Banse Fever: A Czar Is Born-Not!

Comcast may merge ad sales and affiliate sales for its cable networks, but the MSO is not looking for a programming top dog, evp of programming investments Amy Banse said at the MSO’s media day Wed. "I don’t know where all this press is coming from about a programming/content czar" because that’s no longer in the cards. She also said Comcast is planning to offer OLN and The Golf Channel as full-time HD services "within a year" and interactive games from G4TechTV (a la GSN’s 1-screen ITV trial with Time Warner in Hawaii) are in development. She declined to discuss what she called "the leak" about the new kids network/VOD play from PBS/Sesame Workshop/HIT, but reiterated Comcast will develop VOD concepts and then work with programmers and consumer groups accordingly. Comcast Spotlight also will help the programming investments group find potential advertisers or brands to underwrite the costs of producing some of these virtual on demand channels, she added, just as it’s already exploring on the long-form VOD ad front with Spotlight on Demand. — Pitch Count: In an interview for CableWORLD’s June 21 cover story, Banse discussed developing and launching virtual VOD channels. "I’ve got a list that’s about 20 concepts long, but I’m not sure I want to list them because that’s all we’ll get pitched. Because we know what our technology is capable of, we’ve started to take it on ourselves to develop the concepts that we’re most interested in, instead of relying on pitches from the outside world. So I want to take my list of concepts and start exploring them internally." That job now falls to newcomer Matt Strauss, who appears to have plenty to keep him busy. — Shirley Brady