Future of scripted series on broadcast/cable?

[zeebre12]

With ratings for scripted dramas and comedies dropping on broadcast/cable what does the future hold? No real new break out series this season and existing shows seemingly getting new all time lows in ratings every few weeks. How will they pad out their schedules in years to come? Where do they go from here?
Also scripted series are becoming nearly non-existent on cable now with USA Network, FX, TBS and TNT producing very few scripted series now. (I think USA/TNT now only air 1 original scripted series each). It was only a few years ago when the number of scripted series on cable were at an all time high. FX is really left with nothing now with all original scripted series going to FX on Hulu.

 

[Cool_guy81]

Maybe they will kinda repeat what they did in the early 2000's with ABC airing 20/20 more times during the week maybe even rebooting Primetime Live.

CBS airing 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes 2 with more reality programming like Survivor and Amazing Race.

NBC airing Dateline almost every night along with 2 episodes of The Voice and a night of Game shows with the Chicago shows and Law and order shows.

Fox and the CW may end up with the short end of the stick. Cw with their reboots and superhero shows lasting awhile now any of them could end at any moment and possibly shutting the cw down like what the WB did years prior. As for fox it's hard telling as it's a little bit older than the cw but with less and less original programming they may also end up shutting down and ABC, CBS and NBC remain the big 3 networks.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I don't consider the future of broadcast TV to be very bright, in general. According to a story from the NY Times archive, the broadcast networks had a 69% share in homes in the mid-90s. That declined to 50% by the early 2000s, and is barely a quarter this year, per Nielsen.

The thing that has sustained the business through such dramatically shrinking audience is the rise of the cable bundle, and the cable fees that go along with it, along with relatively cheap productions like 'Dancing with the Stars' and 'The Voice'.

But the cable fee business model is withering, too, with about 20% fewer US households subscribing to cable/satellite this year than 2015, per Pew Research. Only a third of those under 30 subscribe to cable or satellite.

Where do the networks turn from here? It sure looks like they are going direct-to-consumer with Disney+ and Paramount+ and the like. Which leaves the broadcasters (Nexstar, Sinclair, Tegna) with little worthwhile to air. Being Nexstar/Sinclair is a bad bad business in the next 5-10 years IMO.

 

[TheBigA]

Also scripted series are becoming nearly non-existent on cable now with USA Network, FX, TBS and TNT producing very few scripted series now.

When AT&T bought Warner, the first thing they did was move the budget for new scripted TV from TNT to HBO. They couldn't understand why TBS & TNT was spending so much money for new series on those channels when the payment they were getting from cable companies stayed the same. They would make the same money with reruns, so that's what they did.

The problem with scripted series is they're expensive. They cost more money to write, they cost more money to shoot, and then you have to get people to watch.

Right now, if you're in the scripted series business, you have a few places to go: Apple, Amazon, and Netflix. If you're a writer/producer with a track record, you will get the budget you want, and you'll get the promotion you want to get people talking.

We knew for years that people wanted ala carte TV. They didn't want to be forced into cable packages. They only want to pay for what they use. Once that happened, a lot of channels lost money. They don't mind paying for what they want.

So yes, the future is not good unless the broadcasting companies figure out a way to spread the cost over multiple platforms. It looks like that's what CBS/Viacom wants to do with Paramount Plus.

 

[Mgomrjsurf]

Peacock,Sprectrum and so on to.

 

[landtuna]

We knew for years that people wanted ala carte TV. They didn't want to be forced into cable packages. They only want to pay for what they use.

Back in the very early days of cable TV I could subscribe to my favorites (only) through C-band. Then they went to packages and I bailed. Haven't been back.
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[EricStein]

NBC premiered "American Auto" (from the creator of "Superstore") this past Monday and premiered it right after "The Voice" because they thought that show's audience would sample it. The second episode had a quarter of "The Voice's" audience. The premiere of "Grand Crew" did a little better, but not by much (and that show premiered before "The Voice"). Hopefully, NBC hopes that the shows catch on through Peacock, or the shows are sure to be cancelled.

I said this in the "2022 TV Predictions" thread, but I think the future of network TV will be airing shows that premiered on streaming the week before, a model pioneered by "Sesame Street" moving to HBO (even though "Sesame Street" has a nine month delay from streaming to PBS, I don't think commercial broadcast will do the same).