Andy Cohen, Executive Vice President

(This is not a legal transcript. Bloomberg LP cannot guarantee its accuracy.)

ANDY COHEN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, BRAVOTV, TALKS ABOUT BRAVOTV AT MIDDAY SURVEILLANCE

MAY 26, 2011

SPEAKERS: TOM KEENE, MIDDAY SURVEILLANCE HOST

ANDY COHEN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, BRAVOTV

12:40

TOM KEENE, MIDDAY SURVEILLANCE HOST: Andy Cohen of BravoTV has transformed the network and television, developing hits like Real Housewives and his own - watch what happens live. It's past my bedtime. Attracting millions of viewers in this age of competitive new media it has been no easy feat. Check out this scene with Mr. Cooper of CNN.

(VIDEO PLAYING)

KEENE: This is original.

ANDY COHEN, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, BRAVOTV: Yes.

KEENE: I want to know -

COHEN: That's one way to describe it.

KEENE: - right now. We will get to Platinum Hit in a bit.

COHEN: Okay.

KEENE: I want to know right now what Andy Cohen best practices are. You have a creative third rail here to women and many others in America.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: What's your best practice every day?

COHEN: Well, first of all I work with an incredible team. We know our audience. We know what we do well. We know who works on Bravo and what works on Bravo. And we have studied our audience really well and we developed into our audience. And I think is really important. And it's important way that we build upon our success.

KEENE: On a business model it's just as important to know what doesn't work.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: What doesn't work for your audience, because in our wonderful Businessweek article you were killing them because somebody on one of the housewives' shows there wasn't enough action or emotion. You micro the film right down, don't know, the frames.

COHEN: Well, it's - look, I think what doesn't work is insincerity or - our audience is really smart. We have the smartest audience on cable, and the most affluent audience on cable and most educated. And so what that means is they can -

KEENE: What if I had that audience? Jim, wait a minute. Wait a minute.

COHEN: They can - they can tell, sorry, Tom, I have got breaking news here. It's going to roll around the bottom of the screen.

KEENE: It's a break exclusive cone, very exclusive.

COHEN: Is it a break exclusive?

KEENE: It's a break exclusive, yes.

COHEN: Yes. Oh, okay.

KEENE: I don't - seriously, I don't believe in breaking news.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: And I hate the phrase exclusive -

COHEN: Okay.

KEENE: - with a passion.

COHEN: Well, I brought you some break exclusive issues.

KEENE: What's your break exclusive right now?

COHEN: And my break exclusive is that our audience can smell things that are insincere, or phony or fake. So it has got to be kind of real. It has got to be real. And we build around people who are really good at what they do, and people like Rachel Zoe, or Tabitha Coffey and Patti Stanger. And we have built some great shows around these people. Do you know who any of these people are?

KEENE: No. I don't them.

COHEN: Come on. You watch with [Coco].

KEENE: I'm watching the St. Louis Cardinals. [Coco] watches every word of it.

COHEN: I'm a St. Louis Cardinal -

KEENE: I sit right here.

COHEN: That's (inaudible - multiple speakers)

KEENE: The guy that built the set is a Cardinals jugger - he's like a big fan.

COHEN: Is that right?

KEENE: But I want to know -

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: - the people I observe, including all my TV team - this is how we end our TV show everyday.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: They don't just watch. There is a new way they watch because of you. What is that intensity? How do you get that intensity of the viewer?

COHEN: Well, you know what? People are really obsessed with the characters, if you will, on Bravo. They are real people, but they are - to a lot of people they are Bravolebrities and they - people want to engage with us. People are passionate about what we do and they do -

KEENE: They scream at the TV screen.

COHEN: They scream at the TV screen. They want to watch us in while they are on our Bravo Now app on their iPad. And they want to interact because -

KEENE: That was a plug. That was a shameless plug right there, my word.

COHEN: I know. I kind of thought that was good. Anyway, they want to interact with us. And my show is totally interactive and I think it's because people have really strong opinions about our shows.

KEENE: And then you go see the suits and ties.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: You take an operating income from 100 whatever to a big, big number. What do you do next? The pressure now since you have had this success, when you link your creative world to your financial world, how do you do that next?

COHEN: I'm a programming guy, so I am just about building ratings and making more shows and continuing to grow the audience.

