Candid camera

It's an ongoing battle, although d'Halluin believes ironing out internal flaws early on has helped increase Showtime's subscriber base. Following his appointment, he and the network's management spotted several issues that required immediate attention.

The biggest was the need to create new, consistent branding throughout the company. According to d'Halluin, viewers were struggling to differentiate Showtime channels from free-to-air services. But management moved quickly to launch a fresh corporate identity in April 2007.

Since last year, the board has also added new channels and created additional packages for sport, movie and drama lovers. The station now has various American TV shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lost and Grey's Anatomy that, d'Halluin says, appear just weeks after airing in the US. Meanwhile, football fans can watch all Premier League matches live, as well as Russian, Portuguese and international games.

Other viewers with little interest in sport or popular TV shows have various film, children's and discovery documentary channels to choose from. Showtime has also launched Show On Demand during the past 12 months for viewers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE.

Up to 40 hours of movies, sports and series are downloaded each week to subscribers' Showbox DVRs (digital video recorders), enabling viewers to catch up on programmes they missed. Other features include play, pause, fast-forward and rewind functions, and movie premieres with no advertising breaks.

For d'Halluin, securing the rights to air Premier League games until 2010 - a deal he plans to renegotiate once the current one runs out - was a massive coup. "The Premier League is a blockbuster - it's a unique league and it's sad being French to admit that the Brits have done a far better job with their league than we have with ours," he says.

"When I was running a pay-TV station in Scandinavia, the Premier League was the most watched and way ahead of other competitions in Sweden and Norway."

Nevertheless, he appears to value movies just as highly as English football. Describing films as Showtime's DNA, d'Halluin says securing partnerships with Hollywood's biggest studios, including Universal, Disney and Dreamworks, has increased the network's appeal. The deal includes an exclusivity agreement allowing Showtime to screen movies 18-20 months before free-to-air channels.

Establishing new packages, channels and content has increased Showtime's revenues, according to d'Halluin, though when pressed on the matter he refuses to reveal numbers. He does admit, however, that the board expects a 30% growth on 2007.

"We managed to break even last year for the first time in the company's history and 2008 is looking good," he adds. "In 2007 our subscriber base grew by 25-30% and this strong momentum was delivered through a combination of the network's relaunch and the addition of Premier League football."

"Showtime is in a good, healthy situation from a financial standpoint and we're hoping to hit profitability in the near future. But we are still operating in an extremely challenging environment. It's not like anything stops once you become profitable; the fight is a permanent one. Competition is tough with piracy, and free-to-air and other channels operating in the market."

It seems d'Halluin and his managerial colleagues, many of whom were appointed along with the Frenchman to revitalise the network, have implemented a raft of changes since early 2007. Any suggestions that Showtime was struggling before d'Halluin took control are immediately dismissed.

"Struggling isn't the right word, but it wasn't growing at the right pace," he stresses. "There was a series of reasons why things weren't quite right; we weren't focused enough on the business from a managerial point of view. When I and others came on board, we effectively found a company chasing too many goals and not keeping an eye on the ball, to use a sports analogy."

Several issues have been addressed by d'Halluin and his team, but the CEO insists there is still much to do. For example, developing more Arabic content for the network's predominantly local audience is high on the agenda.

Contrary to popular belief, some 90% of Showtime viewers are Arabs tuning in to mostly Western content. To redress the balance, d'Halluin and his colleagues are developing more Arabic shows, such as Hydra Executive.

This TV show, featuring Hydra Properties' CEO Dr Sulaiman Al Fahim, sees 16 contestants (eight Americans and eight Brits) competing for the chance to turn their real-estate ventures into reality. During the 16-week programme, Al Fahim will judge the contestants as they perform various business assignments. The eventual winner will then receive US$100million from Al Fahim to invest in his or her own realty project.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM