• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, January 31, 2005

For cable networks, only one show is needed for success --- but at least one. These days if you are without, you'll need a winner fast.

Spike TV doesn't have that - and neither does BET.

Since Spike TV was launched in the summer of 2003, there has been a heavy amount of cool marketing for the network - typical of MTV, the network that runs Spike.

There were a number of early racy efforts to attract men, programs like "Stripperella" and more recently "The Joe Schmo Show" - anything with bawdy content in the "Maxim" or "Stuff" magazine way of thinking.

But none of this stuck. Young men only wanted to watch reruns of "Crime Scene Investigation" on Spike from Spike's sister network CBS. That's good news. But the bad news is that Spike couldn't develop programming of its own, a signature program that gives every successful cable network its identity.

And so out goes Albie Hecht, president of Spike TV. Or, in the big business lingo, there was a 'resignation' due to creative differences.

This trend is somewhat new. In the old days, cable networks had a bit more time to develop a network. Now a TV programmer typically gets what a broadcast network programming gets to show his stuff - about the duration of a NBA coach. Hecht got a year and a half.

Viacom was also able to move Robert Johnson, the long-time founder and chief executive at BET out of his position, now that his five-year contract has been completed.

Ever since it bought BET in 2000, Viacom agreed to let the network run itself. No doubt, it also believes BET doesn't have any big-rated, big-marketed signature program after all these years of existence, as the network is only known for music videos and some lackluster reality shows.

Cable network program development is tougher now because media companies expect more from them, and because the cable industry has matured where they aren't scoring big regular rating increases anymore.

No one has months to develop shows. Create good programming, and do it quickly -- or the bet is you'll be spiked out of existence.