Q&A: 3net’s Tom Cosgrove

April 26, 2012 World Screen
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PREMIUM: Tom Cosgrove, the president and CEO of 3net, tells World Screen about how the channel is positioning itself as the leader in 3D TV with its slate of original content.

 

Launched in the U.S. a little over a year ago by Discovery Communications, Sony and IMAX, 3net is aiming to set the bar globally when it comes to native 3D television content. Cosgrove recently spoke to World Screen about the channel’s programming mandate and about its approach to commissions, co-productions and acquisitions.
 
WS: What does 3net want to offer its viewers?
COSGROVE: We’re looking to be the leader in 3D. What we’re striving for [is to find] things where we can really tell a story, bring an audience closer than they’ve been before, use the creative tool that is 3D to create a more immersive experience in whatever we do. We’re a 3D programmer at the end of the day and we want to entertain our viewers, so we have to tell really good stories, just like everyone else. The difference is that we have the opportunity to use another tool in the arsenal to bring that audience closer.
 
WS: Are you tapping into the content libraries of your parent companies, Discovery, IMAX and Sony?
COSGROVE: For the most part, what we do is original content that we’ve created. IMAX is a partner and they have contributed some of their films to the channel. We’ve also acquired some movies from Sony—things like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Open Season. Everything else we’re going out and creating. We’ve done some things with our partners, for instance we just premiered River Monsters in 3D, that was a simulcast with Animal Planet. So we’re finding those opportunities to capitalize on known brands with our venture partners. [Primarily] we’re commissioning content and functioning as a 3D studio meets linear channel.
 
WS: Are you finding that producers are comfortable with 3D for TV, or is there a steep learning curve?
COSGROVE: There’s a big interest in producing in 3D. When we started over a year ago, there clearly wasn’t a lot of experience producing television in 3D. We did a lot of legwork with everyone we worked with, and Sony and Discovery and IMAX have been great in helping us to train the industry. Sony has been doing 3D classes, working with DPs and directors and production companies on what you need to know to produce good 3D. We also put out a 60-page manual. With every production I’d say the first time and the first episode with someone who hasn’t done it before, there’s a big learning curve. Usually by the second series or a few episodes in they’ve really started to figure it out and know what tools they have at their disposal and the things they have pay particular attention to. There’s a fairly steep learning curve at first, but it’s not a long learning curve. For the most part people figure it out and then tend to have a lot of fun working with the new medium.
 
WS: What are your broad goals for the channel in the next year?
COSGROVE: It’s all about growing as the market grows. We’re continuing to be very optimistic about where things are going with 3D. We’re seeing a lot of activity on the [consumer-electronics] side. Most projections are saying that by the end of the year in the United States, a quarter of all TVs sold will be 3D capable. The base is being laid now and penetration levels are starting to get to a point where it’s going to be fairly significant by the end of this year and as we move into 2013. So we’re riding that wave. We’re seeing growth in mobile, laptops, tablets, gaming devices, etc. Those are all areas that we’ve already played in and will continue to as the market expands. The same is true internationally. We’re seeing a lot of activity outside the U.S. Wherever 3D is and is growing, we will be there as both a studio as well as a television brand.
 
WS: How much are you working with and buying from the international market?
COSGROVE: If I look down our list of producers, it’s probably as much outside the U.S. as it is inside the U.S. We’re definitely tapping the world market, both in terms of commissioning content as well as co-productions. We have also acquired programming, although, as you can imagine, because this is a new medium in television, there isn’t a tremendous amount of content to acquire. We have to date the largest native library of content made for television in 3D. We are the most prolific producer out there. But we have acquired a couple of kids’ series, a couple of large format films and then did the necessary adjustments to bring them to the small screen. So we’re open to pretty much every business model. We’ve done commissions, co-pros, acquisitions, and combinations of those kinds of deals in a variety of different territories, so we’re absolutely willing to look at a variety of business models.
 
WS: What kinds of shows are you looking to commission or acquire?
COSGROVE: We’re looking for folks who are really passionate about getting into this medium, who really want to push themselves. We’re not looking for things that are just 3D tricks. We’re looking for people who want to use the medium to help tell a story. Icon did that really well with River Monsters. They took a series that has a lot of natural intensity, they do a great job of immersing the audience already, and they took that to another level with the 3D. We’re looking for folks who have that kind of passion. Who want to tell a great story first and foremost. We’re primarily in the nonfiction space but we have also ventured into other categories as well. Our audience tends to be those who are early adopters, a little more male than female, a little younger. Certainly with so many 3D films in theaters recently being targeted to kids, we also generally want to be family accessible. That’s the area we’re looking for. It’s about having a passion for using the creative tool that 3D is.
 
WS: How are you monetizing your original content on the global market?
COSGROVE: We partner with Discovery and Sony internationally. We have content relationships with them. They distribute our content through their distribution teams. We also distribute content ourselves. It’s a combination. And then we’ve also done various deals throughout the world, with broadcasters and non-linear third parties. Short form, long form, a variety of different formats. A big part of that business model is really having that global library and then finding ways to monetize it.