5 Questions with Paul Colichman, pres/CEO here! TV

Do you find it a tough time to launch a 24/7 gay/lesbian net with Viacom’s Logo and Q Television on the way? I don’t view it that way at all. We’ve already launched. Everyone else is potentially launching. We launched a year ago on DirecTV. We’re getting our brand out, and it’s been successful. We have SVOD and VOD running and PPV. We’re going to announce very shortly a 24-hr (pay) linear channel. How will you distinguish yourself? All of our content is appropriate for a premium service. Just as HBO is different from USA, we’re different from basic cable. Not having commercials gives us a great deal of creative latitude. If you were going to compare our programming, you could compare it to "Sex and the City" or "6 Feet Under." We’re dealing with a very discriminating niche … I can’t have a soap company telling me what’s appropriate to put on our network, and it’s not necessarily appropriate for a basic tier. What’s the strategy behind your programming plans, which include remakes of "Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde"? It’s never been made in a gay and lesbian context. Part of what we’re doing is taking the same programs that the straight community has had since childhood and reflecting gay and lesbian values. Gay and lesbians haven’t had a plethora of positive images in the media. We’re all about self-esteem. People ask if we’re doing reality shows. No. In general, reality shows are humiliating and our community has been humiliated enough. We have all of the genres done with strong gay and lesbian images in each of them. Most programming featuring gays and lesbians was designed to make the straight community comfortable with the gay community, not the gay community comfortable. How is SVOD/VOD going? It’s very early, but evidently it’s going really well. SVOD just rolled out 2 weeks ago with RCN. Some Time Warner systems have launched VOD. We’re finding that when the gay and lesbian community has something it really wants, it’s very effective in sub acquisitions. It was gracious of you to host a party in your mansion during CTAM Digital. Did you have to throw away your white rug after it? No, I’m looking at it right now. If it could talk, it would yell at me. CTAM was easy, though. The American Film Market people were tough-all those Europeans spilling drinks and smoking.