Bravo To Launch New Gay TV Channel

NEW YORK - Cable’s Bravo Network is planning to start a gay-themed broadband network, Outzonetv.com next month.

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The company said Tuesday that it’s joining forces with PlanetOut Inc. to start the broadband channel. PlanetOut is said to be the largest gay media company in the U.S.

Last year, the NBC-owned company gained attention when it moved its struggling Trio arts channel from cable to the Internet where it resides under triotv.com.

Outzonetv.com would feature streaming video of shows running about a half hour, which would include new original programming produced by Bravo including the documentary series “Gay Weddings.”

Other content would include Bravo’s existing series “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and “Boy Meets Boy.”

The site would also create blogs and other such forums aimed at allowing viewers to voice their opinions about the site and its programming.

Bravo President Laura Zalasnick said that broadband gives Bravo a low-cost alternative to cable.

“Our strategic partnership with PlanetOut in the broadband space , with their additional expertise, is going to make OutzoneTV.com a huge success.,” she said.

Mark Elderkin, PlanetOut’s president, said his company’s network of Web sites, such as gay.com and planetout.com would provide promotional and editorial support for the new venture.

“Bravo’s extensive gay-themed television programming combined with our editorial product… creates a unique Internet video advertising opportunity for national advertisers,” he said.

Bravo’s move into broadband is a low-risk venture that could pay off big, said Josh Bernoff, a media analyst for Forrester Research. He told The New York Times, that selling niche advertising would be attractive to large companies like Sony, Apple computer and others.

He added that there were 38 million broadband subscribers, compared to about 30 million digital cable subscribers and about 25 million satellite subscribers.

http://www.avnonline.com/index.php?P...tent_ID=258684

I wonder if this could be one of the reasons nobody has heard from Darren Austin for the last 3-6 months?

Regards,

Lee

isnt Bravo all gay now?
all they show are reruns of project runway, lol.

Im glad about this though, I was watching LOGO when I was in NJ and it was a good station. It bummed me out we dont have a gay station here in Mass

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marc

isnt Bravo all gay now?
all they show are reruns of project runway, lol.

Im glad about this though, I was watching LOGO when I was in NJ and it was a good station. It bummed me out we dont have a gay station here in Mass

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From what i understand, Q Television is working with Time Warner to distribute in Mass :)

Regards,

Lee

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee

From what i understand, Q Television is working with Time Warner to distribute in Mass :)

Regards,

Lee

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wow, how many gay stations are there now?

Well, there is:

Logo - by MTV - www.logoonline.com - they're trying hard to be mainstream LGBT...

OutTv - from Canada (toronto) - http://www.outtv.ca/ - rumors are they will make a big deal soon that will help them grow

HARD on PrideVision - from Canada - http://www.pridevisiontv.com/ - it's by OutTv, only that's it's the hard version of it...

Q Television - http://www.qtelevision.com/ - notorious amoung penny-stock lovers who strongly believe it's going to be the next big thing and make them rich.

PinkTV - from France - http://www.pinktv.fr/ - they're sharp

here! TV - http://www.heretv.com/ - I was in LA for the OutFest ( http://www.outfest.org/ ) where they showed Ryan's Life, which was a short movie that here! signed on afterwards... it's pretty good.

And then there are many other wannabees (like http://www.biggayapple.tv/ for example).

The thing is... it's only the beginning. As we are moving away from broadcasting and toward narrowcasting you will see lots of gay-themed tv channels pop-up... they are going to be mushrooming like there's no tomorrow when all the different internet tv initiatives are up and running ( www.brightcove.com for example...).

Hope it answers your question Marc ;)

From what I hear, both here! TV and Q TV are struggling. I was told that here! was pulled from a few distribution line-ups, and just today, someone told me that they think Q may be going under any day now. I'm not sure how much of this is fact versus rumor and/or speculation, though.

So far, I have yet to see a gay channel emerge that gets it right. Logo is essentially a gay version of Lifetime TV, mostly schmaltz and "safe" content. The outdated stereotypes portrayed on Noah's Ark are enough to make me cringe, even though I must admit that I watch the show as a strictly guilty (big emphasis on guilty) pleasure. Sometimes, once you get past the melodramatic overacting and the trite storylines rehashed from every other show ever produced, the characters can start to grow on you. God forbid! LOL! :)

I've only seen here! TV's Dante's Cove, and I felt it was completely derivative and overly salacious in its depiction of the gay community, especially where it presents gay sexuality. Apart from (again) its melodramatic overacting and stale-popcorn stories, the sex is gratuitously exploitative and sensationalist. This was the biggest problem I had with Queer as Folk. I felt it was designed expressly to titilate, rather than to realistically depict the way that we have sex. Eventually, it just derived into, "OK, now it's time to watch the gay guys have sex again! How shocking can be be this time???" (In the show's defense, it did get much better in seasons 4 and 5.)

I don't know. I'm always very optimistic for a gay channel to take off, but I'd really like to see one that didn't cater so much to the gay mainstream's idea of body-obsessed pretty boys and lipstick lesbians, or to the heterosexualized notion that gay people all cruise back alleys and circuit parties looking for their next trick. That's been done, and it's been done to death. Now it's time for these channels to create original content that speaks to the Everyman, not just the ones that advertorially driven corporations attempt to pinpoint. It'd be cool to see gay programming that reflects my life, and the lives of the many other gay people that I know, the ones who don't live in gay ghettos and go to all the circuit parties and wear (groan!) Abercrombie & Fitch clothing to make themselves seem more "sporty" and "youthful" and (most notably) "straight-acting." (BIG DISCLAIMER: I do own a pair or two of Abercrombie shorts or jeans. They are great quality, and can be very comfortable. I'm just saying... time to move past that image of the hot young gay jock as being representative of the entire community.)

Anyway, that's just my $.02. :)

Ken,

I agree with you on the QBID stuff, Frank really did nothing above and beyond press releases to further the development of QTelevision and, despite him having some good plans, his implementation of those plans really did have a lot to be desired.

Last i heard he had a contract with the Gay Games to be their exclusive broadcaster but, rumors about that deal falling through are being posted on various entertainment and, as Billaboy mentioned, stock boards which has done nothing for QBIDs share prices or, consumer base.

Regards,

Lee