Cable Television: Enjoying Its Time in the Sun

It's been a spectacular summer season for cable televsion, the New York Times is reporting today. While cable has always done well this time of year when the broadcast networks are "largely on vacation," cable is now finding significant success with their original shows, "mainly hour long dramas like The Closer and Saving Grace on TNT; Army Wives on Lifetime; Burn Notice on USA; Damages on FX, and Mad Men on the most unlikely channel, AMC." What seems surprising is that these hit shows are coming from basic cable outlets and not premium cable channels like HBO, and this possible trend has some cable execs ready to evoke Malcolm Gladwell. From the NYT:

"We're at the tipping point," said Steve Koonin, president of Turner Entertainment, which has the season's most-watched dramas in "The Closer" and "Saving Grace."

"It's our belief that we and the other basic cable networks can begin matching the broadcast networks series for series," he added. "It's only a matter of time before we have as many big hits as they do."

Obviously the definition of a hit remains different for cable. "The Closer," now in its third season, drew 8.8 million viewers for its season premiere, a number that any network would lust after in the summer -- and find more than acceptable any time of year.

But big network hits still attract double or even triple that audience. Broadcasters have also had a notably weak season, as their cost-savings strategy of filling hours with reality series has been mostly a bust. No network reality series has broken out, as many have in recent summers.

Still, the basic cable channels are getting noticed. Steve McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, said last month that given the performance of the cable dramas, he would begin to consider doing more scripted shows in the summer.