The Television Content Production Con
From my oracle, OMO:
The 3 major tv networks have been conning program producers for decades (over 5 decades, in fact). Early on the networks convinced the producers that they should make series programs for the networks and accept a “license fee” for each show that was well below what it actually cost to make each show, i.e., a license fee of $100,000. for a show that actually cost $500,000. to produce.
The producers were told that “all they had to do” was remain on the air long enough to accumulate 100 episodes, and then they could put those 100 shows into “syndication” to the independent stations all around the country, and charge the indies exorbitant rates per show. In this way, they (the producers) would make back all the losses incurred when making the shows originally, plus huge profits.
They never mentioned that, of the hundreds of shows that were produced, only a handful ever reached the 100 episode level. Further, the losses involved were not only actual dollars spent in production budgets, but also the cost of money borrowed from banks to make programs at a loss for 5 years minimum. All the shows that lost money weekly, but never reached the “syndication” level, outnumbered the successful ones 20-1.
The networks, of course, paid their pittance of “license fees,” and then sold advertising in the millions of dollars per episode, per week. The producers never saw any of that money, they were busy waiting for the “pot-of-gold” at the end of the rainbow.
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Do we see any parallels to the production of web content?
November 18th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
You write, “The networks, of course, paid their pittance of “license fees,” and then sold advertising in the millions of dollars per episode, per week. The producers never saw any of that money, they were busy waiting for the “pot-of-gold” at the end of the rainbow.
Do we see any parallels to the production of web content?”
Oh my yes and… The producers of web content need to acquire some business sense in order to restructure the game, unless that is, they have found a way to bank, save and spend silly promises!
November 20th, 2006 at 8:41 pm
The myth of free, once associated with starving artists and concepts such as noblesse oblige, has been disseminated to the masses in the 20th century via first radio, then television, and what we now just term media. Even though most people these days pay for cable, satellite, and now internet connection, they’ve still got the idea that the content is free. This idea has skewed our individual understanding of value considerably. The focus on this in web development, where the term eyeballs was finally comprehended, concerns me when the result is to entertain enough ‘friends’ that you’ll be able to sell their attention for big bucks. The blogosphere conversation is a bit more encouraging. It still seems to me partly off base, though, with individuals owning and selling their own attention dominating the topic. There is yet, imo, not enough individual comprehension of content/value.
Vera