by Bob Levy
▸ ABC
▸ Adult Swim
▸ AMC
▸ Amazon
▸ Apple
▸ Audience Network
▸ E!
▸ EPIX
▸ Facebook Watch
▸ Freeform
▸ Fox
▸ FX
▸ HallmarkChannel
▸ HBO
▸ History
▸ Hulu
▸ Lifetime
▸ BBC America
▸ BET
▸ Bounce TV
▸ Bravo
▸ CBS
▸ CBS All Access
▸ MTV
▸ National Geographic
▸ NBC
▸ Netflix
▸ Nickelodeon
▸ Paramount Network
▸ PBS
▸ PlayStation Network
▸ Pop
▸ Showtime
▸ Cinemax
▸ Crackle
▸ The CW
▸ Comedy Central
▸ DC Universe
▸ Disney Channel
▸ Starz
▸ Sundance Now
▸ SundanceTV
▸ SyFy
▸ TBS
▸ TNT
▸ TV Land
▸ USA
▸ WeTV
▸ YouTube Premium
This list is constantly in flux. For example, A&E programmed scripted series for several years (like Bates Motel and Unforgettable – which I’ve already forgotten) but management at its parent companies (Hearst Corporation and the Walt Disney Company) changed the network’s corporate strategy in 2017, and A&E stopped developing and programming scripted series. WGN America abandoned its short-lived original scripted series venture (which included Salem, Underground, and Outsiders) in 2017 as well.2
Disney’s new streaming service, intended to rival Netflix, launches in late 2019, adding another major distributor of original scripted content to the list. Quibi, a streaming service designed to distribute content developed primarily for viewing on mobile devices, is also expected to launch in 2019. Quibi plans to experiment with a unique format, scripted series comprised of 15-minute episodes. (The name ‘Quibi’ is short for ‘quick bites,’ reflecting the novel format of the platform’s episodes.)
As time passes some channels may decide scripted series isn’t the right business for them, and new channels will enter the business to replace them. The current trend suggests more companies are emerging that develop and program scripted series (that buy development) than companies reversing course. We’ll see how long this trend continues. For the moment, there are so many buyers (and so many new buyers each year) and so much demand for new shows, the business looks in many ways like a sellers’ market. Some sellers see it differently though. Jay Sures, the Co-President of UTA (United Talent Agency) and its Head of Television, puts it this way:
The power that Netflix and some of the other buyers in the marketplace hold right now is extraordinary. They offer a unique and special platform that’s commercial-free, somewhat standards-free, that gives creators the ability to do what they want to do and not have all the constraints that we saw several years ago. That’s a big difference, and that difference makes it a buyers’ market also.3
The Buyers
Let’s look more closely at the marketplace of buyers. As mentioned earlier, there are three primary kinds of network buyers, legacy broadcast networks, cable and satellite channels and online video distributors.
There are five broadcast networks:
▸ ABC
▸ CBS
▸ The CW
▸ Fox
▸ NBC.
The oldest of this category of networks, NBC, is almost 100 years old. ABC, CBS and NBC originated as radio networks, programming news, music, sports and scripted series to American radio listeners beginning in the 1920s. NBC aired the first hit scripted series on radio, Amos ‘n’ Andy, beginning in 1930. The three radio networks experimented with television broadcasting during the 1930s, put their TV endeavors on hold during World War II and began programming their first scripted TV series in the late 1940s. Fox (also known as Fox Broadcasting Company and commonly referred to in the industry as FBC to distinguish it from the Fox-branded cable channels) launched in 1986. The CW network formed in 2006 as a result of the merger of their predecessor networks, The WB and UPN, which both began in 1995.
The broadcast networks, as we know, are advertiser-supported (meaning the shows are interrupted by commercials and therefore episodes are broken into “acts” that are divided by commercial breaks, a.k.a. “commercial pods” in industry parlance). The broadcast networks were and still are literally networks. They are networks of many local TV stations in cities and towns (a.k.a. “markets”) across the country. The stations are either owned by the parent network (known as “O and Os,” meaning the stations are owned and operated by the parent network), or they’re owned by a syndicate than owns a group of stations, or they’re individually owned by a local company. Stations that aren’t owned by the parent network are known as “affiliated” stations or “affiliates.” The networks are therefore comprised of the network headquarters (which are all in New York City, while the entertainment divisions that develop scripted series are all in Los Angeles), the O and Os and affiliates.
While most consumers of broadcast network programming pay for the channels as part of a basic cable or satellite package, the broadcast networks still actually broadcast their programming for free nationwide. This is known as “terrestrial broadcasting,” and during the first several decades of TV history it was the only way to receive network programming.
