NATPE 2017

Among those honored at Wednesday’s ceremony in Miami Beach were AMC Networks’ Josh Sapan, YouTube’s Susanne Daniels, Univision’s Randy Falco, multihyphenate Eva Longoria and Fox’s Gary Newman and Dana Walden.

A NATPE panel of station and syndication execs says that while time slots are tight with so many shows being renewed, there’s a need to extensively test new offerings before rolling them out. In addition, new shows have a better chance to succeed if station groups have an ownership stake in them.

Tegna Media President Dave Lougee challenged his stations to come up with new ideas for first-run shows that it could take group-wide — and possibly nationally. That yielded five pilots and, of those, two from WXIA Atlanta and WWL New Orleans were deemed worthy to produce locally. 

The new, live daily syndicated show the station group is shopping at NATPE this week is being offered on a cash-and-barter basis. The show will air live whenever a station airs it. That means Bold really has to be ongoing for about 12 or more hours a day.

NATPE panelists describe how they are bridging the gap between legacy and digital sales. Training, hiring and compensation are among the areas of focus because their station groups understand that their digital efforts must grow, both in the creation of content and ad sales. “If you can’t adapt, you die,” said Sinclair’s Rob Weisbord.

Funny You Should Ask is a 12-camera combination game-and-entertainment strip shot in front of an audience. It’s being sold as an alternative to the long-running quiz shows and entertainment news magazines that have been longtime staples of prime access.

The station group is drumming up interest for hour-long strip Ben & Kellie, which would feature country artist Pickler and Ben Aaron, a feature reporter on NBC O&O WNBC New York.

Charge! will have access to more than 2,300 hours of MGM TV content and more than 2,000 movie titles. It is slotted to launch later in the first quarter.

As with everything else in TV, the dynamics of the relationship between viewers and local broadcasters is changing as programming options grow exponentially. Broadcasters need to bring discipline and focus to figuring out what viewers want from local stations versus the abundant competition. That’s the thrust of the daylong Station Group Summit to be held Jan. 18 as part of the NATPE 2017 convention.

In his first NATPE as president of CBS Television Distribution, Paul Franklin is overseeing a list of some of the longest-running shows in television syndication. His challenge is to hold the line or even grow the license fees for CTD’s stalwart syndication properties in an era when there’s more pressure than ever from stations and station groups to drive down fees.

Katz tested “awareness and interest” among 404 adults, 18 or older, in eight first-run shows on sale at NATPE. The most interest (69%) was shown in Bellum’s Mysteries of the Unexplained, while courtroom Palin Rules appealed to only 21%.

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish and A+E Networks CEO Nancy Dubuc will add some executive star power to the lineup for NATPE Miami 2017, to be held Jan. 17-19. Each will deliver keynotes at the annual gathering for dealmakers in production, advertising, distribution and music.

New COO J.P. Bommel says the upcoming programming conference’s much-beefed up agenda represents an effort by the group to raise the profile of broadcasters following last January’s “miss.”

In response to feedback after the last gathering, the 2017 confab in Miami Beach will feature a “track” with at least six new sessions devoted to the interests of TV station groups.

Six honorees will receive their awards at a reception scheduled for Jan. 18 at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach.

Among the new features at the 2017 gathering in Miami Beach is the Station Group Summit that will be headed by Emerson Coleman, VP, programming, Hearst-Argyle Television; and Sean Compton, president, strategic programming and acquisitions, Tribune Media.