E.W. Scripps Co. to Launch Doozy and Defy TV Multicast Networks
E.W. Scripps will launch two digital multicast networks, Doozy and Defy TV, in July, taking advantage of the broadcaster’s expanded bandwidth for channels following its acquisition of Ion Media.
Doozy is aimed at women in the 25-54 demographic who are big consumers of reality TV shows such as “Storage Wars,” “Married at First Sight,” “Hoarders” and “Little Women: LA.” Defy TV is aimed at men in the same demographic with unscripted series about everyday people and those with adventurous professions including “Pawn Stars,” “Forged in Fire,” “American Pickers” and “The Curse of Oak Island.”
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Doozy and Defy TV are set to bow July 1. Both channels will be available in more than 75% of U.S. TV households. That’s an important threshold for commanding national advertising deals.
“These new networks solidify Scripps’ position as the leader in free TV, serving viewers across the country with premium programming they can access on any television set,” said Lisa Knutson, president of Scripps Networks. “Over-the-air television is growing rapidly, as more and more consumers ‘self-bundle’ by combining free television with subscription video-on-demand services. Doozy and Defy TV join our other networks in providing consumers even more entertaining, engaging – and free – programming. And they reinforce our ability to provide advertisers with effective and diverse reach.”
Doozy and Defy TV join Scripps’ large roster of multicast nets — ad-supported free channels that run as secondary offerings to Scripps’ mothership broadcast TV stations in major cities such as Baltimore, Cleveland, Denver, Indianapolis and Detroit. Scripps’ $2.65 billion acquisition of Ion brought the company the Ion national network service and 62 TV stations serving top markets including New York Los Angeles and Chicago.
Other multicast nets that run on Scripps’ stations include Bounce, Laff, Grit, Court TV, Court TV Mystery and Newsy.
(Pictured: “Married At First Sight”)
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