26 For over 35 years the California-incorporated Television Critics Association (TCA) — representing 220 journalists writing about TV in the U.S. and Canada—has been organizing a TV Critics Press Tour twice a year, with the past two years alternating between the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif. in January and the Beverly Hilton Hotel in late July. At this summer’s 15-day Press Tour, which ended August 7, executives from six broadcasting organizations, cable TV representatives, Showtime andHulu commentedonprogramming and changing television viewing. VideoAge’s reporter on the scene offers this summary from the four major U.S. broadcast TV networks: ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, and their executives: ABC’s Entertainment Group president, Paul Lee, cites the international success of his U.S. shows as the recipe for the network’s success. “We were looking at our international numbers, andwe’re really seeing growth, not just onmultiple platforms, but internationally. From the slate of new shows, we have eight newpilots fromour own studio this year. And a lot of people are talking about our shows, and not just Scandal,” he said. He also mentionedOnce Upon a Time, Nashville, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Once Upon a Time inWonderland, Resurrection, andLucky 7as series that have garnered attention overseas. After spending time overseas for an Irish wake, Lee was struck by the number of people who approached him to talk about American television. “I think we don’t give ourselves enough credit for just how powerful American television is. I mean, sitting in a land a long way away at 4 in the morning...and you’re talking about Breaking Bad and Homeland and Scandal and Modern Family andMad Men. You know, there’s a reason why so manyof the talent fromfeatures—and I’mtalking behind the scenes, writers as well as directors — are moving across to us, to television. And there’s a reason why people around the world are watching our shows. We’re making extraordinary levels of very sophisticated television across all platforms, from Internet to pay to cable to broadcast...I was struck by it, by leaving the country and coming back. It is reflected in a very real way in the revenues that we see coming in from the shows that we sell. I mean, Revenge is a great seller around the world and a top 10 show in Australia. Nashville is selling extremely well for us with Lionsgate. And, of course, Once is a great seller for us, and Scandal, Grey’s Anatomy andCriminal Minds. We shouldn’t underestimate the power of the storytelling in this room and its ability to speak to millions of people in 220 markets around the world,” he said. CBS’s chief research officer and president of CBS Vision, Dave Poltrack, had this to say: “Today’s viewer has been liberated from the constraints of linear access to television programming. From the early days of the DVR, pundits have seen the expansion of the viewers’ access to television programming as a threat to the broadcast networks. We, on the other hand, have argued that greater access to television programs will benefit the most popular programs the most, presenting an opportunity for broadcast networks that control these programs. Clearly, this has been the case,” he said during a research panel. “It should be clear by now that the new technology and means of program distribution have allowed the broadcast networks to provide viewerswithgreater access to their programming, and that in turn has changed the economics of the business,” Poltrack added. CBS may be the network achieving the most success under the traditional broadcast model, but that doesn’t mean it’s not open to new models, said CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves. “We are traditional in how we approach the business. But we still move. We’re pretty nimble, and we look at what’s happening, and we’re able to make the appropriate deals,” said Moonves during their executive session. “So as much as we are a traditional network—and we are, and we’re very profitable doing that — we still are open to any way of doing business, as long as we can put on good shows and make it profitable.” Moonves cited experimental models like the summer series Under the Dome, which sold streaming rights to Amazon; its syndication deal for The Good Wife, which includes a Netflix deal; andHostages, which got a 15-episode order. “The whole model of putting on a big summer show has changed,” Moonves acknowledged. “We had to figure out financially how to put on a show of that size and scale. It came down to, the network license fee had to be small. There was a huge international sale and the participation of Amazon. We had to make a deal like never before…It’s been a great new model and they’ve been a great partner,” he said. The international market has become increasingly important, particularly for drama financing, Moonves explained, claiming that it has, at CBS, jumped from “about $400 million” to “$1.2billion”insixyears.“Internationalhasalways been a part of the discussion…International is a major, major part of our business.” FOXBroadcasting’s chairmanof Entertainment, Kevin Reilly, came to the defense of broadcast television: “Clearly, the broadcast system is not brokenor antiquatedor runby inept people. In fact, I really respect most of my broadcast competitors,” he said, pointing out that in the recent Nielsen cross-platform report, television consumption is up by nearly two hours on average, to 157 hours and 32 minutes per individual per month. “People are loving television. It’s a dynamic time for television. But how they’re watching it and where they’re watching it and what they’re watching is becoming just an extraordinary tapestry that I think is very difficult to always get by the tail,” he acknowledged. Reilly is not content with current measurement techniques. “Audiences are still enormous across the multiple platforms,” he said. “Certainly on television, the vast majority of viewing happens within the first three days. But on other platforms, that’s not the case. Take a look at VoD, which is a growing segment for us. We’ve been pleasantly surprised to see the way the audiences have embraced this platform as a catch-up and bingeviewing device, but what you see is the audience is equally proportioned in their viewing over that 30 days. And yet in the Nielsen measurement, we By Susan L. Hornik U.S. TV Execs Face Critics with Renewed Confidence for Broadcast TV’s Future October 2013 New Television Season (Continued on Page 30) (Continued on Page 28) Artear’s Julieta González at the 2013 L.A. Screenings Lionsgate’s Maryann Pasante, Peter Iacono at the 2013 L.A. Screenings ‘Clearly, the broadcast system is not broken or antiquated or run by inept people.’ —FOX’s Kevin Reilly Eye on the L.A. Screenings
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