9TH

EDITION

Media Programming
STRATEGIES AND PRACTICES

Susan Tyler Eastman

Indiana University

Douglas A. Ferguson
College of Charleston

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 16 15 14 13 12
 Brief Contents
Detailed Contents iv
Preface i x
PART ONE Introduction to Programming 1
1 A Scaffold for Programmers 3

PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming 43

2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 45
3 Multichannel Television Strategies 91
4 Online Television Strategies 128

PART THREE Understanding Key Processes 155

5 Program and Audience Research and Ratings 157
6 Syndication for Stations, Cable, and Online 206

PART FOUR Television Programming Practices 243

7 Non-Prime-Time Network Programming 245
8 Television Station Programming Strategies 271
9 Basic and Premium Subscription Programming 303
10 Public Television Programming 340

PART FIVE Audio Programming Practices 375

11 Music Radio Programming 377
12 Information Radio Programming 429

Annotated Bibliography 4 6 0
Internet Media Sites 4 66
About the Contributing Authors 4 68
Index to Program Titles 47 2
General Index 47 6

iii
 Detailed Contents

Preface ix

PART ONE

Introduction to Programming 1
CHAPTER 1 ■ A Scaffold for Programmers 3
by Susan Tyler Eastman and Douglas A. Ferguson
What Is Programming? 4
The Process of Programming 8
The Lure of Lore 12
Structural Considerations 14
The Elements of Programming 18
A Model of Programming 23
External Influences on Programmers 27
The Pressures and Pulls 41
Notes 42

PART TWO

Frameworks for Media Programming 43

CHAPTER 2 ■ Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 45
by William J. Adams and Susan Tyler Eastman
Blurring the Boundaries 46
Vertical Integration 48
Audience Targeting 55
Prime-Time Ratings 64
Prime-Time Scheduling Practices 67

iv
 Detailed Contents v

Program Renewal 70
New Program Selection 75
Promotion’s Role 79
Changing Format Emphases 80
Network Decision Making 87
The Risks and Rewards Ahead 88
Notes 90

CHAPTER 3 ■ Multichannel Television Strategies 91

by Susan Tyler Eastman and Michael O. Wirth
Multichannel Video Programming Distributors 92
The Big Gamers 93
Selection Strategies 97
Scheduling Strategies 114
Evaluation Strategies 117
Promotion Strategies 118
Local Origination on Cable 119
Community Access on Cable 124
What’s Sneaking Up 126
Notes 127

CHAPTER 4 ■ Online Television Strategies 128

by Douglas A. Ferguson
The New Programs 129
Web Program Providers 132
Enhanced Viewing 138
Video Games and Virtual Worlds 140
A Conceptual Framework 143
Strategic Considerations 146
Specific Approaches 148
Online Measurement 151
What’s Coming Fast 152
Notes 153

PART THREE

Understanding Key Processes 155

CHAPTER 5 ■ Program and Audience Research and Ratings 157
by Douglas A. Ferguson, Timothy P. Meyer, and Susan Tyler Eastman
Decision-Making for Programmers 158
vi Detailed Contents

Program Testing 161

Qualitative Audience Research 163
Ratings Services 166
Ratings Terminology and Measurement Computations 174
Television Market Reports and Other Programming Aids 180
Radio Reports 185
Cable Ratings 189
Online Research Services 192
Ratings Limitations 195
Future Challenges 202
Notes 205

CHAPTER 6 ■ Syndication for Stations, Cable, and Online 206

by John von Soosten and Douglas A. Ferguson
The Syndication Chain 207
Program Acquisition 213
Ratings Consultation 217
The Decision Process 223
Revenue Potentials 226
Payment 230
Cable and Syndication 233
Online Syndication 234
The International Marketplace 236
What Lies Ahead for Syndication 239
Notes 241

