PAX TV may be the first television network ever built on discontent and dissatisfaction.
The new programming service, which launches Monday nationally and will be seen in northern Utah on KUPX-Ch. 16, is specifically designed for family viewing. The hope is that American viewers are so fed up with the increasingly inappropriate programming on the major networks they will turn to PAX."There's an audience out there for programs that you can watch with a child or a parent or any member of your family and not be embarrassed or just plain angry about the language, attitude or visual content of the show," said Jeff Sagansky, president and CEO of Paxson Communications.
That's not just a big part of the PAX TV message, that is the PAX TV message.
"Our idea is that there is a big, big audience out there for family television entertainment that aspires to provide positive role models in a way that really enhances people's lives and that touches viewers in a more meaningful way," Sagansky said.
PAX's flagship shows are familiar to viewers. "Touched by an Angel" repeats will air weeknights at 7 p.m. And, beginning Sept. 14, repeats of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" will follow weeknights at 8 p.m.
Next up is "Diagnosis Murder," followed by "The Father Dowling Mysteries."
(The schedule will vary a bit for the first couple of weeks, pending the arrival of "Dr. Quinn.")
Other off-network reruns on the weekday schedule include "Here's Lucy" (11 and 11:30 a.m.); "The Loveboat" (noon); "Eight is Enough" (2 p.m.); "The Hogan Family" (3 p.m.); "Dave's World" (3:30 p.m.); "Highway to Heaven" (5 and 11 p.m.); and "Life Goes On" (6 p.m.).
Weekend programming includes reruns of "Christy," "I'll Fly Away," "Bonanza," "The Big Valley," "Barnaby Jones," "Medical Center" and "Neon Rider" (a Canadian family series), as well as a number of old theatrical and made-for-TV movies.
"These aren't shows that are edgy or hip, but there is a huge audience out there for them," Sagansky said. "You hear that these edgy, hip shows with attitude are the wave of the future. And that there's not family viewing left anymore because everybody's got multiple sets in their households and everybody goes off to their own set to view what they want. But I really think that that is a load of garbage and is, in fact, creating the environment for a service like PAX TV to succeed."
(Not that they're exactly expecting great things right off the bat. PAX TV has promised to deliver a paltry 1 rating to its advertisers in its first year of operation.)
"Our idea is that you can still actually make television shows that really rely on just telling stories about relationships between people and that don't rely on sexual titillation and people perpetrating violence on one another," Sagansky said.
That may indeed be their idea, but PAX isn't actually making very many television shows of any kind. The "network" will rely exclusively on off-network reruns in prime time, and the original programming is low-budget fare like:
- "Great Day America" (weekdays at 4 p.m. with a repeat the following weekday at 7 a.m.), an hour of "good news" with upbeat features, celebrity interviews, etc.
- "Woman's Day" (weekdays at 1 p.m.), from the people who publish the magazine of the same name and hosted by Phyllis George, includes features on fashion, health, decorating, fitness, relationships and entertaining.
- "Reel to Reel" (weekdays at 1:30 p.m.), a game show that revolves around movie trivia.
- "It's a Miracle" (Sundays at 8 p.m.), highlights human-interest stories with a miraculous touch.
- "Flipper: The New Adventures" (Saturdays at 7 p.m.), a series that has been in syndication.
- And there's "Cloud Nine" three "teenage angels" who host five hours of weekend kids programming (7-9 a.m. Saturdays and 6-9 a.m. Sunday). But that programming is itself culled largely from old repeats.
PAX TV could not, for example, afford to produce new episodes of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" - something like that is still way out of the new "network's" reach.
Which is not to say that a lot of the repeats on PAX TV are not very good shows.
"This is what built network programming - family viewing," Sagansky said. "And somehow these are shows that we all grew up on and now these shows are virtually missing from television. The networks are forsaking them en masse. And, frankly, it really confounds me why they are."
Still, what Sagansky called "a radically new idea" isn't quite as new as he makes it sound. PAX TV is programming the same sort of schedule that cable's Family Channel - before it became the Fox Family Channel - did for years. And the principle is the same as what drives "Nick at Nite" and "TV Land."
The difference is that PAX TV is attempting to do it with a whole lot of low-budget broadcast TV stations.
PAX TV is, in many ways, the "network" built on the must-carry rule, which the FCC upheld last year. It forces cable companies to carry local broadcast stations. Paxson Communications Chairman Lowell "Bud" Paxson bought up a huge number of television stations across the country - the number currently stands at more than 70 - and cobbled together his "network."
But all but two of those stations are weak UHF outlets (channels 14 and higher) with limited signal strength. Without the addition of cable coverage, PAX TV wouldn't stand a chance.
(Eight stations not owned by Paxson have affiliated with the network. And PAX TV has also made agreements with cable operators in some parts of the country to carry PAX programming without a broadcast station affiliate.)
And it's not coincidence that PAX TV is airing not one but two series about angels. This is more than just a business for Bud Paxson - he sees it as more of a mission.
"He feels that he has this calling from God," Sagansky said. "I don't feel the same calling. But I do have a lot of idealism that I had when I first came to town. And that's why I'm doing this. And not only that - I've got daughters, 4 and 9. I know how they watch television."
And Paxson's mission is reflected throughout the company.
"For 50 years, Americans have been telling pollsters that the two most important things in their lives are, No. 1, family and, No. 2, faith. And that's really what we aspire to be about," Sagansky said. "Our goal is to be to families what an ESPN is to sports or what an MTV is to music. And, honestly, I think we have a wide-open playing field because of what the networks and some of the cable channels are doing."
He said PAX TV is already receiving positive feedback from the public on its Web site.
"There's really a deep sense of alienation and frustration and even anger, particularly among America's mothers, in what they're feeling toward the major networks," he said. "Women can't find anything to watch with their kids at o'clock. And we are going to say to all of those alienated mothers and fathers that, starting Aug. 31, you can change television for the better. And the most powerful weapon against trash television is right in your hand and it's the remote control."
And the folks at PAX TV are just hoping that enough people will listen to that message.