Cable may know its place, may know what it doesn't want to be in the TV viewing world.
Contrary to popular opinion, big cable networks -- TNT, USA, FX, and others -- might not be
channels with multiple original dramas, comedies, and reality shows, on the air all at the same time.
FX's President/General Manager John Landgraf says cable still needs to be
different from broadcast -- that too much of a good thing, might just be a mediocre thing.
Landgraf
says you probably won't see FX developing programming in mass like the broadcast
networks. All this would lead to lesser quality shows, he says, and more costly network operations.
For all that cable talks about the dual stream of subscriber and advertising revenue,
this formula has always had its limitations. Few networks want to be like a broadcast network, airing multiple shows with 22-episode seasons.
advertisement
advertisement
Many point to cable growth -- but there are
restrictions. Cable networks get much of the same programming from the same sources as broadcasting networks do. This should equate to cable having the same chance of success and/or failure.
Cable executives may still groan at their advertising price disparity with the broadcast
networks -- that many shows can sometimes be less than half the cost per thousand price of a "CSI" or a "Lost."
Some media buyers may have another view of
this: Maybe the cable CPMs are priced correctly; maybe broadcast is overpriced.
Given where TV is headed -- into more of a digital and mobile device space, where on-demand TV viewing is
growing -- it makes sense that cable doesn't reach beyond its means.
All of which means that Landgraf's current sentiment about the business is correct: Cable and broadcast
programming economics continue to be at somewhat different ends of the financial spectrum.