MTMnet

MTMnet Television Service (commonly shortened to MTMnet) was an American television network that was first launched on broadcast television on January 14, 1993, as a joint venture between the MTM Enterprises division of Argosy Media and the Carlton International subsidiary of Carlton Television, with the former acting as controlling partner. The network principally aired programs targeting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 34.

On January 24, 2007, Argosy Media and Ion Media Networks announced plans to shut down the network and launch MTM later that same year. MTMnet shut down on September 17, 2007, with select programs from both it and competitor Ion (which had shut down two days earlier) moving to MTM when it launched the following day, September 18.

Origins
Much like its competitor PAX TV, MTMnet was summoned in reaction primarily to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s then-recent deregulation of media ownership rules that repealed the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, and partly due to the success of the Fox network (which debuted in October 1986, seven years before MTMnet launched) and first-run syndicated programming during the late 1980s and early 1990s (such as Baywatch, Star Trek: The Next Generation and War of the Worlds), as well as the erosion in ratings suffered by independent television stations due to the growth of cable television and movie rentals. The network can also trace its beginnings to MTMcast, a programming service operated as a joint venture between MTM and the infomercial production subsidiary of Argosy Media.

On January 2, 1993, the MTM Enterprises division of Argosy Media announced the formation of MTMnet, with Carlton holding a minority interest.

Beginnings
MTMnet premiered on January 14, 1993, with a launch special as its first program. Mimsie the Cat appeared on-air as the network's official mascot (with animator Ellen Peck, in person, drawing her out after Aaron the Cat and Sarah argued about who should launch MTMnet during the network's premiere), and would remain as part of the network's branding in one form or another until 2007. Much of the network's branding was based around Argosy/Cairo/MTM locations and characters: the television network's original logo was based on the typography of the iconic MTM logo; network promotions and imaging campaigns for MTMnet were also centered on the Cairo Pictures backlot.

MTMnet's scheduling structure was similar to Fox's when it launched, as it started with one night a week of programming and then gradually added additional nights of programming over the course of several seasons: the network started with a two-hour Wednesday night lineup, airing from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. The limited amount of network programming in MTMnet's early years essentially rendered its affiliates as nominal independent stations; because of this, affiliates held the responsibility of programming primetime slots on nights that the network did not program, airing either first-run and/or off-network syndicated programs or more commonly, movies.

On August 17, 1993, Carlton acquired a 12.5% limited partnership interest in MTMnet for $12 million; the deal gave Carlton an option to increase its stake in the network up to a 25% interest; Carlton would eventually increase its ownership share in MTMnet to 22.5% on March 31, 1995.

MTMnet expanded its programming to Sunday nights for the 1994–95 season, but none of the new shows managed to garner much viewing interest. The network also launched the MTM Kidshow programming block in September 1994, which featured reruns of sundicated Argosy animated series. MTMnet continued to expand in the 1995–96 season, adding programming on Monday nights.

Courting the Commonwealth market
MTMnet first began to experience success with The Bill (a series based on the British show of the same name), which became a hit with critics when it premiered as a mid-season replacement in March 1995. It debuted with the highest Monday night ratings in the network's history, attracting not only new viewers, but new advertisers as well.

Inspired by The Bill's success, MTMnet intentionally shifted the focus of its programming, trying to capture what it perceived to be a heavily fragmented market by marketing to the under-courted Commonwealth expat demographic. The network's breakout hit and, arguably, its signature series was 22 Minutes USA, which debuted in January 1996 to what were then the highest ratings in the network's history. It quickly became the highest-rated show on television among Canadian-Americans, and the most popular program on MTMnet. The popularity of 22 Minutes helped boost the network's other shows, such as The Bill, which served as its lead-in on MTMnet's new night of programming that also launched in January 1996, branded as "New Tuesday".

With two hit shows in its roster, MTMnet continued to build its fanbase the following season with dubbed Aussie sitcom Neighbors and the British-inspired game show Countdown, both of which set new records for the network when they respectively premiered to 7.1 and 7.7 million viewers; Neighbors had the highest-rated premiere on the network until US Air Farce broke its record, debuting to 8.4 million viewers in October 1999. At the start of the 1997–98 season, the network expanded its programming to Thursday nights. That season, Neighbors overtook 22 Minutes as the network's highest-rated program, and garnered MTMnet the highest ratings it would ever see – the show's February 8, 1997 episode attracted 12.5 million viewers.

For the 1998–99 season, the network concluded its primetime expansion with the addition of programming on Friday nights. During this season, MTMnet was the only network to have gains in its total audience viewership and in each key demographic.

