1965-1986, About Bravo & HBO，Cable TV，Pay TV，Basic Cable

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1965-1986, Bravo& HBO, Cable TV, PayTV, Basic Cable
Bravo news from Robert Weisberg, executive producer Bravo news date December 3, 1980
The idea of creating Bravo was to focus on a cable network that specialized in performing arts programming nationally via the satellite transmission. Selected programming was also selected for different days of the week to air the art and culture programs. In choosing the pay paper subscriber option, Bravo is able to target consumers who prefer certain programs. The company first rolled out the programming services in the major cities including New York. The Bravo Channel was initially envisioned as a commercial free premium cable channel when first created in 1980 to be the Home Box Office of performing arts (AFTRA and Wesiberg).
There are three segments of Bravo, with the first being Bravo News with emphasis on current news in the arts including new productions and openings across the country (AFTRA and Wesiberg). The second segment is the Bravo magazine, which was to focus on both individual performers and provide background information. The third segment was to feature the full-length performances including the ballet, opera, symphony and orchestra (AFTRA and Wesiberg). Bravo media coverage of events differentiated the company from the other mass media platforms at the time, which covered different specialty markets. As Bravo is an arts and cultural channel, the programming featured domestic art movies, but also included classic performances films and ballet
As Bravo specialized in cultural and performing arts, other cable programmers also sought to be involved in this market segment. Even as a premium cable network Bravo was still more like the basic cable networks and art programming allowed the company to create a brand identity through niche content. As network television was the most common feature, Bravo’s brand identity was effective at the time as it provided something different that what people were used to. Bravo played a prominent role in cable television in New York and was covered in other mass media outlets in the city especially the news papers. Having differentiated the network from broadcast outlets, Bravo reached out to niche audiences when content regulation was less stringent compared to the broadcast networks.
America Federation of Television and Radio Artists-and Randy Paul
Bravo has also participated in documentary focusing on culture art programming like opera performance. In doing so the company collaborated with other partners. The New York City Opera is one of the major partners who worked with the media firm and funded some of the opera projects (AFTRA and Paul 123). Bravo was able to integrate the cable network platform with distribution to air the art and culture programs to audiences. Besides the domestic market, Bravo worked with international distributors with their programs being broadcast in some parts of Europe through the pay cable, free option and the not-for-profit audio-visual option (AFTRA and Paul 123).
In the early stages of the firm’s operation there business operations worked similar to that of HBO is some aspects and this is especially when collaborating with the third parties (AFTRA and Paul 123). In the opera piece performances, there were residuals since Bravo funded independent producers to create such programs to pay for the production costs. In such arrangements, Bravo then contacted a distributor to provide the programs to the other cable systems, which would then need to charge the subscribers (AFTRA and Paul 123). These situations are unique as there is no licensing fee nr distributor gross similar to HBO. However, since Bravo had billed itself as a premium cable network the challenge is how to manage relations among the different cable network partners and whether to involve license equivalent fees (AFTRA and Paul 123).
As every production requires a budgeting, during the early days of Bravo’s operations America Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), worked together with the network to support the artists’ rights. To ensure that there was clarity on negotiations in the production of shows contacted to other parties, the question of licensing and distribution is one of the issues considered (AFTRA and Paul 123). Bravo was seen as a distinct identity among the cable networks and the viewers paid subscription fees without the network being packaged with different cable channels or an advertising format.
Bravo. Press release: For immediate release. n.d
Besides the archives and museums, books are important sources of information as authors focus on the era of media before the advent of digital tools. It is important to look at the archives and the museums, which preserve history, and this makes it easier to piece together media narratives that prevailed in different eras. Bravo was a pioneer of the pay cable performing arts programming. For the audience in New York there was better access to content as the network concentrated some performances in the region (Bravo). However, the need to meet the viewers’ preferences meant that Bravo also supported cultural events in selected areas where the cable system was available (Bravo).
It is noteworthy that Bravo first identified the cultural domain as the main avenue through which to reach out to new audiences who were interested in art and culture. It is no surprise then that the network created a cultural calendar with emphasis on the art events that were available on the cable service (Bravo). Additionally, the Bravo News section followed recent happenings in art and culture including celebrity news, historic arts legislation, community art projects and even labor disputes (Bravo). The newscasts complemented the work of Bravo channel and focus on culture exclusively was beneficial to the network as there was no direct threat to broadcasting either regulations or political beliefs. The value of the media release and communication to the stakeholders is that Bravo was able to raise awareness on cultural events.
When compared to other cable networks, Bravo offered more commentary and coverage of music using New York Radio broadcast. This reinforced the idea that the network catered to the art, culture and music scene. The broadcast media has played a crucial role in the dissemination of cultural production, and different cable networks then focused their efforts on specialized niche market segments. The success of cultural production in broadcast media and the cable network has been possible through collaboration among the stakeholders in the cultural scene authors, writers and publishers have also ...