FX at TCA

FX chief John Landgraf lauded the net’s integration into Hulu in March as a “transformative opportunity for our brands”—especially after 2019 produced 532 scripted shows (a 7% increase over 2018) with a pace that “is likely to increase perhaps substantially this year, which to me is just bananas.”

Interestingly, he said FX will serve as a branded “hub” within Hulu rather than integrate seamlessly into the streaming service, meaning that the branding will remain intact. When one critic suggested FX’s presence on Hulu might give traditional distributors an argument to lower carriage fees, Landgraf countered that “I think it’s going to make the FX brand actually more valuable, really, because I think it’s going to penetrate more deeply into American culture.”

But while he acknowledged that the changing landscape is unpredictable, he argued that long-term value hinges more on quality than immediacy. So with multiple streaming services “flooding the zone” with volume, he said FX remains focused on balancing “the needs of the moment” with quality and peak experiences that lead to long-term value.

“The danger of the Internet is that everything becomes junk food,” he said. “It’s delicious. It’s cheap. It’s easily consumed in the moment. But what meal you’ve ever eaten at a fast-food restaurant do you ever remember in your life?”

There’s the McRib—but point taken…