By Sabrina Toledo

August 2
The theme at this year’s CTAM Summit was how to make consumers happy while the options for viewing programming keep changing. One would think that the actual programming would fit in somewhere, but this crowd is focused not so much on what we see, just how and where we see it.

Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes, in a live interview conducted by CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, said that every cable network should go to a VOD model – viewers clearly want control of what they watch and when. To Bewkes, the biggest challenge is getting producers to clear VOD rights. (At least he used the term “producer” – the term of choice last week was the always-bland “content provider”.)

Regardless of the focus (or lack thereof) on “content” during CTAM, digital products like VOD and broadband aren’t going away anytime soon. Producers need to not only be ready to make those rights a part of the deal, but to pay special attention as new ideas are developed and pitched to cable networks. As Mary Murano, President of Distribution at Oxygen Media said in a CTAM session, and as reported in CableU, Oxygen uses its broadband channel SheSaidWhat.tv to sniff out potential new programming and talent. This allows the network to test out programming at a much lower risk than putting it on the air right away. CableU also notes that Sci Fi Channel is ambitiously developing original programming for its Sci Fi Pulse website, and that for over a year now HGTV has been on the hunt for exclusive-to-online series.

New technologies are opening up the chances of launching your own show with a cable brand to back you up. So are producers paying enough attention to what lies beyond linear TV?

Perhaps, but judging by what was said and heard at CTAM ­­– and by what cable programming analysts have been claiming – these new venues are the order of the day. Either pay attention, or get lost in the digital shuffle.
Sabrina Toledo is Vice President of Sales and Marketing for CABLEready, and Programming Analyst for CableU. Cynopsis is a partner in CableU