PATHOLOGICAL CASES DRAW VIEWERS TO SHOWTIME

PATHOLOGICAL CASES DRAW VIEWERS TO SHOWTIME

"Pathology programming" by CBS-owned Showtime has helped give the pay-TVchannel five consecutive years of growth, including a gain of 1.1 millionsubscribers this year, an increase of 7 percent over last year, the LosAngeles Times reported today (Tuesday) The newspaper cited such originalprogramming as Weeds , in which a widow becomes a pot dealer; a serialkiller in Dexter who works as a police investigator; and alust-driven Henry VIII in The Tudors . "When you have a number ofshows that have buzz, people begin to say, 'I have to have Show time,'" CBSCEO Les Moonves told the Times. Moonves also discounted speculationthat Show time cold be especially vulnerable during a tight economy whenconsumers may be trying to save money by cutting down their cable bills. "Noone knows what might happen because we've never experienced an economicsituation like this before," Moonves said. "But Show time should berelatively stable."

02/12/2008