PART FOUR

Television Programming Practices 243

CHAPTER 7 ■ Non-Prime-Time Network Programming 245
by Robert V. Bellamy and James R. Walker
Non-Prime-Time Dayparts 246
Scheduling Strategies 248
Sports 250
Soap Operas and Game Shows 253
Weekday News, Information, and Talk 256
Weekend News and Information 262
Children’s Programming 263
Late-Night Weekend Entertainment 268
The Effects of Consolidation and Cable 269
Note 270
 Detailed Contents vii

CHAPTER 8 ■ Television Station Programming Strategies 271

by Robert B. Affe
The Regulatory Wave 272
The Digital Wave 273
Sources of Television Programs 273
Network Programming for Affiliates 275
The Network–Affiliate Agreement 279
Preemptions 280
News and Local Programming 281
Syndicated Programming 284
Station Dayparts 287
Station Promotion 298
What Lies Ahead for Stations 300
Notes 302

CHAPTER 9 ■ Basic and Premium Subscription Programming 303

by Susan Tyler Eastman and Douglas A. Ferguson
Competing Content Networks 304
The Proliferating Nonbroadcast World 305
Selecting Strategies 312
Scheduling Strategies 322
Evaluating Apples and Bananas 327
The Many Channels 328
Hyping Subscription Networks 337
Audio Services on Cable 337
Twisting Paths for the Future 338
Notes 339

CHAPTER 10 ■ Public Television Programming 340

by Glenda R. Balas
A Special Kind of Television 341
Program Philosophy 343
The Network Model 344
Multicasting 348
Multiple Platforms 348
PBS Responsibilities 349
Types of Station Licensees 353
Program Production 357
Syndicated and Local Programming 362
Scheduling Strategies 365
National Promotion 368
Audience Ratings 369
viii Detailed Contents

Developments Ahead 371

Notes 373

PART FIVE

Audio Programming Practices 375

CHAPTER 11 ■ Music Radio Programming 377
by Gregory D. Newton and Matthew T. Kaiser
The Shifting Ground 378
A Little History 379
Choosing a Format 391
Step-by-Step Selection Process 398
Implementation 402
The Station Sound 405
Marketing and Promotion 417
News and Other Nonentertainment Programming 421
Network and Syndicated Programming 423
What’s Coming for Radio? 427
Notes 428

CHAPTER 12 ■ Information Radio Programming 429

by Matthew S. Pierce and Robert F. Potter
Information Versus Entertainment Radio 430
The Rise of Information Radio 435
Information Programming Formats 441
All-News Formats 443
Talk Formats 445
The Content Infrastructure 450
On-Air Talk Techniques 452
Information Formats on Public Radio 454
What Lies Ahead 457
Notes 459

Annotated Bibliography 460

Internet Media Sites 466

About the Contributing Authors 468

Index to Program Titles 472

General Index 476

 Preface

T his book about media programming deals

with both the structured and unstructured
media. By structured we mean the traditional mass
communication media of broadcast television and
gaming such as Farmville, Carville and Cityville, plus
X-Box, Nintendo and their kin. We incorporate these
in the unstructured group because they consist of giant
masses of content from which users select however
radio and the cable networks. These services have they prefer. Online media is inherently VOD (video
long sent prepackaged programs to viewers and listen- on demand). Nonetheless, much of the online world
ers in linear series organized by time and day. We is filled with non-programming and falls outside the
focus on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and PBS, and include purview of this book. But we do refer to blogs and
CW, MyNetworkTV, Telemundo, TeleFutura and podcasts, insofar as they are carriers of content that
Univision and affiliated stations, the major cable net- relates to the structured and unstructured program-
works, such as CNN, MTV, TNT, USA, HBO and so ming media.
on, the satellite TV and telephone TV services, such as The primary reason for including both structured
DirecTV and AT&T, and the radio and audio net- media content and rivaling unstructured content is
works. Although these channels’ programs can be that they share an economic and marketing universe.
recorded and replayed, on a structured service, each They compete for the attention of the same viewers,
program was originally selected to fit in a single chan- listeners and users, and they compete for the same
nel to create an image and set of expectations about dollars, although the revenue streams operate in dif-
that channel. Of considerable importance is the fact ferent ways. And they are coming closer together.
that many programs get replayed on co-owned chan- Indeed, over the next decades, broadcasting and
nels or are later sold in syndication. Of even more cable will fade as broadband distribution rises, but
importance is that this structured industry is moving for now, all must coexist and share the audience’s
toward on-demand programming, thus becoming attention.
more like the unstructured industry. Change continues to be the media’s most endur-
By unstructured we mean the parts of the huge ing characteristic, and the contents of this book have
online world that carry old and new television pro- most value when they not only describe and inter-
grams and radio shows, talk and music that come pret the present but also predict the patterns of the
via the web to your laptop or tablet or cell phone— future. The next media revolution is well begun, and
or perhaps your TV set. While we focus primarily the once-rigid barriers between methods of deliver-
on the unstructured services that provide television ing programming are dissolving, as are barriers
programs and movies, such as Netflix, Google between domestic and foreign programming. The
and Hulu.com, we include the personal media of authors make educated assessments of likely changes
YouTube, Facebook and MySpace, as well as online in the near future, while science fiction imaginings

