Fall Is Now Primetime for Cable
Broadcast faces stiffer competition for original-programming success.
By Marisa Guthrie -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/6/2008 6:00:00 AM
As if the broadcast networks don’t have enough problems in primetime right now, another one is surfacing this fall: Their own cable cousins are coming after them.
“We’re very comfortable now about invading what was once a traditional broadcast-network space because we think we’ve got the goods,” said Jeff Wachtel, executive vice president of original programming at NBC Universal’s USA Network, basic cable’s top-rated network.
Last week, TNT’s new Steven Bochco drama, Raising the Bar, became the highest-rated premiere in ad-supported cable history with 7.7 million viewers. And the fact that Raising the Bar was launched in the fall, albeit prior to the main broadcast-premiere week of Sept. 22, showed that cable is coming out of its summer stronghold and attacking the fall.
USA was a pioneer in cable’s counterprogramming strategy, launching shows in the summer and on Friday nights. But now, it is gunning for the fall. The network held The Starter Wife for Oct. 10 and it will debut new episodes of prize possession Law & Order: Criminal Intent in November.
“We’ve moved our programming from purely being in the summer into the winter and, now, the next step is going to be into the fall,” Wachtel said.
To give Raising the Bar a fighting chance, TNT gave it a hit lead-in, Kyra Sedgwick drama The Closer, which also ranks as basic cable’s top-rated show, averaging more than 7 million viewers per episode. The network will premiere Timothy Hutton science-fiction drama Leverage in December.
“We’re very realistic about how fierce the competition is once you get into September and beyond,” said Michael Wright, senior VP at Turner Entertainment Networks. “The best marketing for a show is the lead-in and the first few weeks. You get people to sample the first one, and they stick with it through the second and third [episodes]. At that point, you’ve hopefully got enough people to come and sample it that you’ve built up a head of steam when you run into that fiercer competition.”
FX was among the first basic-cable networks to go scripted in the fall with the second season of Nip/Tuck in 2004. Last week, the network debuted the final season of The Shield along with new drama Sons of Anarchy. The network will debut the third season of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Sept. 18 and debut new comedy Testeeswith a Sunny lead-in Oct. 9.
And while many cable series do not reach the broadcast threshold for ratings success, buzz is on cable’s side.
“I think the challenge for broadcast networks is that it’s getting more and more difficult to be able to launch a whole plate of shows at the same time,” said JoAnn Alfano, who was named president of entertainment at Lifetime Networks this past week after a long career in development at NBC. “You really have to break down your assets and figure out what you’re going to promote and how many dollars you’re going to allocate. Once upon a time, it wasn’t so difficult.”
In October, Lifetime will bow its first scripted comedy in a decade with Rita Rocks.
“Nobody is laying down in the summer anymore, and no one is laying down in the fall,” Alfano added. “I think everybody is going to do year-round programming.”
Fall Is Now Prime Time for Cable
09/07/2008TNT Picks Up Steven Bochco’s Raising the Bar
01/23/2008TNT Renews Saving Grace, Raising the Bar
09/17/2008Bill McGoldrick Returning To USA Network
06/19/2009
