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here! is committed to recognizing both their gay male and lesbian audience, creating separate programming for each, and some programming that appeals to both. But Kadlec confesses that lesbian-related content has been particularly difficult to secure. “I’m having a harder time finding the kind of lesbian material we’re looking for. My counterparts at other companies who are looking for gay material say they have the exact same experience.” She attributes this in part to "the perception out there, in studios, that lesbians won’t come out to the theater to watch movies, so it’s even harder to get lesbian movies made than gay male ones."

Now that there are outlets like here! for gay content, Kadlec believes writers and directors will begin to create more of it. Kadlec cites the fact that here! is “exposing some great storytelling to an audience that might not see it otherwise, because they don’t live in a city with gay film festivals" as one of the ways the channel provides value to gay and lesbian audiences.

Unlike MTV Networks' LOGO, which debuts in February, here! doesn’t have the luxury of falling back on unscripted series, so viewers shouldn’t expect a gay or lesbian Survivor on the channel anytime soon. “I think that kind of show is more suited for basic cable,” explains Colichman. “I think when people are paying for a service, they don’t expect Survivor, since they’re already getting shows like that for free.”

Colichman designed the channel to be ad-free from the beginning, because “I wanted to make good quality programming with an edge. I didn’t want advertisers telling me what to do or making me dumb down my programming.” Macias expands on this enthusiastically. “We want to be the gay HBO: engaging, provocative and exciting in a way that advertising-supported channels can’t be. That’s what we want to be when we grow up.”

Macias’ statement reflects the widely-held belief at here! that the gay and lesbian shows on subscription channels like HBO and Showtime are an inspiration, rather than a competitive threat. “What HBO and Showtime did with Queer as Folk and Six Feet Under should be applauded,” Colichman says. “It’s trailblazing. We are excited about doing work at that level of quality. The difference between our service and theirs is that we’re going to do this all the time—we’re just going to focus on gay and lesbian content.”

To many Americans, it seems remarkable that there were no gay TV channels a few years ago, and now there are potentially going to be three. Colichman is quick to point out that “we’ve been on the air for a full year, and no one else is,” but he believes that LOGO provides a complimentary service to here! “We’re big fans of LOGO because they’re going to be commercially supported and we’re not,” he asserts, “and we’d like to advertise on their service to promote ours.”

Marketing the channel is no easy task given that subscribers access the channel differently by city and cable provider--some through pay-per-view/video on demand, and some by monthly subscription. The geographical diversity of the gay community is also a challenge. “The gay press is an easy way to go, but it only reaches a fraction of the gay community,” says Colichman. “I want to reach all the suburban gay people and couples who aren’t actively involved in the gay community. We’re finding it’s the people in the Midwest and other rural areas that need the service the most.”