Yahoo News Why Aren’t FX Shows on FX? Basic Cable Is Dying, But Here’s a Fix for Its Branding Conundrum to Inject Some Personality in These Waning Days
My colleague Emily Longeretta had a Variety scoop recently that was such a perfect sign of the times. As she reported, FX’s Emmy-winning series “The Bear” — about to premiere its third season at the end of June — finally had its premiere on FX at the start of the month, via a four-night marathon of Season 1 episodes.
“Hit FX Series to Finally Premiere on FX,” we joked should be the headline. If you’re not in the industry — or even if you are, but don’t pay attention to the branding stuff that us Reporters Who Cover The Entertainment Business are obsessed over — you might be scratching your head.
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Hasn’t “The Bear” always been on FX? Well, yes and no. In recent years, the lion’s share of new FX series haven’t actually made it to the FX linear channel. It’s all on Hulu, where all FX-branded series now live. It’s why a few years ago FX adopted the “FX on Hulu” brand for its exclusive Hulu fare (although it then, quickly abandoned it, lest things get more complicated).
FX isn’t the only cable channel that suddenly isn’t airing its own shows anymore. A good chunk of MTV-branded series don’t actually run (or are rarely seen) on MTV, where wall-to-wall “Ridiculousness” still dominates. In premium TV, Showtime fare is now found inside the “Paramount+ With Showtime” banner. As the linear cable world fades away, the congloms are aiming to keep those brands alive by turning them into labels on their streaming services.
That’s how FX considers itself more of a brand in the vein of Marvel and Lucasfilm — developing, producing and marketing its own content but relying mostly now on the distribution of Hulu instead of the linear outlet that happens to also bear its name.
That just adds to the confusion. In their press release, FX clumsily refers to the premiere of “The Bear” on their channel as a premiere for “FX linear.” Do we honestly think there’s a single consumer out there who refers to that channel as “FX linear”? Or understands what this even means?
I have a simple solution. This isn’t going to save basic cable, which is being usurped by FAST channels as we speak. But at least, let’s make cable a unique destination again — by leaning into the idea of what “cable” once was: Scrappy and unpredictable. If Disney insists on keeping FX linear going (and it should, let’s not forget, cable and its dual revenue streams is still a good business!), they should call it “FX Cable.” It would signify that this is the experimental, edgy, unique spot to watch TV — and just as importantly, resolve the branding confusion between FX linear and FX shows on streaming.
Embrace the term “cable” the way music fans now love the retro appeal of “vinyl.” And other channels attempting to move its brand to streaming should do the same. (MTV Cable! Bravo Cable!) In the early days of cable TV, outlets like “CBS Cable” had “cable” in its name as a way to differentiate itself. From a branding perspective, it’s the chance to remind viewers that cable is still here, and doing things unique to linear.
Not only does it help the consumer — which now can immediately understand what FX offers on cable vs. on streaming — but it gives FX an opportunity to lean into something slightly different, for that linear audience. TBS’ recent decision to bring back its “Dinner and a Movie” franchise is exactly the kind of thing cable should be doing to create a lane for itself.
But it’s not enough. I’ve got more ideas to make sure these linear cable networks develop a bit of a cult following. Let’s inject a bit of life into these channels by bringing back VJs — not just for music videos, but live hosts to keep people tuned in and enthused for what’s on the air. Look at what MeTV does with its horror host Svengoolie and what TCM has always done with its movie hosts. Why shouldn’t FX Cable have friendly faces coming on and talking about “The Bear” or its movie packages, maybe playing some games or doing something else to get audiences enthused enough to make linear a part of their TV diet again? Anyone else out there remember USA Network’s “Commander USA”?
We live in lonely times post-pandemic, and there’s a portion of viewers that would relish having “friends” on their TV screen. (I know, this is how FX began in 1994, and obviously the “TV Made Fresh Daily” idea didn’t work, but something a bit more scaled-down and used as interstitials between FX’s movie lineup would inject more personality.)
That’s just the start. “Dinner and a Movie” reminds me of how much those independent, low-budget UHF TV stations were in the 70s and 80s. Do more of that. And why aren’t there more programming events out there inspired by “Shark Week” on other networks?
The truth of the matter is, these linear channels are just going to continue to fade. But we can at least prolong some of it. TNT losing the bulk of its NBA deal is devastating for that network — but notice, people are especially alarmed about the potential end of “Inside the NBA,” because it’s such joy to watch Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal riffing on set. Cable networks, learn from this and find a way to inject a bit more life into your fare. Let’s make “cable” fun again.
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