No Equity Broadcasting isnt coming back...but one of their ideas does live on
backstory (history lesson)...for the uneducated or the folks who got into FTA post 2009 Equity Broadcasting was a company based in Little Rock, Arkansas. They owned a bunch of stations across the US (mainly low powered). They ran everything out of Little Rock via the "CASH system" (Central Automated Satellite Headend) so in most cases the stations only had the transmitter at the site. They were FTA friendly as they broadcast most of the feeds via 3 transponders on 123W KU Band (at the time G10...now G18). They also had a transponder on 95W C-Band for some affiliates who required C-Band requirements (minimal rain fade).
The reason FTA folks loved it was they had different affiliations. During the "peak" (good) times they had affiliates of ABC, FOX, WB, ION, and UPN. Having stations across the US allowed FTA folks to timeshift programming and have different syndicated shows or sporting events. At one time there were 5 or 6 baseball teams that had OTA games on Equity stations. They also started what was called RTN (now RTV) and had programming that rivaled MeTV or AntennaTV (at the time MeTV was a Chicago only station and AntennaTV hadnt started). But due to losing money they had to give up the good programming for RTN. Also not going with CW when WB & UPN closed up was another death nail. They went with My Network. When they dropped RTN that was pretty much the end (they had sold RTN to Henry Luken who was the Equity head boss but went and started his own company). They had to scramble to fill time with lesser networks and public domain films.
They filed bankruptcy and sold off most of the stations in mid 2009. The issue for them was the DTV conversion as the full powered stations they didnt have digital facilities built so their full powered stations went off the air. The low powered stations did stay on until they were sold.
Anywho back to the topic
I read that Soul of the South is now using the CASH system (they are based in Little Rock)
SNN purchased assets from the bankrupted Equity Media including the studio and production facilities of KKYK-TV and the C.A.S.H. system
So Equity lives on...sort of
backstory (history lesson)...for the uneducated or the folks who got into FTA post 2009 Equity Broadcasting was a company based in Little Rock, Arkansas. They owned a bunch of stations across the US (mainly low powered). They ran everything out of Little Rock via the "CASH system" (Central Automated Satellite Headend) so in most cases the stations only had the transmitter at the site. They were FTA friendly as they broadcast most of the feeds via 3 transponders on 123W KU Band (at the time G10...now G18). They also had a transponder on 95W C-Band for some affiliates who required C-Band requirements (minimal rain fade).
The reason FTA folks loved it was they had different affiliations. During the "peak" (good) times they had affiliates of ABC, FOX, WB, ION, and UPN. Having stations across the US allowed FTA folks to timeshift programming and have different syndicated shows or sporting events. At one time there were 5 or 6 baseball teams that had OTA games on Equity stations. They also started what was called RTN (now RTV) and had programming that rivaled MeTV or AntennaTV (at the time MeTV was a Chicago only station and AntennaTV hadnt started). But due to losing money they had to give up the good programming for RTN. Also not going with CW when WB & UPN closed up was another death nail. They went with My Network. When they dropped RTN that was pretty much the end (they had sold RTN to Henry Luken who was the Equity head boss but went and started his own company). They had to scramble to fill time with lesser networks and public domain films.
They filed bankruptcy and sold off most of the stations in mid 2009. The issue for them was the DTV conversion as the full powered stations they didnt have digital facilities built so their full powered stations went off the air. The low powered stations did stay on until they were sold.
Anywho back to the topic
I read that Soul of the South is now using the CASH system (they are based in Little Rock)SNN purchased assets from the bankrupted Equity Media including the studio and production facilities of KKYK-TV and the C.A.S.H. system
So Equity lives on...sort of
