14 DAY TRIAL // ReelzChannel picked up History Channel’s 8-part docu-series “The Kennedys” and has plans of airing it very soon. Despite overcoming this obstacle, it would seem that the series still can’t quite get off the ground, as major advertisers would not touch it.
With only 3 weeks to go until the premiere, the documentary has failed to attract major advertisers, Stan Hubbard, president and CEO of ReelzChannel, tells The Hollywood Reporter.
Granted, the network didn’t really have that much time to market it and many advertisers already had their budget drawn up by the time it did, but that still doesn’t explain the lack of interest.
Hubbard believes it’s all down to the way the series had been portrayed in the media, as a project that is not historically accurate (mostly by History Channel, as we also noted a while back).
“Advertisers are scared to death of this. They told us point blank, ‘It’s too politically hot’,” Hubbard says.
“This shouldn't be controversial. There should be plenty of businesses that should be behind it. It’s nonsensical,” he adds.
Part of the blame also lies with the press, with countless outlets jumping to conclusions after History announced it would not air it.
“Once people see this, they’ll wonder what the big deal was. It’s well-researched, it’s not salacious, it isn’t Kennedy bashing. It’s a great cast giving a career performance,” Hubbard underlines.
The cast includes Katie Holmes and Greg Kinnear, Tom Wilkinson and Barry Pepper – indeed, quite an impressive lineup, come to think of it.
Still, even with Hubbard’s promise that the series is not fiction but history, advertisers still won’t touch it.
“Only 20 percent of ReelzChannel’s inventory for the miniseries has been sold. Nine companies that buy across the network allowed their spots to air during the miniseries,” THR points out.
“The Kennedys” premieres on April 3, just weeks from now. Advertisers still have time to change their mind about the series, though whether they will actually do that remains to be seen.