A Viewer's Guide to MeTV Toons on Cable and Satellite

 People in Spectrum cable households (and other cable and satellite providers as well as virtual providers such as YouTube TV) are WEIRDLY concerned about whether or not they're going to get MeTV Toons. A small thread of sorts to try to alleviate those fears, though I think I'm going to be unsuccessful because paranoia and pessimism are character traits to some folks.

There are questions you have to ask.

  1. Are you in a market that will carry the channel over-the-air?
  2. Does your local Spectrum service carry subchannels of local channels?
  3. Do they carry ALL the local subchannels?

I have some answers:
  1. If you have MeTV Toons over the air on a local channel, there's a chance it'll be available on your cable lineup. Definitely a better chance than a market without it. That said, if your answer's yes...
  2.  If your local cable service carries subchannels of OTA channels, MeTV Toons will likely be on your cable lineup, especially if it's replacing another subchannel in your market and that subchannel has a position on your cable lineup. However, there could be some issues...
  3. Sometimes, cable operators are reluctant to add additional subchannels to their lineups, and not every subchannel is carried. It varies from market to market. If your market has an OTA MeTV Toons affiliate and your cable operator doesn't carry it, contact them and request that they place it on their lineup. And tell your friends and neighbors to do the same. 
While they got carriage deals with services like Philo and Frndly as well as telecom company TDS and currently working on deals with DirecTV and other telecom companies, MeTV Toons isn't slated to be a stand-alone cable channel like Cartoon Network, USA, TBS, or FX. It's a broadcast network like ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX and available over the air. So, don't expect it to be on traditional cable lineups without an adjacent local affiliate connected to it. 

I still feel the best option for folks in markets where MeTV Toons will be available OTA but not on cable is to use an indoor antenna on your TV set. If you have a digital TV, hook your cable box to it using an HDMI cable and your antenna to your coaxial port (you know, the place where you usually hook your cable box). Besides, OTA TV is pretty awesome nowadays.


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