TV LAND Turns to Movies to Save Network

Cable network, TV LAND, has committed to hosting a movie night. After 11 years on the air the inclusion of movies is an attempt to save the channel from failure.

On April 29th 1996 a new cable channel aired named TV LAND. TV Land, owned by MTV Networks, is programmed with re-run shows mainly from the 50's, 60's, 70's and a few from the 80's. Such shows consist of classics like: I Love Lucy, Gunsmoke, The Andy Griffith Show, Green Acres, The Aadams Family, Knight Rider, and many more. However what was once an interesting concept quickly became a consistent low score in the ratings.

"Friday Night Movies" is the title for this movie night event and will kick of this month. The first batch of movies will be shown in succession and consist of films such as: White Men Can't Jump, Weekend at Bernies, and Basic Instinct. Such titles may seem odd to fans of the network who tune in for their classic re-runs only to find Sharon Stone killing people with an ice pick. However, this same group of people apparently isn't large enough or dedicated enough to help the dropping percentages that the Nielsens rating system tracks. Future movies to be aired will be: Pleasantville, Caddyshack, National Lampoons Vacation, The Blues Brothers, and Beetlejuice.

Tv Land will not be paying out too much money to air these movies, due to the fact that most are older titles that have already been circulated through other cable networks. The movies will only be available to Tv Land for a short period of time, sometimes mere weeks, which will also cut the costs for obtaining airing rights. Films from all of the major studios have been purchased, however Tv Land will only be looking for titles that are not in their first run on cable networks.