changes at TCM

[Jim Beaver]

A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when asked
about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running commercials
or the like:

"In terms of us showing commercials for Acme Insurance, no. But the guy in
charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in some
of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example. Expect
less of those. It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM will ever be
given enough press and advertising attention to draw attention to our
programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS now.

Our primary purpose--classic films, mixed with a few contemporary
films--remains the same (I hope). Our programming guru, who remains the
brains and the soul of the network, has some deals cooking with several
studios to license their back catalogue films.

I hope the experience for you remains unchanged, but I urge you to keep an
eye on us. If something doesn't jibe, send letters."

Jim Beaver

[Lincoln Spector]

Post by Jim Beaver
A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when
asked about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running
"In terms of us showing commercials for Acme Insurance, no. But the guy
in charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in
some of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example.
Expect less of those. It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM will
ever be given enough press and advertising attention to draw attention to
our programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS now.
Our primary purpose--classic films, mixed with a few contemporary
films--remains the same (I hope). Our programming guru, who remains the
brains and the soul of the network, has some deals cooking with several
studios to license their back catalogue films.
I hope the experience for you remains unchanged, but I urge you to keep an
eye on us. If something doesn't jibe, send letters."

I met the "programming guru" last month. Nice guy. He told me that as long
as they kept costs down enough to remain profitable on nothing but what
cable and satellite companies pay them, Time Warner leaves them alone.

The big, troublesome issue for them right now is HD. Converting will
increase their expenses, possibly passed profitability. Not converting could
cause viewers to desert them for other stations.

Lincoln

[Kingo Gondo]

Post by Lincoln Spector

Post by Jim Beaver
A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when
asked about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running
"In terms of us showing commercials for Acme Insurance, no. But the guy
in charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in
some of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example.
Expect less of those. It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM
will ever be given enough press and advertising attention to draw
attention to our programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS
now.
Our primary purpose--classic films, mixed with a few contemporary
films--remains the same (I hope). Our programming guru, who remains the
brains and the soul of the network, has some deals cooking with several
studios to license their back catalogue films.
I hope the experience for you remains unchanged, but I urge you to keep
an eye on us. If something doesn't jibe, send letters."

I met the "programming guru" last month. Nice guy. He told me that as long
as they kept costs down enough to remain profitable on nothing but what
cable and satellite companies pay them, Time Warner leaves them alone.
The big, troublesome issue for them right now is HD. Converting will
increase their expenses, possibly passed profitability. Not converting
could cause viewers to desert them for other stations.
Lincoln

An HD TCM would be awesome, especially now that they show a greater
proportion of films from the widescreen era than they did say 10 years ago.

But even 4:3 stuff is greatly enhanced in HD. When I saw Throne of Blood in
HD I remember being amazed at the level of detail in Mifune's armor. It
looked like a whole new film.

I could accept between-the-films advertising if it was required to save TCM
in the oncoming HD era. If they start censoring or inserting commercial
breaks in films, I cast them out.

[Lincoln Spector]

Post by Kingo Gondo
But even 4:3 stuff is greatly enhanced in HD. When I saw Throne of Blood
in HD I remember being amazed at the level of detail in Mifune's armor. It
looked like a whole new film.

What station shows films like Throne of Blood in HD?

Lincoln

[Kingo Gondo]

Post by Lincoln Spector

Post by Kingo Gondo
But even 4:3 stuff is greatly enhanced in HD. When I saw Throne of Blood
in HD I remember being amazed at the level of detail in Mifune's armor.
It looked like a whole new film.

What station shows films like Throne of Blood in HD?

http://www.voom.tv/

These are a part of the Dish Network top tier HD package. Throne of Blood
would show up on the World Cinema channel and (bizarrely enough) the King Fu
channel. The Film Forum channel also has such films.

[mapwell]

Post by Kingo Gondo
But even 4:3 stuff is greatly enhanced in HD. When I saw Throne of Blood
in HD I remember being amazed at the level of detail in Mifune's armor. It
looked like a whole new film.

