BANFF – Readers may recall that in December 2012, CBS Corporation became the inaugural "Company of Distinction" for the Banff 2013 Media Fest – and with that came a slew of network personality placements throughout this 2013 Rockies gab-fest, including the opening keynote address of Nina Tassler, President, CBS Entertainment.
"America's Most Watched Network" is also no stranger to Canadian content, having championed "Due South" back-in-the-day, then famously "Flashpoint" and of course "CSI"… still the #1 show in the world.
Tassler took a well-packed Cascade Ballroom crowd (although overall attendance numbers seem to be a tad soft) on an intelligent tour of CBS' gradual shift to single camera versus multi-camera programs, especially in the comedy genre. The "single" option is being built on the mentoring success of "Modern Family" writers and the natural strengths of a next generation of new talent and California film school grads.
She previewed a winner of an upcoming series titled "Hostages", based on an Israeli format and "highly atypical for CBS".
Traditionally, CBS and the U.S. broadcast nets (against which our Canadian private nets simulcast) prefer 20-24 episode series and not the 13 favoured by cable and specialty television. "Heck, cable is on vacation after 8-12 episodes", teased Tassler.
But times change and "Hostages" will be a highly serialized 15 episodes versus the old standby-by procedurals like "CSI". The message here is that the dirty little non-secret of conventional broadcasting losing audience to specialty/cable services is way out of the closet.
Limited episode program development and scheduling is coming across-the-board, as everyone digs down and deep to keep audiences current and engaged with maximum web and mobile experiences. It's all about packing a lot more impactful story into fewer, and more event like, broadcasts.
"Story punch" is the new buzzword in NYC and The Left Coast; and it's not disconnected from the phenomenon of binge-viewing and the fact that "transmedia" is now a common business term for the multiple, and user-friendly, platform transportation of content.
Sure, conventional broadcasters still crap on cable, specialty, and now OTT channels. But they are also soiling their bloomers.
There is more competition than ever today for original and insightful programming; and NetFlix, Amazon and Apple are not going to sulk quietly into any CBS or CTV good night. The rise of the multi-platform viewer is here and posing both commercial and creative challenges to old gang TV types.
Happily, there's plenty of room for everyone if we get the economic models correct; the webisode world can expand and broadcast networks can still be the mainstage… but smart people will have to deftly re-imagine and re-craft that win-win.
How? Ms.Tassler left us a clue.
Her success, she says, comes from the strength of her liberal and literary education.
Yup, Tassler likes sports, but she also knows story-telling, she eats story-arches for breakfast, she can assess a text faster than a video can vanish in Toronto. And that narrative education from Mamet to Chekov, from Atwood to Shakespeare, is how she is saving the day at CBS.
