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Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties, weekly podcast featuring conversations with

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Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of entertainment. I'm Cynthia Littleton,

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Speaker 1: business editor for Variety Today. My guest in New York

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Speaker 1: is Bill Abbott, President and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks,

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Speaker 1: the parent company of Hallmark Channel and its related channels.

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Speaker 1: Bill has the difficult job of navigating an independent cable

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Speaker 1: TV company through the choppy waters of disruption and unprecedented

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Speaker 1: upheaval in the pay TV landscape. Bill is candid in

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Speaker 1: the interview about the competitive disadvantage that a company of

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Speaker 1: Crown size has in a marketplace that has become dominated

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Speaker 1: by global media giants. At the same time, Hallmark defied

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Speaker 1: all the odds and successfully launched a linear channel just

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Speaker 1: about eighteen months ago, Hallmark Drama. And Bill also gives

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Speaker 1: us an update on the status of Hallmarks two year

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Speaker 1: old subscription streaming service, Hallmark Movies Now. Bill Abbott, President

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Speaker 1: and CEO of Crown Media Family Networks, thank you so

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Speaker 1: much for stopping by today. Pleasure to be here. Let's talk.

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Speaker 1: Let's start with the biggest question that anybody in the

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Speaker 1: television or the content programming business is grappling with right now,

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Speaker 1: how are you in your business dealing with the exponential

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Speaker 1: growth in competition for for eyeballs, competition for the people's

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Speaker 1: share of television watching time. Well, there's no question the

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Speaker 1: business has changed and is evolving so quickly. Every day

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Speaker 1: you read and know the story of a new service

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Speaker 1: that's launching with great new product, all of which consumers

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Speaker 1: will really benefit from. You know, at the end of

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Speaker 1: the day, we think the consumer is clearly at this

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Speaker 1: point in time anyway to war with the amount of

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Speaker 1: content out there and the price that they're paying. Certainly, uh,

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Speaker 1: it's it's pretty impressive what's being delivered for us. We

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Speaker 1: have really carved out though a place within the ecosystem

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Speaker 1: of family friendly, high quality content that is at this

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Speaker 1: point in time not really under siege the way so

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Speaker 1: many other categories are. Uh. So you know, our brand

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Speaker 1: is certainly allows us to stand apart. And then quality

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Speaker 1: content at the end of the day is what rules

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Speaker 1: the day. And we have made so much progress in

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Speaker 1: terms of creating quality family content that is uh, not

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Speaker 1: objectionable and that is advertising and from an advertiser point

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Speaker 1: of view, is just ideal. And also you don't have

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Speaker 1: to worry about grabbing the remote if your kids enter

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Speaker 1: the room. So it's a we're in a position where

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Speaker 1: we feel like we are because of the brand and

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Speaker 1: because of the high quality and the genre that we're

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Speaker 1: in right now, we're in a very good place, but

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Speaker 1: certainly it's become more and more competitive every day. You

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Speaker 1: really have done such a good job, we've talked over

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Speaker 1: the years, such a good job of defining within the

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Speaker 1: broad parameter of family friendly and advertiser inly defining a

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Speaker 1: niche that is hopeful, aspirational, a little romance, a little mystery.

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Speaker 1: It's really quite a programming success story. Well, thank you,

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Speaker 1: and and really that's been a key part of our

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Speaker 1: strategy to lean into the brand, because the brand is

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Speaker 1: all about celebrating my special moments and taking that heritage

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Speaker 1: of the hundred and ten year old greeting card company

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Speaker 1: and what you find at retail, that experience of winter, spring, summer,

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Speaker 1: fall and weddings and Valentine's Day and certainly holiday. Those

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Speaker 1: are things that are uniquely hallmark from an entertainment perspective,

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Speaker 1: and uh and have become real identifiers for our channels.

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Speaker 1: And so you know, you add that to the quote

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Speaker 1: unquote family from the element and high quality piece and

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Speaker 1: you begin to come up with a product that is

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Speaker 1: very differentiated. And so we feel very good about our

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Speaker 1: future even down I'm thinking about it as a viewer,

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Speaker 1: even down to the color palette when you're flipping around,

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Speaker 1: you know, when you're on a Hallmark channel. That's really

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Speaker 1: something that we've seen a lot with UM. We've seen

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Speaker 1: a lot with more even more niche focused channels. But

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Speaker 1: for you for being a general entertainment channel with the

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Speaker 1: with the guiding principles that you have, it's really quite

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Speaker 1: a branding success story. You're such a student of the business.

