Polymathica Home

Polymathica

Refined.. Erudite.. Visionary

Polymathica TV

Soon, radio and television will move to the Internet. Actually, to a limited degree, it already has. This will be good news for most people, but really great news for Polymathica Members. It means that refined, erudite television programming will become economically viable and, therefore, available in large doses, 24/7. It also means that a whole new community of producers of refined, erudite television will emerge. What is astounding is how completely Internet television and specifically Polymathica television will change the economic dynamics of the industry. Today, television programming requires massive audiences in order to survive. USA Network’s The Starter Wife was canceled due to poor ratings despite routinely attracting audiences of 2.5 million. Consequently, when new show concepts are considered, appeal to large audiences is never far from the producers’ thoughts. Internet television, however, can survive on 100,000 viewers or less. It never competes for a time slot. It only competes against profitability.

The current Internet delivered television is generally presented at no cost with limited commercial interruption through websites such as Hulu.com. This is possible, however, because producers are viewing Internet delivery as an ‘add on’. When it becomes the primary delivery channel, shows cannot be profitable without increasing advertising content to a degree similar to current broadcast, cable and satellite presentations. We believe that commercial free pay per view will become the norm for specialized content such as Polymathica TV. Mainstream, network produced television has total advertising of about $.80 per hour. The typical one hour television show is approximately 42 minutes of programming and 18 minutes of advertising. The simple calculation of 60/18 *$.80 shows that people are paying themselves $2.67 per hour to watch commercials. If two people are watching, they are paying themselves just half that. Certainly, with the affluence that Polymathica television watchers will experience during the Information Age income explosiion, it will be better to simply pay the $.80 per hour and be done with it.

We predict that the upper quartile of households will have incomes increasing to over $300K per year within the next twenty years. Polymathical subscribers and certainly Fellows will achieve these income levels sooner. Because of this Polymathica TV will be able to profitably offer even more highly targeted programs with download costs of $2.00 per hour or higher. Elite Traveler Magazine is an ultra upscale magazine with the tagline, ‘The Private Jet Lifestyle Magazine.’ It costs $24.50 per issue. It will almost surely find its counterpart in download television with pay per view costs perhaps as high as $10.00.

The cost of producing a serviceable forty two minute program has been decreasing due to improving technologies. Today, costs in the $200K to $300K per episode are not impossible as long as the producers stay away from high cost talent, costly special effects or difficult sets or locations. Therefore, at a download fee of $.80, a show can break even with 250K to 375K viewers. At a download fee of two dollars, breakeven falls to between 100K and 150K viewers. High profile, high download fee programming may be profitable with viewership as small as 20K. This will create a new relationship between the television producer and the viewer. Rather than advertisers and Networks deciding what will be available, it becomes a negotiation directly between the producer and the viewer.

The critical difference between the old and the new is that broadcast, cable and satellite Networks have a limited number of time slots to fill. If, in the experience of the Network, the performance of a show is below the potential for the time slot, they will cancel the show, even if the producers are making a profit. Polymathica Television, however, will have no such limitation. It will present all the television programming that proves profitable to the producers.

Polymathica members and subscribers currently tend to watch less television that the average person. However, with the introduction of more appropriate programs, we believe that the average Polymathica subscriber may acquire ten hours per week of content. That equates to 25 million viewer-hours per week. However, similar to Polymathica radio, we expect that signficantly more Polymathica programming will be exported than the amount of mass audience programming that will be imported. Consequently, in total, we would expect that at market maturity, the net programming export may double the effective viewership to approximately 50 million viewer-hours per week. Assuming an average viewership of approximately 400K, this will enable a programming selection equivalent to approximately six traditional Networks. In that sense, Polymathica.com and Internet television will usher in a golden age of refined, erudite television.

A typical Polymathica television show will have gross revenue of $2.00 X 400K viewers per episode X 26 annual episodes = $20.8 million per year. Traffic acquisition, billing and administration will take $4.16 million, resulting in a net revenue to the producers of $16.64 million per year. A 10% margin will result in an income for the Producer of $1.664 million per year. On one hand, the Producer may have more than one show in production. On the other hand, some functions, such as writing, directing and editing, may be also be undertaken by Polymathica Fellows. It is, therefore, difficult to determine how many Fellows will be involved in Polymathica TV. However, it would appear that it will be at least 500 Fellows and incomes should exceed $1.0 million per year.

As home televisions increase in size and quality, the line between movies and television series will begin to blur.

In many ways, the process will not be signficantly different than traditional television and movie industries. The Polymath will form a production company. Concepts will be pitched to investors who will finance the project through an LLP. A Pilot will be produced and made available through the Internet. If successful, the LLP will receive expanded funding and the television show will be produced in ‘seasons’ of X episodes. The Producer will receive a ‘promote’ on the LLP that may result in annual income from 300K to 1,000K per year, depending upon the level of success. The Producer can receive additional income if he or she takes a major role in directing or writing.

We expect that there will be proportionately fewer sitcoms and reality shows and proportionately more dramedies and documentaries than on mainstream television. We expect a rebirth on Polymathica of mini-series. We anticipate that production will concentrate one or more geographic areas for the sake of access to talent base. We would not expect it to be in Hollywood, since it is attempting to differentiate itself from the mainstream television and movie industries.