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If a cable network worked once, it will work again BY MARC BERMAN
Once upon a time, the concept of a television spin-off meant The Jeffersons "movin' on up," Rhodes, Phyllis and Lou Grant making it minus Mary Tyler Moore, and Knots Landing out of Dallas and into its own hour of weekly dramatics.
Now the concept of the TV spin-off has taken on a significantly wider meaning. Instead of Laverne and Shirley graduating from Happy Days to their own series, cable networks are begetting other cable networks. Although the idea is not necessarily new-MTV offspring VH-1 was born in 1985-the number of networks giving birth to other networks has exploded. Think the Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Real Women from Lifetime; Biography from A&E; Boomerang from the Cartoon Network; TV Land from Nick-at-Nite; and Style from E! Entertainment.
With so many new cable networks surfacing in the expanding broadcasting environment, an association with a known franchise is an added incentive for viewer tune-in. "When you think back historically, some of the classic shows-Rhodes, Maude, The Jeffersons, Happy Days, Gomer Pyle and The Bionic Woman-are spin-offs of other series," says TV veteran Bob Jacobs, vp of television distribution at ECM, who was responsible for the groundbreaking deal to sell Cosby in syndication. "Had the character or concept not been proven, success may have never been in the cards. And I think that same philosophy can be used in this highly populated cable spin-off landscape."
Leading the pack in actual number of cable spin-off networks is the Discovery Channel, which, to date, has introduced Animal Planet, Discovery Health, Discovery Science, Discovery Civilization, Discovery Home & Leisure, Discovery Kids, Discovery Wings and Discovery en Espanol. In addition, Discovery will launch Discovery HD Theater, a new 24-hour HDTV channel, on June 17. As cable providers continue to determine what the best use of their bandwidth is (the evolution of video-on-demand and more interactive programming are two options), digital networks remain in the forefront. And along with the rapid rise of digital networks is the current trend of spinning off new networks from existing brands.
"Theoretically, with 50 to 60 different channels in a basic cable package alone, not to mention additional channels offered on a per-tier basis,...