They showed Red River in HD during last spring and I felt the same
way. The higher level of detail got you more involved in the story. The
print they used was a little worn, but you still felt like you were riding
the cattle trail with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

[Lincoln Spector]

Post by mapwell

Post by Kingo Gondo
But even 4:3 stuff is greatly enhanced in HD. When I saw Throne of Blood
in HD I remember being amazed at the level of detail in Mifune's armor.
It looked like a whole new film.

They showed Red River in HD during last spring and I felt the same
way. The higher level of detail got you more involved in the story. The
print they used was a little worn, but you still felt like you were riding
the cattle trail with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

All of which is very exciting for me, since I've just subscribed to Dish
Network and will get it installed Monday (with Voom in HD). I suspect that
the number of movies I watch from TCM will, in fact, go down because of
this.

So, the big question: Do the Voom channels show movies uncut,
commercial-free, and in the correct AR (which means pillarboxing for Academy
ratio films like Red River and Throne of Blood, and letterboxing for scope
films like Yojimbo)?

Lincoln

[Kingo Gondo]

Post by Lincoln Spector

Post by mapwell

Post by Kingo Gondo
But even 4:3 stuff is greatly enhanced in HD. When I saw Throne of Blood
in HD I remember being amazed at the level of detail in Mifune's armor.
It looked like a whole new film.

They showed Red River in HD during last spring and I felt the same
way. The higher level of detail got you more involved in the story. The
print they used was a little worn, but you still felt like you were riding
the cattle trail with John Wayne and Montgomery Clift.

All of which is very exciting for me, since I've just subscribed to Dish
Network and will get it installed Monday (with Voom in HD). I suspect that
the number of movies I watch from TCM will, in fact, go down because of
this.
So, the big question: Do the Voom channels show movies >uncut,

Yes

Post by Lincoln Spector
commercial-free,

Yes

Post by Lincoln Spector
and in the correct AR (which means pillarboxing for Academy ratio films
like Red River and Throne of Blood, and >letterboxing for scope films like
Yojimbo)?

I believe so--they certainly use both pillar and letter boxing for these
types of films, although I can't vouch they get the excatly right AR for
each film.

On the Monsters channel I have seen some old B movies "blown up" (zoomed) to
fill the screen, probably because. Also, I have seen a couple of prints
where HD couldn't help the underlying quality--the Monte Helman westerns The
Shooting and Ride The Whirlwind come to mind.

On a more traditional HD feed, I have seen them play games with AR. Just the
other day The Wild Bunch was on Cinemax HD. The credits were shown in the
correct AR (resulting in a thin letterboxing of 2.20 to 1 on a widescreen),
but the bulk of the movie was shown in full widescreen (16:9).

[Walter Traprock]

Post by Jim Beaver
Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains

Watch out for "New ..." ah, fergit it.

Post by Jim Beaver
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in some
of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example. Expect
less of those.

Good, I hate original programming! I want old, man, OLD! Way too much
time messing around with making old stuff "presentable", just go and
present it!

[John Aldrich]

On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:42:54 GMT, "Jim Beaver"

Post by Jim Beaver
A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when asked
about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running commercials
"In terms of us showing commercials for Acme Insurance, no. But the guy in
charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in some
of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example. Expect
less of those. It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM will ever be
given enough press and advertising attention to draw attention to our
programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS now.
Our primary purpose--classic films, mixed with a few contemporary
films--remains the same (I hope). Our programming guru, who remains the
brains and the soul of the network, has some deals cooking with several
studios to license their back catalogue films.
I hope the experience for you remains unchanged, but I urge you to keep an
eye on us. If something doesn't jibe, send letters."
Jim Beaver

I discussed many of these same issues with Robert Osborne at the San
Francisco Silent Film Festival and this is what he told me:

1) Many of TCM's contracts to show films from various studios
specifically PRECLUDE those films from being shown with commercials.
Most of these contracts run thru 2010-11. In order to start running
commercials, they would have to void and then re-negotiate the
contracts, and that is highly unlikely. BTW, even though they are a
part of Time Warner, TCM has to negotiate the rights to show M-G-M, WB
and R-K-O films just the same as if they were negotiating with
Paramount or Universal. TCM is a separate business unit.

