Cablevision moves forward with spinoff of AMC Networks

Cablevision Systems Corp., the Long Island, N.Y.-based media company that owns cable TV systems and a raft of cable networks, said Thursday that it was on track to spin off its Rainbow Networks unit in mid-2011 and the soon-to-be created company will be named AMC Networks Inc.

Josh Sapan, the current head of Rainbow Media, will be president and chief executive of the publicly traded company.

In ditching its longtime Rainbow Media moniker, Cablevision is betting that the recent success of its marquee AMC channel, which boasts such prestigious dramas as the Emmy-winning "Mad Men," "Breaking Bad" and the zombie thriller "The Walking Dead," will have more cache on Wall Street.

The new AMC Networks entity will include the channels AMC, WE tv, IFC, Sundance Channel and AMC/Sundance Global, plus IFC Entertainment, an independent film business. 

"AMC has become one of the most established of those brands, recognized by consumers, advertisers and investors alike," Sapan said in a statement. "We want to capitalize on that strong brand awareness for what will be our new public company."

Sapan joined Rainbow in 1987 as president of Bravo (later acquired by NBC) and AMC. In the 1990s he helped launch IFC and WE tv. He became Rainbow's CEO in 1995. In 2008, the company acquired the Sundance Channel.

Cablevision said its spinoff of Rainbow would be a leveraged transaction and structured as a tax-free pro rata spinoff to Cablevision stockholders. Cablevision last year spun off its Madison Square Garden arena business.

-- Meg James

[For the record: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that Cablevision owns the sports teams New York Knicks and New York Rangers. In fact, Madison Square Garden owns the teams. Both Cablevision and MSG are controlled by the Dolan family].

Photo: Josh Sapan. Credit: Cablevision Systems Corp.

'Mad Men' audience grows, but Don Draper would be disappointed

About 2.9 million people tuned into to the premiere of season four of AMC's "Mad Men" on Sunday night to see Don Draper struggle to answer the question "Who is Don Draper?"

Although that number is a record for an episode of "Mad Men," it is an increase of only about 130,000 viewers from the Season 3 debut. Given the heavy hype for the show, that seems a little soft. However, "Mad Men" also picks up a lot of viewers who record the series and watch it later, so a clearer picture of its audience size won't emerge from Nielsen until later in the week. 

The numbers, while lesser than AMC might have hoped, are still strong enough to become fodder for negotiations between the cable network and Lions Gate, which produces the show. The current deal for "Mad Men" is up at the end of next season, but Lions Gate wants to wrap up an extension sooner rather than later, according to Variety.

One reason Lions Gate wants AMC to pony up big bucks for "Mad Men" now is that its own deal with creator Matt Weiner expires at the end of this season, per Variety. If that seems unusual, that's because it is unusual. Typically, a showrunner such as Weiner would be attached to the program for five seasons. However, it appears Weiner had a much shorter deal, which will give him a lot of leverage with Lions Gate.

As for who Don Draper is? Apparently he's someone who likes to be slapped around by escorts and knows how to sew a button.

-- Joe Flint

Photo: "Mad Men" stars Jon Hamm as advertising ace Don Draper. Credit: AMC

Matt Weiner is no Don Draper

If Don Draper were Matt Weiner's boss, he'd can him on the spot.

"It's about selling, kid," we can hear the cool creative director lecturing the self-important, idealistic writer, grinding his cigarette in the ashtray, exasperated at the obviousness of the wisdom he was trying to impart. "And selling puts the vegetables on the table. You don't like to eat?"

That's how we imagine it.

In fact, Weiner, the creative force behind AMC's "Mad Men," which follows the lives of ad man Don Draper and his cronies at Sterling Cooper in the Swinging Sixties, won a battle this week with the cable network over the amount of commercials in the program. AMC wanted to shoehorn two more minutes of commercial time to the show, which would have meant cutting some of the dramatic narrative from each episode.

Although that sounds bad (who wants more commercials?), keep in mind that "Mad Men" has fewer commercials than just about any other hour-long show on TV. The show usually runs 12 minutes of commercials and promos, compared with the 14 to 16 minutes on other cable shows and 18 minutes on broadcast shows. In other words, Weiner has it pretty good at AMC.

Weiner didn't see it that way. A very hands-on creator, he fought back and got AMC to instead let the show run longer than an hour with the additional commercials so that he wouldn't have to trim dialogue and scenes from the show. Of course, AMC and cable operators will have to find a way to insure that the show's post-11 p.m. end time doesn't screw with our TiVos and DVRs. Often when a show runs over, the very end is cut off by the recording devices (at least this is our experience).

Fans of the show are no doubt cheering Weiner on and we get that. But AMC wasn't being greedy when it wanted to insert a few more commercials spots to the show. Critical raves and awards do not automatically translate into viewers and dollars. In its second season, "Mad Men" averaged 1.5 million viewers, a great number for AMC, but paltry compared with other dramas on cable such as TNT's "The Closer," which drew more than 7 million viewers in its premiere last week.

In terms of ad revenue, our Madison Avenue source tells us a 30-second spot on "Mad Men" can go as low as $10,000, while a show like USA's "Burn Notice" gets $21,000. In other words, "Mad Men," a show about advertising, doesn't generate a lot of ad dollars for AMC. In fact, it's a loss leader (we can almost see on Roger Sterling's face a look of disgust bordering on revulsion upon hearing the words "loss leader").

And the show has become even more costly since it premiered a few years ago. Lions Gate, which makes "Mad Men" for AMC, signed a two-year deal with Weiner (after an ugly negotiation that had the studio thinking it might have to find a new show runner) worth $9 million, according to Variety's Cynthia Littleton. Some of those costs were passed on to AMC in the form of a higher license fee.

It's real easy to beat up on the network anytime there's an issue with a creator, but in our humble opinion Weiner should stick to creating and let the Don Drapers of the world do their part to make sure the show does indeed go on. Got it, kid?

-- Joe Flint

Top photo: Jon Hamm as "Mad Men's" Donald Draper. Credit: Associated Press 

Bottom photo: "Mad Men" creator Matt Weiner. Credit: Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times