When CBS launched CBS HQ, a 24/7 free to view ad supported post cable network in February 2018, it signalled the establishment of the ad supported post cable network. CBS has already been running CBSN, a free to view ad supported 24/7 news channel, so the addition of the sports channel shows that the 'chrome and glass' portion of the industry is on board with this succession to the basic cable network.
Now comes the independent portion of the industry. TVS Television Network, most prolific in the independent broadcast days of the 1960's-80's, but not a player in the basic cable network years, has established two former basic cable network genres... TVS Classic Sports Network.Com and TVS Nostalgia Network.Com, as their first two free to view, ad supported post cable networks.
Just as CBS has used the strength of it's news division and sports division to launch their channels, TVS is utilizing it's 10,000 title classic TV library to establish their niche in the industry. While CBS is trying to expand it's news and sports news consumption to younger viewers, TVS is squarely aiming at the Baby Boomer audience.
To that effect, TVS Ad Sales.Com has been estsablished under the auspices of advertising sales marketing icon Jerry Wolff. It was Jerry Wolff who estsablished the ad sales category for regional cable sports networks back in the day. Signature deals with Budweiser and Goodyear launched the business, and Wolff eventually represented most of the regional sports networks as they rolled out over the firsts decade of that business.
Later, it was Wolff who brought the Nostalgia Network to prominence when he tripled the ad sales for that cable network, only to see new ownership guy the concept, discard the name, and try a series of failed efforts to gain traction inthe cable network universe.
With his combined experiences with the regional sports networks and the original Nostalgia Network, Wolff is uniquely able to carry the water for TVS Classic Sports Network.Com and TVS Nostalgia Network.Com.
Most importantly, the advant of the indepenent treatment of post cable television networks is the return of the opportunities for national companies without national advertising campaigns to rejoin that fray. Back in the day, smaller advertisers like Turtle Wax, Opichi Wines, Norelco, Rapid Shave, Crazy Glue, Heet auto fluids, and Stroh's Beer would utililize independent TV networks such as TBS, Mizlou, and Hughes to get their place in the American national TV advertising landscape. That opportunity diminished as the basic cable networks - often founded by independent companies and always featuring niche programming - became homoginized and assimilated into the chrome and glass corporate world. Gone were the days that a foreign company like Sharp Electronics, or Quasar, could establish a beach head of business in the USA through the use of the 'off networks'.
Today, that advertising opportunity is back, thanks to TVS and Jerry Wolff.
