GAC To Go The Way Of CMT?

[DToTheJ]

There is a report that Great American Country (GAC), in an attempt to "reverse a ratings slide and unimpressive revenues," plans to "alter some of its programming mix." Scripps president John Lansing says they will be "creating some original programming... to help drive that business forward into the future."

I wonder if this means some of the same useless reality TV programming that you can now find on CMT.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=150096

 

[w00t]

It's hard to get ratings when no one a) can see you and b) knows you're there. I would think those who can would find them a refuge from the crap that currently airs on CMT.

Although I do like watching the Dukes.

 

[ansky212]

GAC stopped airing the Grand Ole Opry several years ago. That was their only show worth watching. Now they are complaining the ratings are down? They should bring back the Opry - that would be some quality reality tv.

 

[JayR]

It's hard to get ratings when no one a) can see you and b) knows you're there. I would think those who can would find them a refuge from the crap that currently airs on CMT.

When GAC does become a CMT clone, you are left with one option:

RFD TV

 

[Kenny Atkinson]

GAC is good station. Thier problem is . They are on an upper tier in the CAble TV packages and I refuse to pay a cent more for a package just to watch one show. Same with CMT.CMT on Cox in Rhode Island is also on an upper tier.
There are NO country stations at all in the basic package in Rhode Island.None
Oh, we have spanish,portugese,black,christain but no Country.GAC should try to get themselves on a lower tirer package so then people could watch them.
With the exception of THE DUKES. CMT is now TV WASTELAND.

All though. If they put on a knock-off show Country style like "Jersey Shore" and a cast of girls in Daisy duke shorts. That would be a HOE-DOWN. I'd watch that too.
;D

 

[DToTheJ]

When GAC does become a CMT clone, you are left with one option: RFD TV

But then the question becomes: How soon until RFD follows in the footsteps of CMT/GAC? (One can argue that, in a way, they did that with their brief carriage of the "Imus In The Morning" show, but that could be a minor exception.)

 

[JayR]

When GAC does become a CMT clone, you are left with one option: RFD TV

But then the question becomes: How soon until RFD follows in the footsteps of CMT/GAC? (One can argue that, in a way, they did that with their brief carriage of the "Imus In The Morning" show, but that could be a minor exception.)

Imus was simply a way for the network to draw attention.

 

[nathannah]

When GAC does become a CMT clone, you are left with one option: RFD TV

But then the question becomes: How soon until RFD follows in the footsteps of CMT/GAC? (One can argue that, in a way, they did that with their brief carriage of the "Imus In The Morning" show, but that could be a minor exception.)

They seem to be a rare case of being a sort-of hybrid commercial/public TV network in that they accept limited advertising (and paid sponsorships of programming such as their call in shows), but they also have a deep merchandising bench, along with the magazine, and they also get a dependable audience into their Branson theater. Also much of their programming is actually paid for by the original producer to air on RFD-TV, so the only costs to them are mainly reception/transmission and marketing. There's also something to be said for a network which plays up that they don't air infomercials or drug ads at all which gives it a unique cache, so I don't see RFD-TV going anywhere soon.

The truth about GAC though? I always forget it's even on my cable system, you barely hear about it at all on the Scripps family of networks because of a lack of crossover opportunities, and their niche (country videos all the time) has been taken over by the subchannel Country Network, which has much deeper distribution and a lack to care about the revenues for their program model (Sinclair and others pay them enough for it, the Ahh Bra and Proactiv pay the rest). I could actually see them selling out to TCN if things don't work out, like what Scripps did by selling off Shop at Home's replacement parts to Jewelry TV when they realized nobody cared about buying Emeril pots and pans.

 

[DToTheJ]

... you barely hear about [GAC] at all on the Scripps family of networks because of a lack of crossover opportunities...

Indeed, when Scripps was dukin' it out with Cablevision over carriage rights, you always heard about Food Network and HGTV. GAC... not so much.

 

[TheBigA]

I always forget it's even on my cable system, you barely hear about it at all on the Scripps family of networks because of a lack of crossover opportunities,

Hmmm...but why is that? Scripps owns the Food Network, and Paula Deen is their biggest star. Where is Paula on GAC? There are obvious synergies between HGTV too, with home improvement for country folks. CMT has simply been smarter in making use of their synergies, and even stealing a few from Scripps. They hired Evan Farmer, who was a popular HGTV host, for their Top 20 Countdown. CMT does a country version of Cribs. They run Extreme Home Makeover, which would have been a logical tie in for HGTV and GAC. The mistake has been GAC's focus on music videos, which isn't the attraction it once was. People complain about CMT, but when a channel attempts to provide an alternative, the people don't watch. The one thing I've learned is if you don't support niche programming, eventually it goes away.