KEENE: But you are talking to the money guys, right?

COHEN: Yes, I am.

KEENE: What's your advice to network TV?

COHEN: To network TV?

KEENE: Boring, stodgy network TV, committees of 10 people. What do we do up front? It's the same old -

COHEN: Right, right.

KEENE: What's your advice to them?

COHEN: Well, I think keep doing things differently. I think reality is not dead on network TV. I think that -

KEENE: You look great in a turtleneck. Look at that. That was just great that shot of you.

COHEN: Oh, that was my New Years Eve, glad you liked it.

KEENE: That was totally '70s.

COHEN: Yes. I like a '70s look. I like this montage of my show.

KEENE: It's emotional.

COHEN: It is emotional. It's [ramotional], yes, it is.

KEENE: Scripted TV.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: You are going to go from reality TV to scripted. That's a big jump.

COHEN: Bravo. We announced last year that we are developing in scripted TV, yes. And so want to get our first -

KEENE: How is that going?

COHEN: Well, it's going good. We want to - we do reality so well we don't want to do anything that's scripted that we could do in reality.

KEENE: Yes.

COHEN: In other words, -

KEENE: Okay.

COHEN: - we have looked at scripts that are like, wait a minute. Why are we developing a show around these two people who are architects when we could actually do a reality show?

KEENE: We are going to come back because I want to talk about Platinum Hit, a link in with BMI. This is legit, folks. This is like - I love this stuff, songs, Jewel. It's for real. Look at this chart. This is important. Andy, look at this chart.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: It's the mood before the show, the real housewives of Surveillance Midday.

COHEN: Yes, yes.

KEENE: Look at that chart.

COHEN: Look at the mood.

KEENE: It's accurate, the mood there.

COHEN: That's the chart.

KEENE: It's emotional.

COHEN: It's emotional.

KEENE: I think it works. You could go from Orange County to New York.

COHEN: I need more charts in my life.

KEENE: You do. Logarithmic charts would be good.

COHEN: I do need logarithmic charts.

KEENE: Okay. We will be back, Andy Cohen, kurtosis, Surveillance Midday.

COHEN: Kurtosis.

KEENE: Platinum ahead.

COHEN: Kurtosis.

KEENE: Let me show you kurtosis.

COHEN: Kurtosis.

KEENE: Kurtosis is the height of your class.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: And here's the chart, short people over here, -

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: - bald people over here.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: And kurtosis is the bend being short, the bell curve.

COHEN: I'm short. I'm 5'9".

KEENE: Andy's -

12:46:38

(BREAK)

12:49:20

KEENE: With BMI, the music industry is dead, Andy Cohen pushing against all that. He is here with BravoTV. I love this, Platinum Hit, okay we all know the script, starving songwriters, very cool judges. I love that you have Jewel -

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: - with you on that and it's Kara, right? She's like the team leader?

COHEN: Yes, Kara Dioguardi, yes.

KEENE: Yes. Okay.

COHEN: Formerly of American Idol.

KEENE: But you will make this different. What is the Cohen distinction that takes something as boring as a song contest and makes it different?

COHEN: The Cohen distinction - it's the Bravo distinction. And what that is is first of all it's fun. Second of all, this is a music show that you have never seen. This is a songwriting competition show, so you start each episode and they have a challenge.

Make a theme song for LA. Write a great dance song. Write a love song. And you are going to hear original news judged by some of the best songwriters in the industry like Kara Dioguardi, like Jewel, like Donna Summer.

KEENE: Love having Donna Summer do this.

COHEN: And so you are going to see these songs performed, and judged and then of course be able to purchase the songs.

KEENE: American Idol, which to be honest I have never seen, a country guy won it.

COHEN: Is that right?

KEENE: I have never seen it. A country guy won it. I just show up at -

COHEN: I bet you [Coco] has seen it.

KEENE: Yes. That's true. She has.

COHEN: Yes, yes.

KEENE: Anyways, you are going to -

COHEN: [Coco] should be at the table by the way.

KEENE: Show them, maybe here, [Bonnie].

COHEN: Sorry.

KEENE: [Ramona], she can and I'm supposed to say that.

COHEN: [Ramona], no she didn't.

KEENE: Yes, oh yes.

