SPTI’s Ross Hair

October 2006

By Anna Carugati

After gaining extensive
experience managing channels for ESPN, BSkyB and Nickelodeon, Ross Hair joined
Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) in 2001. Today, as the senior VP
of international networks in Europe, Hair’s main responsibility is establishing
AXN and Sony Entertainment Television channels across the region.

TV EUROPE: What
has contributed to the fast rollout of AXN in so many European countries?

HAIR: AXN has
come a long way in a short space of time. That really reflects the combination
of acquisitions that we’ve made for the channel, and the strong promotional and
marketing efforts that our teams here in London and in L.A. have managed to put
together. As a brand, AXN is very appealing and connects with audiences.

We got into the channels
game fairly late. Our first networks launched in the mid ’90s, nearly 20 years
after the likes of Viacom and Fox and Disney started their services. It’s been
great to see these brands take root.

TV EUROPE: Have
there been any advantages to launching channels after the competition?

HAIR: Early on,
a lot of international content operators assumed that whatever worked in their
home market would work internationally. For a good number of years, operators
would put up a channel, using a similar schedule and air programs at the same
time as the channel in their domestic market.

We had the opportunity to
work far more independently market by market. We started in Asia—not in
the U.S.—to grow these services. And we brought in executives who
understood what local nuances worked. And who bought quality entertainment but
also looked to see how it would connect best with the viewers in their markets.
[We were keen on] connecting with viewers not just in terms of the programming
but also in the way we market and communicate the brand messages of AXN.

We initially had the brand
as more of a straight action-adventure service. It’s grown out of its action
roots to being a much broader high-energy, general-entertainment service. It
covers not just action but also strong reality and movies as well.

TV EUROPE: How does the service differ country by country?

HAIR: They
share interstitials, but if you view the services side by side, we actually
have very different programming in each of the markets. Our lead programming in
Spain and Portugal is CSI and ER, and The West Wing and Without
a Trace are also very popular. If
you look at Central Europe, our lead show is Lost, which is now in its second season, and we have it
exclusively on AXN prior to a free-to-air window. That works the same way for CSI in Spain. In Italy, our youngest service, we
started getting traction with The Closer [and we also air] Mutant X on the sci-fi side, and The Contender.

TV EUROPE: How is AXN doing in Central Europe?

HAIR: The
AXN Central Europe service, which launched across seven markets in October
2003, has achieved over five million subscribers—with particularly strong
pickup in Poland and Romania. In Poland, which is a very exciting market given
the number of households there—it’s the third-biggest TV market in Europe—we
have jumped to the premier position in the ratings with series like Lost and CSI: NY and Star Trek: Enterprise.

In Central Europe, we have
a very exciting project, which is The Amazing Race. We bought the format rights from BVITV. Our Asian
services did their own version of the show. Our European version will air in
seven markets across Central Europe.

In Central Europe we
launched two sub-brands of AXN on digital, AXN Crime and AXN Sci Fi, which
takes the relevant sci-fi programming from the AXN master brand and repurposes
it with a new graphics package, new acquisitions, and hopefully in the future,
new productions in the sci-fi genre.

TV EUROPE: And
what about the Sony Entertainment Television (SET) channel?

HAIR: We
started with a content deal on digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Spain.
It’s in partnership with the license holder for the DTT slot, Veo TV, so the
channel is SET en Veo. This is the first of many SET channels in Europe. We
have SET in India and across Latin America, but it’s a new brand for Europe. Of
course, if you put the Sony name on a TV brand, with great programming, great
product, great talent on the air, you ought to see as wide a viewership as
possible. We are moving to make sure we place this channel in the right way in
the more mature European markets, so we hope this rollout on DTT in Spain will
be replicated across a wider region.