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Speaker 1: I love it. Our graphics department and led by Gentle Temple,

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Speaker 1: is spectacular. And this is all by design, intentionally created

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Speaker 1: so that you get that feeling when you walk into

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Speaker 1: a goal ground store of if it's fall you feel,

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Speaker 1: you smell the apple cider, you feel, you see the pumpkins,

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Speaker 1: you see the leaves, you feel that fall uh experience.

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Speaker 1: And we view the the overall linear platform especially as

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Speaker 1: a unique experience that viewers get when they come to

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Speaker 1: our channel. It's not just about the content, although certainly

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Speaker 1: that's what drives them there, but it's the interstitials we create,

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Speaker 1: It's the different keybles that we have. It's that overall

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Speaker 1: look and field that's so important. How are you doing

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Speaker 1: in this environment with the new breed of virtual m

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Speaker 1: v p d s? The YouTube's the who lose um

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Speaker 1: you know, more more coming down the pike. As we know,

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Speaker 1: Amazon is becoming more aggressive as a channel bundler in

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Speaker 1: addition to its content. How do you fare on the

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Speaker 1: virtuals right now? We do well, although, uh, the reality

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Speaker 1: of those businesses are they're so difficult because programming costs

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Speaker 1: are so high, so they have to manage every penny.

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Speaker 1: And even though we represent tremendous value as a group

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Speaker 1: of cable channels, the reality is that after they're finished

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Speaker 1: paying for broadcast and their sports rights and the packaging

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Speaker 1: that they have to buy that's driven by the conglomerates. Uh,

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Speaker 1: we are in a position that we're next up, and

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Speaker 1: so that is a very difficult piece to navigate. But

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Speaker 1: we've we've we've done relatively well there, although there are

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Speaker 1: a couple of major ones still outstanding that we haven't closed.

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Speaker 1: I spent quite a bit of time in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 1: Just overall creating at picture of what the landscape, how

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Speaker 1: it's evolving, how it's changing and U and why as

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Speaker 1: an independent group of channels, it's so important that legislation

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Speaker 1: is created that really supports the ecosystem and doesn't allow

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Speaker 1: the broadcasters basically to monopolize uh, these platforms. It is

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Speaker 1: although there's hundreds of channels, there's about eight major owners

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Speaker 1: of channels that that consolidation, even with the front end expansion,

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Speaker 1: behind the behind the curtain, there's a ton of consolidation.

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Speaker 1: When you talk to people in d C about this general,

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Speaker 1: do you get the sense that they get it? Are

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Speaker 1: there are there things that can be done at the

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Speaker 1: regulatory or legislative level to you know, try to make

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Speaker 1: somewhat of an even playing field for the ground media. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they get it. And really the cable Act is the

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Speaker 1: root of all evil because that is what has generated

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Speaker 1: this playing field that is so inequitable and has created

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Speaker 1: so much leverage for the broadcasters. And so we spend

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Speaker 1: a lot out of time, really I'm not only on

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Speaker 1: behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of our distribution partners

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Speaker 1: really weighing in around how unfair it is that a

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Speaker 1: broadcast network and the must carry provisions can drive a

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Speaker 1: slate of cable networks that nobody watches, get a license fee,

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Speaker 1: get a good position on the on the dial as

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Speaker 1: you might call it, and ultimately squeeze out independent voices.

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Speaker 1: So we spent a lot of time on that. We

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Speaker 1: spent a lot of time on the ownership factors that exist.

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Speaker 1: Hulu now is on by Disney and they're they're a

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Speaker 1: v MVPD. That's the definition of of of a of

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Speaker 1: a competitive nightmare from the perspective of of our our

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Speaker 1: group of networks. So that's a lot of market share.

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Speaker 1: It's a lot of market share. And they shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: the ability to not carry us and carry Lifetime in

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Speaker 1: a premium position when they own half of Lifetime. It's

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Speaker 1: just anti competitive and there are a number of senators

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Speaker 1: and and congressmen who are on that in a big way.

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Speaker 1: Are you talking to Hulu about currently do you see?