ix
x Preface

edge closer and closer. 3D television without glasses ■ New media only partly subsume old media. Tele-
is certainly coming but hasn’t reached most living vision has gone from black-and-white to color to
rooms yet. digital to HD and is going to 3D (although most
screens lag behind and don’t display HD signals,
let alone 3D), while television is simultaneously
The Changes going online. And only about three quarters of
U.S. household have broadband access, not all of
Six major shifts in the industry guided the revision that high speed. LP records quite thoroughly
for this edition. They can be summarized as conclu- replaced 78 RPM, but then CDs replaced records,
sions or operating principles: and now online downloads to iPods and cell
■ Multiplatform strategies inform media decisions phones are replacing CDs. Radio has in part gone
today. The conventional TV networks reacted to from analog to digital and from broadcast to sat-
the newest media by trying limited multiplatform ellite and to online, but HD radio has not yet been
marketing, but changing economics and audience widely adopted in home, although it has become
behaviors now make cable and the internet par- standard for new cars. In each big change, the
allel to broadcasting, and if not yet equivalent, strength and speed of the takeover has varied and
they are the future in programming and profits. in many cases, the old medium persists alongside
Where once the broadcast networks viewed cable the new.
and the internet merely as vehicles for marketing ■ Analog is dead, and digital is becoming HD. The
their content, broadband and cable are now either makers and distributors of media content now
full partners or full competitors to the broadcast largely ignore the millions of analog receivers in
media. Now every kind of receiver (computers, homes (and cars) and presume they will inevitably
phones, tablets and TV sets) must be considered in join the digital age. Although cable, satellite and
every decision to buy, make or schedule telephone distributors offer hundreds of channels
programming. as digital signals, the media companies expect to
■ Cross-media have become enmeshed media. drop most plain digital in favor of high definition
Diverse media outlets have been assimilated in the not-distant future. Households today may
within giant media corporations. Broadcast net- contain a mix of analog and digital media, but
work and stations, cable networks and systems over-the-air television and radio consumers are
and online video services now operate within sin- getting left behind. While only about a third of
gle commercial conglomerates. This has led to digital subscribers now take high-definition ser-
conflicting goals within corporations in which vice, the industry expects full conversion in a few
programming decisions sometimes advantage years. While only half of households have high-
some owned segments and disadvantage others to speed internet access now, more than 90 percent
maximize overall profits. The full ramifications of will have it in a few years. Although the digital
Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal, for exam- gap is shrinking, it persists between older and
ple, will not emerge for a decade. While cross- younger people and urban and rural households,
fertilization and reuse of broadcast programs on despite sporadic regulatory efforts.
both cable and online is old news, the three kinds ■ Reducing, reusing and recycling are now the
of media are now more deeply embedded—to the driving strategies behind programming decisions.
point where some distinctions have been erased. While the traditional networks broadcast the
Television companies no longer act without full classically defined the main program genres, new
consideration of online impacts. And now radio is types of programs are emerging in spite of old
becoming audio and no longer separate from terminology. Game shows and reality programs
online, iPods or the telephone. have merged and exploded across television.
 Preface xi

