Court TV goes the GSN Route

[Matt Ottinger]

From Marc Berman's Programming Insider:

Court TV....has a new name in primetime, The Investigation Channel, and an ambitious slate of new and returning programs. With a financial commitment of $200 million for original programming and marketing over the next two years, the network will introduce at least four new series....three made-for movies, more specials and other returning series.

Sound familiar?  My point for posting this is to remind the GSN naysayers that EVERY cable channel needs to grow and evolve to stay competitive in the marketplace.  I'm sure there are Court TV faithful who expected it to be all court coverage all the time and are aghast at this move toward more forensic-style programming.  But you can add this to the ever-growing list of networks that wouldn't BE growing if they didn't make changes like this now and then.  And GSN's changes are smaller than most!

[Jimmy Owen]

I like change and growth, but I wonder if the concept of "niche" programming is flawed.  It seems like a new channel has to convince a cable carrier that it is something other than a general interest channel to get launched, then finds it must change the focus in order to survive.  As far as Court TV, if the trial was at all interesting (O.J., etc), CNN or even local stations would cover it as well.  Why watch Court TV when you could watch the same show on Channel 4?  Not many niche players ever stay true to the original intent, yet the universe continues to unfold, as it should.

[CaseyAbell]

Court TV moved away from straight trial coverage at night quite a while ago, in favor of true crime documentaries and NYPD Blue and Cops and just about anything else. The result was better numbers, though things have stagnated a bit lately. But the MediaLifeMagazine article I referenced on another thread said the network picked up record numbers on March 18.

GSN starts from an even "niche-ier" position than Court TV did, though. After all, crime and legal dramas have always featured prominently in prime time, much more than game shows over the past few decades. So it might be a harder slog toward mainstream programming for GSN.

[Mario500]

Hopefully Court TV doesn't pull a complete "The New GSN", thus becoming "CTV" or even "TIC".

[Steve Gavazzi]

[quote name=\'Mario500\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 04:09 PM\'] Hopefully Court TV doesn't pull a complete "The New GSN", thus becoming "CTV" or even "TIC". [/quote]
 What possible difference could that make?

[zachhoran]

In semi-related news, G4 and Tech TV will merge in May, as per a post on rec.arts.tv. This probably means goodbye to reruns of Starcade on G4.

[PeterMarshallFan]

[quote name=\'zachhoran\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 07:42 PM\'] In semi-related news, G4 and Tech TV will merge in May, as per a post on rec.arts.tv. This probably means goodbye to reruns of Starcade on G4. [/quote]
 ...if G4 does drop Starcade, what are the chances that GSN could grab it?

[Mario500]

To answer a question above, the only difference I would see is yet another channel joining the acronym parade (TLC, TNN/The New TNN, IFC, FNC, FSN, HSN). What are they, the broadcast channels? It may have worked for CNN and QVC (both since day 1), but many other cable channels following is so far not working for some viewers.

[trainman]

[quote name=\'Mario500\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 01:09 PM\'] Hopefully Court TV doesn't pull a complete "The New GSN", thus becoming "CTV" or even "TIC". [/quote]

The channel resulting from the merger of Ha! and The Comedy Channel was originally named CTV.  The Canadian network of the same name was none too happy.

[Pyramid80]

I just noticed that Noggin has gone through a change too.  There was a promo for it and it was called "The N".  They are also airing episodes of The Brady Bunch.  What happened to The Electric Company and other classics?

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'Pyramid80\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 10:11 PM\'] I just noticed that Noggin has gone through a change too.  There was a promo for it and it was called "The N".  They are also airing episodes of The Brady Bunch.  What happened to The Electric Company and other classics? [/quote]
 It has been both for a while... it was Noggin in the morning/afternoon, "The N" in the evening.  I used to love watching the channel since they reran old episodes of Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One, and a jewel I got to know called Electric Company.  Now all it is is Blue's Clues and crappy Degrassi, weirdly enough one of Canada's highest rated programs.

Brandon Brooks

[MikeK]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 12:49 PM\'] From Marc Berman's Programming Insider:

Court TV....has a new name in primetime, The Investigation Channel, and an ambitious slate of new and returning programs. With a financial commitment of $200 million for original programming and marketing over the next two years, the network will introduce at least four new series....three made-for movies, more specials and other returning series.

