Circa Pict. & Prod. Co. Intnl Inc. (fka CPPD)

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Jan 24 article on gay tv...

http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/2002/01/24/FFXBOEJKQWC.html

Channelling the potential of gay TV market

By BILL CARTER
Thursday 24 January 2002


Looking to take advantage of what they think is a large and lucrative niche audience still untapped by television programmers, two cable divisions of the United States production company Viacom, MTV Networks and Showtime, are planning to create the first cable channel aimed directly at gay viewers.

The channel would be offered to American cable system operators as a pay channel like HBO or Showtime - only much less costly at $US5 or $US6 (about $A10-$A12) a month - but it would also include advertising. MTV Networks and Showtime have conducted extensive audience testing and concluded that there is, as one Showtime executive put it, "near unanimous enthusiasm from gay viewers" for the concept.

Betsy Frank, executive vice-president for research for MTV Networks, said the gay channel could have the same "groundbreaking impact" that the Fox network, the WB network and the Black Entertainment Network had.

The idea, however, has yet to be presented to operators of cable and satellite distribution systems. "Will the cable operators go for it?" says Matt Farber, a former MTV executive who has worked as a special consultant on the gay channel project.

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No timetable has been set for the channel's possible start, but Gene Falk, the senior vice-president for the MTV digital media group, says: "If things go right, we could be on within a year."

TV Guide magazine has reported that a gay channel was under consideration at MTV Networks and Showtime.

The presence of gay characters on television has increased in recent years, but the proposed gay channel would take that trend to a new level.

The programming, as described by several of the executives involved, would include acquired films, original series, imported series, news and information programs, talk shows, comedy shows and travel shows. Frank said that surveys had shown that gay viewers would be willing to pay a fee for "programming they're not getting but would like to have".

The channel is aimed at exploiting the increasing channel capacity now possible because of the expansion of digital television on cable and direct satellite systems. And gay adults are an increasingly attractive audience for many advertisers, because of their relatively high spending and because they are often in the vanguard of certain cultural trends.

- NEW YORK TIMES