Meanwhile, YouTube mushrooms with new pro- ■ Part Five addresses the rapidly morphing audio
gram ideas, and Facebook illustrates the audi- media of music and information.
ence’s need for interaction. While program types
Although so much is changing right under our
are expanding, schedules everywhere fill with
noses, this book largely preserves the classic media
reused tried-and-true favorites. Because the net-
subdivisions as a convenience for chapters and
works strive to reduce the total number of
because the process of amalgamation and reemer-
expensive programs they need to fill their sche-
gence remains ongoing … ongoing. Someday, as in
dules, an essential part of current strategy has
science fiction, all kinds of media will merge into
become replaying of episodes more often and
mega-conglomerate media businesses serving all the
recycling shows on co-owned cable channels and
different kinds of receivers. TV sets, laptops, tablets
online.
and smart phones—and who knows what—will be
■ Wirelessness and pay are the directions of the just different sizes and shapes of wireless computers.
future. Although the traditional wired media of But we aren’t there yet, not by a long shot.
cable, satellite and telephone remain strong media Two indexes appear at the book’s end, along
businesses for now, wireless ways to receive tele- with a brief bibliography and a long list of internet
vision and audio are becoming commonplace. It is media sites. The authors also maintain a website at
likely that virtually all entertainment media will www.media-programming.com where updates and
become wireless (perhaps delivered via light rather links are posted. The site can also be searched from
than in the presently used parts of the spectrum!) www.wadsworth.com. Also at the book’s close
and almost all media will require some sort of pay you’ll find brief bios of the editors and authors.
in your lifetime. The word television now encompasses much
more than it did a handful of years ago. The impacts
of digitalization, internet penetration and media
Chapter Organization consolidation continue to work their ways into
viewers’ homes and will remain the dominant forces
The organization of this edition of Media Program- operating to change programming strategies and
ming has been altered to catch up with changes in practices in the coming decade. At the same time,
ownership patterns and technology distribution, as the slow growth in the number of U.S. viewers and
well as to give greater prominence to the unstruc- listeners is giving greater emphasis to serving the
tured media because of their current interest to fast-growing Hispanic and Latino audiences and
readers. greater importance to providing programming for
other countries. Concurrently, competition from
■ Part One introduces the strategies and principles
foreign-made programs is attracting more U.S. view-
guiding the structured and unstructured media
ers while rising local media industries in other coun-
and tells what programmers need to know.
tries are creating stiffer competition abroad for U.S.
■ Part Two looks at programming from the per- media companies. These will continue to be major
spectives of prime-time broadcast—the gorilla on pulls and pressures on overall programming strategy
the block—as well as multichannel cable/satellite for the coming decade.
and online networks.
■ Part Three builds understanding of the processes
and problems of ratings and syndication, and if Our Thanks and Appreciation
you don’t understand them, you don’t understand
anything. We celebrate and appreciate our contributing
■ Part Four focuses on the practices of specific kinds authors and thank them warmly: William J. Adams
of programming situations. of Kansas State University; Robert B. Affe of Indiana
xii Preface