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Speaker 1: I mean, do you think they are there? Is there

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Speaker 1: is there an impediment to the deal or is it

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Speaker 1: that you just haven't been able to come to terms

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Speaker 1: on the financial It's not the financial so uh, you know, well,

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Speaker 1: we will leave it to others to determine as to

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Speaker 1: what the ultimate strategy is I can speak for their business,

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Speaker 1: but but this much I know, Uh, there is an

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Speaker 1: awful lot of incentive to carry us when you own

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Speaker 1: networks that compete directly with our channel. Interesting, well, this

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Speaker 1: is a perfect I'm so glad we're having this conversation

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Speaker 1: because it's a perfect example of the kind of the

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Speaker 1: small squeezes that happen kind of sometimes you know, in

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Speaker 1: the shadows that that people don't know about. But you

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Speaker 1: guys are on the on the front lines. It is

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Speaker 1: all right. So you know, the highest rated independent cable

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Speaker 1: network with two secondary networks that are also very highly rated.

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Speaker 1: We're at the four front of it. And if if

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Speaker 1: a company like Hallmark has issues surviving in the entertainment

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Speaker 1: landscape with the great content we have, the ratings that

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Speaker 1: we have, the success popularity, the the amazing original productions

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Speaker 1: that we create, if we have a difficult time seeing

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Speaker 1: a path forward in this linear environment, then there's something

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Speaker 1: wrong with the system. Let me ask you, how are

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Speaker 1: you doing on the linear side with traditional m v

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Speaker 1: p d s. You know, for many of the established channels,

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Speaker 1: it's become a it's become a you know, one to

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Speaker 1: two percent decline in subscriber base a year. How are

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Speaker 1: you guys faring. We're doing well. We're carried across the board,

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Speaker 1: and we've had great success with Hallmark Drama launching that.

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Speaker 1: We're now in nearly homes, right, and that's a that's

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Speaker 1: a dedicated channel. How old is that? So we launched

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Speaker 1: that against all conventional wisdom and listen to a lot

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Speaker 1: of consternation about eighteen months ago. And really, until you

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Speaker 1: sit down with someone and explo aim what the strategy is,

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Speaker 1: it's understandable that the reaction would be, I don't need

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Speaker 1: another linear channel. Why would you bring me another linear channel?

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Speaker 1: But can you explain what the actual content is on

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Speaker 1: the programming strategy and the DNA of the Hallmark brand?

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Speaker 1: And people begin to say, I get that. You know,

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Speaker 1: that's a very interesting proposition. So we've had great success

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Speaker 1: and we're carried by the vast majority of those on

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Speaker 1: the MVP D side and Comcast Direct Tv that whole

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Speaker 1: across the board charters the only real big missing piece, uh,

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Speaker 1: And you know, we'll work our way to what we

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Speaker 1: think will be whatever the number is fully kind of traded,

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Speaker 1: whether it's six million homes, will have to say. But

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Speaker 1: but we're on a great path here and we have

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Speaker 1: original content for the first time, launching in fourth coore,

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Speaker 1: so we're very proud of that. As we talk about distribution,

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Speaker 1: you know, headaches and turbulence. Of course, the the industry

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Speaker 1: is very obsessed with the move by a lot of

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Speaker 1: the major players to certainly, you know, major experiments with

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Speaker 1: direct to consumer strategy. Geez, you guys have about a

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Speaker 1: two year old service called Hallmark Movies now on demand.

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Speaker 1: If you need that Christmas movie in July, you know

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Speaker 1: where to go. You're just about two years old with that.

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Speaker 1: How how are you bearing with that product? Remarkably well.

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Speaker 1: We just passed seven fifty thousand subscribers, which if you

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Speaker 1: think about the ecosystem and the general entertainment cable space

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Speaker 1: with those brands, I don't think there's anybody other than Acorn,

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Speaker 1: which has over a million. Uh that's a MC driven

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Speaker 1: and really there's no brand that has been that successful.

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Speaker 1: And we've done it with mostly library content, although we

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Speaker 1: did launch an original series this past September, and we've

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Speaker 1: had a couple of original movies that have appeared on

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Speaker 1: the platform. But again, it just shows the passion for

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Speaker 1: our content and our brand that we've been able to

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Speaker 1: get to that point seven or fifty thousand subscribers with

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Speaker 1: in not a long period of time. And what are

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Speaker 1: you charging a month? We're five night and nine a month,

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Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I think that that's probably undervalued.

