Cult

World Screen Weekly, March 27, 2008

COUNTRY: Italy

LAUNCH DATE: The channel made its debut in 1998 on the Italian pay-TV platform Stream, which in 2003 changed ownership and was renamed SKY Italia.

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS: 4.2 million

OWNERSHIP: Fox Channels Italy since 2005.

DESCRIPTION: Cult offers a range of programming, from films and documentaries to highly acclaimed TV series and original formats, all looking to stimulate and challenge its audience.

VP, FACTUAL, FOX CHANNELS ITALY: Sherin Salvetti

DIRECTOR, PROGRAMMING & PRODUCTION: Jan Ronca

PROGRAMMING MANAGER: Riccardo Chiattelli

MARKETING MANAGER: Riccardo Russo

CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Elena Frova

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: Targeting a discerning, upper socio-economic, slightly male-skewing demographic, Cult serves its audience three main genres: feature films, TV series and documentaries. “We offer cinema, including art films that have received awards at the most important international film festivals, the best of independent film productions, and cultish films from recent years,” explains Sherin Salvetti, the VP of factual for Fox Channels Italy. The channel also offers “TV series, including the most innovative on the international market: from The Sopranos to Six Feet Under, from Mad Men, winner of two Golden Globes, to The Kingdom by Lars Von Trier.” In addition, Cult airs the best documentary and factual programs, both foreign and Italian, many of which are innovative, provocative and anti-conformist, as well as new genres of narrative and serial documentaries.

This mix of programming is unique in Italy’s channel landscape, says Salvetti, and this is why Cult “does not have true competitors.” Cult has experienced enormous growth in its audience share over the past year—from April 2007 to January 2008, the channel recorded an 87-percent overall increase in viewers and a 68-percent increase in prime-time viewers.

Original productions are just one way that the channel sets itself apart from all other networks. These include the docudrama Santiago, Anche le lesbiche sono pellegrine and Reparto Trans, a docu-soap set in the transsexual ward of an Italian prison. The network is also set to broadcast an Italian-Australian co-production, dedicated to the Sorelle Bandiera, the first drag queens in Italy, who have been among the icons of Italian TV since the 1970s.

When acquiring product, Cult looks for films that have received awards at the international level and keeps its eye on product airing on Sundance Channel, Channel 4, BBC, Arte and HBO. Other key suppliers include Lionsgate, FremantleMedia and Warner Bros., along with documentaries and films from Italian producers. American dramas have also been quite popular for the channel, notably Six Feet Under and The Sopranos. Cult is now offering all seasons of these two acclaimed series, which Salvetti says “have by now become an important part of television history. This is a real gift that the channel wanted to give fans of TV series.”

Cult’s website not only provides information on its programming, but also features a community, at www.gentecult.it, where viewers can download user-generated content, videos, pictures and text or comment on the channel’s initiatives. Salvetti says that a great example of the site’s activities is the blogs of the main characters of the docudrama Santiago, where users can directly compare their experiences with those of the show’s protagonists. Cult is looking to continue to ramp up its offerings, in particular, multiplatform projects that include TV, mobile and new media, explains Salvetti.

WHAT’S NEW: Following the success of other American series, Cult added the Golden Globe-winning series Mad Men to its roster in March. In May, the channel will air an original portrait of the runner Oscar Pistorius, a South African double amputee who, with the aid of prosthetic legs is referred to as the “fastest man on no legs.”

Salvetti also explains that for the first time, Cult is looking for partners for quality co-productions and would like “to develop the industry of ‘cult’ characters, based on the model, for example, of [Sundance Channel’s] Iconoclasts,” which also airs on Cult.

WEBSITE: www.cult-tv.it

—By Kristin Brzoznowski