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

[skunksyard]

Interesting Gay TV article...

http://www.echomag.com/

NEW YORK
Looking to take advantage of what they say is a large and lucrative niche audience untapped by television programmers, two cable divisions of Viacom, MTV Networks and Showtime, are developing a plan to create the first cable channel aimed directly at gay viewers.
According to New York Times reporter Bill Carter, the still unnamed channel would be offered to cable system operators as a pay channel like HBO or Showtime — only much less costly at $5 or $6 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.
No timetable has been set for the channel's possible start, but Gene Falk, the senior vice president for the MTV digital media group, said, "If things go right, we could be on within a year."
Betsy Frank, executive vice president for research for MTV Networks, said the gay channel had the potential to make the same "groundbreaking impact" that the Fox network, the WB network and the Black Entertainment Network had.
"We see this as the next step in what a television network is supposed to be," she said.
The idea, however, has yet to be presented to operators of cable and
satellite distribution systems. "Will the cable operators go for it?" said Matt Farber, a former MTV executive who has worked as a consultant on this project. "I guess we'll find out."
The programming, as described by several of the executives involved in the planning, would include acquired films, original series, imported series, news and information programs, talk shows, comedy shows and travel shows. Frank said that surveys of potential viewers had shown that gay viewers would be willing to pay a fee for "programming they're not getting but would like to have."
Joan Garry, the executive director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, welcomed the plans for a gay channel, saying, "The flag I'm carrying is for visibility, and the more the better."
But she said the gay audience was diverse in makeup and taste and would not watch gay programming just to see gay programming.
"It will be all about the content. At the end of the day, if the content is smart, the channel will have a real shot," Garry said.