Broadening the focus
As the Commonwealth TV boom of the late 1990s began to wane, MTMnet attempted to broaden the scope of its primetime lineup. The network realized that it could no longer rely merely on the tastes of immigrants from other English-speaking countries, and thus began moving back into more family-friendly fare, attempting to launch a successful sitcom, and generally targeting a more diverse audience.

This new strategy came as MTMnet had dropped to seventh place in the ratings among all major broadcast networks (behind UPN) during the 1998–99 season, losing 19% of its household audience. Executives for the network attributed the ratings decline in large part due to Argosy's decision to remove MTMnet programming from KCAT-TV's superstation feed in October 1999, on the pretense that the network's national distribution was large enough that it was no longer necessary for KCAT to broadcast MTMnet's programs outside of Seattle; the network reached several affiliation deals during the prior four years with various station owners, buoyed by the September 1998 launch of The MTMnet Cable Group, a national cable-only service that served most of the 110 smallest Nielsen media markets in the United States that did not have enough television stations to support an over-the-air affiliate. The removal of MTMnet's programs from the KCAT national feed effectively reduced the network's potential household audience by 10 million homes (KCAT-TV continued to carry MTMnet programming over-the-air and on cable within the Seattle market until the network shut down in 2007).

Argosy Media transferred operational duties for MTMnet from MTM Enterprises over to its Cairo/MTM Broadcasting division in 2001. Corus Entertainment reassigned the network's operations back to the MTM unit in 2002.

Network closure
On January 24, 2007, Argosy Media Corporation and Ion Media Networks announced plans to shut down both Ion and MTMnet and partner to launch a new broadcast television network that would include series from both soon-to-be predecessor networks, known as MTM. Over the next nine months, it was to be seen which shows from the two networks would cross over to MTM, as well as which stations aligned with either Ion or MTMnet would become future affiliates of the new network. In the end, 6 shows were chosen to move from MTMnet to MTM for its inaugural 2007–08 fall schedule.

Starting on August 14, 2007, with the MTMDay block, MTMnet stopped displaying its on-screen logo bug during the network's programming and replaced it with a countdown of days until MTM's premiere. Some stations that either became independent stations or became MTM charter affiliates received a logo-free feed of the network, while others took the main feed and overlaid the station's own logo bug over MTM's logo.

MTMnet aired its final night of programming on September 17, 2007, with The End, a five-hour block of pilot episodes of the network's past signature series. Commercial breaks featured re-airings of past image campaigns and network promotions, along with promotional spots given to cable networks carrying these shows in off-network syndication and ads for each series' TV-on-DVD box set. The 60-second montage that closed MTM's existence featured many well-known stars from shows that aired during the 14-year run of the network, ending with the statement "Goodbye from all of us at MTMnet." The final image seen in the montage was network mascot Mimsie, who is shown bowing, thanking the audience for watching the network for 14 years and marking the end of MTMnet.

The final night of MTMnet programming netted relatively low ratings. The network scored a 1.0 household rating (amounting to 1% of all U.S. television households) and a share of 2, meaning just 2% of viewers were tuned into MTMnet on its final night of programming. This is mostly due to the fact that some MTMnet affiliates in certain areas had already became independent two weeks before MTM's launch, leaving MTMnet's final two weeks of programming unavailable in those areas. After its closure, the network's URLs were redirected to MTM's website, mtmtv.com. By March 30, 2008, the URLs redirected to the Cairo Pictures homepage, before being redirected to a blank page with the Cairo/MTM Broadcasting "Star" logo one month later on April 28.

MTM maintained many operational and scheduling elements from MTMnet. When it launched on September 18, 2007, MTM initially maintained MTMnet's scheduling model; MTMnet had carried 30 hours of network programming each week (13 of which were devoted to primetime shows). It also inherited The MTMnet Cable Group – which became MTM+ – though the distribution model of MTM+ started to differ from MTMnet Cable by mixing digital subchannel affiliations, alongside the cable-only affiliates and few conventional affiliate stations that were part of the predecessor group at the end of MTMnet's run. MTM continued the MTMDay block – which became MTM Daytime (and was reduced from two hours to one in 2010), although two blocks that moved to MTMnet from MTM would eventually be discontinued: MTM Kidshow continued on MTM until May 17, 2010, when it was replaced with Rise and Shine after Litton Entertainment began programming MTM's Saturday morning block through a time-lease agreement (MTM Kidshow was later relaunched as a digital subchannel); MTM discontinued its Sunday primetime schedule in September 2009, effectively ending the MTM Sundays block in the process.