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Speaker 1: I think that the whole Spot echosystem has got to

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Speaker 1: go through a major change because there's no way the

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Speaker 1: economic model works if you're creating this type of volume

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Speaker 1: of content and you're getting paid four ninety nine even

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Speaker 1: six seven, eight ninety nine. It's just too much content

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Speaker 1: at two uh lower price for it to be sustainable.

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Speaker 1: So it's a loss at that five ninety nine, it's

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Speaker 1: a loss leader it's about it's about break even at

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Speaker 1: five ninety nine. But but certainly we've invested a lot

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Speaker 1: in it. We've invested a lot of content that we

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Speaker 1: might run on our linear platforms because there's no duplicated

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Speaker 1: content on any of our three channels for our Spot service,

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Speaker 1: so that's content we could have taken. And so it's

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Speaker 1: an opportunity cost in a way. Um, and it's also

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Speaker 1: you know, just in terms of focus and human capital

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Speaker 1: and all the investments we made in terms of people

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Speaker 1: and strategy all of that too has been a big

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Speaker 1: factor into it. So while it's break even financial, arguably

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Speaker 1: it's been uh it's much of the numbers much not

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Speaker 1: quite that attractive. And what what has been the driver

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Speaker 1: for that? Have you done much consumer marketing for that

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Speaker 1: or is it? Is it word of mouth people that

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Speaker 1: know that they love your channel here, that that's available

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Speaker 1: and they sign up. It's a combination. So when we

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Speaker 1: on our own channels, we certainly promote it fairly heavily.

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Speaker 1: We have a fair amount of marketing money that we

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Speaker 1: spend in social especially that has been very much important

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Speaker 1: to to driving UM subscribers. Our marketing team is extremely

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Speaker 1: good with even even an email campaign, you know. So

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Speaker 1: there are strategic ways that in that space you can

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Speaker 1: operate and it worked really well, and you can do

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Speaker 1: it at a fairly low cost versus having to roll

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Speaker 1: out you know, a major movie that to start with,

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Speaker 1: you know, you're buying a spot that is two or

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Speaker 1: fifty dollars in cinema or on ABC, you know. So

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Speaker 1: it's it's a little bit of a different play. You

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Speaker 1: have to be a little bit more strategic, I think

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Speaker 1: in terms of the approach. But it's a combination the

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Speaker 1: brand awareness that we have. When you say it's a

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Speaker 1: Hallmark movie, you know what it is. You don't need

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Speaker 1: any additional real definition to what you know what you're

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Speaker 1: going to be watching, and so that has helped in

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Speaker 1: terms of not having to explain who we are. You know,

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Speaker 1: you look at Curiosity Stream as an example, which is

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Speaker 1: a wonderful service, but I mean it takes a few

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Speaker 1: times of seeing it and really going there and understanding

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Speaker 1: what it is before you get an idea what the

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Speaker 1: content is. We have the built in advantage of the

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Speaker 1: brand right, which is goes to the brand that you've

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Speaker 1: honed over a good you know, last ten fifteen years.

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Speaker 1: Are you considering anything in your blueprints for the future.

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Speaker 1: Are you considering a more dramatic step in the direct

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Speaker 1: consumer area? Would you take the Hallmark channel, your mothership

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Speaker 1: channel and offer that as a direct to consumer property. Well,

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Speaker 1: certainly there's a I think a big business there, and

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Speaker 1: that be a wildly successful endeavor, But our affiliate agreements

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Speaker 1: preclude us from taking our service and uh and taking

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Speaker 1: it over the top. Just another one of the pieces

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Speaker 1: of the puzzle that make business so difficult to operate

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Speaker 1: with them When You've got mfn clauses and a lot

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Speaker 1: of different things that just overall permeate the business. But

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Speaker 1: we think that ultimately the landscape has to change in

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Speaker 1: some way, and whether it's in over the top streaming

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Speaker 1: experience of channels or the pricing gets broken out differently.

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Speaker 1: The video game business has been very successful at portioning

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Speaker 1: out pieces of you know, their their own video game

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Speaker 1: brands and having you pay for different experiences within that.

