FEATURES
Schedule: Hits
21 September 2015
Rewind Networks’ regional Hits channel heads towards its second birthday in December, with seven major platforms (and a few others) in six markets signed so far and seven markets in sight by year-end. This runs alongside a commitment to HD, authenticated catch-up, linear streaming, an unshakeable belief in TV across all screens and a strong basic pay-TV offering.
One of Hits biggest digital challenges is dealing with right issues for some of the older series not rights cleared for internet or mobile platforms.
“It could be because of the music within the show or the guest stars that appeared. Therefore, we can’t always air every episode of a season simply because it’s not available for broadcast,” says programming vice president and channel head, Sandie Lee.
Hits’ linear scheduling strategies include weekday strips and weekend stacks grid designed to keep both old and new audiences happy. The aim is to make the Hits’ grid as easy as possible to remember and habitual, just like the linear Netflix service, says Lee.
Acquisition priorities remain titles from the past 30 years (1980s, 1990s and 2000s), with some exceptions like Happy Days and M*A*S*H*, and titles that resonate well with Asian viewers such as sci-fi series The X-Files from the 90s, 80s action/adventure series The A-Team and family sitcom Diff’rent Strokes from the late 70s. The 2015 aim is to provide more of what worked last year and introduce new titles to the offering.
Returning series include Seinfeld and The Golden Girls, joined more recently by family sitcom Happy Days, crime buster MacGyver, action series Airwolf; and family sitcom Home Improvement. Along with Seinfeld, The X-Files is a tent-pole on the schedule for the last quarter of this year.
October premieres include the first season of Criminal Minds, which replaces Grey’s Anatomy from Friday, 9 October. Season two of the Criminal Minds series will follow in the second week of November. The series will air from Tuesday, 10 November at 11pm to midnight.
In the week from 5-11 October, comedy drama series dominated, with about 57% (20 hours) of the prime-time (7pm-midnight) schedule. The rest of the weekly prime-time schedule is filled with 14.3% (5 hours) of sci-fi, 14.3% (5 hours)...
Rewind Networks’ regional Hits channel heads towards its second birthday in December, with seven major platforms (and a few others) in six markets signed so far and seven markets in sight by year-end. This runs alongside a commitment to HD, authenticated catch-up, linear streaming, an unshakeable belief in TV across all screens and a strong basic pay-TV offering.
One of Hits biggest digital challenges is dealing with right issues for some of the older series not rights cleared for internet or mobile platforms.
“It could be because of the music within the show or the guest stars that appeared. Therefore, we can’t always air every episode of a season simply because it’s not available for broadcast,” says programming vice president and channel head, Sandie Lee.
Hits’ linear scheduling strategies include weekday strips and weekend stacks grid designed to keep both old and new audiences happy. The aim is to make the Hits’ grid as easy as possible to remember and habitual, just like the linear Netflix service, says Lee.
Acquisition priorities remain titles from the past 30 years (1980s, 1990s and 2000s), with some exceptions like Happy Days and M*A*S*H*, and titles that resonate well with Asian viewers such as sci-fi series The X-Files from the 90s, 80s action/adventure series The A-Team and family sitcom Diff’rent Strokes from the late 70s. The 2015 aim is to provide more of what worked last year and introduce new titles to the offering.
Returning series include Seinfeld and The Golden Girls, joined more recently by family sitcom Happy Days, crime buster MacGyver, action series Airwolf; and family sitcom Home Improvement. Along with Seinfeld, The X-Files is a tent-pole on the schedule for the last quarter of this year.
October premieres include the first season of Criminal Minds, which replaces Grey’s Anatomy from Friday, 9 October. Season two of the Criminal Minds series will follow in the second week of November. The series will air from Tuesday, 10 November at 11pm to midnight.
In the week from 5-11 October, comedy drama series dominated, with about 57% (20 hours) of the prime-time (7pm-midnight) schedule. The rest of the weekly prime-time schedule is filled with 14.3% (5 hours) of sci-fi, 14.3% (5 hours) action/adventure and 11.4% (4 hours) medical drama series.
For the week of 9-15 November, comedy series also dominated, with 57% (20 hours) of the weekly prime-time 7pm to midnight schedule. Shows include Golden Girls, season five of Taxi (ends on Wednesday, 11 November, replaced with family comedy Home Improvement season one from Thursday, 12 November), season three of Cheers and season seven of Seinfeld.
This article originally appeared in ContentAsia's print issue published on 20 October 2015.
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