More GSN palaver

We may not resolve anything, but we love to talk about the future of GSN on its Internet board. Some of my chatter in response to various friendly and not-so-friendly comments...

First poster: I see some acquisitions for GSN during 2012. I see O'Hurley's last season, and Harvey's first season of Feud coming here within the next year. Again recent Wheel could happen and boost morning ratings.

Since original development looks dead right now, something like this may be the probable outcome. But Sony, having taken operational control of GSN, may just decide that the cable network isn't all that important as long as the online business is growing. So maybe they won't spend much money on any shows, originals or acquisitions. Instead they might put more money into online development. This web site looks more like a gaming site all the time, with the cable network as a distant afterthought.

Second poster: First, I don't scorn them [acquired shows]. Kindly keep your words out of my mouth. Once again, they are all stagnant or down from earlier this year. And once again, you completely ignore the part where there is no assurance that they can get half the stuff you ask for, especially the shows that are already in syndication elsewhere. What's the cost for those then?

The numbers for the acquisitions may not meet your expectations, but they're the best GSN has right now. So if GSN is going to spend money on the cable network at all, why not try for some other recent game shows with decent track records?

Third poster: I guess if that is so [GSN's audience lacks male viewers], then to get more men interested, GSN tried out Carrie Ann Inaba and that Dog-Eat-Dog woman as hosts, and why so many of the female contestants are young and wear short skirts and 8-inch stilettos.

You may be right about that (wink).

In fact, only the poker shows have attracted a predominately male audience to GSN. As the linked New York Times story said back in 2007: "Both GSN’s audience and online demographics skew towards middle-aged women. A Monday night block of High Stakes Poker, a casino-themed deviation from GSN’s traditional lineup, is the network’s highest-rated show, averaging 305,000 viewers. (It is also the only one that attracts more men than women.)"

There have been a few other exceptions to GSN's usual demo skews. Amazing Race skewed much younger than usual before GSN burned it out with a ridiculous schedule. The dodgeball show also did much better with 18-34 viewers before it ran out of steam in the third season.

Fourth poster: DirecTV owns GSN?

GSN's corporate parents are DirecTV and Sony. In a complicated transaction, Sony will assume majority ownership of GSN over the next few years, and has already gained day-to-day operational control.