Spike TV

World Screen Weekly, March 6, 2008

COUNTRY: U.S.

LAUNCH DATE: August 2003

OWNERSHIP: MTV Networks, a division of Viacom

DISTRIBUTION: 96.1 million homes via cable and satellite platforms across the U.S.

DESCRIPTION: The network, which turns five this year, has positioned itself as an entertainment brand for men, featuring a mix of acquired series and movies as well as scripted and unscripted original productions.

PRESIDENT: Kevin Kay

SENIOR VP, PROGRAMMING: Robert Friedman

SENIOR VP, DIGITAL MEDIA: Jon Slusser

SENIOR VP, ALTERNATIVE SERIES: Sharon Levy

SENIOR VP, SPORTS & SPECIALS: Brian Diamond

VP, SCRIPTED DEVELOPMENT: Bill McGoldrick

SENIOR VP, BRAND MARKETING & CREATIVE: Niels Schuurmans

SENIOR VP, TALENT DEVELOPMENT & EVENT PRODUCTION: Casey Patterson

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: Kevin Kay, the president of Spike TV, describes the male-targeted brand as the “yin to ESPN’s yang. There’s not a lot of entertainment choices for men out there right now. Broadcast is mostly geared toward women. There’s a lot of cable channels geared toward women. So when you look at what is specifically targeted at men, it’s ESPN, and they are really pure sports. We think of ourselves as the entertainment alternative.”

Compelling original content has become a priority for the MTV Networks-owned cable network, and the biggest success on that front to date has been programming around the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Spike recently extended its deal with UFC, maintaining it as the basic-cable home of the mixed martial arts brand through 2011. As part of the agreement, Spike is up for more seasons of the hit reality series The Ultimate Fighter. “Ultimate Fighting changed Spike,” Kay says. “It’s helped us to build a tremendous franchise.”

Other successful original productions include Pros vs Joes and MANswers, which Kay describes as an “edgy trivia show for guys. It’s a little irreverent, a little sexy, talking about those topics that guys like.”

An upcoming original series that Kay is particularly excited about is DEA, which was brought to the network by Al Roker. The six-part series, launching in April, takes an in-depth look at the Drug Enforcement Agency. Over the course of filming, Kay says that “550 pounds of pot and 1.5 kilos of coke and 8,000 ecstasy pills and 35 guns [were taken] off the street,” adding, “and over 90 percent of the drug dealers busted on the show actually signed releases to be on the show.”

On the scripted front, Spike fared well last year with the Lionsgate-produced eight-episode series The Kill Point. “I think it raised the bar and showed you could do something serious and high quality [on Spike] and get the audience.” Kay says that the channel is now shooting a pilot for a new original drama called Secret Investigation Squad.

The biggest acquisition for the network has been CSI, which airs in prime time every night. Spike also recently acquired Unsolved Mysteries, but Kay notes that the show needs some tweaking to work for Spike viewers. “It has a lot of great action and stories that men would like about things that blow up and crime and stuff like that. It also has some touchy feely stories that we felt would be less likely to be watched by Spike viewers. We’re going to repackage those and give you the guy point of view. Dennis Farina is going to host—we think he’s a great choice as a Spike guy.”

Spike also acquires blockbuster movies, recently scoring all six titles in the Star Wars franchise, including the U.S. network premiere of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. This follows Spike’s success with the James Bond franchise. Those “are good examples of how you can get into the quarterly tent-pole movie business,” Kay says. “That’s a business we need to be in.”

The bulk of Spike’s acquisitions come from the U.S., but one of its biggest hits has been Most Extreme Elimination Challenge (MXC), featuring footage from the Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle. “There’s probably more Japanese content to come,” Kay says. “There’s a few we have our eye on.”

WHAT’S NEW: At the beginning of this year, the SpikeTV.com website merged with the MTV Networks-owned digital brand iFilm.com to create Spike.com. Kay says the move was a logical one, given iFilm’s large male user base. The site now features a host of video clips, as well as digital content related to Spike TV programming. Kay says that the web destination allows the channel to reach a broader demographic. “We tend as a channel to be older skewing, because we have so much CSI, so the opportunity on Spike.com is to really go after those younger guys, the 18-to-24, 18-to-34-year olds.”

Upgrading the website again is a priority for Spike this year, as is continuing with its now signature tent-pole special events: Spike Guy’s Choice Awards, the Scream Awards and the Video Game Awards.

WEBSITE: www.spike.com

—By Mansha Daswani