Charter/Spectrum Enters a Scripted Series VOD Era

Street detective buddy dramaamp160LA39s Finest with Gabrielle Union and Jessica Albaamp160involved as both costars and coexecutive producers marks the opening volley of Spectrum Originalsamp160 The first three episodes arrived on VOD May 13 with two more episodes scheduled to premiere each week through June 17amp160 Spectrum subscribers can see the episodes free of charge and commercialfree on VODamp160 Each Spectrum Originals series will get a ninemonth VOD run after which the program supplier Sony Pictures TV in this case can offer the program any way it wants domestically or internationallyThree more Originals series will debut during 2019 starting with Curfew a street racing drama that Katherine Pope pictured at top Spectrum Originals39 Senior Vice President and Head of Original Content labels quota love letter to genre TVquotamp160amp160Curfew will premiere this summer followed by another series to be announced in a few weeks in early fall and the reboot of Mad About You with Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt back in their costarring roles from Sony in Decemberamp160 At least two new series will kick in the first half of 2020 one being Manhunt Lionsgate39s revival of the miniseries anthology concept that resulted in an acclaimed docudrama about the search for the Unabomber on Discovery Channel two years ago Despite solid ratings and critical praise Discovery turned down additional Manhunt miniseries when the network abandoned its plans for more scripted TVPope classifies Spectrum Originals as both a new value proposition to Charter39s customers and a natural progression from local news and public affairs channels the company operates in New York City and other locations nationwideamp160 quotThis is a logical extension of thatquot she saysamp160 quotWe want to give subscribers a selection of premium TV series they can see exclusivelyamp160 I39m trying to make a curated group of shows for specific and discreet demographicsamp160 We39re looking for what39s underrepresented on TV so we can make a stronger connection between groups who feel their stories aren39t being toldquotIn LA39s Finest what39s underrepresented is a matter of overriding storyline policewomen paired up and in action solving crimes a la Cagney ampamp Lacey or Rizzoli ampamp Isles and women of color leading on and offcameraamp160 quotThe program is more about the characters and the friendship they have and a little less about solving the crime of the weekquot Pope explainsamp160 quotEasypeasy where I39m concernedquotWhy run Originals through advertiserfree VODamp160 quotWhen you look to give subscribers a valueadd you39re looking to give them something they don39t havequot Pope notesamp160amp160quotWe made the decision to make this experience as easy userfriendly and premium as possibleamp160 The goal going in was just to make this as easy to view on the subscriber39s terms let this be something they driveamp160 In a way we39re rewarding our subscribers for being our subscribersquotA crosschannel message campaign on Spectrum Originals and LA39s Finest launched late April supplemented by direct mail a feature story in Spectrum39s VOD program guide and a mix of videos trailers behindthescenes footage etc playing on Charter39s websiteamp160 Charter and Sony also held a public eventamp160featuring the cast and crew in Los Angeles the weekend before launchFrom here Originals will premiere series from outside production companies greenlighted by Charter or coproductions between the company and cable programmers or studiosamp160 Before Pope a former NBC Universal Programming Executive arrived to oversee Spectrum Originals Charter formulated coproduction agreements with Viacom and AMC Networksamp160 After the VOD window Viacom and AMC can play the coproduction on any of their channelsViacom is finalizing plans to coproduce one series whose postVOD existence will be on Paramount Network and close to going forward with another program for later play on BETamp160 As for AMC Pope says their first coproduction is some time offamp160 Viacom and AMC along with Lionsgate have a group of scripted concepts in developmentquotWe39re not out to be Walmart or Netflix in terms of putting out a large volume of original seriesquot Pope saysamp160 quotWe haven39t done this beforeamp160 We39ll put these shows out one at a time and see what we get backamp160 This is a learning curvequotAs Spectrum Originals gets that curve down Pope believes Charter can make an important contribution to the range and quality of scripted content quotWe have to continue to expand our definition of what TV isquot she saysamp160 quotDo I see interactive TV for us down the roadamp160 I hope soquotEditor39s noteamp160 quotLA39s Finestquot executive producers Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier were recently guests on Simon Applebaum39s Tomorrow Will Be Televised Internetdistributed radio programpodcastamp160 That episode is available at here iTunes Apple TV or Spreaker39s podcast application and iHeartRadioClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Charter/Spectrum Enters a Scripted Series VOD Era

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Charter/Spectrum Enters a Scripted Series VOD Era

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