May 11, 2007
Quality TV squeezes networks
Television production costs are rising at an “unsustainable” pace with the cost of making a one-hour drama episode tripling in the last 15 years - from about $1m in the early 1990s to $2.7m, and costs of thirty-minute comedies have also spiralled to $1.5m from around $700,000. The FT reports.
"... Part of the reason for rising costs is structural. Another reason is that the networks – which once dominated the US market – have found themselves under pressure from a proliferation of cable networks.
The biggest source of revenue - advertising - is under pressure as audiences fracture and new technology allows viewers to skip past commercials - [or watch the series online - on video sharing sites]
Meanwhile, new media opportunities – such as selling programmes through Apple’s iTunes store – are still more about promise than profits. “The economic model is under real pressure,” one top studio executive said."
The Permanent Link to this page is: http://www.textually.org/tv/archives/2007/05/015881.htm
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)