M+E Connections

The increasing popularity of streaming video is one key reason why there’s been such a dramatic shift in the timing of major TV show premieres, including more programs than ever kicking off their runs during the summer or spring, according to AMC Networks CEO and president Josh Sapan.

Traditionally, major new TV shows premiered in September. Asked how important the calendar still is for TV premieres and why AMC opted to start airing the miniseries “The Night Manager” in late April rather than September, Sapan said June 9 at the Gabelli & Company Movie & Entertainment Conference in New York that “the calendar is [still] very important.”

But “the calendar and the influences on the calendar are changing dramatically,” Sapan said. “It was not so long ago the case that summertime, when television consumption was lower, was a time when broadcast networks, who were even more predominant … would essentially go into hibernation,” he said. Cable TV “seized upon it because they had lower expectations for total audiences, and were able to command more attention” during the summer, he said.

New technologies then changed the equation even more. “The influences that now impact the calendar have become much more complex,” Sapan said. Streaming services now “drop series with increasing regularity because they are in the subscription business,” he said. Consumers can now easily access broadcast TV content at the click of a button, whenever they want, without going through cable, phone and satellite companies’ services, he said.

Many cable TV channels have now “joined in the opportunity to seize summer,” he said. However, “although people increasingly watch on demand when they want it, there is still a great benefit to lead-in,” he said. For AMC, that means if it airs a new program like “Preacher” after its hit show “The Walking Dead” on Sunday nights, that new show is going to get a “big sampling” of viewers, he said. That plays a big role in when it decides to air a new show also, he added. The network also has to take into account how many new programs it has because “you can’t premiere everything all at once,” he said.

AMC, meanwhile, continues to find new ways to “take maximum advantage” of its main assets, including “The Walking Dead” and “Breaking Bad,” he said at the conference. In addition to the spinoff shows “Fear the Walking Dead” and “Better Call Saul,” that’s meant creating entirely new programs that appeal to the same kinds of audiences, he said, pointing to the martial arts program “Into the Badlands” as a show designed, in part, to appeal to the same audience as “The Walking Dead.” AMC now has five of the top eight-rated dramatic shows on cable TV, he said.