Posted on 05/16/2008 4:47:53 AM PDT by abb
Time may be running out for the CW network.
Two years after CBS Corp. and Time Warner Inc. combined their second-tier networks UPN and WB into the youth-oriented CW to pool young viewers prized by advertisers, the network's hopes of surviving are looking increasingly bleak.
Despite the buzz about "Gossip Girl," a prime-time soap opera about a group of rich kids on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the network has lost about 28% of its target audience of 18 to 34 year olds so far this season. Its ratings during this month's "sweeps" period -- the all-important measure upon which future advertising rates are set -- are down about 22%.
Advertisers eager to reach a young demographic initially clamored to sign on to the CW, but have since cooled to the network. Steven Kalb, director of broadcast media for media-buying firm MediaHub, owned by Interpublic Group, says there were high hopes for the network when last year's lineup was unveiled. Now, he says, "It has collapsed."
Part of the problem is that the CW's young audience is most prone to spend leisure time on the Internet. Last winter's Hollywood writers' strike, which forced scripted shows off the air for three months, hastened the defection of viewers to the Web.
Increasingly, people in the industry are asking whether this coming season is the CW's last chance. One person close to the situation confirms that without significant progress in the next year, at least one of the network's owners is likely to abandon the venture.
The defection of viewers recently led the network to suspend the free Web streaming of "Gossip Girl," angering some fans in the process. After several weeks of the experiment, ratings have remained essentially flat.
snip
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
"Network evening newscasts will go dark after the '08 elections and their news divisions disbanded."
ping
I watch Smallville...other than that, I wouldn’t even know there was a CW.
Lol! I never heard of this network.
“”Network evening newscasts will go dark after the ‘08 elections and their news divisions disbanded.”
News divisions? You mean propaganda schills?
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-et-actor16-2008may16,0,7091550.story
COLUMN ONE
Actress faces tough Hollywood script
Austin Highsmith’s big break was hurt by the writers strike. Now the possibility of an actors strike is creating a difficult scene.
By Lynn Smith
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
May 16, 2008
In the summer of 2003, Austin Highsmith, a young actress from North Carolina, packed a suitcase and drove cross-country in pursuit of the Hollywood dream.
Years followed, as they do, of waiting tables and auditions, until February when the 27-year-old finally landed her first big break as a guest star on CBS’ “Ghost Whisperer.” But as luck had it, her episode aired the same week the writers strike began. Hardly any Hollywood honchos saw it.
“Four years of work came to a screeching halt,” said the actress, who has appeared in numerous smaller television and movie roles.
Highsmith is one of thousands of actors still recovering from this winter’s strike but nevertheless clinging to their ambitions despite sputtering television and film production schedules that make their normally slim-to-none odds that much smaller. With talks stalled between the studios and the Screen Actors Guild, whose contract expires June 30, the prospect of another crippling labor action has Highsmith and all of Hollywood on edge.
“I’m impatient, driven,” said Highsmith. “I’ve been working for the past five years to get something. I don’t want to stop the momentum. It’s so hard to get started in the first place.”
If there’s a strike, she added, “It’ll be ‘The Ghost Whisperer’ all over again.”
Like an estimated 80% of SAG’s 120,000 members, Highsmith is not currently working as an actor. But she still shapes her days around finding work. Drama. Comedy. Commercials. Almost anything to work. It’s a dizzying carousel of networking, auditions, rejection and resilience. Just spend a few days with her and it’s easy to see what another strike could mean for those under the Hollywood radar.
snip
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121089907766397317.html?mod=2_1567_leftbox
ADVERTISING
Timing of Games Pitch a Sport in Itself
By GEOFFREY A. FOWLER
May 16, 2008; Page B7
Hong Kong
To prepare for this summer’s Olympic shouting match, advertisers in China are saving their voices.
Many of the largest multinational sponsors of the Olympic Games substantially curbed spending on traditional TV, newspaper and magazine ads in China during the first quarter, according to new research by Nielsen.
