MTV Networks and Showtime announced last week that they are planning to launch a network for gay viewers, an audience segment that parent company Viacom hopes will be a magnet for advertisers.
According to Mark Elderkin, a gay-media expert and the founder of Gay.com, ?Gay Americans are at the nexus? of affluent, trendsetting, ?vertical affinity groups or diversity groups? and are a desirable target audience for advertisers.
Independent cable operator Bob Gessner, president of Massillon Cable in Massillon, Ohio, is taking a wait-and-see approach to the proposed network's viability. ?Despite what everyone would like to make of the obvious sociopolitical ramifications, I'd look at it as I would any other channel,? he says. As long as HITS (Headend in the Sky) includes the channel in its signal, it can work, Gessner says. ?If it has merit, HITS is pretty good about picking stuff up.?
Dan Mulvenon, VP-public relations for the Lenexa, Kan.-based National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC) says that because NCTC represents rural viewers, ?there probably wouldn't be as much interest [in a gay-themed network as in urban areas]. But,? he says, ?I don't know that there would be no interest. There would probably be some appeal, and we'd be interested.? The NCTC represents 1,000 companies that own 6,500 cable systems reaching 13 million subscribers nationwide.
A network for gay viewers is not a new concept: Toronto, Canada's gay-oriented PrideVision launched on Sept. 7, 2000.
Anna McCusker, PrideVision's VP-marketing, supports the MTV/Showtime initiative, saying that Viacom's plans ?reemphasize how the [gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered] community has been underserved.?
McCusker says the MTV/Showtime announcement won't change Headline Media-owned PrideVision's plans for U.S. distribution. PrideVision recently enlisted a New York-based consultancy to aid in its U.S. distribution efforts.
As reported in the New York Times last Thursday, Viacom is eyeing two revenue streams for the proposed network. It will charge a premium subscription fee of $5 or $6 and will also air advertisements. This financial model is similar to that of PrideVision, which charges Canadian viewers Can$7.95 per month and also accepts advertising (at press time, Can$7.95 equaled US$4.98). PrideVision's advertisers include Warner Music, Diet Pepsi, BMG Music, Microsoft, Sony Pictures Canada and Universal Music, as well as Canada's national cellular network, Rogers AT&T Canada.
The Golf Channel was both a premium and ad-supported network from January to September 1995, when it became fully ad-supported.
Roy Rothstein, VP and director of national broadcast research at Zenith Media in New York, said that the gay community ?is a coveted enough niche that advertisers who want to get to the gay community will pay to have it happen.?
There is much speculation about the potential audience for such a network. The Times article says that gay viewers constitute ?about 6.5% of television households? and calls that a ?rough estimate.? Derek Baine, senior analyst at Kagan World Media, the databook publisher that, like Cable World, is a subsidiary of Media Central, says he isn't familiar with the 6.5% figure, but even if that's the case, ?you would probably max out at 30% to 40% of [that number] with a pay service.?
Executives at both MTV and Showtime were not available for comment.
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