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Speaker 1: I don't know how ultimately obviously about system uh it

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Speaker 1: turns out, but certainly I think that the way it's

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Speaker 1: currently constructed is difficult. You want to find out if

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Speaker 1: the guy gets the girl fifty cents right here. And

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Speaker 1: let's talk about the advertising business, which I know is

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Speaker 1: is you know, hugely significant to you and your brand

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Speaker 1: given the configuration. Um, you know, a lot of people

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Speaker 1: in the industry are talking about advertising television advertising itself

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Speaker 1: is something that needs to be reinvented. Is there anything

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Speaker 1: that you guys have been doing in the last couple

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Speaker 1: of years, whether it's new ad formats or our new

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Speaker 1: basis for doing your business, for the new new basis

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Speaker 1: of currency beyond the traditional Nielsen demographic ratings, anything innovative

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Speaker 1: going on. There A great question because I think, you know,

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Speaker 1: at so many levels, starting with Nielsen, I think having

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Speaker 1: a hard time just getting a grasp of what's happening

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Speaker 1: in the ecosystem. But uh, you know, beyond that, advertisers,

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Speaker 1: the good news is is that TV just works so

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Speaker 1: well for advertisers that you know, so many digitally native brands.

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Speaker 1: Digital native brands have launched with huge success and growing

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Speaker 1: their business way beyond um anything that they ever would

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Speaker 1: have thought, and TV was has been identified as the

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Speaker 1: main driver. So those are big pieces and caveats within.

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Speaker 1: While the the traditional model will change and inevitably undergo

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Speaker 1: some type of transformation, uh, the linear TV business still

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Speaker 1: very much works on the advertising side. From our perspective,

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Speaker 1: we have we've experimented with all kinds of different pods, formats,

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Speaker 1: the length of ads. Uh. We um have found though

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Speaker 1: that our viewership is very consistent throughout our commercial breaks

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Speaker 1: and so we had we ran our original series last

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Speaker 1: year with only four minutes of commercial time, and we

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Speaker 1: really didn't see a change in the viewing patterns as

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Speaker 1: reported by Nielsen or the viewing of the commercial breaks.

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Speaker 1: So um, you know, we think that certainly the way

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Speaker 1: the industry evolves again will be different, but it will

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Speaker 1: be more I think on attribution around you know, how

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Speaker 1: we measure it, around whether the finally the antiquated notion

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Speaker 1: of the four nine demo will go by the wayside.

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Speaker 1: We've done a number of deals actually uh this fourth

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Speaker 1: quarter and scatter that have been guaranteed either on households

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Speaker 1: or people to plus because advertisers recognized that really the

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Speaker 1: target demographic notion is something that isn't necessarily going to

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Speaker 1: be what moves the product. So you know, the that

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Speaker 1: industry is undergoing a huge transformation to and at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, quality content wins. And when you

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Speaker 1: have viewers and you can do different things within your

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Speaker 1: content like product integrations and and overall positioning a little

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Speaker 1: bit differently, Um, you'll be in good shape, will be

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Speaker 1: in good shaped. Are there other other than age and

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Speaker 1: traditional age and gender? Are there other metrics? Other slices

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Speaker 1: of audience that you find advertisers are coming to you

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Speaker 1: and say, we really want to we really want to

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Speaker 1: meet this this lane of people. Can you help us?

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Speaker 1: Are you getting is it getting to that granular level?

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Speaker 1: And I discuss a broad based channel we haven't had

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Speaker 1: as much I think of that. We um, we do

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Speaker 1: target those syendemic advertisers who are seasonally driven or holiday

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Speaker 1: or Valentine's our Mother's Day focused, and so you know,

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Speaker 1: that's been a successful strategy, But in terms of slicing

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Speaker 1: the pie in a even thinner way, we haven't seen

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Speaker 1: a lot of that at this point yet. I think

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Speaker 1: on the local level, where there's a lot of success

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Speaker 1: that's being had through targeting and different things that are

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Speaker 1: being done. Tell us who is the Hallmark Channel audience.

