It’s a national television network that airs more than hundreds of hours of sports, but it’s not ESPN. It advocates family-friendly programming, but it’s not the Hallmark Channel. It can be seen in more than 53 million homes, and next year it celebrates its 50th anniversary in television. And yet, unless you live in Salt […]
It’s a national television network that airs more than hundreds of hours of sports, but it’s not ESPN.
It advocates family-friendly programming, but it’s not the Hallmark Channel.
It can be seen in more than 53 million homes, and next year it celebrates its 50th anniversary in television.
And yet, unless you live in Salt Lake City, you’ve probably never heard of it.
So what’s a college like Brigham Young University doing in the broadcast business anyway? Until a couple years ago, not much.
Then came Granite Flats, BYUtv’s first original scripted series.
“We wanted to grow as a network,” said Jared Shores, creative development supervisor at BYU Broadcasting, “and research showed that if we build it they will come. Granite Flats is the first baby step to establishing yourself as a national network.”
While Granite Flats may have been part of a plan, BYUtv as a national network started as an afterthought back in 1999.
“We got a call from the Dish Network,” said Derek Marquis, BYUtv’s head of marketing, “telling us that they wanted to carry us as part of their free public interest and education channels. In a couple weeks, cable companies were calling asking, ‘can we carry this?’ ”
At the time, BYU did have a TV station but it primarily aired programming for its students and alumni. The top-rated show was Love of Quilting, which drew less than 10,000 viewers. Granite Flats has an audience of about 500,000 households per episode.
Granite Flats is a family drama set in the early 1960s during the Cold War. When a Soviet satellite crashes into Granite Flats, a small town in Colorado, a trio of teenagers become amateur sleuths, and a secret mind-control program called Mkultra is revealed.
(I first heard about Granite Flats from the actor, Tom Wright. Tom and I were college roommates back in the — well, a long time ago, and have remained friends since. Tom’s acting career has spanned 40 years, from Broadway to soap operas, from TV to films. When Tom told me he was in Granite Flats, a TV show by BYUtv, I was intrigued. I hadn’t heard of either and thought it odd that a college cable channel was airing a Hollywood-caliber drama acrosss the country.)
Granite Flats came about in 2012 when BYU conducted a nationwide research project that basically asked one question: “What’s missing from your television?”
The answer was entertainment with a message, according to an article in The New York Times. According to BYU, the results “revealed an underserved market, searching for intelligent, inspiring, family-friendly programming.”
Wright bristles when Granite Flats is characterized as “family-friendly.”
“Family friendly comes with a lot of connotations that it’s whitewashed, or soft,” he says. “There are a lot of really edgy things about this show that are unexpected.”
Currently in its third season, Granite Flats has garnered national praise from the press. The TV critic for The Examiner said “Granite Flats will remind viewers that ‘family-friendly’ programming doesn’t have to be painfully earnest and terribly boring.”
Wright says “I can see a group of adults watching this show with no kids around as easily as I can see kids with their parents watching this show.”
Marketing the show, and the BYUtv network, to the masses is a challenge. Marquis mentions articles in the New York Times, Variety and Forbes as ways the show and network have grown awareness.
In addition, BYUtv runs promos for Granite Flats during the network’s live sporting events. He also says word of mouth has shown to be successful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUeJA_ZLH0Y
“Go and watch the first season of Granite Flats on BYUTV.org,” says Wright. “Once you start watching, you’ll get swept up into the lives of the people that we’re trying to portray. And you’ll be hooked.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho8WoQhRO5Q
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