THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 30, 1994 TAG: 9412300490
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LARRY BONKO, TV WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 46 lines
The new year will bring a wave of new programming to viewers in Hampton Roads, with the launch of two networks, including the Warner Brothers Television Network.
The network announced Thursday that it has included WVBT (Channel 43) in Virginia Beach among its affiliates.
Earlier in 1994, Portsmouth independent station WGNT said it had joined the United Paramount Network, which starts on Jan. 16 with the third ``Star Trek'' spinoff, ``Star Trek: Voyager.''
The WB Television Network debuts on Jan. 11.
From the time it signed on in December 1992, WVBT has been a channel devoted to home shopping. That will change on Saturday, said general manager Larry Hunt, when Channel 43 starts beaming out movies and other entertainment.
Hunt anticipates a local newscast for WVBT in the months to come.
He said the invitation to join Warner Brothers was too good to pass up.
``It will speed our growth,'' he said. WVBT, a UHF station, is carried by Cox Cable Hampton Roads as well as the cable systems serving Chesapeake and Newport News.
Warner Brothers is launching its network on a modest scale, with about 40 stations covering 80 percent of the U.S. TV markets.
The network starts up with four programs, including one in which brothers Shawn and Marlon Wayans star in a buddy comedy; ``Muscle,'' a serialized sitcom about life in a health club; ``The Parent Hood,'' a comedy about raising a family in the 1990s, which stars Robert Townsend; and even more comedy in ``Unhappily Ever After.'' Bobcat Goldthwait is one of the stars in that one, a sitcom about a divorced couple and their children.
All four shows will air on Jan. 11, starting with ``The Wayans Brothers'' at 8 p.m.
At the same time Warner Brothers was announcing it had landed WVBT as its station in Hampton Roads, WAVY general manager Lyle Banks said the NBC affiliate had signed a local marketing agreement with Channel 43.
In the announcement, Banks said he would make Channel 10's programming and production resources available to WVBT, but he didn't offer any details. by CNB