University; Glenda Balas of the University of New Edward Fink of California State University at
Mexico; Robert V. Bellamy of Duquesne University; Fullerton; Deborah Goh of Nanyang Technological
Matthew T. Kaiser of the University of North University; Simon Licen of the University of Ljub-
Carolina; Timothy P. Meyer of the University of jana; Patrick Parsons of Pennsylvania State Univer-
Wisconsin-Green Bay; Gregory D. Newton of Ohio sity; Elizabeth Perse of the University of Delaware;
University; Matthew S. Pierce of Indiana University; Nancy C. Schwartz, The Academic Edge, Inc.; the
Robert F. Potter of Indiana University; John von late Daan van Vuuren of SABC; and David Weiss
Soosten of SiriusXM; James R. Walker of Saint of Montana State University.
Xavier University; and Michael O. Wirth of the Uni- And most of all, we thank Rebecca Donahue of
versity of Tennessee. Working under someone else’s Cengage/Wadsworth, who has been the best editor
deadlines and requirements isn’t easy, but these con- we could have had, and whose gentle and thoughtful
tributors were gracious and responsive, and have online presence much resembles the style of her pre-
our gratitude. We also give special thanks to those decessor at Wadsworth, Rebecca Hayden. The first
who contributed to past editions of this book. Much of these two wonderful women made this book pos-
of what they had to say remains part of the present sible; the second helped us keep our sanity and sense
book. of humor during this edition.
We also thank those who wrote the boxed We dedicate this edition to the two Rebeccas, as
additions—the delightful blogs that spice up this well as to Lewis Klein and the memory of Sydney
book: James Angelini of the University of Delaware; Head, who together had the original idea for this
Timothy B. Bedwell of Media Quarry, LLC; Andrew book so many decades ago.
Billings of Clemson University; Mike Bloxham of
Susan Tyler Eastman
Treadline Interactive; Dom Caristi of Ball State Uni-
Douglas A. Ferguson
versity; Frank J. Chorba of Washburn University;
PART

1
Introduction to
Programming
Part One Outline
Chapter 1
A Scaffold for Programmers 3

1
This page intentionally left blank
 1
CHAPTER

A Scaffold for Programmers

Susan Tyler Eastman and Douglas A. Ferguson

Chapter Outline
What Is Programming? A Model of Programming
The Big Changes Selection
The Themes Scheduling
Promotion
The Process of Programming Evaluation
How Programming Is Unique
What Does the Audience Want? External Influences on
Programmers
The Lure of Lore Technological Influences
Structural Considerations Economic Influences
Ownership Influences
Sources of Programs
Regulatory Influences
The Uniqueness of Scheduling
Ethical Influences
The Need for Promotion
The Pressures and Pulls
The Elements of Programming
Compatibility Notes
Habit Formation
Control of Audience Flow
Conservation of Program
Resources
Breadth of Appeal

3
4 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

I t’s a wake-up call the first time someone says to

you, “Wait. I’m watching a movie on my iPod.”
Or maybe it was an iPhone. Or an iPad. Americans
use electronic screens of one sort or another for an
might be called a program director or general man-
ager (or “hey, you”); at a television station or net-
work, the decisions are made the very highest
corporate levels (the people called “sir”) because so
average of at least eight hours a day. This book many tens of thousands of dollars, even millions, are
focuses on decisions affecting the content of those involved in each decision. Regardless of the person’s
screens. The chapters look at the strategies of all position title, the job will be to choose content that
kinds of television (broadcast, cable, online) and targets the desired audience, design a schedule, make
audio (radio, satellite, internet), as well as the daily sure the content is effectively marketed, and monitor
practices of the electronic media industry. Although the outcome—a job description that applies to
new technologies often capture our immediate atten- both the established media and the newest media.
tion, in the media world “content is king,” and we’ll Of course, it’s highly likely that being talented at
show you why. This chapter introduces the kind of the job leads to more successes.
programming specific to the electronic media—not If a channel has weakly pulling shows, it needs
what computer programmers normally do—and out- new programming, in the most tangible sense,
lines the complex media industry. because owners usually seek large audiences for
their advertisers. Always remember: The main func-
tion of commercial media is to deliver an audience to
What Is Programming? advertisers. Even Facebook and YouTube are sup-
ported by advertising. The new shows a program-
Programming can refer to an outcome or a process. mer chooses must appeal to more viewers (or
It can describe either a group of programs on a radio listeners in the case of radio, users in the case of
station, a television network, or cell phone, as in the web) than did the old shows. Somebody orga-
“I really enjoy the programming on that new cable nizes the hour to hour display of new videos on
channel”—or the act of choosing and scheduling YouTube, just as somebody chooses the hourly
programs on a broadcast TV station, subscription sequence of television channels. But day to day,
channel, or online service, as in “My job is program- once the big decisions are instituted and the shows
ming; I pick most of the shows my channel carries.” running, evaluation of some kind of audience ratings
Like the programmer who handles many cable chan- takes the front seat for programmers.
nels, the online programmer also has the job of
choosing but for a video library rather than a single
channel. The Big Changes
The processes of selecting, scheduling, promoting The media world doesn’t hold still, which keeps it
and evaluating programs define the work of a pro- interesting. In case you failed to notice, three
grammer, and they are the subject of this book, changes in society and the industry have dramati-
whether the programmer is a paid employee or you, cally affected programming and continue to do so:
the viewer! The word programs refers to units of con- digitization, internet access and media competition.
tent—some as short as tweets and YouTube videos,
others as long as TV series and Hollywood movies.
As you choose which online sources to watch, load Digital Media
up your iPod, or subscribe to Netflix or Spotify, you Digitization has displaced analog television broad-
are programming for yourself, but someone else casting and changed the equipment that consumers
placed that content where you could get at it. use to receive television. Anything can be a “televi-
At a radio station or small cable channel, the sion” now, or so it seems. Box 1.1 asks whether you
person paid to handle the programming tasks are really at the cutting edge. Digitizing television
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 5

