History, A&E Top NPA Cable Network Survey

History and A&E networks were the favorite cable networks for non-fiction producers to work with, according to a new survey from the Nonfiction Producers Association (NPA) released Tuesday.

The survey, which polled both NPA members and non-members from 41 production companies, tallied results from six production indicators, including preferences for pitching, executive creativity, development process, business affairs process, production editorial oversight, and production management, according to the NPA.

History and A&E topped the chart in most of the categories, while Discovery Channel, Lifetime, ID, HGTV or Travel ranked most often in third and fourth place across the categories, according to the organization.  

While the NPA said that factors such as volume of programming offered could have skewed the results more favorably to the top networks in the survey, he added that overall the survey was designed to help better the relationship between producers and networks.

“For many months, the NPA has been meeting with individual networks to further the producer-network dialog and suggest ways to improve processes,” said Ford. “This survey, which is part of that effort, is meant to be a snapshot, from a producer’s point of view, of their current business climate, and we intentionally kept it contained to the six basic areas they say most influence the production experience.

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.