How much is a one hour HD program worth?

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falcon418

Active member
I realize that I'm asking a question with a very wide range of possible answers but I would appreciate it if anyone with experience could ballpark it for me.

Question: How much is a complete one hour HD program worth to a national cable channel?

Obviously the answer is going to be dependent upon content etc. etc, but there must a range of high to low that would be reasonably accurate.

I don't think I can call up the networks and get that kind of an answer from them, so hopefully someone here will have some information.

Anyone's input very much appreciated.
 
There is no answer that you want to hear. An hour of CSI: Miami might be worth $10,000,000 to them. An hour of a Ronco infomercial? They won't pay a penny for that, you have to pay them. An hour of Judge Judy? When it started out, they probably had to barter time (meaning, the best the producers could get was free airtime, but not a penny of compensation) until it built a following; now that it has a national following they can probably command a pretty penny for each hour.

If you're interested in trying to sell to television, you should spend some time at www.natpe.org and consider attending the convention.
 
Barry, thanks for the response, but I still think there is an answer to this question.

I probably could have done a better job of phrasing it, so let me try this.

Let's assume that the completed piece is well done, is relevant time-wise, fits their demographic and they want it.

For that, there must be a range of figures that production companies are receiving.

Yes, I can go to an agent and get some sort of guess, but I'd rather try and find out from actual producers what their experience has been.
 
It still all depends on the network you are selling it to.

Discovery pays differently that NatGeo. They also have different scales depending on whether it was co-produced or bought out right.

It depends on a wide range of things.
 
Air time is a commodity. Corn is a commodity.
It's far easier to calculate the value of corn than it is to calculate the value of cable air time.
The value corn doesn't doesn't depend on TV ratings.
The value corn doesn't doesn't depend on time slots.
The value corn doesn't doesn't depend on licensing music or talent.
The value corn doesn't doesn't depend on format (4:4:4 vs 4:2:2 vs 4:2:0)
The value corn doesn't doesn't depend on subjective assessment of quality.
The value corn doesn't doesn't depend on numerous middle men (agents, lawyers and other assorted scallywags).

I'd rather try and find out from actual producers what their experience has been.
Click to expand...
This is like asking a deer hunter where to find the best fishing spot.
The only way you would get relevant advice would be if someone did a show similar to yours and sold it to the same network that you're pursuing. Again, far too many variables in the equation.

Note - Corn is at $6 a bushel.
 
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falcon418 said:
Let's assume that the completed piece is well done, is relevant time-wise, fits their demographic and they want it.

For that, there must be a range of figures that production companies are receiving.
Click to expand...
As others have said, it doesn't work that way. It could be a million dollars, it could be free.

I guess the only answer to your question is: how BADLY do they want it?

See what I mean? You're playing with the spec market, and spec = "on speculation" and the vast majority of times spec projects go nowhere.

Now, turn the thing on its head -- go propose the show to them. Don't try to shoot it yourself on your own dime; instead come up with a package and pitch it to them for production. Now you'll be more in the ballpark and might actually see some money. And for projects like that, the vaguest ballpark figures that get quoted anywhere usually range from $1,000 to $2,000 per finished minute. Well, at least, that's what we used to quote in SD days; maybe you could amp that up a bit for HD, maybe not. But if you think that authorizes you to go spend $5,000 to make a program and that you're going to sell it for $120,000 -- that's fantasyland. The only rational way to approach it is that if you're making a program on spec, you're speculating -- and the odds are very high that nothing will come of it.

The answers you seek are going to come from NATPE. That's where people go to pitch projects and sell spec projects.
 
it all depends on the deal made. You can buy air time and sell your own sponsorships, making the sky the limit, otr you can let the network to do the legwork on selling and negotiate a flat deal with them.
If it helps, I like to make about 30k per on hour show.
I have made less in the name of publicity and more in the name of pleasing whomever. For a one man band, this is a good round nymber for a weekly episode.
This surely depends on budget tho and that depends much on content, elements, flavor and time.
There is not a one size fits all answer to this one. It's all in the negotiation.
 
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