Strike Impact: Fox Channels Italy

ROME, January 31: The Fox
Entertainment channels in Italy make heavy use of American series, featuring
hits such as Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, House, CSI and Criminal Minds. And while the writers’ strike will affect these
channels’ schedules, their programmer has plenty of options to fill those
vacant time slots.

Paola Acquaviva, the
director of programming of the Fox Entertainment Channels, oversees FOX,
FoxLife, FoxCrime and FX. She acknowledges that much of these channels’ success
is due to American series. So much so that she and her management team decided
to invest in shrinking the time lag between the original air date of these
series in the U.S. and the airing of the dubbed versions in Italy.

“Dubbing usually requires
6 to 8 months, but we have shortened that period to two months between the
first run in the U.S. and our air dates,” says Acquaviva.

This is the first time the
Italian audience has viewed American series so closely behind the original airdate
in the U.S. and this has represented a huge step forward for the Fox channels
in terms of growth and impact on their audience, explains Acquaviva.

Because of this
programming strategy, the Fox channels will run out of new episodes in March.
But Acquaviva isn’t worried about finding replacements. “Given the strength of
our library we have numerous alternatives, including formats, reality shows and
TV movies.”

For full coverage of the writers strike click here.

—By Anna Carugati