TV Q&A: What happened to WINP-TV’s Ion Plus channel?

Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen answers reader questions every Wednesday at TribLive.com in a column that also appears in the Sunday Tribune-Review.

Q: What happened to Ion Plus on FiOS in Pittsburgh? I noticed the night of Feb. 27 it wasn’t on and now on Feb. 28 it’s still not on.

— Tony via Facebook

Rob: In January, the sale of Ion Media to E.W. Scripps Co. and Berkshire Hathaway closed, leading to a cascade of changes.

Scripps has moved to add its Katz Broadcasting digital subchannels, including Court TV and Bounce, onto the lineups of Ion stations, including WINP-TV, over the air Channel 16 in Pittsburgh.

Scripps continues to operate the primary Ion Television Network (Channel 16.1 in Pittsburgh), which carries “Law & Order,” “Blue Bloods,” “Chicago P.D.” and “NCIS: New Orleans” reruns, but ceased operations of Ion Plus, children’s network Qubo and Shop Ion effective Feb. 28.

There currently are no plans to relocate shows that used to be on Ion Plus to Ion.

Locally, Ion’s digital subchannels are Black-targeted Bounce (Channel 16.2), Court TV (16.3), Court TV Mystery (16.4), HSN (16.5) and QVC (16.6).

Earlier this month, Scripps announced plans for two new channels launching July 1: Doozy, a home for unscripted reruns (“Storage Wars,” “Married at First Sight,” “Little Women: L.A.”), targets women ages 25-54; Defy TV, aimed at men 25-54, will air reruns of “Pawn Stars,” “Forged in Fire,” “American Pickers” and “The Curse of Oak Island.” Both of the new channels likely will end up as digital subchannels on WINP-TV, but channel numbers have not been announced.

Q: “Tattletales,” the game show from the 1970s that was hosted by Bert Convy, taped more than 1,000 episodes. Many couples appeared on the show during its run.

The show is currently shown on Buzzr seven days a week.

Why are the same few episodes repeated over and over and over again?

— Sherry, Murrysville

Rob: So based on the response from Buzzr — that they’ve digitized hundreds of episode of “Tattletales” — it sounds like they play only the digitized episodes that can be programmed automatically via computer.

“A leading favorite of our game show fans, we are continuously adding new ‘Tattletales’ content from our vault,” explained a Buzzr representative. “Stay tuned for additional ‘new to BUZZR’ episodes of ‘Tattletales’ throughout 2021.”

Buzzr is available in Pittsburgh over the air on Channel 61.3, Channel 245 on DISH Network and on streamer Pluto TV and at buzzr.com/watch.

Q: What happened to Martha MacCallum on Fox News Channel? She’s not on at 7 p.m. anymore.

— Richard via voicemail

Rob: In an effort to keep up with the Newsmaxes and OANNs of the world and attempt to bolster its ratings, Fox replaced MacCallum’s 7 p.m. broadcast with another opinion-based show. MacCallum now hosts at 3 p.m. weekdays on FNC.

Q: Why did Brandon McMillan leave CBS’s “Lucky Dog”?

— Theresa, Allegheny Township

Rob: McMillan posted to his Instagram account last fall on the day of his final broadcast that, “As the years went on, big money started pouring into the show, which meant more cooks in the kitchen making decisions. This is where Hollywood can take a great idea and turn it into a money-driven business. When the fun gets taken out of a TV show, then it’s no longer fun to show up.”

McMillan suggested he’s not done with TV, writing, “Where will my next adventure be? Who knows … but you’ll be with me on that journey, too.”