Norwalk-based CableReady Corp. has been growing since Day 1 having added two companies and expanding its production unit to make cable television shows and professional video for area companies.
Founded in 1992, by Gary Lico, CEO of CableReady, the company”™s core offering is international cable television program distribution and development. The company also helps producers flesh out new ideas for programs. CableReady has brought cable programs to television channels all over the world with licensing projects including “Forensic Files,” “Inside the Actor”™s Studio” and “Medical Detectives.”
Lico said CableReady has done $10 million or more in sales for the last five years and currently has 10 full-time employees
“We manage the expectations for the producers we work with,” said Lou Occhicone, senior vice president of operations at Cable Ready. “We do a lot of research and gather a lot of data. We put together a document every month for the producers of original programming development.”
Occhicone said the document helps writers and producers understand what each specific cable channel genre is looking for.
Through the information, the company made its first branch off in 2007, CableU.tv, which monitors and analyzes the U.S. cable industry. The CableU.tv service has a range of memberships; a typical one-year subscription is $850, though $495 six-month subscriptions are available, as well as corporate and academic levels that are dependent upon specific needs.
“It”™s a subscription-based Web site where, if you”™re a producer looking to pitch a show to WE, A&E, truTv or The History Channel, you can go right to our site and see a full analysis of each of the networks, listing what they”™re looking for, who you”™re supposed to pitch to and what holes they have to fill,” said Occhicone. “It can be invaluable.”
Through CableU.tv the company also does customized data reporting for networks such as MTV and National Geographic Channel.
With the newest wing of the business, Cable Ready Productions, the company has expanded its radius to the actual production of cable television programs. The initial idea of Cable Ready Productions was to produce duplication copies of cable programs that Cable Ready distributed, rather than go through a third-party vendor.
“It was a good amount of money we were spending; initially it was to keep the money in-house,” said Occhicone.
The dubbing business began to do copying for other companies and, as the unit expanded, the eventual realization of creating a Cable Ready Productions cable program series came to be.
The company”™s first produced cable series, “Intersections,” aired its first of 13 episodes on the Speed Channel on July 21.
“We understand how video works no matter the platform,” said Lico. “Over the last 17 years we”™ve grown a great deal as a company. Video is one of the most powerful ways to communicate a message, but no matter the platform we have a very strong handle how best to communicate that message.”
The second program in production for Cable Ready is “The Minimalist,” a 12-episode show featuring New York Times food writer, author, culinary expert and TV personality, Mark Bittman. The series will air on the Cooking Channel later this year.
Lico said Cable Ready will likely stay with the reality television genre. Always impressed with the performance of these programs, he said, “We have all the expertise and capabilities here and we”™re fleshing out how to use them in the right way.
Cable Ready Productions is also expanding its services to offer corporate video and post production.
“Because of our experiences in the television industry, we are also looking to work with the local business community in the production world,” Lico said.
Cable Ready is currently completing its first corporate video work for CAPS the Shelton-based data recovery company.
