How many markets are you in now? Roedy: We’re in nine. We
launched Poland in October. In Germany, we acquired a group of channels a year
ago; there were four music channels and we converted one to comedy. We now have
terrific distribution in Germany with 33 million households. We launched Holland
in April 2007, Italy in 2004, the UK in 1995 and Spain in 1999. As for Comedy Central’s growth in the United States, have you reached your sweet spot, or do you see continued expansion? Herzog: We certainly hope we
haven’t peaked. No, we think there’s a lot of upside in Comedy Central. We’ve
got a little wind at our backs with five successive quarters of growth. This
looks to be our biggest year in terms of ratings overall. We’ve got Jon Stewart
and Colbert, which have solidified our late night. Prime time remains one of the
biggest opportunities. You can never have enough hits—The Sarah Silverman Program and Little
Bush being two of our latest. We are going to
continue to build and keep up the momentum. With regard to Stewart, Colbert and Little Bush, are you
afraid of a ratings drop once Bush leaves office? Herzog: No. Jon Stewart
started on The Daily
Show in 1999, and he spent several years
going after Bill Clinton. His show wasn’t any less funny then. Bush has been
good for comedy, there’s no question about that. But I don’t think it all goes
away when he leaves. I do think The
Daily Show and Colbert have
opened up the category of political comedy. That category was seen as somewhat
narrow previously. I think they have mainstreamed it to a large degree. No
matter who ends up in the White House, they will have to deal with Stephen and
Jon. Roedy: I can remember that
same question being asked to the Saturday Night Live people with Gerald
Ford or Johnny Carson with Ronald Reagan. There’s always somebody. Are there markets where you say, "We’re just not going there.
There is absolutely no appreciation of humor there?" Roedy: I’ve never seen a
country that doesn’t laugh. The key is to capture the local sensibility. As long
as you do that, there isn’t any country where you can’t launch comedy. And
conversely, there isn’t any country where you cannot add something as well.
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