Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Pivot TV Shuts Down: Why Participant Media’s Millennial Cable Network Couldn’t Survive
IndieWire ^ | 10/31/2016 | Michael Schneider

Posted on 10/31/2016 8:53:26 PM PDT by Olog-hai

Pivot just couldn’t pivot fast enough.

The small cable channel shuts down on Monday, ending its short life with the film “Good Night, and Good Luck,” the 2005 movie about Edward R. Murrow produced by Pivot owner Participant Media.

The movie’s title is an appropriate farewell for Pivot, and perhaps also serves as a message for the cable industry in general — as more networks face an uncertain future in the wake of so-called “skinny bundles” (cable packages with fewer channels) and the growth of cord-cutting. […]

The company is believed to have invested around $200 million into the enterprise, starting in 2012, and at the end had a staff of around 80 running the network. Participant reportedly spent about $100 million to acquire Documentary Channel and Halogen TV, in order to build enough distribution in time for its launch on Aug. 1, 2013, in 40 million homes. …

(Excerpt) Read more at indiewire.com ...


TOPICS: Society; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: liberalagenda; millennials; newmedia; participantmedia; pivot; pivottv; propaganda; television
No, that isn’t the “cord-cutter” phenomenon at all. It died for the same reason al-Gore’s CurrenTV did (and Al-Jazeera America after that); there is no audience for “social change” left-wing propaganda. (Logo TV is an annoying zombie too that needs to go, but it has Viacom’s backing for the time being.)
1 posted on 10/31/2016 8:53:26 PM PDT by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Agreed.

Logo’s a gay channel right? I guess they might have a built in audience.


2 posted on 10/31/2016 9:03:51 PM PDT by dp0622 (IThe only thing an upper crust conservative hates more than a liberal is a middle class conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

Yes, Logo is “LGBT-themed”. This evening, of course, they were playing the Rocky Horror Picture Show.


3 posted on 10/31/2016 9:09:52 PM PDT by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

I saw it at a midnight show years after it came out.

It was shown every weekend at midnight and the regulars were a bunch of freaks who had rituals they did during the show.

I should have known better as the girl i was seeing was a loon. Her idea to go. Told me it was “great”


4 posted on 10/31/2016 9:15:04 PM PDT by dp0622 (IThe only thing an upper crust conservative hates more than a liberal is a middle class conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Vice is another one of those channels that I have no use for.


5 posted on 10/31/2016 9:15:12 PM PDT by gop4lyf (Gay marriage is neither.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
There's always an audience for insanity; the problem is that they didn't choose a sane course of action to promulgate their insanity.

And I think I'm going to drift a bit from the topic.

CBS is presently selling their channel and their library of shows for a certain amount per month. Smart choice, just think they've chosen the wrong vehicle. Amazon has already shown itself competent enough to handle add on subscriptions for content for Amazon Prime customers; the smart choice would have been choosing a low price and teaming up with Amazon - they do all the heavy lifting - they do the billing and the distribution, all CBS has to do is make sure that Amazon actually puts the money in their bank account.

Hulu was a brilliant idea, but for some ghastly and unknown reason, they didn't take the sensible ‘one commercial per break’ that was targeted at the viewer (teaming up with Google or Bing or Yahoo to make sure it matches interests), it instead did this bizarre bid for viewers deal which often made it so that you'd get the same commercial two or three times during a break.

There is an audience for social change propaganda - they could turn the channel into a subscription model (with loads of memes for people to post on social media if they were members) where they could survive quite well. The biggest problem with liberal dogma is that, well, almost no one can stand to watch the crap. But they'll throw money so they can have their WWF sticker on the car (or whatever.)

Had this channel done such a sensible thing, and made it so that people could pay monthly for the appearance of social change and be a warrior ‘for the people’, they would have thrived.

Instead they went with a deal where they were getting a quarter per subscriber who actually watched one 15 minute block per month and lost their bet. Instead of having an hour of Bernie rambling in front of the camera, they went with ‘innovative programming about real change’ - spending tens of millions on poorly produced programming that no liberal could even bother to stomach.

