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by Chris Davison, chris@lthmedia.com
Revenue. Cash. Income. Benjamins. Whether from ad dollars or subscriber fees, cable networks live and die on being able to monetize their content and so on February 23rd, seven of the brightest minds in the business came together at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza to discuss ways to find, grow, invest and spend. Moderator Kevin Beggs - President, Lionsgate Television and President, HRTS - led the annual Cable Chiefs luncheon with panelists Steve Koonin - President, Turner Entertainment Networks; Peter Liguori - Chief Operating Officer, Discovery Communications; Michael Lombardo - President of Programming & West Coast Operations, HBO; Joshua Sapan - President & Chief Executive Officer, Rainbow Media Holdings LLC; Van Toffler - President, MTV Networks Music/Films/Logo Group; and Lauren Zalaznick - President, NBC Universal Women & Lifestyle Entertainment Networks.
 Beggs set the tone for a free-ranging discussion when he jumped right in and asked about the economy and the state of the advertising market in general. Zalaznick said that everyone is waiting to see how healthy the economy is relative to how much advertisers are willing to spend, Toffler adding that the economy is not doing well but the scatter market is great and his networks “feel the mojo coming back”.
 Liguori said that they had a good upfront and the scatter market has been very strong, adding that their visibility is better than it was a year ago. HBO of course does not sell ads and so Lombardo talked about their annual subscriber base, saying that they expected their number of subscribers to drop due to the economy but in fact ended the year a little bit up overall and were even able to pass along a rate increase.
 Each network exec brought a highlight reel with them and they were showed in turn, with the MTV Networks going first. After the tape, Beggs asked about the huge success of “Jersey Shore”, he wondered about some of the ingredients that went into the making of the show. Toffler said that when they design shows they don’t seek controversy but that “we have been known to put some combustible elements in a room and then sit back and let them explode”. He added that the show was originally developed as a pilot for VH1 and its older-skewing viewership but then they reworked it for MTV’s younger, Millennial audience. Beggs pointed out that “A Shot At Love With Tila Tequila” also began at VH1 before segueing to MTV, Toffler getting a big laugh as he quipped “all the classics”.
 Next up were the Turner networks, highlighting the copious amounts and diverse types of original programming across their various networks. Beggs noted that Turner has established a presence during the broadcast upfronts, that they were looking to compete head-to-head with the broadcast networks. Koonin said that they’ll be doing it again this year and they do it because “it’s like why Willie Sutton said he robbed banks, it’s where the money is”. Koonin added that with TBS and TNT, the brand is not immediately clear since it is not in their name, as opposed to Comedy Central, Food Network, etc. He said that “when you’re named after the creator – and I mean the creator of our networks, not the Big One” that it becomes necessary to do extensive research and define yourselves with clear slogans such as “We Know Drama” and “Very Funny”.
 The NBC Universal presentation showcased female-centric programming on networks such as Bravo and Oxygen. Beggs first asked Zalaznick how she managed to make the Oxygen Network cool pretty much overnight, even with many of the same pre-acquisition shows still airing. Zalaznick answered that the key with such an acquisition is to “remember what you were buying it for”, to focus on the attractive parts of the new property, and that the attraction of Oxygen is the power of female consumers with a particular focus on young women. By contrast, Bravo is geared toward older and more affluent women, which Zalaznick said turned out to be particularly valuable when they kept spending during the recession. She added that it’s possible that Bravo will expand into scripted programming but the challenge they face is that their unscripted characters are so real that it’s difficult to read a script and have it be as believable, as true to life as the reality show characters.
 Rainbow Media Holdings includes AMC, IFC and Sundance, so their reel highlighted some truly groundbreaking, award-winning content. The first thing Beggs noted was that both “Mad Men” and “Breaking Bad” were strong right out of the gate and in terms of a development ratio that’s almost unheard-of since “basically you’re batting a thousand”. Sapan said that they took a page from the playbooks of HBO and Showtime when they “initiated development with a whole lot more freedom and a little less sensitivity to the number and the rating by the third episode”. This creative freedom paid off for AMC in particular as evidenced by their award-winning shows. Although Rainbow Media is part of a large cable MSO, Sapan was able to report that bottom-line ethos aside, “Cablevision in its genes has a content orientation”; Zalaznick listened very intently so she could “get tips for next year”.
Discovery Communications is a truly global presence, with their tape relating that their networks reach 1.5 billion people worldwide. Beggs asked Liguori what excites him, what gets him going in the morning and Peter said “first and foremost it’s the programming”. He pointed out the advantages of having dual revenue streams, of having the consistency of cash flows that allows them to take a few more risks in programming. Discovery has a very broad reach and Liguori said that the key with the company right now is “to move it away from being a distribution company to being a global content company”.
 Michael Lombardo has been with HBO for nearly 25 years and in that time has seen it go from a company that aired an occasional variety special to a multifaceted content producer that includes HBO Entertainment, HBO Sports, HBO Films and other assets. Their reel included a number of longform properties and so Beggs wanted to know how it is that they are able to make original movies and miniseries work financially. Lombardo said that first and foremost “we are programming for the brand” and that the demand for that sort of content clearly exists. He added that they are able to do a large miniseries such as the upcoming “The Pacific” in part because they did incredibly well with “Band of Brothers”, a property that did well both artistically and financially as a first-run, on DVD and in the international market. Lombardo went on to point out that HBO offers opportunities for writers to create projects that the film studios are not doing right now and that the broadcast networks have closed the door on creatively, and so HBO will always have access to top talent who will create unique content.
In the end, everyone agreed that the depth and breadth of content is greater now than it has ever been and although there are challenges, people will always be willing to pay for a compelling experience.
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