You're right; the business argument against streaming obscure classic TV is wrong.
I think the demand for nostalgic TV that several outlets have written about recently (e.g., The AV Club, THR, etc.) not only includes popular shows like "Friends" but also the more obscure ones mentioned above. People are hungry for these classic series.
Considering that and the current media landscape, it seems like a smart business move for studios to get more into the content arms dealer game. Yeah, licensing isn't cheap (you touched on this in a past article about Crackle), but I have to think the ROI with the deals to streaming and or FAST libraries would be high. Those platforms need infinite content but are cutting back on new productions right now. Obscure (and non-obscure) classic TV can help fill the programming gap and would likely be at least a little bit cheaper than some new production budgets.
These classic licensed catalogs could then become one of the "bread and butter" revenue streams while all the studios figure out/experiment new programming in this brave new world. Seems like a more stable (and profitable) approach than their current quarterly knee-jerk pivots to whatever is the new shiny thing in the room.
The third show was Police Squad. The naked gun movies were a spin off.
A and E did run the show in reruns paired with Buffalo Bill. Think each episode ran about 50 times
You're right; the business argument against streaming obscure classic TV is wrong.
I think the demand for nostalgic TV that several outlets have written about recently (e.g., The AV Club, THR, etc.) not only includes popular shows like "Friends" but also the more obscure ones mentioned above. People are hungry for these classic series.
Considering that and the current media landscape, it seems like a smart business move for studios to get more into the content arms dealer game. Yeah, licensing isn't cheap (you touched on this in a past article about Crackle), but I have to think the ROI with the deals to streaming and or FAST libraries would be high. Those platforms need infinite content but are cutting back on new productions right now. Obscure (and non-obscure) classic TV can help fill the programming gap and would likely be at least a little bit cheaper than some new production budgets.
These classic licensed catalogs could then become one of the "bread and butter" revenue streams while all the studios figure out/experiment new programming in this brave new world. Seems like a more stable (and profitable) approach than their current quarterly knee-jerk pivots to whatever is the new shiny thing in the room.