Current TV saw what they perceive as a great chance to redefine their channel and expand their distribution when Keith Olbermann became available after his fall-down at MS-NBC. I am sure that from Current’s perspective it was a great plan. Here’s a star that had a million dedicated viewers and all they had to do was to convinced him to come to Current. Then the viewers frustrated of Keith’s ousting would follow him to Current putting them in the big leagues. Further, since Current is distributed in about half as many household than MS-NBC, his fans will push the distributors to carry Current TV and therefore expand greatly their paid distribution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nThis did look like a plausible scenario. I am sure that to get Olbermann Current did pay a lot more than what their distribution revenue was allowing them to pay (you still have to schedule other programs and run the business). In order for this to work, they absolutely had to expand their distribution otherwise you are just sinking a lot of money. Well, it seems that it did not work. Olbermann did not draw the bulk of his former audience to Current and the distributors didn’t feel the heat from the hordes to carry Current.<\/p>\n
The audacious plan failed. Left with a distribution that is still pretty much at the same level as last year, Current had no choices other than to find a way to lower their costs. I believe that all the rest are pretexts and spins.<\/p>\n
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I usually comment more on the technical aspects of the television business than on content. However, I think the case of Keith Olbermann is an interesting example to illustrate some parts of today’s distribution business. I have been associated with Current TV\u00a0from the early days (9 months before it’s launch) until mid 2009. I have… <\/p>\n
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