Don’t expect them to be quiet for long. Beijing’s Games promise to be one of the most heavily marketed Olympics in history. The Publicis Groupe media buying agency ZenithOptimedia estimates that advertisers world-wide will spend $3 billion extra on the Olympics this year, of which $900 million will be spent in China.
But the noticeable dip in spending early this year shines a light on the complicated math that brands — and their competitors — face in figuring out when and how to tout themselves at such a high-profile event.
“Despite the focus Olympic sponsors place on this significant event, they don’t have limitless marketing budgets, and must carefully plan the best way to spread their ad spend,” says Richard Basil-Jones, the Asia-Pacific managing director of Nielsen Media Research.
In the U.S. market, some Games sponsors have also been holding back on their Olympics campaigns, either out of fears of a U.S. recession or in an attempt to distance themselves from the world-wide torch relay that attracted throngs of protests throughout the West.
snip
I knew the cancellation of “Gilmore Girls” would hurt them!
The CW’s program lineup is pretty monotonous for the most part. How many storylines are there around slutty, drunken behavior and pretty boys playing “macho mas macho”?
Smallville (which has gotten bad), and Supernatural (which has gotten silly) aside, the CW is just a remote button click on the way to better channels.
The CW’s program lineup is pretty monotonous for the most part. How many storylines are there around slutty, drunken behavior and pretty boys playing “macho mas macho”?
Smallville (which has gotten bad), and Supernatural (which has gotten silly) aside, the CW is just a remote button click on the way to better channels.
Isn't it time for a "progressive" politico to sponsor a bill?
If they add a provision for the public funding of beer along with the cable TV they'll have the vote forever.
Think of the demographics!
Progressive Politicians!
Life's lottery losers!
Breweries!
1st, 2nd 3rd tier TV Networks! Cable!
A perpetual lock on elections!
(Do not mention to the Hildabeast)
Related.
http://www.reuters.com/article/companyNews/idUSN1534072420080515
UPDATE 1-Potential Hartford Courant buyer’s interest cools
Thu May 15, 2008 6:08pm EDT
(Adds comments from Chase, background)
By Robert MacMillan
NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - The one potential buyer for the Hartford Courant said on Thursday she is no longer interested in buying the daily newspaper from Tribune Co, unless there were some signs of financial growth.
“If there is no growth potential, we are absolutely not going to be interested,” said Cheryl Chase, executive vice president of Chase Enterprises, a Hartford-based real estate company.
Chase’s decision casts doubt on whether the popular notion that wealthy businesspeople could be persuaded to step in and save ailing newspapers because of the vanity value that comes with owning the local paper.
Her comments came after Chicago-based Tribune said it would sell the Newsday daily newspaper on Long Island to Cablevision Systems Corp (CVC.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for $650 million. That offer beat bids of $580 million made by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp (NWSa.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman.
Chase was one of several potential buyers who surfaced for Tribune properties when the company was considering whether to sell some of its assets or seek a buyer for the whole company.
She said she never made an offer because Tribune never offered Chase Enterprises a look at the Courant’s financial information.
“We made it very clear in writing that we were interested in purchasing the Courant,” she said.
The Courant, which claims to be the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United States, has an average weekday circulation is 168,158 copies, down from more than 175,000 last year, according to figures released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.
A Tribune spokesman declined to comment.
When Chicago real estate billionaire Sam Zell took the company private in an $8.2 billion deal in 2007, he said he would sell the Chicago Cubs and the Wrigley Field ballpark, but otherwise said he wanted to keep Tribune intact.
Since then, Tribune’s financial situation has worsened in large part because of advertising declines in its newspaper business. That prompted him earlier this year to say that he would consider selling some properties.
The prices of U.S. newspapers keep falling as their value wanes, although a typical purchase price range is about 6.5 to 7 times their cash flow — compared with 10 to 12 times cash flow two years ago.
One group that analysts and industry experts have said might be interested in paying premiums are rich buyers who desire the prestige that comes with owning the local press.
Chase said her company’s interest waned because of the advertising declines.
“Every time they released any type of financial information that showed a decline in advertising revenues, it became less and less attractive,” she said.
Another Tribune paper, The Sun in Baltimore, has local buyer interest, a source familiar with the matter said recently that Tribune probably will keep the paper.
Ted Venetoulis, an area businessman and former local politician who is a member of the buyer’s group, was not immediately available for comment. (Editing by Andre Grenon)
Does NBC still hold the contract to broadcast the Olympics?
They have been pathetic in their coverage.
Even when I tried to watch, they would show 90% of an event, then cut away to something else. One never knew when they were going to broadcast the finish. It was easier to pull up an Olympics results webpage to get the results.
On the last Winter Olympics, most of what they broadcast were the Kurling events.
It will be even more difficult this year to control information flow. Events will be about 12 hours out of sync with our time. For example, it is now 8:33pm in Peking. So the events will be taking place in the middle of our night.
Before the internet, networks could embargo coverage for later broadcast. Those days are gone with the wind. If some event that people in the US are interested in happened during the previous night, the first thing they'll do is log on and find the video of it. And when they're watching videos on their computer, that's one more set of eyeballs not watching TV.
Bottom line: Fewer TV viewers, which translates into less advertising, which results in less money to the networks, which results in less TV programming, which results in fewer TV viewers.
The Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™ continues...
Uh, I think I see their problem...........
This has been a long time coming..... the best years are behind them and the new media outlets are killing broadcast television.
However, the accomplishments of The WB Network were huge. For a small start up network they helped change the landscape of television and brought about a youth movement that the big networks could never touch.
Shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Dawson’s Creek”, “Felicity”, & “Charmed” become pop culture classics. The later years were comprised with shows such as “Smallville”, “Gilmore Girls” & “Reba”.
However,”7th Heaven” was the most successful and long running show on the network. The Camden family aired for 11 seasons 1996-2007.
With it’s beginnings, The WB brought ethnic success to air with The Wayans Brothers, The Jamie Fox Show and Steve Harvey. In a short period the network left its mark in a competitive industry.
The merge with the UPN to form The CW was the final step in dissolving the two networks. Todays dwindling broadcast landscape leaves little room for second tier programming as cable and internet are now the front runners in content.
To think, The WB shows will now be seen on “Classics” channels in the near future.....
UPN had one of my favorite shows way back in the mid-90’s. The Sentinel. I was sorry they cancelled it.
No.
The schedule set-up in almost every sport is prelims in the morning, finals at night.
Because of the timezone shift, the schedule is going to flip for the 1st time. In Beijing, it’ll be prelims at night, finals in the morning, so western broadcasters can show everything medal-related live during primetime.
The CW is a cable channel and CATV is made of mostly of second tier product.
It's broadcast in these parts.
It’s cable where I live. I did find one station in the state that broadcasts it.
The curse of Veronica Mars strikes. They should have never messed with that show.
I hope Reaper makes it somewhere.
> i heard they were going to have lex horribly disfigured in the seasonPithiest parts of Murdoch's story:
> opener and then have another actor play him from there on so they won't
> need rosenbaum anymore.
Yep, and they are going to give him boobs and call him Tess. :)
... chasing a young male audience was no longer part of the network's mission. Wrestling had drawn high ratings, but advertising rates were lower because it draws an audience less desirable to advertisers. ... CW executives attribute the network's poor ratings performance not to a lack of viewers but to flaws in the system of measure. ... it introduced ultra-short commercials it called "cwickies." ..."Cwickies?" WTF?? After all that moaning about less desirable wrestling fans???
Despite the buzz about "Gossip Girl," a prime-time soap opera about a group of rich kids on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, the network has lost about 28% of its target audience of 18 to 34 year olds so far this season.
When every show is about sleazy, drunken, immoral young people eager to drag their audience into the gutter, it's hard to get too excited about it. What's the difference between one of these shows and another?
Or, unfortunately, what's the difference between these shows and real life among too many of your young people who take the media view of Hollywood or New York as their model?
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