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Speaker 1: You know, I think there's a lot of us in

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Speaker 1: the industry in New York and l A that probably

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Speaker 1: have a perception that it's very Middle America. You know,

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Speaker 1: a lot of families probably skewing a little bit older

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Speaker 1: than the than the traditional than the traditional eighteen to

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Speaker 1: forty nine, which is we know, as we just said,

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Speaker 1: is becoming anachronistic. But tell us what we don't know

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Speaker 1: about the Hallmark audience. Uh there are you know, well,

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Speaker 1: certainly I'm not going to uh say that that is

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Speaker 1: not a big part of our audience what you identified,

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Speaker 1: because it is, and we're proud of that and we

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Speaker 1: feel very good about that and We're not going to

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Speaker 1: shy away or run away from that. But I think

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Speaker 1: what people don't know is how strong we are in

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Speaker 1: top ten markets. We have made enormous strides in just

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Speaker 1: awareness and viewership in l A, New York, Washington, d C,

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Speaker 1: Boston markets, Chicago as one of our highest fairy markets.

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Speaker 1: Markets You wouldn't think of typically as being Hallmark UH

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Speaker 1: driven or being driven having our ratings being driven by

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Speaker 1: top ten markets. But as the brand has grown, and

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Speaker 1: that's the quality of our content has improved so much,

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Speaker 1: viewers love it and we're now you know we're James

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Speaker 1: Gordon mentioned us again on a couple of nights ago

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Speaker 1: on his late night show, and you know that's being

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Speaker 1: done because we're consumed and viewed across the country, all demographics,

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Speaker 1: all walks of life. There are a lot of men

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Speaker 1: who will actually will now admit to having much Hallmark.

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Speaker 1: So it's a It's been very rewarding to see the

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Speaker 1: expansion of the brand into places that you would not expect.

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Speaker 1: And you must monitor, monitor those pop culture mentions like

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Speaker 1: crazy because we found a little round we're on. He

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Speaker 1: was in around little Round. He goes, I love rom coms.

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Speaker 1: He goes those Hallmark movies for example, I love those

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Speaker 1: Hallmark movies, you know, So it's it's very exciting when

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Speaker 1: when that happens organically, we you know, um, we feel

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Speaker 1: I couldn't pay for that exactly, Yeah, well exactly, And

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Speaker 1: it's a it's it's fun to see. Why do you

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Speaker 1: think that the Hallmark brand at this moment in our culture,

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Speaker 1: when there's so many people with clinched fists going at

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Speaker 1: each other, when social media can just be a toxic

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Speaker 1: waste dump of negativity and hate, why do you think homemark?

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Speaker 1: And it's very often optimistic and even a little idealistic

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Speaker 1: worldview is resonating. I think you just nailed it. That's

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Speaker 1: a big part of why we're successful. And you know,

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Speaker 1: somebody once said to me when when we talked about

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Speaker 1: presenting just this portrait of just positivity, it was like

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Speaker 1: they said, nobody wants that. There's no limit on the

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Speaker 1: amount people want to feel positive. And it's it's the

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Speaker 1: type of thing that is so different and diametrically opposed

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Speaker 1: to nearly everything else out there that we become synonymous

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Speaker 1: with it. And it's really worked to our advantage, and

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Speaker 1: it's it's nice to hear too. I get stuff. I

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Speaker 1: count most people who say, you know, you have brought

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Speaker 1: so much your channels that brought so much into our

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Speaker 1: lives because we have this destination to go to. Not

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Speaker 1: that we don't like some of the other content, because

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Speaker 1: people can enjoy Game of Thrones and a Hallmark movie

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Speaker 1: they or not. But there are times when you know,

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Speaker 1: life is hard. At the end of the day, we

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Speaker 1: all go through our ups and downs and it's difficult,

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Speaker 1: and so it's nice that we can provide that other

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Speaker 1: side of the equation that can make you feel good too. Um,

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Speaker 1: you are about to your you're you're going in You're

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Speaker 1: probably well on your way now into your super Bowl

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Speaker 1: season of the Holidays of Christmas. Tell us what we

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Speaker 1: can expect. And let's talk about the fourth quarter in

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Speaker 1: this this period because Hallmark has become so so well

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Speaker 1: known as the Chris is the network for all things Christmas. Whatever,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want, whatever, whatever movie, whatever you know, snowy

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Speaker 1: this sta that you would like to see, Hallmark is

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Speaker 1: going to give it to you, especially in November and December.

