A Live Reality Cop Show Is Cable TV’s Best Bet to Compete With Streaming
A&E’s Live PD is the most-viewed show on cable, making the network one of the very few to show growth in 2019.
Dan Abrams, host of A&E’s Live PD, and Paul Buccieri, president of A&E Networks Group, at the network’s New York studios.
Photographer: Dolly Faibyshev for Bloomberg Businessweek
On a Saturday night in July in Salinas, Calif., officer Cameron Mitchell began pursuing a suspected stolen car. As a couple million TV viewers watched at home, Mitchell chased the vehicle over curbs and through crowded intersections. He attempted what’s known as a PIT maneuver, nosing his car into the side of the fleeing vehicle to get the driver to spin to a stop. But Mitchell instead lost control and his squad car skidded frighteningly to a halt on a median. In the end, the officer was fine and the suspect gave himself up a few blocks later after other Salinas police vehicles surrounded him.
It’s all in a typical night on Live PD, the hit show that’s helped lift the fortunes of A&E Networks Group and is showing at least one way TV companies can survive competition from streaming services like Netflix. Continually switching between cameras recording the real-time exploits of officers in eight locations around the U.S., Live PD combines a classic TV staple—the police show—with live elements that many viewers find irresistible.