Telemundo’s Browne Shares Thoughts on Global Programming Market

NEW YORK: Don Browne, the president of Telemundo, joined Annie Wegelius, the director of programs at Sweden’s Sveriges Television (SVT), and Joe Calabrese, the chair for entertainment, media and sports practice at O’Melveny & Myers, as a panelist at The Paley Center for Media’s International Conference session "In Search of a Global Audience," moderated by Anna Carugati, group editorial director at World Screen.

Carugati kicked off the conversation by discussing the importance of the international market, noting how Telemundo had restructured its business model to incorporate viewers outside the U.S. Hispanic arena, becoming a content company. "I come from a content background," said Browne, "and I believe that content was king yesterday, is king today and will always be king." He called content "the currency of the future," and credited Telemundo’s financing from NBC and GE as helping to turn the company toward content creation. In doing so, Browne explained, the output for the U.S. market was "evolved and edgy," creating revenue sources that allowed Telemundo to become an international player. "Our content, although it’s produced for U.S. Hispanics, travels extremely well around the world and has become an enormous source of revenue for us."

After hearing from Browne, who has content to sell, Carugati opened the floor to Wegelius, who as a content buyer is part of the unique Swedish landscape. "If you look at Sweden, which many people claim as the most progressive country in the world…,we have [one of] the highest digital take-ups per capita," said Wegelius. While on-demand services are flourishing in Sweden, "we have never seen a better market for traditional TV. Last week we had an all-time high with minutes watched in the country," noted Wegelius. "The commercial broadcasters have never made as much money as they are right now. The production companies have never had as many commissions as right now." She added that from her perspective "it is not a buyers’ market," since the explosion of digital channels has led the U.S. studios to strike output deals with the buying groups from larger commercial channels, leaving only "the crumbs" behind. Later in the session, Wegelius discussed the upsides and downside to output deals, noting, "there’s always a risk of striking international deals with programmers who then go into a creative slump." Fortunately for SVT, its output deal with HBO has provided shows that "don’t necessarily rate, but gives us profile."

Calabrese addressed the collapse of what has long been the traditional TV revenue chain, which started with a U.S. sale, leading to international sales, leading to a syndication deal. "There are a lot of clients and former clients of mine who have very nice houses in Bel-Air based on that model," he quipped. "With some exceptions…, syndication rules have really changed the landscape here. Television producers don’t often get to keep the rights. So how do they do it now?" He continued: "Right now, making shows for prime time it’s all being done at the studios or by the networks and the model is quite different. But there’s no rule for it. There’s just content." He went on to say that "live events are really where the business still is," adding "you’ll always get eyeballs on the screen for a live event."