Because the programming is broadcast everywhere to all Americans who own TVs and uses publicly owned radio waves, the content of broadcast network programming is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and is expected to be appropriate for consumption by all Americans of all ages and tastes. That’s why broadcast network programming tends to be safer and less “adult” in content, avoiding the coarse language, graphic sexuality and extreme violence offered by other programming distributors.
In the old days, when only the three original broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, distributed scripted series, each of them commanded enormous viewership, and individual shows were regularly watched by 20–30 million viewers. Today, the broadcast networks’ audiences have fragmented into relatively tiny numbers as the networks face continually increasing competition, not only from more cable, satellite and streaming networks but from other media as well. But, importantly for the development side of the business, as small as the broadcast networks’ audiences have shrunk, those buyers are still seen within the industry as an important force. The “big three” original broadcast networks still program 21 hours of mostly original programming seven nights a week, nine months a year or more. (Fox and the CW program slightly fewer hours of original programming per week, but for the same nine months each year.) While AMC programmed eight scripted series in 2018, CBS programmed 23. The broadcast networks continue to buy more development than other categories of network buyers, and a hit series on broadcast TV continues to be the most lucrative opportunity in all of TV. Although broadcast TV hits are becoming fewer and farther between, the pot of gold at the end of the broadcast network rainbow continues to be an attractive target to many sellers and talent (writers, directors and actors) throughout the development business.
The cable landscape is divided into two main categories, basic cable and premium cable. Basic cable channels like AMC, FX and TNT are referred to as “basic” because they’re typically offered in the basic programming packages that most cable and satellite providers offer. They’re advertiser-supported and their programming is interrupted by commercials. Traditionally, basic cable channels limited the language, sexuality and violence of their content because their programming was in the homes of many consumers who didn’t actively consent to more adult programmin
g, but the content of much basic cable programming has become increasingly adult, and in recent years has come very close to what we would consider R-rated.
Currently there are 27 basic cable channels that develop and program scripted series:
▸ Adult Swim
▸ AMC
▸ Audience Network
▸ BBC America
▸ History
▸ Lifetime
▸ MTV
▸ NatGeo
▸ Nickelodeon
▸ BET
▸ Bravo
▸ Comedy Central
▸ Disney Channel
▸ Paramount Network
▸ Pop
▸ SundanceTV
▸ SyFy
▸ TBS
▸ E!
▸ Freeform
▸ FX
▸ Hallmark Channel
▸ TNT
▸ TV Land
▸ USA
▸ VH1
▸ WeTV
Premium cable channels are “premium” because cable customers pay an extra monthly fee, a “premium,” to receive each of these channels. Premium cable channels therefore are fee-supported rather than advertiser-supported and their programming is not interrupted by commercials. Premium cable shows that are aimed at audiences older than children are typically more “edgy” and often feature R-rated language, sexuality and violence. There are currently five premium cable channels that program scripted series:
▸ Cinemax
▸ EPIX
▸ HBO
▸ Showtime
▸ Starz.
The last category of network buyers are the online video companies that distribute TV shows via the internet:
▸ Amazon
▸ Apple4
▸ CBS All Access
▸ DC Universe
▸ Disney+5
▸ Facebook Watch
▸ Hulu
▸ Netflix
▸ Sony Crackle
▸ Sundance Now.
I used the phrase “that distribute TV shows via the internet” for a reason. As I move into a discussion of online video distributors it’s important to remember that the focus of this book is the creation of TV shows. While there are myriad forms and formats of online video entertainment, my focus in this book is on the online video distribution companies that develop and program big-budget, high-production-value scripted series. What we still continue to think of and refer to as “TV shows.”
The distinctions between “TV shows” and “web series” grow fuzzier and fuzzier. For the time being, though, most of us recognize the differences: TV shows enjoy bigger budgets, more sophisticated production methods and production values, longer running times and typically more traditional programming formats. Some web series are being adapted into big-budget network scripted series like High Maintenance, while some other web series serve as launching pads for talent who are given opportunities by networks to create TV series in the way creators of other media (indie features, books, comic books) are given opportunities to translate their voices and visions to scripted television. Development executives at HBO noticed Issa Rae’s web series The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl had the same kind of potential they’d seen in Lena Dunham’s indie feature Tiny Furniture, and gave its creator the opportunity to develop a new TV series (resulting in the development of Insecure), rather than simply adapting the original web series into a TV series itself.
At TV studios and talent agencies (and other Hollywood companies) lawyers and business affairs executives are working hard to figure out new kinds of deals to sell programming to online TV distributors whose business models are intent on disrupting content distribution. But down the hallways and across the lots at those companies development executives take a different tack; they tend to be platform agnostic. If a distributor (a network) pays the license fees that cover the cost of high-quality development and production – the fees of the best writers, producers, actors and directors, along with the rest of high-production-value budgets – and guarantees national or international distribution, a TV show is a TV show however it’s distributed, whatever technology the network uses.
