MNT Starting To Make Changes

[Jimboy]

MNT GOING TO THE MOVIES ON SATURDAY

TVNEWSDAY, Jan. 31, 5:05 PM ET

The network will air movies in place of the telenovela recaps for the next two Saturdays as it works on a new programming lineup.

By Harry A. Jessell

Fox's My Network Television will air movies rather than its regular telenovela recaps for the next two Saturday nights, a MNT affiliate told TVNEWSDAY Wednesday.

An MNT spokesperson confirmed the schedule switch, but cautioned that a movie-of-the-week would not necessarily be a part of the new, revamped MNT lineup.

Consider the movies—Something Wild and Deceiver—a "special event," she said, adding that MNT would soon release more details on its programming plans.

MNT debuted last September offering two, one-hour telenovelas back-to-back each weeknight with recaps on Saturdays. The telenovelas run 13 weeks.

But viewers never bought in. At NATPE earlier this month, Fox named longtime programmer Greg Meidel president of the network and charged him with assembling a new schedule that could win over a significant number of viewers.

The second round of  telenovelas—Wicked, Wicked Games and Watch Over Me—end on March 9, suggesting that Meidel will be ready with his new lineup on the following Monday, March 12.

So far, all that is known about the revised MNT lineup is that it will include a weekly, two-hour program based on the International Fight League—a team approach to martial arts with behind-the-scene elements. MNT expects the show to debut in "mid-2007."

The MNT affiliate says that the telenovelas will be back, but in a reduced role, possibly two nights a week. Back-to-back episodes of one telenovela would appear one night; back-to-back episodes of another, on another night.