Lunch at Michael's with Showtime's CEO, Matt Blank
When Sleeper Cell returns this December to Showtime, the full ten-hours of the second season will be immediately available to
subscribers of Showtime On-Demand, CEO Matt Blank told MediaVillage.com.
Showtime is the first network to make all episodes of a series available on-demand in advance of the original weekly run. "People are paying us to subscribe," Blank explained. "Why not give the
full series to them? Ultimately the traditional characteristics of a TV season will be redefined."
Showtime's Matt Blank with Jack Myers at Michael's
Showtime's popular series The L Word returns to the pay-network with 12 episodes in January; Brotherhood has been renewed for next Summer; new series Dexter is among the hottest shows on television during an exceptionally competitive fall
season; and Weeds just ended a triumphant run as one of television's most critically acclaimed and popular comedy series.
Blank credits programming chief Bob Greenblatt, who joined the network in 2003, and CBS chairman Les Moonves with the network's recent successes. "Les is the most successful programming
executive of our time," he said. "I've seen the impact of his involvement and will see more. This is the first time we've had back-to-back hit series like Weeds, Brotherhood and Dexter.
"These series define what Showtime series should be," says Blank; "terrifically written and acted content that would not work on a broadcast or basic cable network. We've always had
shows the critics liked and some viewers liked but historically, we didn't execute them well. Now we have the good ideas and we also execute and promote them well." He also has high hopes for The Tudors, a major 12-hour historic series starring Jonathan Reese Meyers as Henry VIII. Showtime recently signed X-Files star David Duchovny to executive produce and star in a drama pilot about a novelist who is raising a child
on his own while battling drug and sexual addictions. Duchovny is also developing for Showtime a new comedy series, Yoga Man, described as Shampoo in a yoga studio.
Asked why Showtime cancelled the popular series Dead Like Me, (which he said has no chance for revival) Blank
pointed out "you only get so many swings at the plate."
Matt joined me for Lunch at Michael's™ to chat about his network's success and share stories from cable's early years when he was a young sales executive for HBO, trying to convince local system
operators to add a pay programming service when cable's only value to consumers was improved TV reception in rural areas. "It was the defining experience of my career," he shared.
"HBO was very entrepreneurial; there were only a handful of us going around the country, mostly to B/C county areas. In my first week on the job — a kid from Queens who went to college in Philadelphia — in the middle of Montana, someone told me how to find the
cable head end (local offices) by following a trail of amplifier boxes, trunk lines and wires. It was an engineering driven business so when HBO came along, it was the first time they were being asked to sell a discretionary service to consumers."
A difference in the business today, Matt says, is that "in the 1970s, media businesses had significant barriers to entry. I had to visit dozens of cable systems every month. Today, new media can make an impact and gain distribution in a short period of time. On the Internet there are fewer barriers to entry but someone else can start the same business tomorrow
to compete. You need a more compelling product to have a long shelf life. It's very challenging," he adds. "We're seeing YouTube and Google getting into dozens of applications to stay ahead of the curve."
At Michael's, several of the restaurant's lunch guests stopped by to say hello, including Fran Drescher, who was having "a fun lunch" with Twiggy and Dan Ackroyd. Scattered throughout Michael's front room were Larry King dining with theater magnate Gerry Schoenfeld, Barry
Diller, football great Frank Gifford, Al Roker, Fox News' Roger Friedman, CNN's Jeff Greenfield, critic Joel Siegel, advertising legend Jerry Della Femina, media execs Dave Poltrack, Gil Schwartz, Ed Adler, Peter Price, Bobby Friedman and Pat Fili. Matt was an early regular at the original Michael's in Santa Monica in the 1980s.
He joined Showtime as EVP Marketing in 1988, moving up to CEO in 1995. That year, Showtime's profits were zero, increasing to between $300 and $350 million in profits this year, according to analysts. He began his career at American Express, at 25 the youngest brand
manager in the company and working on the lead American Express card. A former boss, Bob Caird, moved to HBO and recruited him, convincing Matt the three-month old company had an excellent future. "I always wanted to work in media," he says. "I love TV."
Matt and his wife, Susan, who met at HBO, have a son and daughter, both students at Matt's alma mater, the
University of Pennsylvania.
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