• by November 2, 2000

By Anya Khait

On Dec. 3 Showtime will debut "Queer as Folk," an in-your-face gay-life series based on the British program of the same name, and will launch the show with a multimillion-dollar ad and marketing campaign that will hit broadcast, cable, radio, print, outdoor, Internet and direct mail.

The pay-cable network will be taking Queer to gay-pride events and film festivals and other gay-community gatherings. The direct-mail campaign will be aimed at the gay and lesbian market as a "personal invitation" to subscribe to Showtime to get Queer. Spots will run on VH1, Comedy Central, E!, Sci-Fi, A&E, Bravo, Court TV and C1TV.

Time Warner's cable unit is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the 1992 law limiting a company's subscriber reach. A federal appeals court upheld the law in May. Two weeks ago, federal judges heard oral arguments in the second phase of the case, which is to determine whether the FCC was justified in setting the cap at 30% of national subscribers and barring cable operators from devoting more than 40% of their first 75 channels to programming in which they have a stake.

The Nielsen top ranked cable programs for the week ending October 29 were "NFL: Raiders vs. Chargers" (ESPN, 5.9, Sun), "WWF Entertainment" (TNN, 4.7, Mon), "WWF Entertainment" (TNN, 3.9, Mon), "NFL Primetime" (ESPN, 3.4, Sun), "Movie: Spawn" (TBS, 2.8, Sun), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.7, Sat), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.4, Sun), "Dragon Ball Z" (TOON, 2.0, Wed), "Rocket Power" (NICK, 2.4, Sun), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.3, Sun), "Dragon Ball Z" (TOON, 2.0, Tue), "NFL SportsCenter" (ESPN, 2.3, Sun), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.3, Sat), "Spongebob" (NICK, 2.3, Sat), "Spongebob" (NICK, 2.3, Sat), "Dragon Ball Z" (TOON, 2.0, Fri), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.2, Mon), "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.2, Thu), "Rocket Power" (NICK, 2.2, Sun), and "Rugrats" (NICK, 2.1, Wed).

- MediaPost Staff Writer Anya Khait may be reached at anya@mediapost.com