News Corp. Hopes What It Learned From New Media Pays Off In Old Media

from the old-media-2.0 dept

Thu, Aug 31st 2006 10:18am — Joseph Weisenthal

For awhile, all the news out of Fox had to do with ther internet investments, with Myspace being the most prominent. But the company hasn't totally given up its old media roots; last week there was talk that the company might launch a MySpace magazine, and now the company is revealing that it's set to launch a new cable channel dubbed MyNetworkTV. But the move isn't completely uninspired. The channel will feature original programming made on the cheap, using lesser-known actors, simple sets, and a condensed shooting schedule. Instead of making big bets on season-long shows, each series will start and end over a short period of time, eliminating the risk that a dud will drag down the whole network. And, of course, the shows will be heavy on sexual content, which has never gone out of style among young people. All of these moves sound good, in light of the need to cut costs in media. If there's an obvious flaw in the plan, it's that it doesn't go far enough. Confining the new venture to cable TV, as opposed to exploiting the new unbundled distribution mechanisms that Fox supposedly believes in, is a mistake. And cutting production costs shouldn't be a strategy limited to just one of their many properties. Getting lean is something that media should do across the board. Still, this is definitely a good start -- and if it works well, it could easily influence others to go down this road, and even take it further.

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4 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 31 Aug 2006 @ 11:13am

It just might work.
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chris (profile), 31 Aug 2006 @ 11:37am

i think i have seen this formula before...
no-name actors... heavy sexual content... i think it was called fox... or FX... i'm sure, but it will come to me eventually.
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Xavier Longfellow, 31 Aug 2006 @ 12:11pm

Not a cable network
Although I am usually impressed with the insight of Techdirt comments, this one is inaccurate. MyNetworkTV is not a cable channel. It will reside on several of the broadcast affiliates abandoned by the recent UPN-WB merger of sorts that resulted in the new CW network. The shows "on the cheap" produced for MyNetworkTV are modeled on the wildly popular telenovela style. In fact, the first story on the two shows being broadcast are repeats of stories that were among the most popular in Latin America and elsewhere. Early word is that these shows are being very well received by media buyers and critics. It remains to be seen whether Americans will be willing to keep pace with a primetime show that provides new episodes every night. If one show fails, that's half of the MyNetworkTV lineup. It's a pretty big gamble. Note that because it is on broadcast TV, and not cable, they will be resticted by indecency laws and the sexual content will be relatively tamed.
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Andrew Strasser, 3 Sep 2006 @ 4:23am

You'd hope!
Then again that would expect some intelligence.
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