Sound familiar?  My point for posting this is to remind the GSN naysayers that EVERY cable channel needs to grow and evolve to stay competitive in the marketplace.  I'm sure there are Court TV faithful who expected it to be all court coverage all the time and are aghast at this move toward more forensic-style programming.  But you can add this to the ever-growing list of networks that wouldn't BE growing if they didn't make changes like this now and then.  And GSN's changes are smaller than most! [/quote]
 Since most of my primetime TV time has gone from Game Show Ne...GSN to CourtTV over the past 6 months, I can hopefully add some worthwhile CourtTV info to this discussion.

CourtTV has been using the "The Investigative Channel" moniker for its primetime lineup since well before the first of this year.  Most of their new programs have focused on forensics (Body of Evidence; North Mission Road; I, Detective) plus CourtTV overkilled, er, debuted its first original movie in January.  CourtTV also has The Saturday Night Solution, which is 3 hours of CourtTV's Saturday night lineup with interstitials about a certain topic or event.  Sounds similar to Games Across America on another network whose acronymous name has slipped my mind...:-)

Let's recap...  Both networks have new names (well, sorta for CourtTV), both have a different style of programming in primetime which both networks hope to attract a new, non-traditional type of viewer, and both have a Saturday night lineup with interstitials related to the network's programming focus.  IMO, that's just the nature of the beast nowadays.

ObGS:  One recent CourtTV show, the quasi-game Fake Out, lasted six episodes.

[CaseyAbell]

Since most of my primetime TV time has gone from Game Show Ne...GSN to CourtTV over the past 6 months, I can hopefully add some worthwhile CourtTV info to this discussion.

Hm, you're something of an exception, according to Nielsen Media Research. Court TV's ratings have been generally flat to down over the past six months, while GSN's have been up since the nastiness of last August and September. Court TV does seem to be bouncing back this month, scoring record numbers on a recent Thursday with an assist (hoops term) from CBS.

For the (court?) record, Court TV scored a 0.8 in February prime time, down from 0.9 last year. GSN scored a 0.6, up from 0.5 last year. Yes, these are tiny movements and Nielsen's measurements are always open to question. But in the world of niche cable operators, tiny movements get noticed.

One difference isn't so tiny. Court TV is available in about eighty million households, GSN in just over fifty million. Of course, the two are corporate siblings, at least to some extent, thanks to Liberty's half-ownership of both networks.

[Jimmy Owen]

I think there might have been a mixup.  Those who said they were watching Court TV were actually watching basketball. After all, everybody knows basketball is played on a.....court.

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'Brandon Brooks\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 11:31 PM\'][quote name=\'Pyramid80\' date=\'Mar 29 2004, 10:11 PM\'] I just noticed that Noggin has gone through a change too.  There was a promo for it and it was called "The N".  They are also airing episodes of The Brady Bunch.  What happened to The Electric Company and other classics? [/quote]
It has been both for a while... it was Noggin in the morning/afternoon, "The N" in the evening.  I used to love watching the channel since they reran old episodes of Sesame Street, 3-2-1 Contact, Square One, and a jewel I got to know called Electric Company.  Now all it is is Blue's Clues and crappy Degrassi, weirdly enough one of Canada's highest rated programs.[/quote]
To be a little more exact, for the last couple of years the former "kids' thinking network" has been the pre-school oriented Noggin during the day, airing Nick Jr. shows, 90s "Sesame Street," the original repackage "Play With Me Sesame" and some exclusive acquisitions.  At night, it's The N, aimed at the so-called "tween" audience with "DeGrassi," repeats of "Clarissa" and "Pete and Pete" from Nick (and "Daria" from MTV), some other foreign acquisitions and "Clueless" repeats (and they're adding the much-beloved "My So-Called Life" next week).  This went along with Sesame Workshop selling back to Viacom its half of the channel and perhaps ending access to its library.

Also, as of May, the channel will cease being commercial-free during its N hours, it being, AFAIK, the first MTV Networks digital channel to add advertising on a regular basis (although something tells me that VH1 Classic does air advertising, I don't get the channel--damn you, Comcast!--so I can't verify that).