Pivot, Participant Media’s two-year old network-aimed at digital-savvy millennials, is looking to reach that audience of 17-to-34-year-olds with content it hopes will inspire them to make positive change in the world. During the recent New York City Television Week, Pivot general manager Kent Rees spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about how that millennial generation will affect the future of television, as well as about Pivot’s plans for linear and digital distribution. An edited transcript of their conversation follows.

MCN:Two years in, how would you define the Pivot brand?

Kent Rees: Pivot is a network dedicated to content that inspires social change. It came out of our parent, Participant Media, and Participant was founded on the idea that if you show people content that inspires them and gives them different ways to take action on the most pressing issues facing the world, that they would want to get involved and do things directly. Pivot is the TV version of that same idea.

MCN:Pivot’s target is young, millennial audiences who aren’t predisposed to watching traditional television. How difficult is it to reach such a fluid audience base?

KR: We concentrate on a specific kind of millennial whom we call the conscious consumers. These are people who are passionate about the world around them, where their food comes from, what they’re children are eating — it’s really a psychographic and a mentality that is very unique and specifically intense within the millennial audience. They want to get involved, and they see Pivot as a credible resource for them as a way to be entertained and inspired at the same time.

MCN:How big a role will millennials play in defining television’s future?

KR: I think millennials are really reaping the benefits of the content explosion that you’ve seen over the last 10 years. They are not necessarily driving the change, but taking full advantage of the technological explosion in the industry and the opportunities that come from that.

MCN:How is Pivot taking advantage of the technological advancements in digital content distribution to reach millennial viewers?

KR: We offer an authenticated app that you can use to watch the network streaming on a 24-hour basis. We also have a lot of great digital content on our sister site, dubbed Takepart. com, where you can dig deeper into a lot of issues that we create.

I think a really great success story for us was [original series] Fortitude, which had a digital companion series where scientists went episode to episode and talked about the impact of what you saw in the episode and how it related back to global warming.

MCN:How do you see the television landscape developing over the next few years, and how does Pivot fit into that landscape?

KR: We’re bullish on the fact that television is an important way to reach people and a great way to provide content. That’s at the heart of what we do: it’s content that inspires social change, and I think TV is the perfect place to do that among all these other platforms.

As we welcome in all the promise of the New Year, some viewers are preparing to bid farewell to their favorite series and stars.

A number of marquee shows have already announced they will end their successful runs over the next 12 months. Arguably the most celebrated series departing, after a stellar seven-season run, is AMC’s Mad Men. The Matthew Weiner-produced drama chronicling a 1960s advertising agency has received nearly universal critical acclaim for its storytelling, historical authenticity and style — not to mention terrific acting led by series star John Hamm.

The series has also brought home a ton of hardware — 15 Emmy awards and four Golden Globe Awards since its launch in 2007. The final seven episodes of the series will air this spring.

Other shows also saying goodbye in 2015 include TBS’ Courteney Cox starrer Cougar Town, which debuts its sixth and final season Tuesday (Jan. 5); Showtime’s Nurse Jackie — led by multi Emmy winner Eddie Falco’s portrayal of conflicted emergency room nurse Jackie Peyton — which ends its seventh season later this year; and FX’s critically-acclaimed drama Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant as no-nonsense lawman Raylan Givens. That series will begin its sixth and final season on Jan. 20.

Certainly the loss of these and other quality scripted shows will somewhat diminish what many observers believe is a “golden age” of scripted programming on cable television. Fortunately for the industry and viewers, a number of new series are coming that hope to reach the same lofty heights as those shows leaving the air.

E! and Pivot will both jump into the scripted ring in 2015 with dramas The Royals and Fortitude, respectively; newly branded Pop will roll out comedy Schitt’s Creek; A&E will tap the supernatural genre with Returned; Netflix will ride the superhero wave with Marvel's Daredevil; and AMC will debut the much anticipated Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul in the new year, just to name a few.

Some of these shows, along with a slew of other new and returning scripted, reality and limited series, will be showcased over the next few weeks during the upcoming Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif.; the cable portion of the tour begins Wednesday (Jan. 7).

While viewers will be sad to see a number of cable series mainstays leave their TV schedules, they should be encouraged to know that more than enough new series are launching to keep them entertained throughout the New Year.