A relatively new pay-per-view television programming service geared toward gay
viewers, here! TV plans in July to begin making available the British series ‘Metrosexuality,’ which
centers around straight guy Kwame (Noel Clarke, center) and his gay best friends
Dean (Paul Keating, left) and Bambi (Davey Fairbank).
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Friday, June 25, 2004
EVERYONE WAS ATWITTER when MTV Networks and Viacom announced in May that they
were going to create Logo, an all-gay basic cable channel set to launch in February
2005. But here! TV, a lesser-known company based in Los Angeles, has been offering
a programming service geared toward gay audiences since last August and recently
announced plans to expand its reach.
Here! TV currently only offers pay-per-view programming for satellite television
customers through the DISH Network (Channel 537) and DIRECTV (Channel 170)
and is in 22 million homes across the country, company officials say. The gay
programming service is scheduled to expand its options for customers on Aug.
1, to eventually include options beyond pay-per-view.
“If you’re a gay person living in an area that is not a high-density
gay area, most likely there’s a very limited number of gay titles,” says
Dan Gelfand, vice president of marketing for here! TV. “If you’re
living in the suburbs, chances are the video store isn’t going to have
it. We’re bringing gay titles to a vast majority of America that hasn’t
had access to them.”
EACH MONTH, THE gay programming service offers three to four gay- and lesbian-themed
movies that satellite users can buy for $3.99 each. The movies start at a set
time and air on a rotating schedule.
In July, here! TV is scheduled to air the first three episodes of “Metrosexuality” consecutively.
Originally a British television show, from the creators of the British “Queer
As Folk,” “Metrosexuality” focuses on a hip set of English
men and women, many of whom are gay as well as people of color. The final three
episodes will air on here! TV in August.
Also in July, here! TV plans to make available “Laughing Matters,” a
documentary about the lives and careers of four lesbian comics: Karen Williams,
Marga Gomez, Suzanne Westenhoefer and Kate Clinton.
The final new programming plan includes KM.O (Kilometer Zero),” a Spanish
farce set in Madrid that follows 14 people, many of them gay, as they try to
find love and make romantic connections.
A major drawback, unless you live in rural or remote areas, is that while
$3.99 for a movie is cheaper than what you’d pay at Blockbuster or another
video rental store, many of these movies are available on VHS or DVD and, perhaps,
through an online video rental company. And here! TV is not yet available to
cable customers who do not subscribe to the DISH Network or DIRECTV.
Here! TV plans to bring even more gay programming options to audiences starting
Aug.1. It’s currently in negotiations with cable providers across the
country to offer services beyond satellite television. For digital cable customers,
here! TV plans to offer different types of video-on-demand services, which
is similar to pay-per-view but viewers decide when they want to watch a movie
and can pause and rewind if they want to watch something again. Video-on-demand
technology isn’t available for satellite television or analog (traditional)
cable but is an option with digital cable.
Starting Oct.1, here! TV will also begin offering continuous programming featuring
previously run movies, original movies and original series, much like Showtime.
Gelfand says it’s too soon to say which services will be available in
which markets and on which platforms.
“We’re working with cable systems, and rather than dictating to
them how they have to carry us, we’re flexible in working with them in
terms of getting them to carry us,” he says.
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