Author Topic: Interesting article on GSN and other indies (Read 6987 times)

CaseyAbell · « **on:** August 30, 2005, 11:16:57 AM »

For once I looked at something else in CableWorld besides the ratings, and I found an enjoyable article on four indie networks, including GSN. No real news but a fun read on the perils of launching a poor little lonely cable network into the big bad world of the system operators. (Hint: pay the operators for carriage, or you ain't gonna make it.)

Lots of quotes from Rich Cronin and execs from the other networks. Hallmark has been the most successful all round, though Court TV has also grown quite nicely and turned very profitable. Hallmark is up for sale and might fetch a pretty price.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #1 on:** August 30, 2005, 12:43:40 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 11:16 AM\']Hallmark has been the most successful all round, though Court TV has also grown quite nicely and turned very profitable. Hallmark is up for sale and might fetch a pretty price.[/quote]
Hallmark has become successful by doing exactly the opposite of what GSN is doing. While GSN wages a hopeless battle chasing the hip, young viewer that everybody else wants, Hallmark has carved out its niche catering to a vast, underserved Red State market with a shrewdly selected lineup of shows that the Hollywood powers-that-be usually make fun of. Sure, they're pushing a lot of mobility scooters and life insurance plans, but they're also in the black. Not everything on TV has to be cool.

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #2 on:** August 30, 2005, 12:58:47 PM »

If GSN is chasing the hip young viewer with everything on the network up to 9:00 PM Eastern (and much on the network after that)...well, that's a weird kind of chasin'. Them hip young'uns are sure to be wowed by Gene and Richard in their seventies getups.

What GSN has decided to do is live with ancient demos and nicely inexpensive programming up to Amazing Race. Based on the network's own press releases and other bits of information on the free web, it seems their median viewer age pushes sixty until the nine o'clock hour strikes. It sure looks that way from the ads I see on the network. One more appeal to "post-menopausal women" and I might have a hot flash myself.

The real advantage Hallmark has on GSN is the much more mainstream appeal of their programming. Drama and comedy have always been far more consistently successful on TV than game shows. That's why there are 34,298 cable nets offering dramas and comedies.

How many networks specialize in game shows for grownups? Hold up one finger, preferably not the middle one.

EDIT: Not to end on the middle finger, it really surprises me a little that GSN has managed to survive at all. The network relies almost exclusively on a genre that couldn't be in deeper disfavor if it tried. Yes, I know Wheel and Jeopardy rack up nice household numbers in syndication, and TPiR will endure as long as Mr. Barker does. But in today's demo-driven industry, game shows aren't exactly the first choice of programmers. Maybe the thousand-and-first.

GSN sure hasn't generated Big Bucks (sorry) for its owners, as Liberty's sad notes on the network confirm. So for a game show freak like moi, it's almost an electronic miracle that the network still exists. In fact, I'm afraid to talk too much about the miracle for fear of spoiling it.

Dbacksfan12 · « **Reply #3 on:** August 30, 2005, 01:54:48 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 11:58 AM\']If GSN is chasing the hip young viewer with everything on the network up to 9:00 PM Eastern (and much on the network after that)...well, that's a weird kind of chasin'. Them hip young'uns are sure to be wowed by Gene and Richard in their seventies getups. [/quote]
Amazing how you ignore other shows, such as "Ballbreakers", and their past experiments such as "American Dream Derby", "Dog Eat Dog", etc.
This is just one more way for you to push your personal agenda, while you intentionally leave some facts out so they don't contradict something you've said before.

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The real advantage Hallmark has on GSN is the much more mainstream appeal of their programming.

No, the reason is as Matt stated-they cater to their market. You can't make me believe all those westerns are more appealing then "Family Feud".

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In fact, I'm afraid to talk too much about the miracle for fear of spoiling it.

You'd be doing us all a favor if you weren't so verbose.