COHEN: [Coco] would know what that meant.

KEENE: You have got Platinum Hit going.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: You are going to make a difference, -

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: - but it is a pop? Is like Kara pop or are you going to go across genres?

COHEN: Oh, it's everything. It's every genre and, you know what, this is - we are about peeling the layers of the creative process. If you watch Top Chef, if you watch the fashion show, these are shows where you see what goes on behind the creative process.

And songwriting is something that has never been highlighted on TV. And talk about a multimillion dollar industry for someone who hits it and writes a hit song. You are set.

KEENE: What does BMI - what do the record companies think of this? Are they lining up?

COHEN: I hope they like it. BMI - you are going to be able to buy the songs, obviously, and also you are going to be able to -

KEENE: Right.

COHEN: We did this with the Writing Camp who did - they wrote Halo for Beyonce, among many other songs. They have written for Rhianna. And so they are incredible partners and they worked with True Entertainment to -

KEENE: Programming guy.

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: And you have got the business guys, and you made it clear you are very, very separate from that.

COHEN: Well -

KEENE: And yet that pressure is always there. You said you went from 28 or 32 up to number whatever on cable TV.

COHEN: Yes. We are number 12 right now.

KEENE: [Three four]?

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: This is fabulous.

COHEN: It's incredible.

KEENE: Your programming -

COHEN: I just was trying to - I just - I'm not a great business mind. I -

KEENE: Every time I hear that I go, yes, forget about it. You know it cold in terms of grabbing that audience.

COHEN: Right.

KEENE: At the margin how do you boost up ratings even more?

COHEN: You know what? It's about building a bench. For us it has been about we have got big hits and we also have tremendous bench strength of shows that repeat really well, and we can put on during the day and do great for us.

KEENE: What do you do with stars with an attitude?

COHEN: Stars with an attitude?

KEENE: How do you handle to stars with an attitude?

COHEN: Well, you know what, something we have done really well at Bravo, and you made the joke earlier about Bravolebrities, but we create our own stars, typically. We work with people like Jewel and Kara who are established superstars in their field. And they are excited because they are portrayed as the credible, amazing people that they are on their shows, but we build and make stars on a lot of other shows.

KEENE: Right.

COHEN: People hadn't heard of Tabitha Coffey, or Patti Stanger or a lot of the people who are on our docuseries before we brought them to life. So it becomes more of a partnership with them.

KEENE: Platinum Hit, -

COHEN: Yes.

KEENE: - four days from now?

COHEN: Yes, Monday, Memorial Day.

KEENE: What time?

COHEN: Memorial Day at 10 o'clock after you and [Coco] get done watching The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

KEENE: Now I have got watch it, okay. That was a shameless plug. Andy Cohen, thank you so much.

COHEN: Well, you asked what time it's airing.

KEENE: From BravoTV the business and the programming axis.

12:53

***END OF TRANSCRIPT***

THIS TRANSCRIPT MAY NOT BE 100% ACCURATE AND MAY CONTAIN MISSPELLINGS AND OTHER INACCURACIES. THIS TRANSCRIPT IS PROVIDED "AS IS," WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. BLOOMBERG RETAINS ALL RIGHTS TO THIS TRANSCRIPT AND PROVIDES IT SOLELY FOR YOUR PERSONAL, NON-COMMERCIAL USE. BLOOMBERG, ITS SUPPLIERS AND THIRD-PARTY AGENTS SHALL HAVE NO LIABILITY FOR ERRORS IN THIS TRANSCRIPT OR FOR LOST PROFITS, LOSSES OR DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH THE FURNISHING, PERFORMANCE, OR USE OF SUCH TRANSCRIPT. NEITHER THE INFORMATION NOR ANY OPINION EXPRESSED IN THIS TRANSCRIPT CONSTITUTES A SOLICITATION OF THE PURCHASE OR SALE OF SECURITIES OR COMMODITIES. ANY OPINION EXPRESSED IN THE TRANSCRIPT DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF BLOOMBERG LP.

[Copy: Content and programming copyright 2011 BLOOMBERG, LP. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Copyright 2011 CQ-Roll Call, Inc. All materials herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of CQ-Roll Call. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content.]

For more Bloomberg Multimedia see {AV [GO]}