But can an infomercial-dependent TV station survive at a time of DVRs, Netflix, Hulu, and a rapidly expanding universe of HD channels?
Lenfest Broadcasting L.L.C., the TV station's owner, based in West Conshohocken, thinks maybe not. It now has plans to transform WMCN into more of a local "destination station," using as its model Comcast Corp.'s now-defunct CN8.
H. Chase Lenfest, the chairman of the company who also is the son of philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, hired former Comcast executive Jon Gorchow this year to recast the TV station's programming.
WMCN's first content deal: televising Philadelphia Soul Arena Football League games. Chase Lenfest said he was considering an additional 30 programming options that range from college sports to local features on the Jersey Shore, putting a camera on South Street, celebrity boxing, and shows targeting elderly viewers. There also could be call-in shows.
"Everything will be local and nonfiction," Lenfest said.
Gorchow, who ran CN8 between 2001 and 2009, said the Philadelphia-area market is ready for a new CN8-type channel. "When you look at local programming, this is a hole you can drive a truck through," said Gorchow, a former Comcast vice president. Comcast announced in 2008 that it was eliminating the CN8 name and rebranded it as the Comcast Network. Gorchow left the cable giant in early 2010 to manage a professional tennis team.
Lenfest, whose other investments include real estate and a company that makes software for cable networks' advertising sales and billing, has TV in his blood.
