Royle reception

TALKING SHOP: David Royle, executive VP of production and programming at Smithsonian Channel, outlines the network’s current slate, including a number of coproductions that help it to “bring something bigger to the table.”

Royle explains how Smithsonian is aiming to mine the gap left by other factual channels that have moved towards character-led reality programming, leaving it free to focus on genres such as ‘true history,’ aviation, science and music.

“We are absolutely not museum TV,” he says. However, he notes that being owned by the world’s largest museum and its associated research institute helped to provide access to some of the world’s leading aviation experts for a copro on the recent disappearance of the Malaysian airliner.

“The coproduction model is absolutely at the heart of what we do,” says Royle. They “allow us to bring something bigger to the table,” he adds, citing Stonehenge Empire, an upcoming collaboration with the UK’s BBC2, France 5, Canada’s CBC, ORF in Austria and Germany’s ZDF.

C21's Talking Shop is a daily strand on C21Media.net that goes behind the news to talk to leading players in the international content business.