[B5JMS] JMS: Questions abour Sci-Fi channel

[b5jms-admin at cs.columbia.edu]

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From: "John W. Kennedy" <jwkenne at attglobal.net>
Date: Sun, 08 Sep 2002 12:43:46 -0400
Lines: 16

Tlsmith1963 wrote:
> All of this makes me wish that there would be a rebellion of punk-rock
> proportions against what TV has become.  The "suits" need a good kick in the
> rear.

Support your local stage (unless you live in Madison, NJ, in which case
don't support the abomination at Drew).

-- 
John W. Kennedy
Those in the seat of power oft forget their failings and seek only the
obeisance of others!  Thus is bad government born!  Hold in your heart
that you and the people are one, human beings all, and good government
shall arise of its own accord!  Such is the path of virtue!
-- Kazuo Koike, "Lone Wolf and Cub:  Thirteen Strings" (tr. Dana Lewis)


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From: jmsatb5 at aol.com (Jms at B5)
Date: 09 Sep 2002 21:32:49 GMT
Lines: 37

I don't think the Farscape situation much impacts my stuff with SFC one way or
another.  I suspect there were a number of factors, including the cost of the
show (which was the highest on the network, from what I've heard, but that's
second-hand and may not be accurate) combined with the fact that SFC (via their
parent company USA Networks) didn't own the show.

Lemme splain....

If a network owns the show they air, they can reap long-term profits from
syndication of the program.  More and more, USA Network (and other cable
outlets) is under pressure to own what they produce, otherwise they're paying
huge sums of money to produce shows that they air a few times, then the money
goes to the studio that did the actual production.  The higher the cost, the
iffier the proposition.

So that may have been an issue here.  They needed Farscape to help build their
audience, but now that this seems to be coming together for them, the logical
(for a network) thing would be to start paring away what they don't own, and
which is costly, to replace it with their own stuff.

One of the things you can never allow yourself to forget is that TV is a
business designed around making a profit, and determining who owns what
long-term revenue streams.

Doesn't affect Polaris one way or another, since if that goes, it would be
under the aegis of the network.

 jms

(jmsatb5 at aol.com)
(all message content (c) 2002 by synthetic worlds, ltd., 
permission to reprint specifically denied to SFX Magazine 
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