Scheduling is a dark art at the best of times, but in a global pandemic, the role becomes a Herculean task for broadcasters around the world.
Lockdowns in the U.K., France, Italy and Spain — the four hardest-hit countries in Europe — have proven a boon for broadcasters, who can play to captive audiences, provided they have the pipeline to fill their slots.
With a complete shutdown of all live sports and the cancellation of other major cultural and broadcast events, such as the Olympics, Euro 2020, Glastonbury music festival and the Tour de France, how are schedulers strategizing to fill the voids in their schedules?
Variety spoke to scheduling bosses at major public and commercial broadcasters across Italy, U.K., France and Spain about their gameplans — or lack thereof.
Italy: Rai Turns to the God
As soon as the pandemic broke, the first thing Stefano Coletta, chief of public broadcaster Rai...
Lockdowns in the U.K., France, Italy and Spain — the four hardest-hit countries in Europe — have proven a boon for broadcasters, who can play to captive audiences, provided they have the pipeline to fill their slots.
With a complete shutdown of all live sports and the cancellation of other major cultural and broadcast events, such as the Olympics, Euro 2020, Glastonbury music festival and the Tour de France, how are schedulers strategizing to fill the voids in their schedules?
Variety spoke to scheduling bosses at major public and commercial broadcasters across Italy, U.K., France and Spain about their gameplans — or lack thereof.
Italy: Rai Turns to the God
As soon as the pandemic broke, the first thing Stefano Coletta, chief of public broadcaster Rai...
- 4/17/2020
- by Tim Dams, Nick Vivarelli, Elsa Keslassy and John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
In the U.S. TV market, the tail wags the dog. Reruns of hit shows, both domestically and internationally, provide the payoff for producers, distributors and talent. But in Europe the aftermarket for even the most popular local shows is still quite limited.
With a hodgepodge of local languages making cross-border appeal more difficult, and with no extensive local station grid in each country to rely on for syndicated repeats (and only spotty attempts by webs to nurture long-running series), continental producers and broadcasters -- who are often one and the same entity -- have had to be creative when it comes to wagging the tail -- or even finding it.
While no European series has ever raked in the stunning returns of American mega-franchises like "CSI" or "Law & Order," there are notable success stories in the region when it comes to parlaying a local smash across multiple platforms and through various ancillaries.
With a hodgepodge of local languages making cross-border appeal more difficult, and with no extensive local station grid in each country to rely on for syndicated repeats (and only spotty attempts by webs to nurture long-running series), continental producers and broadcasters -- who are often one and the same entity -- have had to be creative when it comes to wagging the tail -- or even finding it.
While no European series has ever raked in the stunning returns of American mega-franchises like "CSI" or "Law & Order," there are notable success stories in the region when it comes to parlaying a local smash across multiple platforms and through various ancillaries.
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