2) The new head of TCM has a stated policy of "if it ain't broke,
don't fix it" and at this juncture, TCM seems to be working fine.
That includes Silent Sundays, which RO mentioned has a loyal and
steadily growing audience, especially on the west coast, where it
comes on at 9PM vs Midnight on the east coast.

3) All in all, Robert seemed to be pretty upbeat about the immediate
future of TCM and he emphasized that upper management has a strong
appreciation for what makes TCM unique, and what differentiates it
from AMC. He indicated that the angst over TCM going the same
direction as AMC seems to him to be misplaced.

--John A.

[Pete The Upstart]

Post by John Aldrich
On Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:42:54 GMT, "Jim Beaver"

Post by Jim Beaver
A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when asked
about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running commercials
"In terms of us showing commercials for Acme Insurance, no. But the guy in
charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in some
of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example. Expect
less of those. It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM will ever be
given enough press and advertising attention to draw attention to our
programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS now.
Our primary purpose--classic films, mixed with a few contemporary
films--remains the same (I hope). Our programming guru, who remains the
brains and the soul of the network, has some deals cooking with several
studios to license their back catalogue films.
I hope the experience for you remains unchanged, but I urge you to keep an
eye on us. If something doesn't jibe, send letters."
Jim Beaver

I discussed many of these same issues with Robert Osborne at the San
1) Many of TCM's contracts to show films from various studios
specifically PRECLUDE those films from being shown with commercials.
Most of these contracts run thru 2010-11. In order to start running
commercials, they would have to void and then re-negotiate the
contracts, and that is highly unlikely. BTW, even though they are a
part of Time Warner, TCM has to negotiate the rights to show M-G-M, WB
and R-K-O films just the same as if they were negotiating with
Paramount or Universal. TCM is a separate business unit.
2) The new head of TCM has a stated policy of "if it ain't broke,
don't fix it" and at this juncture, TCM seems to be working fine.
That includes Silent Sundays, which RO mentioned has a loyal and
steadily growing audience, especially on the west coast, where it
comes on at 9PM vs Midnight on the east coast.
3) All in all, Robert seemed to be pretty upbeat about the immediate
future of TCM and he emphasized that upper management has a strong
appreciation for what makes TCM unique, and what differentiates it
from AMC. He indicated that the angst over TCM going the same
direction as AMC seems to him to be misplaced.
--John A.- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -

Let's hope there is no change. TCM is fine the way it is.

[David Oberman]

Post by Jim Beaver
"In terms of us showing commercials for Acme Insurance, no. But the guy in
charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in some
of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example. Expect
less of those. It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM will ever be
given enough press and advertising attention to draw attention to our
programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS now.
I hope the experience for you remains unchanged, but I urge you to keep an
eye on us. If something doesn't jibe, send letters."

I hope Koonin doesn't push TCM in the direction AMC went. Thanks for
passing that along, Jim.







____
An indecipherable, uncorrected horror.

-- Spohr on the Große Fuge, Op. 133

[steve]

On 8-Aug-2007, smacked up and reeling, "Jim Beaver"

Post by Jim Beaver
A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when asked
about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running commercials

Jim:

Since you have contacts at TCM you might pass on that several people I know
opt for a more expensive programming package primarily to get TCM. In
essence I consider it a TCM subscription fee. Personally I'd pay $10 (or
more) a month for TCM alone, and would rather do so than submit to adds and
the programming influence advertisers would command. And if TCM would show
the hard to see films in prime time instead of the more popular and readily
available films, Id definitely pay more.

