The Business of Television

Introduction

In August 2015, John Landgraf, the Chief Executive Officer of FX Networks, stood up before a room full of entertainment reporters at FX’s semiannual presentation to the Television Critics Association and declared: “There is simply too much television.”

The audience could be forgiven its surprise to hear the well-respected CEO of one of television’s biggest success stories of the past decade make such a pronouncement. After all, since taking over the network in 2004, Landgraf had focused FX (a network whose early years were characterized primarily by reruns of Married … With Children and basic cable exhibition of major theatrical action films) on developing daring new original content, in substantial volume, and with great success. ...