1.1 Are You Really Watching HDTV?

A lot of people think they are watching HD when they’re

not. It takes three things to have an HD picture:

1. A digital HD screen for your TV or computer set, duh.

you’re getting only a digital signal but not an HD signal.
You have to pay extra for HD.

Look at detail in the close-ups: Can you see the whiskers

2. A program shot by an HD camera: Older cameras were grow?
not in HD format, and even today, many local events,
Look for detail in the distant background: Can you see
including regional sports, are commonly produced using
the faces and clothes of individual fans at
older non-HD cameras—even if the screen looks like the
a game?
right spread-out aspect ratio. So if you watch a lot of old
movies, you probably aren’t getting them in real HD, Look for figure/ground separation: Do the foreground
even if they’ve been remastered. figures stand well apart from the background?

3. A contract for HD service from your local cable, phone Get used to real HD because 3D is coming! And
or satellite service. If you aren’t paying for HD service, holography of some sort after that.

gave rise to DVRs (digital video recorders), which in Internet Access

turn enormously increased time-shifting of tradi- That the internet has given rise to enormous changes
tional television programs, as described in 1.2. almost goes without saying. Although everyday use
Having people watch a show on different days at of the internet has been widespread for more than
different times and via different media has had a two decades, it has become faster (although not
powerful and often confusing impact on ratings fast enough for most people), wireless, and easier
and program scheduling. Consumers’ desire for to use (except for the 25 percent of Americans still
time-shifting led to such innovations as on-demand lacking high-speed internet access in their homes).
television, which in turn changed the meaning of a For media programmers, the internet provides four
TV channel. Video-on-demand (VOD) is more like a things:
library than a set of channels. Moreover, viewers
now want HD (high definition) or even 3D reception ■ replay of major movies and network television
on large screens in their homes as well as public series and specials;
places, leading to new production criteria for pro- ■ original programs made for the web by amateurs
grams and much affecting what Hollywood does. or professionals (user-generated content and web
Nonetheless, nearly 8 percent in the United series);
States, mostly in big cities where signals are strong, ■ websites that carry updates and background about
still get along without cable or satellite television (or television stars, program plots, and schedules
the telcos’ UVerse or FiOS) in their homes. (They (enhancements); and
have to go to bars to get the good stuff!) And only ■ a gazillion places for program promotion and
newer cars have HD radio. Smart phones and tablets
advertising.
now show some TV shows and other kinds of pro-
gramming, another byproduct of digitization of tele- Both program promotion and program replay
vision and the telephone. At the same time, smart matter: They influence the all-important ratings.
TV sets let users switch between television and the Internet usage measures provide another kind of
internet. The new media only partly replace the old “rating.”
media, but they have generated new ways for audi- As the whole world seems to know, the spread
ences to use media. of the internet via wireless signals led to social media
6 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

1.2 The DVR Factor

D igital video recorders (DVRs) change viewing habits.