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Speaker 1: Let's talk about what Christmas as a as a vehicle

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Speaker 1: means to Hallmark. Well, certainly it's a driver, so that

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Speaker 1: by definition it means an awful lot of the business side.

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Speaker 1: We generate probably thirty our revenue through that period of time,

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Speaker 1: and our ratings are historically you know, we're number one

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Speaker 1: in fourth quarter as a result of holiday. So it's

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Speaker 1: been uh clearly critical to our bottom line. The success

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Speaker 1: for this year, though, I will say Michelle Vickery and

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Speaker 1: the programming team have taken our content to a completely

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Speaker 1: different level, the quality of I'd say we're gonna go

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Speaker 1: through a period of eight or nine movies in a

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Speaker 1: row that I will put up against anybody else's content

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Speaker 1: anywhere anytime. We have great stars Chad Michael Murray and

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Speaker 1: Jesse Metcalf, and we go on a run really from

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Speaker 1: November eight or ninth, all the way through past Thanksgiving

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Speaker 1: into the week after where we am with a Christian

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Speaker 1: Channoman Scott Wolf movie that's beautifully done and executed. And

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Speaker 1: so I am really excited about how well constructed the

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Speaker 1: movies are and how good the storylines are, in the

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Speaker 1: script writing and the dialogue and the set locations. We

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Speaker 1: shot a movie at the Plaza here in New York.

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Speaker 1: We shot a movie in Rome Christmas in Rome. Uh,

432
00:25:07,359 --> 00:25:10,840
Speaker 1: they have really taken our channel to a level far

433
00:25:10,920 --> 00:25:14,760
Speaker 1: beyond where we've ever been. So that's that's very gratifying

434
00:25:14,800 --> 00:25:19,240
Speaker 1: to see and I think ultimately that continues to reinforce

435
00:25:19,280 --> 00:25:22,919
Speaker 1: our dominance at holiday. Is there any advertising premium that

436
00:25:22,960 --> 00:25:27,080
Speaker 1: you can get because you are so strong in in

437
00:25:27,080 --> 00:25:29,520
Speaker 1: in this in this time period? Is it does that?

438
00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:31,919
Speaker 1: Does it pay benefits in that way beyond obviously if

439
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,320
Speaker 1: you have high ratings, But I would imagine that there's

440
00:25:34,359 --> 00:25:36,160
Speaker 1: a lot of marketers that want to talk to people

441
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:38,280
Speaker 1: that as they're going to do their holiday shopping. It

442
00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:42,679
Speaker 1: totally translates. There were not only were we number one

443
00:25:43,520 --> 00:25:46,200
Speaker 1: four and Thanksgiving Week last year, but it was by

444
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,960
Speaker 1: like and the environment is so great. You think of

445
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:52,400
Speaker 1: all the original movies we have, we have nine nights

446
00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,760
Speaker 1: in Rome, riginal movies. And if you're a retailer and

447
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,760
Speaker 1: you're looking to drive Black Friday or Cyber Monday, whatever

448
00:25:58,760 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 1: it is you're looking to do, and you can reach

449
00:26:01,040 --> 00:26:04,639
Speaker 1: that type of audience, it's almost like the kids market

450
00:26:04,920 --> 00:26:08,360
Speaker 1: was back in the ninety nineties, when you know, there

451
00:26:08,400 --> 00:26:10,480
Speaker 1: were only a couple of players and you had to

452
00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:12,280
Speaker 1: get your money down and if you were a toy

453
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:15,280
Speaker 1: advertiser that hard eight weeks was where you needed to be,

454
00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:17,840
Speaker 1: and so for sure we have a lot of leverage.

455
00:26:17,880 --> 00:26:21,280
Speaker 1: There were nearly sold out, and the pricing has been

456
00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:24,040
Speaker 1: commensurate with what you would think it would be given

457
00:26:24,119 --> 00:26:30,280
Speaker 1: that overall nearly sold out environment. Given the profile of

458
00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,080
Speaker 1: your content are there, do you have maybe stricter ad

459
00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,240
Speaker 1: guidelines and other networks? How are the things that you

460
00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:40,480
Speaker 1: won't take? We've passed on that. Sales is calling me

461
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:45,400
Speaker 1: sales prevention lately because we we watch all the creative

462
00:26:45,560 --> 00:26:47,919
Speaker 1: there are. There's a lot of creative out there that