Jimmy Owen · « **Reply #4 on:** August 30, 2005, 02:07:59 PM »

I don't really consider the casino type and sports competiton programs to be "game shows"," but if you do, then there are many channels specializing in "game shows for grown-ups": ESPN, ESPN 2, OLN, FSN. They don't pass muster in my view, but I can see if you think Dodgeball is a game show, so would be Major League Baseball. If Blackjack is a game show, so is Poker on Bravo. I don't think they are game shows, so GSN would be better off to focus on what their former core audience wants, rather than channel surfers.

clemon79 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 30, 2005, 02:14:47 PM »

[quote name=\'Modor\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 10:54 AM\']and their past experiments such as "American Dream Derby",
[/quote]
Dude, using Dream Derby as an argument to suggest GSN was trying to attract ANY type of audience is a poor argument indeed.

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No, the reason is as Matt stated-they cater to their market. You can't make me believe all those westerns are more appealing then "Family Feud".

You DO grok the concept that there are people out there who might not like game shows, right? I'm not saying I'd want to party with them, but they do exist. I know, it sounds unbelievable.

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You'd be doing us all a favor if you weren't so verbose.

Dude. Get laid. I'm begging you.

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #6 on:** August 30, 2005, 03:12:54 PM »

Guess some folks have trouble telling time. Somehow a poster overlooked that little phrase "up to 9:00 PM Eastern" in my post. Today during that time span GSN is showing Match Game, To Tell the Truth, Family Feud, Blockbusters, Password Plus, 100K Pyramid, Jeopardy, Newlywed Game, Love Connection, Super Password, Card Sharks, Lingo, Weakest Link, and Millionaire.

If this is chasing the hip young viewer, somebody's got strange ideas about hip young viewers.

The chase even continues after 9:00 with such fare as Millionaire, Win Ben Stein's Money, Match Game, Beat the Clock and What's My Line.

If we get any hipper around here, I might throw a hip out.

There's a reason for all those scooter commercials and pitches for arthritis drugs. And it's not that GSN is aiming for hip young viewers, even those with arthritic hips. The overwhelming bulk of the schedule, and virtually all of the schedule before 9:00 PM, is pitched at...well, let's say the definitely unhip and unyoung.

And ESPN specializes in game shows? Come on. This week they're showing six hours of poker - their only program that I'd consider a game show, and I've gotten hellacious arguments even about that one - out of 168 hours of programming. Oh, maybe we could toss in Around the Horn. That show keeps "score," though it's mostly a gag.

That's a way long ways from "specializing." Same goes for the other networks mentioned. Sorry, but there is exactly one (1) U.S. network that specializes in game shows for grown-ups. And if GSN goes under, don't hold your breath until ESPN, ESPN2, OLN, FSN or anybody else starts showing Match Game.

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #7 on:** August 30, 2005, 03:41:20 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 12:58 PM\']If GSN is chasing the hip young viewer with everything on the network up to 9:00 PM Eastern (and much on the network after that)...well, that's a weird kind of chasin'. Them hip young'uns are sure to be wowed by Gene and Richard in their seventies getups.[/quote]
Wow. For a while there, Casey, I thought you had learned to get along around here and stop pushing buttons that no one else is pushing. This is exactly the insulting tone that keeps the rest of us from paying much attention to the rest of your arguments.

GSN's stated goal is to court a younger demographic. Of COURSE they can't do that in every daypart with the library of programming they have. And right now, they're shell-shocked with the relative failures of some pretty expensive efforts.

All I'm saying is that Hallmark knows its audience. GSN doesn't seem to be able to say the same.

CaseyAbell · « **Reply #8 on:** August 30, 2005, 03:59:54 PM »

Sorry, I didn't mean to insult anybody. But a glance at GSN's schedule before 9:00 PM (and much of the schedule after 9:00) shows that the network is definitely not aiming for younger demos most of the time. Either that, or they're hopelessly incompetent, which I don't think they are.

I think the network has largely given up on the young demo chase for most of its schedule, at least until the lineup changes significantly. There's really no other way to explain their recent programming decisions.

Instead, I think GSN has - at least for the time being and for most of their programming hours - contented themselves with less expensive shows and the traditional game show audience. I don't even know why this should be controversial or push anybody's buttons. The schedule is what it is.

