Our Vision and Goals for the network.
Even the most casual glimpse of America’s citizenry at work, home or play, reveals a world populated by people of variegated hues, of voices intermixed in a cacophony of languages. Further examination also presents a portrait of a world made complex by entertainment tastes and preferences that have been shaped by culture, class, gender, age, and individual preferences. Such parameters are even further splintered by within-culture psychographic differences - consumer behaviors that have been shaped by varying attitudes, beliefs, and interests.
In order to penetrate these diverse markets, businesses, highly motivated by a desire to target smaller, measurable, and easy-to-penetrate consumer segments, have adopted niche marketing as a primary strategy. While niche marketing is more effective than the “shot-gun approach” that is embodied in general marketing, it is also a more costly and difficult-to-manage strategy for it requires separate research and research-driven marketing materials for each selected niche. Moreover, directing marketing messages to multiple niches is required in order to generate the revenue streams needed to maximize profitability.
Mr. Collins states, “Punch TV targets its audiences based upon psychographics and not merely demographics. As a family-based network, we offer programming for all ages. However, from a psychographic perspective, we offer programming that is designed to quench Urban American’s thirst for innovative programming. For example, Punch TV is the only Urban network that brings a roster that includes such a high percentage of new programming. Because marketing research reveals that Urban Americans tend to be trendsetters in areas such as apparel, automobiles, and food, Punch TV has incorporated this pattern into its core programming. For example, actors in our various shows wear the latest fashions and drive high profile cars. Marketing research indicates that these are specific trends within Urban communities.
A mere 25 years ago, the American public was primarily dependent upon three networks - ABC, CBS, and NBC - as the central sources of their television entertainment. Indeed, NBC was the recipient of an Emmy in 1986 for the comedy, Golden Girls, while CBS walked away with the Emmy for the drama, Cagney and Lacey, and ABC observed in silence as it awaited the 1988 Emmy in comedy for the Wonder Years. In October, 1986, Fox Television launched, serving as a symbol of change that has now matured into an era which now includes more than 30 networks. Moreover, with the proliferation of subchannels that has accompanied the digitalization of television, the American public is, on a daily basis, confronted with a confusing array of networks and channels, most of which are unfamiliar to the average viewer.
Given such a complex industry with its multiplicity of viewing choices, why would anyone create still another viewing option, whether majority- or minority-owned, that can fragment the viewing audience even further? Joseph Collins, President of one of America’s newest networks, Punch Television Network (Punch TV), argues that the technological change in the world of television has created an opportunity for greater responsiveness to consumer choice in programming content.
“When analyzed by demographics alone,” Mr. Collins argues from his office, “the American viewing audience has splintered from a fairly homogenous whole to one that is highly differentiated by not merely demographics and sociocultural variables, but by new sets of psychographics as well. The viewing preferences of a 55-year-old grandparent who is an aged hippie are substantially different from those of a 55-year-old retired executive who immigrated to America at the age of 13. New networks are needed to satisfy the tastes and viewing interests of these highly segmented niches of consumers.” According to Mr. Collins, Punch TV was established for those consumers who are intrigued by one-of-a-kind programming content.
“Many sports fans love the more traditional spectator sports. Yet, there is also a segment of viewers who are thirsty for a different type of athleticism. Punch TV will address that thirst through Black Belt Boulevard, a weekly entertainment event that allows viewers to share the trials and triumphs of athletes who excel in the world of martial arts. Sumo International is another Punch TV program offering that will satisfy the tastes of sports enthusiasts who desire to complement their more mainstream sports events with something different.”
Other Punch TV offerings are equally unique. For those who enjoy entertainment that reflects a historicity, Punch TV offers Grand Hills, a post-Buffalo Soldiers historical drama that, though fictional, is historically accurate and authentic. Another very different type of drama that Punch will be airing is the weekly soap, Get Thee Behind Me. This one-hour drama chronicles the exploits of a group of brilliant mobsters while seeking to answer the question, “Is redemption possible for those who have strayed so very far from the laws that govern society and their own souls?”
However, one of the most unique type of programming that Punch TV brings is stories by the people of America for the people of America. Punch TV has a segment in which it will air videos submitted by people who have had life-changing experiences that can encourage and support others (Punch TV only requires that the videos be produced using an HD camera). Punch TV is seeking stories of miraculous recovery in the area of health, business failures that resulted in success, the restoration and revival of relationships, and economic and financial reversals that retrieved lives from unemployment and/or bankruptcy for a new show.
Punch TV is symbolic of the melting pot, the blending, the mixture of flavors that is synonymous with life in the United States. Utilizing the theme, “Are you thirsty yet?” Punch TV Network, the brainchild of entrepreneur Joseph Collins, President, was conceived as an entertainment entity that blends the many flavors of Americans into a set of multicultural, multi-ethnic dramas, comedies, talk shows, reality shows, newscasts, and other genres of television entertainment. Rather than complaining each season regarding a perceived failure of mainstream television producers to offer diverse programming, Punch TV was born as an entertainment island that displays the racial/ethnic, age, gender, socioeconomic, religious, and other forms of diversity of America. With our new programs, Punch TV will introduce a broad array of absolutely unique programming. Dramas such as the series, Grand Hills, are reminiscent of Bonanza, Gunsmoke, and other yesteryear westerns. The musical drama Get Thee Behind Me is a synthesis of the Sopranos, Glee and Touched by an Angel. Television star Sheryl Lee Ralph, formerly Dee Mitchell on Moesha, will shock, educate, and entertain on Women of Today. A group of scholars and researchers will provide research-driven views about the empowerment of women on What Do We Tell Our Daughters? Even more exciting, youth and adults singing original music, and millions of Americans who have “gone through it to get to it” will inspire viewers with their stories.
We are positioning our company to be the dominate player in the urban television market place!