If they had teamed up with Amazon and offered the channel for $4 a month (where they'd get $2.70), they could have really ramped up their propaganda.

And honestly, this is where CBS has gone wrong (and the members of Hulu...) They went and wasted tens if not hundreds of millions creating that which was already there. Billing, delivery, verification - why bother with any of that if there's a third party who can actually handle all that detail and you just sit back and collect money?

Many channels (including ESPN and others) are facing a rather bleak future. The cable companies are facing increased costs (and much diminished available bandwidth as consumers demand more and more internet speed), and local cities are piling on the taxes on providers, both for the multi-year contract franchise fees and the consumer taxes. Satellite can satisfy the channel demand, but can't take up the speed slack, whereas cable internet is getting squeezed more and more.

Cable (and satellite) companies are going to be demanding near zero franchise fees to transmit content, or they'll only carry channels where local cable companies can actually successfully sell advertising. The age of cable companies carrying content for content sake is swiftly going away. Time for the players to come up with a brand new game plan... or do as this did, and go dark with a whimper.

6 posted on 10/31/2016 9:28:35 PM PDT by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

So the lesbian eco Nazi channel couldn’t make it, what a shame. I hope some progressive a-hole lost a bundle.

Vice should be next although I do like the show “Abandoned” the rest is poo.


7 posted on 10/31/2016 9:45:48 PM PDT by VTenigma (The Democrat party is the party of the mathematically challenged)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

I remember hearing endless commercials for it on radio in the late ‘70s, just looked, IMDB says it came out in 1975, don’t remember it back then. [Come on, brain!]


8 posted on 10/31/2016 11:37:52 PM PDT by W.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: W.

I didn’t see until the 80s. Like I said, it was shown every weekend at midnight an the same cult followers would show up EVERY week!

Weirdos.


9 posted on 10/31/2016 11:41:01 PM PDT by dp0622 (IThe only thing an upper crust conservative hates more than a liberal is a middle class conservative)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: gop4lyf

I suspect we are not the Vice target audience but it seems to have about 20 hours of programming that it stretches over the week.


10 posted on 11/01/2016 2:24:26 AM PDT by perez24
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

How can I miss something I never knew existed? Oh well, Pivot is gone. I’d love to start a Family friendly conservative themed network (with an updated Leave It To Beaver, without Mrs. Cleaver cleaning the house in pearls and maybe a few shows in Drama (a show like Walton’s Mountain) and variety shows.


11 posted on 11/01/2016 2:39:56 AM PDT by Deplorable American1776 (Proud to be a DeplorableAmerican with a Deplorable Family...even the dog is DEPLORABLE :-))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kingu

You made a ton of great points!!


12 posted on 11/01/2016 3:00:36 AM PDT by TXBlair (We will not forget Benghazi.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: dp0622

Yep, it was at the same theater in Toledo for ages, I lived up there 76-80. Only saw it once, though. That was enough... ;)


13 posted on 11/01/2016 4:21:05 AM PDT by W.
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Deplorable American1776

The Walton’s were put on the air as a goof by a leftist.

It backfired. It became their most popular show. It beat out the leftist, anti-white male Archie Bunker, even, which was not put out on the air as a goof.


14 posted on 11/01/2016 5:55:46 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan (Don't be a lone wolf. Form up small leaderlesss cells ASAP !)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: T-Bone Texan

Archie Bunker was not even original. He was copied from a BBC stereotype character named Alf Garnett, from their show called “Till Death Do Us Part”.

(Lots of mainstream-media sitcoms during that period were taken from BBC shows, including “Three’s Company” from “Man About The House”, “Sanford & Son” from “Steptoe & Son”, etc.)


15 posted on 11/01/2016 7:30:56 AM PDT by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai
I just noticed this morning that Pivot disappeared.

"Farscape" is what I watched, along with maybe a grand total of two documentaries.

16 posted on 11/04/2016 10:08:32 AM PDT by Calvin Locke
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson