More stations are finding it hard to balance bottom line
discipline with the airing of long-tail syndicated sitcoms.
The ratings return on these programs no longer justifies
keeping them in their usual early fringe and prime access
slots where the weekly payments and the advertising rates
one can get for them don’t line up as nicely as they once
did.
This seems to pose a larger problem for standalone CW and
MNT stations where alternatives to this type of programming
are harder to find.
It’s much easier for the major affiliates which can
substitute news programming rather easily for that sitcom
that is too costly or has passed its prime.
The incremental cost of adding another 30 or 60 minutes of
news is minimal. So, even if the ratings fall, stations find
this to be a more bottom-line friendly move.
But stations that opt to substitute news face a dilemma of
possibly having too much news on their schedules. How much
is too much?
The off-net sitcom has been an old, reliable partner for
many TV stations, but it appears that those days may
officially be behind us.
None of the off-net sitcoms out in the past few years have
the same panache.
There are no more
Cosby
Shows,
Seinfelds
or Friends
available. And shows are sold to cable networks at about the
same time as they are to stations.
Does it seem that it might be time for some innovation when
it comes to sourcing on the programming side?
Of course, there are first-run and other types of syndicated
fare available for station owners, but the slow demise of
the off-net sitcom is likely to make those other programs
more expensive. I guess either way, the studios win.
The passing
of Merv Griffin
Speaking of syndicated programming, one of the best
performers and creators in first-run syndicated programming
has passed into history.
While I can’t
eulogize Merv Grffin in the eloquent style of Tom Shales,
it’s no stretch to call Merv one of the great figures in
television history.
As successful as he was in front of the camera with his own
show that covered 20 years, Merv’s creative mind brought
about two of the most enduringly popular game shows in the
history of the medium in
Wheel of
Fortune and
Jeopardy.
I remember too many school days coming home while Mom was
watching Merv and Arthur.
In so many ways, Merv was the industry he
represented—creative, energetic, confident and resourceful.
A true American success story; Merv was an entrepreneur who
reinvented himself more than once. That’s a legacy.
I think
they call it chutzpah
It’s difficult to follow the recording industry these days
without some prolonged head shaking.
The industry has spent the last decade under siege and it’s
not too difficult to have some empathy for their position.
However, the industry seems to be engaged in new policies
designed to destroy both new friends and old in hopes of
restoring some financial momentum.
After arresting grandmothers and college students among
other questionable management decisions earlier this decade,
the folks in the recording industry are attempting to
reverse their fortunes by a shakedown of both Internet and
terrestrial radio operators.
The first shot in the war was the hike in royalty payments
paid by Web radio operators. Many Web radio operators are
not highly profitable concerns at this point in their
development and these new royalty charges threaten the
entire sector where a lot of the artists get airplay they
don’t get on commercial radio.
The second blast was the industry’s attempt to eliminate any
royalty exemption for music played on AM and FM. The record
industry issued a questionable research study that says that
radio airplay actually depresses music sales.
This performance tax talk has been greeted with appropriate
derision by the radio industry and the NAB.
Now, bear in mind that we do have a dog in this fight as we
work for any number or radio companies that would feel the
impact of this attempted income redistribution.
However, it’s difficult to sugarcoat this as anything more
than an attempt by the record companies to extract
substantial sums from another industry whose cash flow
margins are envied.
While radio’s cash flow numbers are the envy of any number
of industries, the truth is that those margins are under
greater pressure than ever before and this push from the
recording industry would significantly dampen those margins
for music formatted stations.
Fortunately for the opponents of this ill-conceived measure,
congressional support seems limited to representatives who
serve the
The answer to the recording industry’s problems won’t be
found in destroying one developing platform and damaging a
well established one.
Inside Radio did a
study reporting that the same artists who testified to
Congress in favor of ending radio’s exemption would actually
benefit little from the tax. Gee, what a surprise that is.
While the recording industry continues this effort, some
record labels are “experimenting” with providing DRM free
music for the public. Go figure.
The $9.2
billion funeral
While this is old news, I thought it worth mentioning.
Once again, the death of the network television has been
greatly exaggerated.
Despite the many protestations of the process and results,
the advertising world has found it still beneficial to
bestow billions of dollars to our television networks for
the upcoming fall season.
Give the TV networks their due for reacting to the new
marketplace and making changes that kept the upfront market
thriving.
It appears that the calendar and scatter markets are going to be strong as well, which will fill the coffers and stoke the programming engines.