• by Paul Gough , March 23, 2004

Discovery Networks played the quality card at its upfront Tuesday evening, telling media planners and buyers that it's the place to go for family-friendly, informative, and entertaining programming.

The upfront was an epic two-hour romp through the offerings of its 14 networks, beginning with TLC and ending with its namesake channel. President Billy Campbell and ad sales chief Joe Abruzzese led the multimedia presentation that was punctuated by visits from the channels' personalities as well as a venomous cobra, and went relatively light on the numbers for an upfront.

The event was held at the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West in Manhattan. The theater was packed for the upfront.

Quality was the theme of the night, from the opening words by Discovery Founder John S. Hendricks to the word flashing on the screen several times to the placard on the gift bag handed out after the reception. The bag, which contained a framed print by artist Peter Max, read: "Quality programming. Quality viewers. Quality partnerships. Quality first." In a TV season that has featured some pretty low moments, Discovery counterprogrammed with humans and their furry friends on Animal Planet, high-definition content on DiscoveryHD, makeovers of house, car and person, and what it touted as shows that targeted all demos in a family-friendly way.

"Now more than ever, quality is a hallmark," said Hendricks.

Campbell, who bore the brunt of a lot of scripted banter with the personalities as they came and went, said Discovery focuses "each and every minute" on quality programming that entertains and enlightens viewers, and offers total-brand experience for marketers.

"We take pride in the fact that we wrote the book on quality," Campbell said. He said that Discovery's family-friendly programs are "safe havens" for brands. The former CBS executive also noted that he was relieved that he doesn't have to program merely to the next sweeps period in his job at Discovery, which he has held since 2002.

Abruzzese, who headed ad sales for CBS before he joined his former colleague in 2002, touted Discovery's quality in his portion of the presentation. But he also riffed a bit on what was a familiar topic in the cable TV industry--the declining audiences of broadcast and the increasing viewers for cable, along with higher CPMs at the networks.

"Cable is still undervalued," he said.

The presentation featured many of the stars of Discovery Networks, including Paige Davis and others from "Trading Spaces," the cast of "What Not To War," Gabrielle Reese focusing on FITTV, and Austin Stevens, the star of an upcoming show on Animal Planet, who had just returned from Borneo and brought along a cobra that didn't seem all that happy to be there.

Campbell also touted the increase in original programming over the past several years and noted the strides that several emerging networks--like BBC America and Discovery Times Channel--had made. The network also announced that, after requests from agencies and advertisers, it will now go into a commercial break with a paid spot instead of running a promo, as it had been doing.