RealScreen—Discovery’s O’Neill Talks A-La-Carte, Focus Groups

Most of the RealScreen Summit taking place in DC this week focuses on getting content, particularly non-scripted, produced and picked up by networks. But when Eileen O’Neill, Discovery Comm group pres for Discovery and TLC nets, was asked about the challenges facing the cable industry on a macro scale, her concern was a familiar one. “A business model that was fairly straight forward a couple years ago is under a lot of pressure,” she said during a 1-hour, on-stage interview, stressing that cable needs revenue from both advertisers and distributors. Her thoughts on a la carte, selling digital and scripted shows on the net.

More top stories in today's CableFAX Daily:

 

The Dodgers RSN is a year away from launch, but already the hand-wringing is starting over the price. Some MVPDs have begun charging an RSN fee, while another MSO calls teams striking out on their own with an RSN a “major problem.”

 

Rather than continuing to treat the Connect America Fund “as if it were the Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (LEC) Fund,” the FCC should focus on the actual goal of universal service support: providing service to consumers, NCTA said in comments in response to the FCC’s USF FNPRM.

 

Cupcakes have been done. So has pawn. Right now, we seem to be in the redneck/Amish phase. What’s next? Maybe it’s time to take reality programming in the direction of wealth. Reality producers talk what’s next.