Branding drives new Hollywood; thematic channels take a front seat.

In the new Hollywood, global channel branding has taken on an increased importance, and thematic channels are replacing movies as the steam in the entertainment industry's engine. According to international program consultant Russ Kagan, companies need to "protect, promote and value a brand's worth, since new territories don't necessarily know what a 'Discovery channel' is." Kagan said that companies must do more than create brands in each new territory; they must also create value. "There are two types of branding to look at: new channel branding, like Discovery does, and block branding. For example, in Europe, Discovery started as one signal; now it is targeting and repositioning the signal to create services like Discovery Italy, Discovery Germany, etc. They are building brand for each market, and each country has a different way of doing things? said Kagan.

Donald Wear, president of Discovery Networks International, knows that Discovery has a terrific brand. And the new Hollywood finally understands that nonfiction entertainment - such as Discovery programming - is out there. "The brand attracts people, but you can't fall victim to it and disappoint the customer. Behind the brand you have to fulfill the promise. A brand is nothing without something behind it," Wear asserted. According to Wear, it took Discovery almost 12 years to develop its brand. Discovery's overseas approach is to use the U.S. networks as a core reference and then look at what works internationally in a particular country. "We need to tailor and customize to the region's sensitivity, and then the region takes that matrix and customizes it themselves." commented Wear. In his opinion, maintenance of a brand is just as important as its development, if not more so. "We are always looking for ways to maintain [the brand] by expanding it horizontally and vertically. For example, Discovery Kids is a new franchise that is a kind of vertical expansion of the brand. Our initiative in retail represents horizontal expansion," Wear explained.

John Cuddihy, vp and managing director of the International Division at A&E Television Networks, feels that branding is becoming more important because of the many different channels that are now competing for the same audience. "A viewer has to know what they are going to get. Biography is really big all over the world, and viewers know that it will be quality programming," Cuddihy said. A&E owns its brand and licenses it to partners around the world. The company works with its partners to create the most appropriate adaptations. " 'Adaptation' is a very important word," noted Cuddihy. "We do it via dubbing, voiceovers or a combination of the two. Often we create our own local host." With The History Channel, Cuddihy said, one important branding goal is to give viewers the idea that the channel presents a balanced view of history. The History Channel's international services employ a multiple-step process. "In some cases we start with a joint venture in which we own 50 percent and license our product and the other partner brings subscriber management services to the deal, handling the marketing, etc. That's how the partnerships work. We split the expenses. We do joint ventures to jointly buy programs in the local market," Cuddihy said.

ESPN's international branding strategy for its 20 non-U.S. channels is to position itself as a local sports channel. Minard Hamilton, senior vp of ESPN International, said: "Just as ESPN has a distinct personality in the U.S., we are doing the same outside of the U.S. We pursue local sports rights outside the U.S. ... The idea is to be people's local sports channel." Hamilton added: "At the same time, we work constantly to grow and promote the ESPN brand. All of the programming we put out is ESPN branded, carrying the graphic look and logo. With every market we customize and localize and take into consideration the cultural differences in order to accommodate brand."

Stephen Tapp, vp and general manager of ChumCity International, said that the key to ChumCity's approach to branding is to be flexible in its international business arrangements. "We don't take the cookie cutter approach in exporting our brands. We let the market define the brand and how it will be positioned," Tapp said. "We try to find like-minded partners who can adapt our franchises to their market, and it than means calling the channel something different, so be it. However, the look and feel must be consistent even if the channel is called something else. For example, use of logos and on-air graphics like our floating globe must be incorporated into the presentation?"

Branding is also central to E! Entertainment's international strategy. Jon Helmrich, vp of International Development, said that when people see the E! logo it immediately says something to them. The broadest way E! brands is with full channels; another way is via co-production deals. "Coproductions serve our purpose on two fronts: it gets the name and brand out to the audience, and we can work with other countries," Helmrich said. For the packaging, E! works with each country and provides both graphic material and content. Depending on the market, content may be either dubbed or subtitled. "lt all has to do with local acceptance," Helmrich said. "In Japan we did a coproduction with someone on TV Asahi. The show was entirely produced in Japan and the hosts spoke Japanese. However, it was on an E!-branded set with an English title." E!'s newest coproduction is with a terrestrial station in Australia. "It's an interesting deal, since it involves license fees and revenue sharing," Helmrich commented. The show is a weekly half-hour called E! News Weekly Australia. Helmrich said that this deal took the E! brand further by totally recreating the set of E!'s U.S. newsweekly; on the other hand, the Australian show will have local hosts and 60 percent of the content will be local. Local content is the key to E!'s international strategy. "If you go in too American it's hard to start over," said Helmrich. "That's why localization is important."