By Lynn Elber, Television Writer
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) --The peak TV era of expanding programming choices is at risk of moving into an ominous state of monopoly, FX Networks CEO John Landgraf said.
Viewers and those who make shows could be the ultimate losers, he said.
"I don't want artists to find themselves in a situation where there's only two buyers that matter," Landgraf told a TV critics' meeting Wednesday.
Painting a dark picture of the broader U.S. economy, he argued that it's beset by a lack of market regulation that has allowed "one sector after another to be swallowed by a single company or a tiny handful of companies," from airlines to retail to social media.
FX Networks and others are in a battle with newcomers including Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV that operate under an economic model that rewards increasing the scale of domination over current profits, Landgraf said.
For those wondering what's behind more TV shows than anyone can watch, "understand that a good share of that programming is being produced at a loss, in the belief that it will drive a massive shift in the share of consumption" that will swamp competitors, he said.
"It's a stiff headwind for anybody," he said, including other cable outlets such as AMC and HBO.
But there's value in FX's curation of carefully selected and produced shows, such as "The Americans" and "American Horror Story," he said.
He continued sounding the alarm about a saturated TV market. The latest tally indicates the number of shows this year could top 500, even before Apple TV dives fully into the game, Landgraf said.
FX Networks announced this week it's increasing its availability to viewers with FX+, offering a library of its programming on demand and without commercials for $5.99 per month. The service will roll out on Sept. 5 for Comcast customers but deals are being negotiated with other providers, Landgraf said.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this โ and those many "Babadook" memes โ unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables โ "Bah-Bah-Doooook" โ an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More