Charter Cable Is Launching Original Shows

'L.A. Finest' stars Jessica Alba, Gabrielle Union

Charter Communications Inc. is betting the reboot of a show that last aired in 1999 can help solve a 2019 problem: getting customers to keep paying for a traditional pay-TV bundle.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the cable operator will air brand-new episodes of the 1990s NBC hit “Mad About You” this fall as part of an investment in original scripted programming—a first for Charter, which makes most of its revenue selling internet, TV and phone plans to residential customers under the Spectrum name.

The company’s first original show, “L.A.’s Finest,” a police drama starring Gabrielle Union and Jessica Alba, will premiere on today. It will be available exclusively to Charter’s 15.9 million subscribers, who can watch it free on demand—and without ads—at home or through the Spectrum TV app.

WSJ Graphic

Katherine Pope, who oversees all of Charter’s original programming as head of Spectrum Originals, said the new shows will make subscribing to Spectrum’s pay-TV service more valuable. She said she chose “L.A.’s Finest” to be the first show on the service because she felt “it was a series that no one else was making: a high-quality drama about two strong women.”

Charter is heavily promoting “L.A.’s Finest” on its cable systems. Pope said the company isn’t looking to make hundreds of shows for its subscribers. “There is certainly no desire either on my part or the company’s part to be Netflix. It’s not our strategy.”

Charter’s plan has big challenges. Traditional cable and satellite companies have been hit hard by cord-cutting as consumers flee high-price bundles in favor of cheaper streaming alternatives. Charter has lost about one million subscribers in the past three years. AT&T Inc.’s DirecTV has lost nearly two million subscribers during the same time.

Charter is entering an already crowded field. In 2018, there were nearly 500 original scripted shows across broadcast, cable and streaming platforms vying for viewers, according to data from Walt Disney Co.’s FX Networks. That figure is only going to rise. New services including Apple Inc.’s original video offering and Disney’s Disney+ streaming service will launch later this year, and Netflix Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. continue to invest heavily in original content.

Another challenge: Charter’s reach isn’t national. While it is one of the largest pay-TV distributors, many of its customers are in the New York City and Los Angeles areas.