Cable Hot List: 75 Million and Under

1. HBOWe may never again see the likes of HBO's heyday, when transformative dramas like The Sopranos, The Wire and Six Feet Under made America renew its love affair with TV, but damn it if the premium net isn't trying. True Blood is now the most-watched HBO original since The Sopranos, and David Simon's meticulous N'Awlins drama Treme is already renewed for Season 2. Coming up: Deadwood alum David Milch saddles up horse racing drama Luck, and Martin Scorsese's Boardwalk Empire will transport viewers back to Prohibition-era Atlantic City.Carriage: 35 Mil. subsRevenue: With Cinemax, generates $3 Bil. from subs, plus $700 Mil. in PPV business2. MLB NETWORKSince it first stepped up to the plate in January '09, MLB Network has been knocking the cover off the ball. With a business plan that places fans ahead of greed, MLB Net is the rare startup that hits for power and average. In keeping its carriage fee down to a reasonable 24 cents per sub, the net was able to secure distribution in a record 50 million homes, despite drawing breath in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the last time the Cubs won the NL pennant. Now rated by Nielsen, MLB has added 30 new advertisers to its original roster of 200.Ratings: Week 1 ('10 season) averaged 56K HHs, with peaks of up to 133K.Revenue: affiliate/ad rev expected to hit $225 Mil. by '153. NAT GEODespite the recession, National Geographic Channel in the '09 upfront boosted auto dollars 12 percent while diversifying its client roster with money from QSRs and movies (coming out of news and sports outlets' coffers). Along with the returning Alaska State Troopers and The Dog Whisperer, NGC has six new shows set for 2010-11, including Thom Beers' strip Wild Justice and Monster Fish with Zeb Hogan. In November, NGC will debut the six-hour Great Migrations, a special that thrusts viewers in the thick of some of the most epic animal migrations on the planet.Ratings: Averaged 457K prime-time viewers in '09, up 12%; 230K A25-54, also up 12%Revenue: $119.2 Mil. in '09 ad rev, up 3%4. OXYGENOxygen's transformation from a curio in Oprah's investment portfolio to the fastest growing property in NBCU's cable lineup has been dizzying. In '07, Oxygen's face was Canadian sex granny Sue Johanson; today, it's thirtysomethings Tori Spelling and ex-Spice Girl Melanie Brown. Shows like Dance Your Ass Off and Bad Girls Club have doubled Oxygen's delivery of women 18-49, and tripled women 18-34. In '09, 67 new clients came onboard; through early April '10, the net added another 28 sponsors, including Avon, PepsiCo and Target.Ratings: Averaged 200K W18-49 in Q1 '10, up 6% vs. '09; W18-34 up 8% to 115K; 38 median age.Revenue: $134.3 Mil. in '09 ad rev., up 4%5. SHOWTIMEWhile XY-chromosome fare like Dexter and sex farce Californication put up big numbers for Showtime, the CBS-owned premium net of late has established itself as a haven for top-notch female talent. Four series are written by women and feature strong female leads: Nurse Jackie (starring Edie Falco), Weeds (Mary-Louise Parker), The United States of Tara (Toni Collette) and the upcoming pitch-black summer comedy The Big C (Laura Linney). All of which makes for a heady mix and keeps Showtime on equal creative footing with HBO.Ratings: Dexter's season-4 finale hit a record 2.6 Mil. viewers.Carriage: Still trails HBO with only 18 Mil. subs6. GOLF CHANNELA buoyant ad market has been good for sports nets, as targeted dollars are flowing back. Touting a median household income of $80.6K, Comcast's Golf Channel serves the most affluent audience on cable, appealing to clients looking for influential male consumers. Primary categories like auto and financial services are rebounding sharply, while standbys like telecom remain strong. Even endemics such as gear and apparel brands are looking to reverse last season's declines, buying back into PGA events and originals like The Haney Project: Ray Romano.Ratings: Avg. 147K prime-time viewers in '09, up 12%; A25-54 up 7%; Masters wk. drew 14 Mil.Revenue: $118.8 Mil. in '09 ad rev., down 5%7. DISNEY XDEntering its second year after its Feb. 13, 2009 relaunch, the network formerly known as Toon Disney is making significant inroads among younger viewers. Disney XD closed out Q1 '10 with its biggest delivery of boys 6-14, averaging 79,000, up 25 percent vs. the year-ago period. Along with current favorites Phineas and Ferb and its top-rated hit Kick Buttowski, Disney XD has a number of new projects in the works for later this year, including The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and live-action comedy Pair of Kings.Ratings: Averaged 319K prime-time viewers in '09, up 4%; 102K boys 6-14, up 32%Revenue: $80.8 Mil. in '09 ad rev., up 4%8. NFL NETWORKPro football's TV outlet has struggled to gain the operator acceptance enjoyed by the upstart MLB Network, largely because of monstrous carriage fees (73 cents a pop). Since kicking off in November '03, NFL Net reaches some 56.3 million homes, making its footprint slightly larger than the 50 million HHs MLB reached on its own Opening Day in January '09. Last year, the network made a breakthrough nine-season pact with Comcast that added 10.8 million new subs for a more reasonable 50 cents (or so) per sub. But until it makes nice with Time Warner and Cablevision, NFL Net will remain a second stringer.Ratings: Record avg. 167K viewers in '09, up 34%. 12/19/09 Saints-Cowboys drew 10.5 Mil. Thurs. Nite Football drew avg. 5.5 Mil., up 49%9. STARZNo. 3 premium net Starz started off '10 in stellar fashion, launching its first original hit with the swords, sandals and boobs epic Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and hiring former HBO boss Chris Albrecht as president and CEO. A campy, kicky blast of B-movie dialogue and computer-generated blood loss, Spartacus neatly eclipsed the maudlin and self-absorbed strip Crash. While Starz looks to build an audience with the genuinely funny comedy Party Down, it is bearing down on drama development, signing a two-project deal with Ben Silverman's studio Electus.Ratings: Spartacus averaged 981K viewers; 1.69 Mil. cume.Carriage: 16.9 Mil. Revenue: $1.2 Bil. from subs in '09, up 7%10. OWN: The Oprah Winfrey NetworkUnless you live at the bottom of a well, it's no surprise Oprah Winfrey and Discovery Communications are launching OWN on 1/1/11. Now, the media mogul's on-screen role is finally coming into focus: Winfrey will helm Oprah's Next Chapter, a new prime-time talk show that will bow after her syndie program closes shop in September 2011. Oprah's imprimatur has already gone a long way toward securing client support; in April, the startup sealed a $100 million deal with Procter & Gamble.Capital: Discovery has invested $49 Mil.Carriage: 74 Mil. subs Revenue: OWN shooting for affiliation fee of around 40 cents per sub

Convergent TV

Cable Hot List: 75 Million and Under

Anthony Crupi

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Anthony Crupi