Michael Katz

TV Real Weekly, March 26, 2008

VP, Programming and Production

AETN International

While Michael Katz always knew that he wanted to work in the entertainment industry, he actually entered the television business by way of the theater. In 1978, he began his professional career working for a Broadway producer named Alexander Cohen, who was producing the Tony Awards broadcast and had also landed the rights to do a series for CBS on the Tony Awards’ 50th anniversary. “I started working on [the CBS series] and lo and behold, discovered that I knew a hell of a lot more about television than I did about theater even though I was supposed to be working in the theater,” jokes Katz.

From there, he transitioned to television, holding various positions, including one as executive producer on WABC’s morning talk show, now known as Live with Regis and Kelly, before joining A&E Network as a daytime programmer in 1989.

In the early days of A&E, Katz says that a backbone of the network’s programming strategy was establishing strong co-production alliances with factual producers outside of the U.S., particularly with European broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV in the U.K. In fact, one of the first “real-life” programs that A&E produced in 2004 was an adaptation of the British format Airline, from Granada International, for the U.S. market. “Right away, viewers said ‘yes, we like this, it’s right on for the channel brand,’” says Katz. Over time, the company developed other real-life offerings like Growing Up Gotti and the “staple” Gene Simmons Family Jewels, which is in its third season on A&E.

Katz notes that at the time, A&E was examining what kinds of programming worked with its audience and found that “the historical documentaries running on the channel had very loyal followings.” This, coupled with growing interest from cable companies eager to expand their offerings by adding new thematic channels, led Katz to assist in the launch of The History Channel in the U.S. in 1995.

“We started to train U.S. producers of factual programming—a lot of them were ex-news producers—to do popular television documentaries,” explains Katz. “And historical context was something that the viewers liked, so we took a look at the opportunity, and what we thought [our area of expertise was], and put it all together.”

Katz continues to leverage the global partnerships that he forged from his early days at A&E in his current position as VP of programming and production at AETN International, where he is charged with leading the international programming and production activities for the company, whose stable of networks now include The History Channel, A&E Network, Bio (formerly known as the Biography Channel), Crime & Investigation Network and The History Channel HD. He works with worldwide partners to provide creative direction for both existing and new channels. Katz also oversees the licensing and sales of AETN’s catalogue to international broadcasters.

The international distribution side of the business is an area that Katz has grown to enjoy. “You get a lot of pride not only in developing programming, but distributing it and seeing it appreciated in a lot of different places around the world. Nothing gives me more pleasure than to have a show like Ice Road Truckers from The History Channel [in the U.S.] run on The History Channel in the U.K. and have another run on Five [a terrestrial broadcaster in the U.K.] so that even more people get to see it. That kind of work is really very satisfying.”

AETN International continues its global expansion, successfully launching The History Channel and Crime & Investigation Network in Southeast Asia, with Bio also set to launch in Asia this year.

Katz says that AETN International will also be eyeing the rollout of The History Channel HD into additional markets overseas. The channel launched in the U.K. and is now available in the U.S., Scandinavia and the Benelux. “We were pretty early in commissioning a lot of HD content for our History Channel brand, which is allowing us to go with a History HD channel globally,” notes Katz.

On the programming front, Katz says that AETN will be working on some other factual genres, building on the success of the series Paranormal State, which is A&E Network’s number-one-rated original series of all time among the 25-to-54 set. The series follows the members of Penn State University’s Paranormal Research Society (PRS) as they seek to find the truth behind real-life mysteries, ghosts and hauntings. The series will be offered to international buyers at MIPTV.

New media is also on the agenda for this year as well. “On the digital media side, I think you’ll continue to see us very much at the front of that internationally, building [the] deployment of our content on mobile and broadband and VOD.”

—By Irene Lew