Keep the Change

The founders of the newest cable network believe their competitors cannot be found on the cable or broadcast lineup, but rather online.

“Our competition is really Hulu,” says Evan Shapiro, president of Pivot, which launched this past fall with the goal of reaching Millennials who want to make the world a better place.

As a division of Participant Media, an entertainment company known for content that encourages social change (its feature films include An Inconvenient Truth and Food, Inc.), the network has adopted a unique distribution approach. In addition to being available on traditional pay TV, Pivot programming can be viewed live and on demand via a downloadable app.

“We’re building the next-generation television network,” says Shapiro, previously the head of IFC and the Sundance Channel.

In the digital tradition, Pivot has embraced binge viewing, running all six episodes of Please Like Me, a dramedy starring Aussie comedian Josh Thomas, in a back-to-back marathon when the show premiered in August.

“You can’t build a television network — let alone a brand-new one — for the new greatest generation and not cater to their lifestyle,” Shapiro explains.

Distribution is key, but Pivot will live or die based on its programming. Like any startup, it is airing reruns, choosing shows — like Friday Night Lights and the sci-fi series Farscape — with strong fan bases.

But Pivot plans to roll out 300 hours of original programming in a variety of genres during its 1st year.

While Please Like Me — new to American viewers — and the interactive late-night talk show TalkBack Live bowed in August, Meghan McCain’s docu-talk series Raising McCain and Jersey Strong, a docu-soap centered on two unconventional families, premiered in September.

The modern-day variety show hitRECord — which finds Joseph Gordon-Levitt tapping the online community to generate the creation of short films, live performances and more — kicked off in January.

From dramedy to talk to reality, Pivot is covering a lot of bases with its original fare. “By demonstrating our approach to each one of these genres, I think what we’ll do is build a level of trust between us and our audience,” Shapiro says.

“They may not like everything, but it’s always going to be interesting. And they’ll see that we’re trying things others might not.”

Producers interested in pitching shows to Pivot should think entertainment 1st.

“We will never beat people over the head with a message,” Shapiro vows. “What everybody expects from us is a series about saving the whales. And that’s great, but you’re not starting with entertainment, you’re starting with social change.

"If no one watches a show, it doesn’t really matter how good the message is. What we want is entertainment where the social change is actually baked in.

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Originally published Emmy® magazine issue no 7, 2013.