TNT, TNN case studies in how to remake network

NEW YORK -- TNT knows drama. TNN's got pop.

At least, that's what executives at each network want you to believe. Both are mounting expensive campaigns to establish new identities in a brutally competitive market where the business model for cable networks has turned on its head.

When Ted Turner was establishing his cable empire 20 years ago, the conventional wisdom was that to succeed, you needed to copy broadcast TV and attract as broad and big an audience as possible.

"Nobody believed you could make money off little audiences," said Herb Scannell, TNN president.

Now the opposite is true. Today's recipe for success is to go after a specific segment of the public -- sports fans, music fans, kids -- and become indispensable.

TNT and TNN are case studies of networks following different paths through this new competitive landscape.

Probably for too many years, TNT was locked into the old model and had no identity. Its effort to become a destination for fans of dramatic movies or series is coupled with sister station TBS positioning itself as a home for comedy.

TNN, meanwhile, had a clear identity, but one that it new owners at Viacom didn't like. The former Nashville Network, renamed the National Network, was known for its appeal primarily to Southern and rural viewers.

"At the heart of the TNN dilemma was that we had a regional network with national distribution," Scannell said.

Started with WWF

One of the first steps in establishing a new TNN was acquiring basic cable's most popular weekly program, the World Wrestling Federation. Reruns of "Star Trek," "Baywatch" and "Mad TV" begin soon. New original programs include "Star Shots," where two filmmakers pick average Americans to star in movie spoofs.

At first blush, TNN is bucking a trend by turning a specialized network into a general interest one. But not upon closer inspection.

Many networks that appear broad are really niche players, Scannell said. Comedy Central appeals mostly to a young male sense of humor. The WB, while a broadcast network, is particularly strong among teen-age girls. TNN has its own target viewer: a pop-culture maven age 25 to 34, in what was once known as Generation X.