format, was neat and clean and regular format in the syndication days, but a trim from how many episodes telenovelas can have up to 120 to 200 episodes. They wanted condense the drama and make it work for 3 months then switch shows. They took original shows like Table for Three made their own series and made changes like settings to be in the United States instead of Columbia. Which is not a bad idea, work with what you know. They changed acting to fit what Americans were used to in like Days of our Lives and less heavy drama. Going to back my point above, that might have been a turn off to many telenovela viewers. They were trying to get new people into the market as well, so it's a delicate line. (Source)
CW early ratings weren't going too well either, but My Network was still having some early troubles. They seemed to have a long-term goal. Back in May 2006 they announced what shows they were going to do be doing from 2006 to summer 2007. (Source) The first two series ended their runs as planned in December. Wicked, Wicked, Games and Watch Over Me started on December 6, 2006. Meanwhile things were happening.
In December 2006, there was talks of My Network TV changing strategy. The idea of adding more inexpensive programming like game shows, reality shows, talk shows. The ad model of the station was that the local station got the majority of ad time while network didn't, so the network wasn't making as much money from existing and the low ratings didn't help. (source)
My Network TV got a president in January. (That's their problem) That would be Greg Meidel he had a theory that also kind of makes sense. Thinking that viewers didn't want commit to the nightly watching of a program especially if they wanted to watch something on another network. Daytime soaps in the United States have that model, but US daytime is all stripped like that, Ellen airs 5 days a week at the same time , same bat channel. Primetime, isn't like that. Law and Order doesn't premiere new episodes every single night. (Rerun viewers on cable are different group of thought) If a viewer missed an episode, they could watch on the website or record it, but the commitment to a nightly drama series might be much to some viewers and a turn off. The average viewer was 44, not that mattered. (Source )
By February 2007, changes already happened. Saturday Nights were switched from the recap episodes to feature films and specials. (Good thing there was a Fox movie studio) Would have been interesting if the network went with the idea of Made of TV films, they could have done that, but oh yeah, distracted.
But March 1,2007 would show they were done. They were washing their hands of all scripted programming and ending their telenovelas. They had more shows planned but were scrapped. Just in time for cycle 3, they changed their line up. American Heiress and Saints & Sinners were changed to air in two hour airings on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, later they moved both shows to just Wednesday back to back.
What about the other nights? Monday became IFL night, or the International Fight League, an MMA affair. Tuesday became a movie night after the 2nd change, Wednesday was the soap night, Thursday was movie night , Friday was movie night, Saturday became IFL encore night. Well that's fun and sad at the same time. Eventually the two final telenovelas never finished their runs on TV and were pulled in June 2007.
The plan was dead. I'm not sure if the telenovela format would have made it, maybe they should have tired the original idea of one telenovela then a different show the next hour. It's hard to tell, it was a bold plan, slightly mad, but bold. The idea that was pulled out almost nowhere was pretty interesting too see what they wanted do, and continue. Though, I kind of feel that any real investment wouldn't have come, since it was owned by FOX, the main investment went there, why would FOX want to have a network over take their own network. It might have been doomed from that alone.
My Network TV died, but didn't die. They kind of went odd. They tired shows that probably were rejected by the FOX Reality Channel (Yes that was a thing) They had reruns of random shows they found and even did reruns of "In Living Color" . They did premiere one new scripted comedy series in 2008 part of the 2007-08 season.
This was comedy series starring Flavor Flav and Kelly Perine called "Under One Roof" where they just did "The Odd Couple" but with more stuff. This show and the network weren't affected by the 2008 writers strike. (Wow) That show ran for 13 episodes then they gave up because that was something.
2008's line up was the same with reruns of shows that already aired somewhere else, but mostly just phoning it in. Oh wait, there's something to mention. In February it was announced that the CW was going to drop "WWE SmackDown" and My Network TV was going to pick it up and air on Friday Nights. A home coming for many UPN stations that went to MNT. (Source: https://www.wwe.com/inside/news/smackdownnewhome)
Thanks to that , they beat the CW for once. My Network TV mostly was dead now, in 2009 they admitted it essentially and besides SmackDown it became a syndication network, like Ion but only 2 hours. In February of 2009 they announced the network was not working and also eventually gave up on Saturday night. (quitters) (source)
This new line up was Monday-Thursday night of shows you saw on other networks airing in reruns. Like Law and Order CI. They even later picked up shows like Monk and other USA network shows from cable. The network runs today, it's just all reruns. WWE left them (funny enough FOX has SmackDown now).
Over time many stations gave up on the My Network TV branding or logo (which never has changed from 2006) even ones owned by FOX have mostly dropped the branding. KCOP-TV in LA is now called KCOP 13, MY20 in DC WDCA became FOX 5 Plus. WPHL dropped the branding in 2010 along with KZJO becoming PHL 17 and Joe TV respectively. Stations can even move the channels airings to later or whenever. When KZJO started that branding they moved programming down and now it airs between 1 am to 3am, while local news airs from 8-10pm. Many stations have done this idea of using the network as filler in dead time. (KKTV DT2 became a ME TV station and eventually moved My Network TV to late nights)
My Network TV was probably created in a quick second, and it's amazing it tried. It's kind of interesting their original model tried something different and didn't work, while also doing some innovate things even if small innovation. Maybe it was just too odd for audiences to try out, and just wasn't meant to catch on, It's still running to this day with a model that gives it's stations 2 hours of programming to fill in a gap so it's not out of usefulness but it it's just there. 15 years though, that's something.
That's it for now, tune in next time when our Desire and Secret Obsessions, causes us to play Wicked Wicked Games, so watch over me Saints and Sinners, for we'll be in the Fashion House with the American Heiress. (What?)
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