Video Interview: CBS Studios International’s Armando Nuñez, Jr.

NEW YORK: While the international television business lived through one of worst economic and advertising downturns on record, CBS Studios International witnessed very brisk business during 2009, as Armando Nuñez, Jr. explains in this video interview.

CBS Studios International witnessed very brisk business during 2009. This positive performance despite the recession was driven by two main factors. As cost-conscious broadcasters around the world weighed the pros and cons of producing their own programming versus acquiring high-quality series, they quickly realized that a successful long-running television franchise like CSI or NCIS can guarantee an audience. And as Nuñez explains, broadcasters are looking for the next CSI or NCIS and this year CBS Studios International premiered NCIS: Los Angeles and The Good Wife, the number one and number two new dramas this season in the U.S.

The other benefit of these procedural dramas, with their self-contained episodes, is that they tend to be easier to schedule than series whose plotlines carry over from episode to episode. In addition, procedurals repeat better in reruns than serial dramas do.

CBS Studios International is not only distributing finished programming, internationally it is also building a successful format business. The Next Top Model franchise has been sold to more than 140 territories. There are 20 versions of Next Top Model, including Britain’s Next Top Model and Australia’s Next Top Model, and some of these local versions are also sold internationally. Besides this successful reality show, CBS Studios International has also been selling the formats of the very popular game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!

Nuñez is committed to growing all four areas of his international business. First, the traditional distribution, which he calls “the bread and butter business” and is handled by teams working in offices around the world intent on monetizing CBS content across multiple platforms. Second is the format business, third is the new-media business, and fourth is the channel business, for which CBS recently made a deal with Chellomedia, a division of Liberty Global that produces and distributes a portfolio of thematic channels in various European territories. In the U.K., CBS owns 50 percent of a bouquet of six Chellomedia channels, four of which are CBS branded. Reed Manville was named executive VP of international channels at CBS Studios International, and reports directly to Nuñez. In addition to supervising the joint venture in the U.K. and identifying potential new platforms, Manville also oversees CBS’s interest in its two Australian channels, TV1 and Sci Fi. Nuñez wants to grow his channel business, “in a smart and efficient way.”