The only shows on today that look pitched to a "younger, hipper" audience are Amazing Race, Dodgeball, and (maybe) Street Smarts. Everything else - 15 of 19 programming hours - is pitched exactly the other way.

If somebody told me that the Golf Channel was chasing hip young viewers, I'd look at their schedule, too. And the conclusion would be pretty much the same. Sooner or later, you have to look at what a network is actually showing.

clemon79 · « **Reply #9 on:** August 30, 2005, 04:23:35 PM »

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 12:59 PM\']Sorry, I didn't mean to insult anybody. But a glance at GSN's schedule before 9:00 PM (and much of the schedule after 9:00) shows that the network is definitely not aiming for younger demos most of the time.
[/quote]
Which is, I believe, Matt's point. But don't let me get in the way of a good ramble, right?

Matt Ottinger · « **Reply #10 on:** August 30, 2005, 05:20:31 PM »

Now see, THIS is a response worth debating!

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 03:59 PM\']Sorry, I didn't mean to insult anybody. But a glance at GSN's schedule before 9:00 PM (and much of the schedule after 9:00) shows that the network is definitely not aiming for younger demos most of the time. Either that, or they're hopelessly incompetent, which I don't think they are.[/quote]
I'm not entirely sure I agree with you on the second point

Still, the third and I believe more accurate position would be that they're currently in a regrouping mode while they contemplate yet another new direction to pursue.
[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 03:59 PM\']I think the network has largely given up on the young demo chase for most of its schedule, at least until the lineup changes significantly. There's really no other way to explain their recent programming decisions.[/quote]
I don't think it's a deliberate effort NOT to court younger demos, nor is it a complete acceptance that they're not going to reach the younger demos. I think it's what they're stuck with until the next original programming push. I really, truly think that GSN doesn't know what it wants to be. There have been too many quotes from Cronin that make it seem like he just doesn't like game shows, or at least doesn't believe in them as a viable product for a cable network. And he might be right. Still, I'd rather hear something like, "We have these great classic shows AND look what else we're doing!" It seems like what I've been hearing from GSN lately has been "Don't judge us on our dusty old relics, look what else we're doing!"

[quote name=\'CaseyAbell\' date=\'Aug 30 2005, 03:59 PM\']The only shows on today that look pitched to a "younger, hipper" audience are Amazing Race, Dodgeball, and (maybe) Street Smarts. [/quote]
Yeah, but that glosses over all the recent failures that don't happen to be on the air right now. Still, those are precisely the shows they're pouring the most promotional budget into, and the shows to which they give the prime slots. Look, I realize they have to fill the schedule, and what they have to fill the schedule with are traditional game shows, most of them older. That's a point you don't have to make anymore. They have what they have. It's what they're TRYING to do, and what they're TRYING to have that I'm talking about.

I agree with you that the trend recently has been back to what we've pretty much decided to call "traditional" shows. And I'm fine with that. Happy, even. I'm just not convinced that GSN is happy with it too. I'd love for them to prove me wrong.

Game shows ought to be the easiest, cheapest form of programming to produce. I'm not even talking about something like Dodgeball. In my mind, they're spending too much money on Lingo. They ought to have a huge slate of cheap, engaging games that people will watch because they like the game. Instead, they're pumping Liberty and Sony money into expensive acquisitions and expensive new series, and making sure you know that they don't WANT to be thought of as a "game show network" anymore. Just seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot, and have been for some time.

sshuffield70 · « **Reply #11 on:** August 30, 2005, 05:30:13 PM »

Amen, Matt. You've got it exactly right.

I've envisioned a GS network for more years than I'd like to admit which could air in a loop 3 times a day (plus infomercials----I love game shows, but I'm not stupid) with all new programming, whether it's new shows or remounts. Possibly up to 12 new shows which would run 6 month seasons, repeat, and then start over again. If something didn't work the first year, replace it with something else in the time slot. But for the love of God, do not repeat ad infinitum. GSN has proven how well that works.