Buzzr
| File:Buzzr logo.svg Logo used since 2015 | |
| Company type | Digital multicast television network |
|---|---|
| Industry | Broadcasting, Television |
| Founded | June 1, 2015 |
| Founder | Fremantle North America |
| Headquarters | United States |
Area served | United States, North America |
Key people | Mark Deetjen (former general manager, deceased 2022) |
| Products | Vintage game show programming |
| Owner | Fremantle North America (division of Fremantle within RTL Group) |
| Website | buzzrplay |
Buzzr (presented as BUZZR) is a U.S.-based digital broadcast television network operated by Fremantle North America, a division of Fremantle within the RTL Group. The channel capitalizes on Fremantle's vast collection of vintage game show content. Buzzr marks Fremantle's venture into television broadcasting across North America, while RTL manages multiple channels throughout Europe.
Buzzr’s digital multicast service is accessible in 62 American markets and is distributed through various cable operators and streaming services such as Pluto TV, Stirr, Amazon Freevee, and Sling TV. It is also nationally available via free-to-air C-band satellite on Galaxy 19 utilizing the DVB-S2 standard.
The network’s name is inspired by the buzzer devices contestants use to signal their responses during game shows.
History
Buzzr began as a YouTube channel created by Fremantle’s digital studio Tiny Riot in late 2014, showcasing classic game show clips and brief adaptations of formats like Family Feud and Password, aimed primarily at millennial viewers.
On January 20, 2015, FremantleMedia announced Buzzr’s launch as a digital multicast network with Fox Television Stations serving as initial affiliates. The channel emphasizes classic game shows sourced from Fremantle’s extensive archives. Thom Beers, former CEO of FremantleMedia North America, championed this initiative to monetize the company’s content library, targeting an older demographic given the limited interest younger audiences have in traditional game show formats.
Buzzr officially commenced broadcasting on June 1, 2015, premiering with the 1963 pilot episode of Let's Make a Deal following an eight-hour preview reel.
In 2016, celebrating the 75th anniversary of television game shows, Buzzr produced fresh episodes of well-known classics alongside special themed events. That autumn, FremantleMedia temporarily licensed select episodes of Card Sharks and Family Feud for weekend broadcasts on affiliates’ primary channels.
October 2016 saw FremantleMedia collaborate with Canadian game developer Ludia to launch "Buzzr Casino," a slot machine app inspired by Buzzr’s programming.
Beginning March 27, 2017, Buzzr incorporated paid and religious programming during early morning time slots on weekdays and weekends; these arrangements underwent modifications through mid-2018.
In June 2018, Buzzr introduced a live stream replicating its broadcast feed on its official website.
On November 15, 2021, due to licensing limitations imposed by Sony Pictures Television restricting streaming rights, Buzzr aired The Newlywed Game exclusively over-the-air and via cable; during this period, Family Feud replaced it on the online stream. This exclusivity concluded on January 9, 2022, when The Newlywed Game became available across all distribution platforms.
Mark Deetjen, who served as Fremantle executive producer and general manager of Buzzr, passed away at age 50 on January 24, 2022.
Programming
The foundation of Buzzr’s content is Fremantle’s extensive game show catalog comprising approximately 154 series and nearly 40,000 episodes at launch. The programming slate includes shows dating from the 1950s through the year 2000 such as To Tell the Truth, Password, various eras of Family Feud (from Richard Dawson to John O'Hurley), What's My Line?, I've Got a Secret, Beat the Clock, Card Sharks, Body Language, and Match Game. Since 2019, this has incorporated the previously unaired Match Game-Hollywood Squares Hour. Additionally, Buzzr airs the original version of The Price Is Right from the 1950s–60s hosted by Bill Cullen, with episodes from the Bob Barker era added in May 2024 after prolonged negotiations.
Beyond productions by Mark Goodson–Bill Todman, Buzzr’s archive also features titles from Al Howard Productions such as Supermarket Sweep, works by Bill Carruthers including Press Your Luck, Reg Grundy’s Sale of the Century, and Stefan Hatos–Monty Hall creations like Let's Make a Deal and Split Second. Notably, Split Second was revived by competitor Game Show Network in April 2023. The network also holds licensing agreements for selected programs; for instance, it began airing Whew! under a syndication deal with Burt Sugarman starting September 2021.
As of 2018, Buzzr’s schedule predominantly features game shows originally aired between 1973 and 1993 with frequent rotation of series such as Match Game, Password, Family Feud, and Supermarket Sweep. The lineup also includes blocks dedicated to panel shows from the 1950s and 1960s. Newer productions are scarce but include titles like Celebrity Name Game and Temptation. Occasionally, Buzzr presents special programming blocks highlighting obscure or rare content including the anthology series Lost and Found, which showcases hard-to-find episodes and unsold pilots. On October 20, 2017, Buzzr premiered its first original series titled Game Changers, a documentary exploring game show history featuring interviews with notable figures such as Alex Trebek, Wink Martindale, and Drew Carey.
Weekly educational children’s programming airs for half an hour—down from three hours following FCC deregulation of digital subchannel mandates in late 2019—with shows like Science Nation and Dog Tales. The network schedules two hours of infomercials each morning including religious programming such as the televangelism series Through the Bible with Les Feldick. Some online simulcasts omit infomercials due to platform restrictions. Non-game show content has been minimal overall; limited runs have included Richard Simmons Dream Maker in 2017 and marathons of The Great Christmas Light Fight during November in both 2018 and 2019.
