Sinclair & MGM Partner to Launch Action Network Charge!

BALTIMORE/LOS ANGELES: Sinclair Broadcast Group and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) have aligned to launch Charge!, a new 24-hour action-based network.

The network will feature more than 2,300 hours of TV series content and more than 2,000 movie titles. Charge! will build on and leverage the infrastructure of Sinclair and MGM’s first network partnership, the science-fiction multi-channel network Comet. The plan is for the channel to debut in the first quarter of 2017. It is slated to reach more than 50 percent of the U.S. by the end of the second quarter by way of distribution deals outside of Sinclair’s footprint.

Charge! will feature a broad variety of action and adventure content from MGM’s library, including such TV series as In the Heat of the Night and movies, including Dances with Wolves and Platoon. In addition, the tent-pole Rocky and James Bond franchises will appear on the network.

“MGM owns one of the deepest libraries of premium action-themed content in the world,” said Chris Ripley, the president and CEO of Sinclair. “This is another example of the synergies and audience value that can be created when you seamlessly combine content and distribution, and we are excited to broaden our relationship with MGM to another vertical.”

“Action is a genre that viewers never seems to tire of watching, and we intend on bringing our best titles to Charge!,” said John Bryan, the president of domestic television distribution at MGM. “Sinclair’s been an ideal partner, and the distribution we expect to have at launch is phenomenal.”