463
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:52,760
Speaker 1: doesn't just doesn't fit the holiday environment, and it runs

464
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:56,120
Speaker 1: the gamut of things you wouldn't even think of. If

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00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,160
Speaker 1: it's going to make somebody uncomfortable in the room, then

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00:26:59,320 --> 00:27:03,600
Speaker 1: we we don't take yet. And that can go from

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00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:06,600
Speaker 1: you know, a movie that's particularly violent or a TV

468
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,920
Speaker 1: show that's particularly violent, all the way to women's undergarments,

469
00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:14,040
Speaker 1: you know. So it's it's were very sensitive about what

470
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:18,960
Speaker 1: we advertise and what we take. Unfortunately, there are those

471
00:27:19,000 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 1: two minutes called local avails that we don't control at all,

472
00:27:23,840 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 1: and we try, we monitor and we try and encourage

473
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:30,520
Speaker 1: our partners on the distribution side to treat us in

474
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,360
Speaker 1: a similar manner. But we certainly we don't control that.

475
00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:37,840
Speaker 1: But yes, we're very, very We're obsessed with how the

476
00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:40,439
Speaker 1: channel looks because I could imagine that certain thing you

477
00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 1: could be jarring, you know, making a transition from a

478
00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:45,640
Speaker 1: movie to you know, I would imagine this teclic thing.

479
00:27:46,400 --> 00:27:50,520
Speaker 1: Um tell, let me ask you. You have been with

480
00:27:50,880 --> 00:27:54,240
Speaker 1: Crowns since two thousand you've been CEO since two thousand nine.

481
00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: Over the past ten years in in taking the reins

482
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,119
Speaker 1: as CEO, what would you say was some of the

483
00:28:01,160 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: hardest What was the hardest learning curve? What was the

484
00:28:03,960 --> 00:28:07,600
Speaker 1: hard challenge of becoming the CEO of this company at

485
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:13,720
Speaker 1: this time in the pay TV arena. I think the

486
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,920
Speaker 1: notion of operating at such a disadvantage within the landscape,

487
00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:24,600
Speaker 1: that not only are we challenged with distributors and very

488
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:26,760
Speaker 1: often put to the back of the line, even though

489
00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,320
Speaker 1: we have great relationships and we represent great value. Very often,

490
00:28:31,400 --> 00:28:34,560
Speaker 1: you know, when they have to get there ABC Disney

491
00:28:34,600 --> 00:28:38,120
Speaker 1: deal done, you know, it's it's our channels, aren't you know?

492
00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:42,240
Speaker 1: Top of mind. So I always intuitively knew that coming

493
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:45,920
Speaker 1: from sales myself, but I think that that dynamic and

494
00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 1: the ripple effect that that creates through the organization, meaning

495
00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:55,600
Speaker 1: that if our license fees are and I'm talking literally

496
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,960
Speaker 1: of our competitors, then we don't have the ability then

497
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:02,440
Speaker 1: to spend as much on programming. We don't we can't

498
00:29:02,520 --> 00:29:04,920
Speaker 1: commit to marketing the same way. We don't have the

499
00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:09,560
Speaker 1: staff size. We're probably the staff size of an organization

500
00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:13,200
Speaker 1: out the manager's business, our side, our size. I never

501
00:29:13,280 --> 00:29:17,320
Speaker 1: really realized the impact of that on how it ripples

502
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,440
Speaker 1: through the organization. So that's been a challenge building what

503
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:26,680
Speaker 1: we've built without being able to have the resources necessarily

504
00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,360
Speaker 1: that would allow you to do it in a in

505
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: a way that would be a little bites make life

506
00:29:31,520 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 1: a little easier. We really are in a David and

507
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,479
Speaker 1: Goliath moment in this business. Bill, thank you so much

508
00:29:38,560 --> 00:29:41,680
Speaker 1: for k stopping and keep talking candidly about the It's

509
00:29:41,760 --> 00:29:43,600
Speaker 1: very interesting and we will stay tuned on both on

510
00:29:43,640 --> 00:29:46,720
Speaker 1: the legislative front and the programming front. Thank you, Thank you, Bill,

511
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:53,560
Speaker 1: thanks for listening. Be sure to tune in next week

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00:29:53,640 --> 00:30:01,240
Speaker 1: for another episode of Strictly Business.