Chapter 3: Understanding the TV Landscape
At the end of each chapter of Greenlit you’ll find a list of useful exercises, links and useful resources. Here are some of them:
Broadcast – a weekly magazine devoted to the UK TV industry, including commissions, premieres and interviews with top industry players. Broadcast has a free daily email newsletter with the headlines, but you need to subscribe if you want online access to the full articles.
BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) - provides daily audience viewing figures (overnights) for UK TV programmes.
CableU – part of a development/distribution/representation company, CableU is an excellent subscription based website that analyzes US network performance, covers commissions and cancellations and offers detailed network profiles, including current briefs and pitching tips. Full access is currently $850 per annum but you can sign up to the very useful CableU blog for free, which has industry insights and interviews with producers and channel executives.
C21 – news and features about the TV industry. Various free newsletters can be delivered to your inbox; some articles can be read online, for other others you need a paid subscription.
Cynopsis – a daily email newsletter with new commissions, programmes in development, hirings and firings across the US TV industry. There is a separate newsletter for digital news.
Hollywood Reporter - daily and weekly entertainment industry magazine with a TV section. There are a number of daily email newsletters.
Nielsen - provides audience viewing figures for US TV shows.
Realscreen – an international magazine devoted to nonfiction programming. Sign up for the free email newsletter which is delivered Monday, Wednesday and Friday each week.
Variety - weekly magazine focusing on the US entertainment business but with an international readership. There is a free daily email newsletter with all the headlines but you need to subscribe to get full access to online content. Currently, nonsubscribers can access five pages on online content per month.
The Wit – another subscription only site that gives you access to factual and format programming commissioning and development news from around the world. You can also follow them on Facebook.