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EXCLUSIVE: Ovation laid off employees in its Santa Monica office Friday, a month after Time Warner dumped the arts channel from its lineup citing poor ratings and a less-than-compelling programming slate. Reps would not confirm the size of today’s staff cuts but sources say layoffs hit 20-25 employees — almost a fourth of its 95-person corps. Chief Creative Officer Robert Weiss confirms to Deadline that the layoffs are the first wave of a company-wide reorganization that will affect its LA, Chicago, and New York offices as Ovation whittles its resources in order to relaunch stronger programming initiatives in 2013 and 2014, a must if the six-year-old cable arts outpost is going to survive the Time Warner blow-off.
Ovation’s 2012 slate was light on original programming (A Chance To Dance, Motor City Rising) but Weiss says that razing the ground will allow Ovation to strategically rebuild its ranks, with promotions and key senior hires to come. The cable TV vet has been on the job for just two months now, but is eyeing the arts programming void left behind by Bravo and A&E and plans to bump the network’s slate to feature marquee US premiere acquisitions and three to four original international co-productions later this year.
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And while this is a painful experience for those staffers involved, it is proof that bundling channels by sat/cable providers still does not deliver enough viewers to make the channel sustainable (or even relevant). The argument for so-called “a la carte” offerings gets stronger each time a low-viewership channel goes away.
For instance, of the 600 or so channels I have available to me on DirecTV, maybe 20% of these are either PPV or radio programming (music only, no video). There are other channels I simply have no interest in and never watch, yet am required to pay for them anyway.
No doubt, some will argue that bundling is the only way some quality programming will ever be seen. However, we may be reaching the limit of the reasonable or realistic channel choices. I never watched Ovation and would be hard-pressed to even tell you their number in my guide lineup. That doesn’t mean Ovation needs to go away. It just means that if I want to watch it, I should pay for it, a la carte.
One only needs to look at the CEO of this organization. He is weak, weak, weak and not to mention, a blowhard (no, not Weiss – he’s the real deal). If you’re going to run a serious network, put someone in charge that knows what the fuck they are doing, not some schmuck who thinks he’s a cop in his off-time. And let’s look at the board of this organization – just as much to blame for hiring someone who is this delusional (Chuck Barris style) and full of BS.
This sounds like the ramblings of the bitter and disgruntled. Best to look in the mirror before hurling vindictive insults possessing a mere modicum of truth.
I feel bad for the staff members losing their jobs over this but this is truly a poorly-run network like OWN is right now and the content on this network is absolute drivel for lack of a better term. No organization whatsoever and the choices they offer makes one want to go to sleep. Replace the CEO and the programming and rebrand the network into something different and maybe they go on that route.
I can comment on the level of management or the choices and actions made by the CEO, but as far as content, I felt much of what they offered was very essential quality work. It was refreshing to see a level of arts, humanities, and culture on television beyond PBS. As much as I will enjoy the Superbowl tomorrow, it’s just as, if not more important to offer an alternative in the marketplace. And it would’ve been very nice to see what could’ve been offered in terms of original programming in the future. At least through my time warner provider.
I wish Comcast would get rid of Ovation as well. We all know Ovation isn’t the only cable channel that no one wants to watch. There is plenty of other cable channels that need to go away.
These people were lucky. They got the first lifeboats off the Titanic.
Ovation needs to go Hi Def. That is where TV is now.
They do have a HD channel
To mirror what others have written–sad that people lost their jobs, but their management had a take it or leave it attitude for many customary deal points when acquiring product. To a certain extent reasonable since if your program was going to be acquired by Ovation, it meant that it was a pass by EVERYONE else in the domestic cable universe. Doing business with them was not a pleasant experience.
Why do these network NOT stop hiring the same people? Ivy-leaguers, relatives, celebrity spin-offs and rich connectants. I went to film school with some wonderful people who were smart, full of passion, made great short films, there was a LITTLE bit of diversity and fresh ideas. Yet NO ONE works in the industry except for the few very wealthy connected ones and the ones who had famous parents. Everyone else has a ‘job’. Why are the networks not recruiting from Film Schools? Why are the big firms/agencies NOT attending real independent film festivals discovering talent and films? WHY? It all remains the same and stale.
I was one of the senior producers on one of last years original productions on Ovation. They were a complete nightmare to work with. Ther Network notes we received were embarrassing for them as professionals. I’m not suprised Ovation is being compared to the Titanic. It’s being run by idiots who know nothing about television.
dont blame ovation. maybe it was the horrible show you did for them? not a round of notes
Hiring more ‘film school’ people for a network is maybe the only thing more ignorant I’ve read in awhile other than the execs at Ovation knowing what the Hell they are/were doing there. Although key figures sometimes come from backgrounds that help them get there, the majority of even high level execs are there because they put themselves there. And film school may help the content creators but most people in these roles are 3rd party contracted employees at prodco’s. You don’t learn business finance, distribution, programming, network marketing, Research, Production Management, Affiliate relations, acquisitions, etc, etc, etc in film school no matter how much you want your degree to matter. Film school backgrounds alone don’t help in these areas, it’s what you do after you realize those 4 years of lighting and staging doesn’t give insight to running a proper business.
- Signed a film school graduate
What I would like to see is unbundling of the sports services. I did watch Ovation and find it unconscionable that I lost this choice, which was probably costing me 5 cents a month, while I’m being forced to pay, what, $25?, $50? a month for sports services that I have absolutely no interest in.
Ovation will most likely be off the air in a few months. They probably axed staffers before filing for bankruptcy after being dumped by Time Warner. If it was a real arts network they might have gotten some viewers but it seems like a weak imitation of PBS with poorly produced, mostly unwatchable “arts” programs, some old movies and tons of commercials. Not sure anyone would miss this station or care if it went away, there are so many better options for higher quality arts documentaries and original programming elsewhere on the dial… Cinemoi, Showtime, PBS, Sundance etc.