National Geographic Channel Enters Domestic Cable Jungle

Exploring New Territory

National Geographic Channel Enters Domestic Cable Jungle

By Mike Reynolds

In its initial safari into the jungles of domestic cable, National Geographic Channel has bagged some impressive trophies.

The 24-hour network, 70% owned by Fox Cable Networks Group and the balance by National Geographic Television, will debut Jan. 7 in 10 million homes, despite pushing into territory already inhabited by established nature and documentary programmers such as Discovery Channel and its sister networks TLC and Animal Planet, as well as History Channel and PBS.

Some cable operators say they like the new channel’s strong brand name, and its mix of original and archival programming.

Late last month, the National Cable Television Coop-erative signed up for the channel.

According to Lindsay Gardner, EVP of affiliate sales and marketing for FCNG, the deal will place National Geographic Channel before 2 million NCTC subscribers by the close of 2002, and 5.5 million member homes within four years.

"This is a service that attracted a high degree of interest through our member surveys. We think it will have great appeal among viewers in the smaller communities our members serve," says NCTC VP of programming Frank Hughes, who also extols the channel for its flexibility. "Some members say they will roll out National Geographic on basic, and others might migrate it from digital to basic, depending on how it does. Others are considering digital only, or looking at HITS or HITS2HOME for delivery."

The NCTC agreement comes on top of pacts with AT&T Broadband, Adelphia and DirecTV that ensure the National Geographic Channel will debut in 10 million homes. Commitments from those carriers alone will boost the channel’s position to 25 million homes within four years.

Gardner is continuing to engage all of the major MSOs in distribution discussions and hopes to announce other deals soon.

The monthly sub fee of 15 cents aside, Fox is offering a $5 launch fee per sub for a first-year launch, a total that includes marketing incentives and is available on a sliding annual scale.

Between navigating an already crowded niche and its desire for sub fees, some operators are resisting Fox’s drumbeat.

"Nat Geo has a strong reputation and a powerful brand name, but I’m not so sure what they’re going to offer can’t be found in some combinations elsewhere on the dial," says a veteran MSO programming executive. "Fifteen cents per sub is also expensive for a new network, no matter what the National Geographic Society’s pedigree."

That pedigree includes 29 million monthly readers of the flagship title, 105 Emmys and international channel carriage reaching 85 million households in 111 nations. October Q scores made National Geographic the second most recognizable brand out of 153 entries and tops in the media field.

It impresses Bill Carroll, vice president, director of programming, Katz Television Group.

"The National Geographic Society has a powerful brand identification. It also faces a lot of competition for documentary and reality programming from Discovery, Animal Planet and analog channel capacity issues," he says. "Still, there seems to be a growing appetite for this kind of programming. National Geographic Channel could be a strong driver for digital for cable operators."

National Geographic Channel plans to kick off with a bang, premiering with a live, one-hour special, Ford Motor Co. Presents Heroes for the Planet — A Tribute to National Geographic. Celebrating the society’s 113 years, the gala will be hosted by Pierce Brosnan from the Warner Theater in Washington, D.C. The show will be simulcast on CNBC and re-air an hour later on Fox News Channel.

After that, viewers will see more than 400 hours of original programming annually at the outset, as well as library fare garnered over the past 35 years. Topping that list is National Geographic Today, a daily news hour at 7 p.m., emanating from the society’s Washington headquarters.

This "base camp" is home to a recently christened, state-of-the-art studio, which NGC plans to spotlight by regularly putting the society’s various scientists, explorers, writers, photographers and other contributors on camera.

While the weeknight telecasts will review the day’s top news, the focus will be on happenings in the realms of environment, conservation, science and exploration.

"All of the networks we will compete with for documentary/ reality viewers have different

programming

approaches in primetime," says National Geographic Channel president Laureen Ong. "But National Geographic Today will be a real point of differentiation for us."

Andrew Wilk, EVP of news, programming and production, says NGT will be able to provide unparalleled depth, breadth and perspective to stories not only through its 60 dedicated staffers, but by tapping into all of the society’s resources, including "the 200 or so people we have in the field at any one time."

At 8 p.m., NGC will go after natural history devotees and family audiences with Living Wild. A checkerboard of series/anthology shows follows at the 9 p.m. hour, with Geo Files, On the Edge, Treasure Seekers, True Originals and Extreme Planet, running across the five respective nights

Other key programming includes Saturday night’s National Geographic This Week, which highlights the top news. National Geographic Presents, Sundays at 8 p.m., will house the channel’s top-level, two-hour documentaries, combing a variety of genres.

Come June, a relationship with The New York Times will yield a Tuesday night show around the newspaper Science Times section. NYT correspondents will also contribute to National Geographic Today. Rights to National Geographic Explorer revert to NGC six months after the show airs

on CNBC, so expect that acclaimed series to claim a position somewhere down the road.

Elsewhere, vintage programming will be given a fresh face.

"We’re adding interstitials and factoids that will bring new information to bear," says Ong. "This is a way to update our classic programming."

In May, National Geographic Channel and National Geographic Channels International will air a two-hour documentary event, Pearl Harbor: Legacy of Attack, featuring the most comprehensive historical underwater survey of the site since the Japanese attack 59 years ago.

"We’re looking to do several specials

a years. It makes sense for us to do the big global events. We have the resources, and there is always something exciting going on at the society," says VP of programming Chris-

tine Kuppens, who notes that plans call for the Pearl Harbor special to be updated further in time for the 60th anniversary Dec. 7.