Water Cooler

By Leah Hochbaum

Across the world, programming trends change like seasons — a winter of comedy makes way for a dramatic springtime, which turns like the color of leaves into a reality-ridden summer or fall.

By Leah Hochbaum

NBC Universal’s new chairperson and chief executive Jeff Zucker made waves late last year when he announced that in an effort to cut costs, the network would steer clear of scripted programming during the 8 p.m. hour and would instead showcase game shows, reality shows and other lower-cost fare in the coveted primetime slot. And just this week, after a number of its series began to wilt in the shadow of Fox powerhouse American Idol, the peacock net bent over backwards to create a new viewing experience, shifting unscripted shows Grease: You’re the One That I Want, Deal or No Deal and The Apprentice: Los Angeles into an unscripted Sunday night block. It seems that after years of enduring the condemnation of critics the world over, reality television is finally getting some respect.

In fact, after the debacle that was the 2006 U.S. fall season — with its glut of dramatic, hard-to-follow, scripted series — U.S. networks are looking to fill up their schedules with lighter, unscripted content. And around the globe, other nets are following suit.

“Game shows and reality shows are doing well in Latin America,” said Telemundo’s Marcos Santana. “We have a game/dating show called 12 Hearts (12 Corazones), which has been a total success for our station and has increased its time slot ratings more than 100 percent.”

Reality shows are doing well in Canada too. CTV, Canada’s largest private broadcaster, has inked a duo of deals with Mark Burnett Productions, the reality producers behind such pioneering series as Survivor, The Apprentice and the Eco-Challenge adventure race. CTV has picked up the Canadian Broadcast rights to Pirate Master: The Adventure Begins, a swashbuckling, plank-walking new unscripted series set to debut this summer, as well as On the Lot, a show that will award one contestant with a life-changing, exclusive Hollywood deal with DreamWorks.

“Pirate Master promises to be jolly good summer fun,” said Susanne Boyce, CTV’s president of Programming and chair of the CTV Media Group. “It’s complete escapism and will make for rollicking summer viewing.”

Yet while some programmers schedule a show for some simple summer fun, others have more lofty notions on their minds when figuring out their slates. Granada International recently licensed ITV Productions format Boot Camp to Rustavi 2 in Georgia, Eastern Europe. The series follows 16 contestants as they try to survive a military-style boot camp. “We believe Boot Camp will be of particular interest as Georgia has just entered into an intensive dialogue process with NATO, which means that we are on our way to becoming a full-fledged NATO country, and there is now huge interest in national army issues among ordinary people,” said Rustavi 2’s Giorgi Khaburzania.

“For a country like Georgia to want to produce Boot Camp is amazing,” added Jennifer Harrington, who heads up Granada’s factual department. The company is hoping that Rustavi 2’s pick-up of the series will revive interest in the format, which flagged in 2001 after CBS and Mark Burnett filed a lawsuit claiming that Boot Camp (which aired on Fox in the U.S.) was a rip-off of Burnett’s own Survivor. “We’re hoping that if the format is successful in Georgia, it’ll bring it back to life,” said Harrington.

But though she’s hopeful that Boot Camp will finally gain a foothold, Harrington stressed that Granada International’s extensive catalog has something for everyone. “We’re working hard pushing [format] Dancing on Ice,” she said. “But honestly, we’ve seen a lot of the dancing shows. We’re waiting for new trends to emerge now in reality television. If I knew what those trends would be, I’d be a millionaire.”

CABLEready president and CEO Gary Lico was also unable to pinpoint any discernible trends in current reality programming other than that “for the most part, the Big Brothers and Apprentices have been out of favor for a while, design competitions are internationally looked on with favor — both as acquisitions and format sales — and cooking shows seem to be popular the world over,” he said. But whatever new shows are looming on the horizon, Lico’s quite certain that “reality’s here to stay in every way, shape and form.”

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By Leah Hochbaum

International pop star Justin Timberlake made his acting debut last year in crime thriller Edison Force. But the film, which also starred such stalwarts as Kevin Spacey, Dylan McDermott and Morgan Freeman, never made it to the big screen. Dubbed a stinker by many, the movie went straight to DVD. While some flicks that go straight to DVD are surefire theatrical flops that studios are hoping not to lose money on, other films are actually made specifically for the DVD market — with genres such as children, family, action, holiday films and thrillers — seeing the most success when placed on store shelves.

“The economics of theatrical distribution and marketing are so daunting they don’t even merit consideration,” said Doug Schwalbe, executive vice president, Worldwide Distribution for Classic Media, which releases many of its titles straight to DVD after first airing them on broadcast television. “But a combination of TV and DVD is a reliable business model.”

