Thought: BYU-TV and Disney

[Ironhold]

I wanted to separate this from the other Disney thread to discuss matters. 

A few years ago, BYU-TV struck a deal with Disney that saw Disney provide them an eclectic mix of movies that were older, long-forgotten, flops, or otherwise not the kind of thing that Disney could push on Disney+ in and of itself. The deal lasted a few years, and that was that. 

By all appearances, Disney is having a major liquidity crisis; it seems they maxed out one or more lines of credit to make the Fox deal, and between Covid & a string of major flops they can't pay the piper. Word is that Disney is now looking at selling off various assets, and they might be willing to cut other deals. 

To me, it seems plausible that if BYU was to come around again, Disney would be willing to cut another deal for not just movies, but possibly even TV shows and other content at this point. Disney actually still owns a handful of anime and other series they got when they purchased Saban back in 2002, including a full season of "Transformers", and it wouldn't surprise me if nowadays they're open to putting these shows back on the air or even selling them off. 

I'm wondering, though... if BYU-TV started airing Disney content again, would you watch? Should BYU-TV even *try* to approach them again? 

 

 

(And yes, I am a bit amused by the idea of Bonneville et al just outright buying some of the third-party content Disney owns but isn't really monetizing.)

[Just_A_Guy]

I frankly don’t understand why BYUTV exists, except maybe go train students as to how to produce and broadcast television programs.  Their program content has generally struck me as unappealing (the odd devotional or scripture study roundtable punctuating hours and hours of Teletubbies reruns—shouldn’t it be the reverse?).  The few decent shows they produced themselves turned out to be lemons that gave platforms to apostates and libertines (*cough cough* STUDIO C *cough cough*).

I can’t think why on earth it would be a net positive for BYUTV to become a funnel through which to launder Church cash to Disney.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Just_A_Guy

[LDSGator]

25 minutes ago, Just_A_Guy said:

I frankly don’t understand why BYUTV exists

It’s obvious that people in the LDS community want clean entertainment, and BYUTV could easily provide that. Or at least try. Having said that, it’s hard to provide entertainment (and especially comedy like the show you mentioned)  that won’t offend someone. 

[zil2]

39 minutes ago, LDSGator said:

Having said that, it’s hard to provide entertainment ... that won’t offend someone. 

But with a little effort, you can make shows that will offend everyone!

[Just_A_Guy]

8 minutes ago, zil2 said:

But with a little effort, you can make shows that will offend everyone!

You can please all of the people some of the time, or some of the people all of the time.  But with a little extra effort you can offend all of the people all of the time!

[JohnsonJones]

5 hours ago, Just_A_Guy said:

I frankly don’t understand why BYUTV exists, except maybe go train students as to how to produce and broadcast television programs.  Their program content has generally struck me as unappealing (the odd devotional or scripture study roundtable punctuating hours and hours of Teletubbies reruns—shouldn’t it be the reverse?).  The few decent shows they produced themselves turned out to be lemons that gave platforms to apostates and libertines (*cough cough* STUDIO C *cough cough*).

I can’t think why on earth it would be a net positive for BYUTV to become a funnel through which to launder Church cash to Disney.

Generally I can turn on BYUTV and not have to worry about whether the show will be appropriate to watch or not.  It's nice to have a channel that I can simply have no worries about it.  In addition I enjoy the ability to watch Music and the Spoken Word as well as various devotionals and talks that they broadcast.  Finally, I don't have access to other avenues that some may have (such as KSL, or other places) for when they broadcast conference.  I normally am able to watch conference on TV via BYUTV these days. 

Edit: PS - And, of course, obviously allowing those majoring in these types of communications to have practice and to learn how to do this type of work.

Edited September 18, 2023 by JohnsonJones

[NeuroTypical]

 

I continue to pray that some day LDS programming will be this good:

 

[Ironhold]

On 9/17/2023 at 4:04 PM, Just_A_Guy said:

I frankly don’t understand why BYUTV exists, except maybe go train students as to how to produce and broadcast television programs.  Their program content has generally struck me as unappealing (the odd devotional or scripture study roundtable punctuating hours and hours of Teletubbies reruns—shouldn’t it be the reverse?).  The few decent shows they produced themselves turned out to be lemons that gave platforms to apostates and libertines (*cough cough* STUDIO C *cough cough*).

I can’t think why on earth it would be a net positive for BYUTV to become a funnel through which to launder Church cash to Disney.

KBYU started out life as a PBS station, but in time the college officials (et al) began adding more college-related and church-related content until finally it really didn't resemble a traditional PBS station anymore. That's when the break happened, with KBYU dropping the PBS affiliation, becoming independent, and focusing on its eclectic mix of family, BYU, and religious programming. And since it was independent, it was no longer confined to broadcasting just in Utah, allowing it to broadcast across the United States in a way that KSL-TV couldn't. Thus, it's become a major source for church programming, including Conference.