Development execs and producers are cognizant of changing deal structures, but they primarily view the streaming platforms as they view other networks: will they buy my pitch, run my show, support it with marketing and distribution muscle and give my show the chance to become a hit?
The interplay between technology and commerce combined to transition scripted series storytelling from radio to television in the 1940s and 1950s. Technology and commerce evolved the distribution of TV from terrestrial broadcasting to cable and satellite to streaming, and that transformation of distribution will continue, at both evolutionary and disruptive rates. But, for now, content creators focus most of their time on originating new shows and finding new homes for them. For now, it’s all TV.
What distinguishes the 49 networks from each other and what kind of shows do they buy? How do sellers (studios, producers and agents) think about them as they approach the TV buyer landscape?
How Sellers Assess Buyers
As we look at the list of buyers, assessing the current development marketplace, much of what differentiates buyers from one another is fairly obvious. We all know how the Disney Channel differs from Showtime. To a great extent the thought process of sellers in the development marketplace is intuitive: If a producer is developing a show for little kids, the producer knows her market for that project is the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, HBO, Amazon and Netflix. That’s it. That’s the marketplace of shows for little kids. Forget the list of 49 networks. The list of buyers for that kind of development consists of five buyers. But sellers also study their target buyers more closely than that.
The first and most general way sellers assess buyers is by the kinds of formats they program. Some networks only program one-hour dramas and some only program half-hour comedies. Some networks program limited series, and some don’t. If you’re a producer or a studio exec and you’re going to develop a new one-hour drama project, you want to know which networks develop and program one-hour dramas and which don’t. In other words, which networks might be open to even consider buying your new project.
The list below shows the 49 buyers and the formats they program. I’ve created this list for illustration purposes, but most sellers know it like the backs of their hands. It’s their business to keep abreast of this info.
▸ ABC: C, D, L
▸ Adult Swim: C
▸ AMC: D, L
▸ Amazon: C, D
▸ Apple: C, D
▸ Audience Network: C, D
▸ BBC America: D
▸ BET: C
▸ Bounce TV: C, D
▸ Bravo: D
▸ CBS: C, D, L
▸ CBS All Access: C, D
▸ Paramount Network: C, D, L
▸ PBS: D, L
▸ PlayStation Network: D
▸ Pop: C, D
▸ Cinemax: D
▸ Crackle: C, D
▸ The CW: D
▸ Comedy Central: C
▸ DC Universe: D
▸ Disney Channel: C
▸ Disney+: C, D
▸ E!: D
▸ EPIX: C, D
▸ Facebook: C, D
▸ Fox (FBC): C, D, L
▸ Showtime: C, D, L
▸ Starz: C, D
▸ Sundance Now: C, D
▸ SundanceTV: D
▸ Freeform: C, D
▸ FX: C, D
▸ Hallmark Channel: D
▸ HBO: C, D, L
▸ History: D, L
▸ Hulu: C, D, L
▸ Lifetime: D, L
▸ MTV: C, D
▸ NatGeo: L
▸ NBC: C, D, L
▸ Netflix: C, D, L
▸ Nickelodeon: C
▸ SyFy: D
▸ TBS: C
▸ TNT: D
▸ TV Land: C
▸ USA: D
▸ WeTV: D
D = one-hour dramas, C = half-hour comedies (either single or multi-cam), L = limited series.
As mentioned earlier, the traditional format definitions are blurring and becoming less relevant as TV shifts toward non-linear distribution and increased creative experimentation. But, whether one-hour drama episodes run 42 minutes or 75 minutes, or half-hour dramedies veer close to becoming 34-minute dramas, the traditional TV format distinctions are still used by all networks, and the networks by and large still continue to define their programming strategies by the formats they program.
The second way networks define themselves is by their demographics, the “demos” of the audiences they target. Networks are largely defined by the question: What segment of the audience are we trying to attract?
The Disney Channel targets kids and Showtime targets adults. That’s pretty obvious. More specifically, the Disney Channel targets kids ages 6–11 and Showtime targets adults 18–49. Those numbers aren’t estimates; they’re demographic categories defined by Nielsen, the ratings firm that was founded in the 1920s and that began analyzing the size and “quality” (I’ll discuss more about what that means in a moment) of radio audiences in the 1930s, and that has monopolized the analytics of broadcast, cable and satellite TV ratings since the 1950s. While writers and producers have scorned the power of Nielsen from the beginning of TV (and probably radio before then), and twenty-first-century media critics assume Nielsen’s data is becoming increasingly irrelevant, the data Nielsen generates continues to determine the exchange of billions of dollars between TV networks and advertisers. For the purposes of development professionals, the demographic categories Nielsen defined decades ago continue to serve as the metrics all industry professionals use to delineate the different audience segments their shows target.