Classic’s slate consists mostly of animated children’s fare — a genre that sells consistently well on DVD. “Nothing is a surefire way to make money,” said Schwalbe. “There is no cow that gives you chocolate milk, per se, but this is a reliable business model. And so long as you spend enough money on marketing, but not too much as to tank it,” you can easily get yourself a DVD hit.

In addition to children’s flicks, holiday movies also sell unfailingly on DVD. According to Schwalbe, perennials such as Classic’s The Legend of Frosty the Snowman, “tend to sell in the hundreds of thousands of units. And there are no drop-offs from year to year, so we tend to sell the same number of units each year.” Since Classic’s library isn’t hit-driven, “it’s fairly sustainable,” said Schwalbe.

Another way to sell a DVD is by having an audience ready and waiting in the wings. Harmony Gold’s Robotech: Shadow Chronicles was released on DVD last week and all pre-orders were sold out. The movie, which is a continuation of the famed animé series, Robotech, originally released in 1985, “did better in one day than lots of DVDs do in a week,” said Harmony Gold’s Melissa Wohl. “The show’s been off the air for 20 years and Shadow Chronicles answers the questions the fans want answers to,” she said. Plus, “there’s a lack of good, quality kids product out there, and this fills the void.”

Wohl also observed that in some territories, such as the U.K., it’s more important for a film to broadcast on television before it goes to DVD, while in others, such as the U.S., it’s completely insignificant. “The U.K. is just so much smaller,” she said, “and with so much product out there, seeing it on TV first gives it more cachet.”

Regent Entertainment’s Gene George agreed. “Anything strong in the straight-to-DVD market still has to have strong TV value,” he said.

The company, which recently picked up the international rights to Zyzzyxx Road — a movie that made headlines as possibly the lowest box office gross-er of all time with just $30 — has already sold the film in 23 countries, including Bulgaria, Portugal and Indonesia. By the end of 2006, the film had generated about $368,000 for Regent.

“We picked up Zyzzyxx Road because we felt it was good for DVD and also good for TV,” said George. “As long as it has the ability to play in broadcast TV, we’re happy to pick it up. Otherwise, we’re limiting the possibility of financial success.”

There are also more aspects to DVD, one of which is that in some cases, some pirates are foregoing the costs of putting up expensive duplicating and distribution settings, in favor of downloads and other Internet-based deliveries. In essence, technology, which created DVD piracy, is helping reduce DVD piracy. But this is a subject for another gathering at VideoAge’s watercooler.

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By Leah Hochbaum

Satellite has long been the carrier of choice for niche channels, which are seeking the biggest possible audiences they can get. But the introduction of the IPTV platform, which for channel providers is simply cheaper, may soon render satellite delivery obsolete.

“International channels exist as a result of satellite [technologies],” said Aldo Di Felice, president of Toronto-based TLN Television (Telelatino Network), Canada’s only national Hispanic and national Italian broadcaster. TLN chose satellite for its channels because “satellite allowed us to become available in parts of the country that were without cable,” he said. “It let us blanket the country with our coverage. It’s one-stop shopping. With a satellite, you can reach everybody in the country. With cable, it’s system by system.”

But while he concedes that his business owes a debt of gratitude to satellite, Di Felice also believes that IPTV is the way of the future. “Satellite is being taken over by IPTV,” he said resolutely, citing the expensive satellite fees that channel providers are tired of shelling out as a major reason for the shift. Satellite costs are dropping as a result of the new competition, but many broadcasters would love nothing more than to do away with the nuisance of satellite fees altogether.

But it’s not just about the money. “IPTV platforms are popping up like wild mushrooms,” said Slava Levin, president and CEO of Toronto-based Ethnic Channels Group, a provider of non-English-language digital TV channels to Canada’s multicultural population. “The universe is changing. In the next 10 years, satellite will go away and IPTV will probably be the new form of distribution for ethnic content.”

Elie Kawkabani, chairman of the board of Ethnic Broadcasters of America opined that while the satellite industry is facing many challenges, “growth is going to continue. Perhaps not at the same rate as the past few years, but this is not a fly-by-night operation — it will continue.”

Regardless, he believes that IPTV “is going to be the future of our industry. It’s not yet clear how it will happen, but it will happen. It’s a cheaper way to bring a lot of channels to viewers at once.”

Kakabani feels that the satellite industry should be gearing up to respond with its own plan for growth or “they’ll get hurt,” he said. “Satellite operators in general are reactive to market forces, but they must take steps to offer more value and choices to their audience. Because if they don’t respond to consumer needs,” there won’t be any more consumers to respond to.

Unlike many TV execs, Jon Helmrich, founder and president of global programming distributor IBC, isn’t yet sure what to believe. So he’s sticking with what he knows. “Right now, the most solid business model with a long-term revenue-producing stream is still a satellite-delivered TV network,” he said.

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