If they get in a pinch over HD, they might ask for donations. I'd
contribute, and I bet a lot of others would as well. Perhaps my attitudes
(for a change) are representative of many viewers, and TCM might want to
know this. The last thing I want is for TCM to go commercial, and Im
willing to pay directly for programming services to avoid that.

steve

[Lincoln Spector]

Post by steve
On 8-Aug-2007, smacked up and reeling, "Jim Beaver"

Post by Jim Beaver
A friend with contacts at Turner Classic Movies passed this along when asked
about whether TCM would ever bow to marketing demands by running commercials

Since you have contacts at TCM you might pass on that several people I know
opt for a more expensive programming package primarily to get TCM. In
essence I consider it a TCM subscription fee. Personally I'd pay $10 (or
more) a month for TCM alone, and would rather do so than submit to adds and
the programming influence advertisers would command. And if TCM would show
the hard to see films in prime time instead of the more popular and readily
available films, Id definitely pay more.
If they get in a pinch over HD, they might ask for donations. I'd
contribute, and I bet a lot of others would as well. Perhaps my attitudes
(for a change) are representative of many viewers, and TCM might want to
know this. The last thing I want is for TCM to go commercial, and Im
willing to pay directly for programming services to avoid that.

There are more dependable ways to collect our money than donations. When I
talked to the programmer, he told me that before they really go to HD, they
will probably try HD ppv.

Lincoln

[Neill Massello]

When I talked to the programmer, he told me that before they really go to
HD, they will probably try HD ppv.

Which makes sense, as most cable operators would rather use the
bandwidth for purposes other than HD. Other than the local must-carry
channels, my local system has only a handful of HD channels in its
"Extended Basic" (or whatever they call it) tier. The public demand for
HD seems, for the moment, to be limited mainly to sports. Most current
cable operators probably wouldn't carry TCM in HD until they'd upgraded
their systems to switched digital.

[Kimba W. Lion]

Post by Neill Massello

When I talked to the programmer, he told me that before they really go to
HD, they will probably try HD ppv.

Which makes sense, as most cable operators would rather use the
bandwidth for purposes other than HD. Other than the local must-carry
channels, my local system has only a handful of HD channels in its
"Extended Basic" (or whatever they call it) tier. The public demand for
HD seems, for the moment, to be limited mainly to sports. Most current
cable operators probably wouldn't carry TCM in HD until they'd upgraded
their systems to switched digital.

I wonder when there will be enough widescreen TVs in use for SD channels to
offer widescreen programming in anamorphic format. It would be a good
compromise between letterboxing and true HD, but people with standard TVs
would be out of luck. (The funny thing is, we had anamorphic presentations
on TV in the 1960s, when no one was able to view them properly.)

[tomcervo]

Post by Jim Beaver
But the guy in
charge, Steve Koonin (a former Coca-Cola marketing VP, he's the brains
behind TNT "We Know Drama" and TBS "Very Funny"), is less interested in some
of the things that made TCM special. Documentaries, for example. Expect
less of those.

Sorry, but they weren't the life blood of TCM. They were varying in
quality. I'll trade any three for one of RO's long interviews.

Post by Jim Beaver
It also remains to be seen whether or not TCM will ever be
given enough press and advertising attention to draw attention to our
programming. Most of that is being given to TNT and TBS now.

TCM attracts a demo that is usually resistant to advertising--three
digits IQs. It's a prestige offering for cable companies, the kind of
thing that altered or dropped from the line up might result in some
cancellations. I'm not paying the cable bill to watch Nancy Grace.

[Grant Hurlock]

Post by Jim Beaver
films--remains the same (I hope). Our programming guru, who remains the
brains and the soul of the network, has some deals cooking with several
studios to license their back catalogue films.

That Coke ad-man sounds awful, given TNT & TBS's decline to garbage
channels forever firing off bottom-of-the-screen animated pop-ups like
retarded kids on the 5th of July.


On the other hand, this programming guru sounds mysterious &
enlightened. I picture a robed figure, seen through mist.
TCM's been doing well of late, shuffling in a number of UK imports I
particularly enjoy seeing.
And the cult classics idea is a good one, too, though selections in that
vein have been a bit bland thus far.