Re-discovered NYT
Networks, newspaper ramp up co-productions
"Portraits of Grief," a documentary spinoff from the New York Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning section of the same name, has been scheduled as the flagship programming event, due to air on Discovery Channel at 8 p.m. Sept. 11. Like its print counterpart, the one-hour special will feature interviews with victims' families and a celebration of the lives of those who died.
NYTTV also is responsible for "Rebuilding," a docu feature about the fate of Ground Zero, along with a series of 30 one-minute vignettes that will air as interstitials on Discovery Civilization. The shorts are built around the impressions of the reporters and photographers at the scene on 9/11. Discovery's cable networks will provide blanket coverage of the Sept. 11 anniversary with a 14-hour "Faces of 9/11" series of original TV docus starting Aug. 29.
The new NYTTV productions are part of the five-year first-look deal announced this spring between the newspaper group and Discovery Communications. The estimated value of the deal is $40 million, though there are no formal guarantees.
Despite rumors that Discovery had been dragging its feet on accepting NYTTV projects, sources at Discovery said the output deal is alive and well. Among projects in development utilizing NYT talent is a current-events series featuring Pulitzer-winning foreign affairs columnist Tom Friedman.
Significant investment
More significant was NYTTV's $100 million investment in a soon-to-be-relaunched Discovery Civilization, one of six DCI digital networks that reach some 14 million U.S. cable and satellite households.
Spearheading the reinvention of Discovery Civilization is Vivian Schiller. In May, NYT and Discovery jointly appointed Schiller general manager of the jointly owned channel (Schiller is also a Discovery senior VP), with a remit to relaunch and re-position the digital network as a home for recent history and current events documentary programming.
Schiller told Daily Variety that Discovery and the New York Times are "still in the embryonic stages" of building a new identity for the channel. A new staff will be announced over the next few weeks, with a new name due to be revealed in the fall. Schiller, who is now commuting between Discovery HQ in Bethesda, Md., and the Times offices in Manhattan, said the New York Times will occupy a more prominent role editorially in the new channel, though it is not an exclusive program provider.
Looking at longforms
Nicknamed "Son of Civilization," it is due to launch first-quarter 2003, though Schiller hopes to launch new original programming on the channel before that time. "We will be focusing on more longform programming and will be looking for co-production opportunities here and internationally," Schiller said.
"We want to try to tell viewers engaging stories to make sense of the world we live in … whether it's a possible war with Iraq or the debate over hormone-replacement therapy."
Schiller most recently was VP and general manager for CNN Prods., where she was responsible for longform docu product.
Previously, she was vice president and general manager of Turner Original Prods., where she managed the documentary division of the Turner Entertainment Networks.
