May 19, 2008 7:34PM

Television Rivalry

By Alexis Glick

It’s Monday… time for America’s Greatest Business Rivals! If you haven’t seen the video or blogs before or haven’t seen Money for Breakfast (the show I anchor from 7-9 a.m. daily), this is a segment where we look at two companies that have been rivals for years — sometimes decades. We look back at the history of these companies: the rivalry, the calculated moves, the change in marketing and branding and why these two companies continue to be best of breed in their respective field.

Today, we looked at Showtime and HBO. Matt Blank, chairman and CEO of Showtime, joined me to talk about the subscription model and the recent announcement by Viacom about the creation of a new channel to distribute Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate Films. This after Showtime spent $320 million dollars last year for movies from Paramount, MGM and Lionsgate.

Blank doesn’t have much to worry about. His latest hits including Californication, Dexter, Weeds and The Tudors have been huge performers. Plus, the $320 million he is saving as a result of the Viacom deal can now be used for further original programming and for purchasing the rights to films from the independent film studios. Showtime’s subscriber growth was about 1.3 million subscribers last year. They currently have 15.5 million subscribers. As far as Blank’s concerned, they’re firing on all cylinders!!!

Part I

Part II