Streaming
Beginning in 2017, Buzzr started offering its programming through Amazon Prime Video as video-on-demand and on Twitch, where it maintained a linear feed distinct from its terrestrial broadcast. The Twitch channel ceased operations on April 22, 2019. Additionally, Buzzr supplied game show content to Nosey, a streaming platform specializing in daytime television reruns. Several local Buzzr affiliate subchannels are accessible via streaming services such as LocalBTV, Locast, and others.
In celebration of its third anniversary in 2018, Buzzr introduced a live stream of its over-the-air broadcast directly on its website and later that year expanded its reach by joining Pluto TV.
By 2019, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s free streaming service Stirr incorporated Buzzr into its offerings. Buzzr rapidly became the most popular national channel on Stirr and ranked second overall in viewership. On March 18, 2020, the network was added to Sling TV, thereby making it available to all Sling subscribers.
Dedicated series streaming channels
On December 1, 2020, Buzzr unveiled The Price Is Right: The Barker Era, a dedicated Pluto TV channel broadcasting episodes hosted by Bob Barker from Season 11 (1982) onward—the season marking the discontinuation of animal-based prizes at Barker’s insistence. Due to an exclusivity arrangement with CBS (later renegotiated), Buzzr was restricted to distributing these reruns exclusively through Pluto TV; CBS and its parent company Paramount retained ownership of episodes from 1972 forward, limiting their over-the-air availability. However, episodes from the Bill Cullen era of The Price Is Right (1956) were not subject to these restrictions and could be aired by Buzzr. As of January 2023, the channel's catalog covers episodes aired between September 1982 and October 1985. On February 8, 2022, this channel was also launched on The Roku Channel along with a spin-off dedicated to Supermarket Sweep.
Following Bob Barker’s passing in August 2023, a selection of 60 episodes from the show’s inaugural season (1972–73), unseen on television for approximately twenty years, were added in November 2023; these episodes were chosen based on prize content and tape condition. In late September 2025, an additional batch of 100 remastered high-definition episodes featuring announcer Rod Roddy debuted.
A Pluto TV channel spotlighting Wayne Brady’s tenure on Let's Make a Deal premiered in July 2022, while Monty Hall-era episodes continue to air on the main Buzzr network.
To commemorate Buzzr’s eighth anniversary alongside National Game Show Day in June 2023, two new Pluto TV channels were launched: one focusing on Drew Carey’s era of The Price Is Right beginning with Season 38, and another titled Family Feud Classic, showcasing episodes hosted by Richard Dawson and Ray Combs.
These channels are also accessible via Amazon Freevee and The Roku Channel applications.
Streaming channels for contemporary editions of To Tell the Truth and Press Your Luck were previously available through ABC’s digital platforms but were discontinued following the shutdown of ABC’s mobile and smart-TV applications in September 2023. Subsequently, DirecTV Stream incorporated Buzzr along with the additional Price Is Right channels and Let's Make a Deal into its service lineup.
Affiliates
As of February 2016, Buzzr has established subchannel affiliation agreements spanning stations in 53 media markets across 26 states plus the District of Columbia, collectively covering more than 60% of U.S. media markets.
Buzzr’s initial group of affiliates consisted primarily of Fox Television Stations, which carried the network on twelve Fox owned-and-operated stations as well as five MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations. The network is present in every one of the ten largest U.S. television markets and fifteen out of the top twenty—including major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston-Manchester, and Dallas–Fort Worth—initially reaching approximately 37% of American television households. In key launch areas, Buzzr replaced Bounce TV on certain subchannels after Bounce TV shifted affiliations to Univision-owned stations in May 2015.
Fremantle engaged Debmar-Mercury—the syndicator of Family Feud—to assist with affiliate recruitment by negotiating agreements with additional broadcasters. Buzzr aims to broaden its affiliate network to reach an estimated audience of 50 million U.S. households equipped with at least one television set.
In September 2016, Canadian broadcaster Yes TV began airing a Buzzr-branded block featuring classic game shows during overnight hours. In May 2017, Dish Network added Buzzr to channel 245.
| Media market | State/District | Station | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham | Alabama | WUOA-LD | 46.2 |
| Huntsville | W34EY-D | 38.4 | |
| Montgomery | WDSF-LD | 19.2 | |
| Phoenix | Arizona | KUTP | 45.3 |
| Yuma | KBFY-LD | 41.6 | |
| Fayetteville | Arkansas | KAJL-LD | 16.4 |
| Bakersfield | California | KCBT-LD | 34.8 |
| Fresno | KVBC-LD | 13.7 | |
| Los Angeles | KCOP-TV | 13.2 | |
| Monterey | KMBY-LD | 27.4 | |
| Sacramento | KBTV-CD | 8.1 | |
| San Francisco–Oakland–San Jose | KTVU | 2.4 | |
| San Diego | KSKT-CD | 43.4 | |
| Santa Barbara | KVMM-CD | 41.4 | |
| Yuba City | KKPM-CD | 28.7 | |
| Denver | Colorado | KETD | 53.5 |
| Grand Junction | KLML | 20.12 |
[Table continues with remaining affiliates as originally listed.]
See also
External links
- Articles with short description
- Pages with broken file links
- 2015 establishments in the United States
- Digital multicast television networks in the United States
- Classic television networks
- Television channels and stations established in 2015
- Lists of American television network affiliates
- RTL Group
- Game shows