V I D E O • A G E Se p t e m b e r/ Oc t o b e r 2 0 0 9 34 BY JOHN CUDDIHY The phrase “the times they are a’changin’” is a cliché yes, but particularly relevant to the television industry given the number of changes it has experienced over recent years. Sure, many industries are transitioning now due to the shifting world economy but, it seems that our industry in particular has been experiencing more than its fair share. Large companies have been gobbled up by even larger ones, technology breakthroughs are decimating wellconceived business models, and audience viewing patterns and tastes are not simply changing, they are practically in revolution. The fact is, we now live in a fractured media environment. VideoAge asked me to give my view on how these and other dynamics are affecting the Latin American television industry given my knowledge of the region and the perspective I have developed by working in other parts of the world. Latin American television, like the rest of the world, is going through changes, but the industry in this region is more stable than others because of the on-going success of the “novela” genre. To grasp the region’s television landscape it must first be understood that novelas remain regular Monday-Friday primetime mainstays anchoring most broadcasters’ schedules. This is true fromMexico right on down to Argentina, making Latin American television pretty unique. Locally produced programming continues to retain a relatively high percentage of broadcast schedules with daily strips ranging anywhere from 65-195 episodes per title. Normally, broadcasters air at least two novelas daily in primetime. So, how has Latin America changed? Below is a list of what I see as the recent major developments affecting the region. I. Novela Content Shift: While novelas have remained a staple of broadcasters’ schedules, the storylines and themes of the products themselves have morphed. Yo Soy Bette La Fea, the smash hit novela created in Colombia, took the world by storm and almost single-handedly changed the genre forever. Program licenses and format rights were sold at record levels internationally including a very successful remake, Ugly Betty , on ABC in the U.S. (which began airing after the original Spanish-language version became a smash hit for the U.S. Hispanic network Telemundo). This was absolutely groundbreaking. What the makers of Bette La Feadid was take the typical romantic theme of a poor but beautiful girl falling in love with a rich man, turn it on its head and add comedy. Almost immediately, Latin producers were creating novelas with more humor and social relevance. This also upped the game in terms of production values. Sure the classic romantically themed novelas are still produced and popular, but this new creative approach has been a big, permanent development. II. Co-Productions/Re-Versioning: In the past, the major studios focused exclusively on licensing “in the can” product to Latin American broadcasters, but this is changing fast. Two studios in particular, Disney and Sony, have been leaders in the areas of co-productions and re-versioning in the region. Disney’s innovation has come from taking current U.S. hits and re-versioning them. An early attempt by Disney was the reversioning of Desperate Housewives that basically took the scripts as written and changed them to Latin American settings. A recent, more aggressive approach involved Disney’s Grey’s Anatomy . In that case, Frenando Gaitan, the renowned Colombian scriptwriter who also created Bette La Fea, was brought on-board to adapt the series for Latin sensibilities. The idea was for Gaitan to convert 66 U.S. episodes into approximately 80-85 daily shows; what Disney is calling a “supraseria,” or, a hybrid between a U.S. series and a Latin novela. In the case of Sony, the studio set up a team that works with local broadcasters and producers to create programs based on past franchises such as The Nanny , which first aired very successfully as an “in the can” version dubbed into Spanish and then later remade with local talent. A co-production with the U.S. Hispanic network Telemundo, Zorro, la espalda y la rosatook advantage of another Sony franchise, and based on its positive outcome, Sony and Telemundo teamed up once again to create another novela, Doña Barbara, to much acclaim. Some of the biggest changes within the Latin American television industry have come from the cable and satellite side of the business. Cable and satellite have existed for some time but their first emergence as a force was during the early to mid-90s when major U.S networks such as ESPN, A&E, MTV Networks, Discovery, Turner Network Television (TNT), Cartoon Network and others launched Latin versions of their respective U.S. services in the region. These networks were joined by studio offerings such as The Warner Channel, Sony Entertainment Television and the Disney Channel, who teamed with Ole’ Communications and HBO to launch HBO Latin America, a premium movie service. Not to be outdone, Fox, Paramount, Universal (now NBC Universal), and MGM also launched channels and formed a premium movie service, LAP-TV. At first, all of these networks populated their respective schedules with American exported programs dubbed into Spanish and Portuguese. Recently, however, this picture has changed as indicated below. III. Local Cable Network Productions: The Sony Entertainment Network launched as a service to provide Latin Americans with the latest top rated U.S. television series. Today, SET offers locally produced fare including Latin American Idol , Los Caballeros , Mexico’s Top Model , and Brazilian Top Model . As for Fox, the studio has teamed up with local Colombian producer, Telecolombia, to produce various programs for the Fox Network in Latin America. Beyond that, the Fox/Telecolombia partnership has fostered a new series, Mental , that airs on Fox in the U.S., reversing a trend of American product being exported to Latin America. In the documentary area, both the A&E Television Networks and Discovery have made major commitments to populate their schedules with locally produced programming. In the case of A&E, many of their biography programs now airing on their BIO channel are produced in Latin America. Discovery also has ramped up their local production capabilities. In one case, Discovery teamed with Disney to develop The Amazing Racefor the region. What is especially interesting in this example is the innovative way in which Disney has expanded the reach of the program by offering “catch-up” rights to over-the-air broadcasters. What this means is broadcasters have 48 hours in which to rerun the Discovery premiere of each episode. This way, Discovery gets to keep its premiere status while The Amazing Race is exposed to a larger audience via broadcast TV. IV. Animation: Output agreements aside, the over-the-air broadcasters have greatly reduced their animation slots precipitating an almost total migration of children’s cartoons to the cable services. V. Executive Migration: Given the desire to get closer to their respective audiences and to save money, there has been a large executive migration from the U.S. locations to Latin America, particularly Argentina. Turner, Disney and MTV Networks are three cable network providers who have made this move recently. These five changes have had a major impact on the Latin American television industry, but they are not exclusive. The macroeconomic forces that are affecting the rest of the world are also being faced in Latin America. The growth of cable and satellite has been spotty and lingers at around 15 percent over the entire region, though certain territories are doing much better, such as Argentina and Mexico. As for pricing, yearly increases are in the low single levels with the strongest upticks being felt by the premium cable services. The changes affecting the world of television globally will surely be felt in Latin America, just not as severely. This is due to the unique socio-economic forces and the cultural customary habit that will most likely keep novelas at the forefront of the business for a long time to come. That does not mean that Latin America will not continue to change. It will but at its own pace and in its own unique way. N o w & T h e n The Times Are Changin’ In Latin America Too John Cuddihy served as SVP, Program Distribution for Latin America at Sony Pictures Television International. At A&E Television Networks John oversaw the creation of joint venture partnerships around the world resulting in the launch of local versions of The History Channel in more than 20 countries. Cuddihy also served as VP of Program Distribution at New World Entertainment and at ESPN. Most recently John served as President, Managing Director of Lightworks Program Distribution.
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