Those who own them grow very fond of (and
dependent upon) them. Those who have original or
Even more important to conventional viewing patterns is
that DVRs usually come bundled alongside enormous
packages of digital services, including VOD. Because the
updated TiVos are often fiercely loyal to them—more so TV services commonly have informational bands that
even than the owners of unbranded models from cable and appear for a few seconds across the bottom of screens,
satellite operators. Those who do not own them cannot they do two things: Besides distracting the viewer from
understand all the fuss. They’ll find out, eventually. Some immediate involvement in the upcoming program, they cer-
forecasters predict that DVRs will be in 80 percent of tele- tainly make using the up/down channel changing buttons
vision homes by about 2015. (old-style surfing) quite unappealing. Digital cable rapidly
To the uninitiated, DVRs appear to be glorified VCRs or becomes menu-driven television, not channel-driven.
recording DVDs, with video stored on a random-access Satellite services also come bundled with DVRs to make
hard drive. But DVRs can pause and instantly replay live pay-per-view possible, and cable operators supply DVRs to
TV, allowing more viewer control. DVRs play back while digital, HD and 3D subscribers for a fee, with the goal of
recording, allowing the viewer to time-shift more easily encouraging pay-per-view sales. Indeed, manufacturers of
than ever before. The internal menu systems driven by television receivers promise to build the DVR functions into
daily downloaded program information make recording the sets themselves. Many viewers don’t want an additional
so very easy. DVRs beat VCRs hands down: no codes, no box connected to their TV sets.
stop-start times, no clocks to set; just choose a program So what happens to programming strategies? Are the
from the menu of upcoming options (or during a live traditional practices of hammocking, tentpoling, bridging
promo or during the actual show) and hit record. Record a and leading-in (see Chapter 2) relevant in a DVR-enabled
show once or every time it is shown, regardless of what home? Some say not, but some say not so fast. Will the
time or day. There is no need to know what night a show added expense keep most people away or will bundling of
is on because the DVR does all the thinking. It even can be services make the price for adding a DVR insignificant?
told to ignore any show reruns during daily or weekly Guide listings are not universally popular. DVRs vastly
recordings. Viewers simply visit their DVR program menu improve them. How will widespread use of DVRs become?
and find what they want, when they want it. Dayparts are One for every TV in the house? A few viewers may remain
irrelevant. Channels are irrelevant. And commercials are content with the way things were before DVRs, but not
meant to be skipped. many. Stay tuned in the coming years and find out.

communication. Once upon at time, AT&T and explosion of such cheap-to-produce quasi-reality
other phone companies were the social media. You shows as Survivor and American Idol; it upped the
called people on the telephone. Facebook, Twitter number of reruns during prime time; and it changed
and the like have taken over as the vital parts of audience measurement practices. To compete, the inter-
interpersonal communication, affecting daily per- net found success with elaborate online games such as
sonal life and even underpinning national uprisings Farmville, a guzzler of user time. (Have you tried puppy
in the Middle East and elsewhere. But time spent on watching? It’s another time devourer.) Competition for
social media takes away from time for consuming audiences has motivated the adoption of “green” strat-
traditional broadcast and cable programs. egies (of a sort) for the big as well as small television
Competition with the internet for precious audi- corporations: Programs must now be reduced, reused
ence time has forced drastic changes in television pro- and recycled (and whatever other R-words you can
gramming. For example, competition drove the think of) more than ever before.
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 7

Media Competition Ownership powerfully affects programming. In

addition to political slant, such as with Fox cable
Finally, Comcast bought NBC Universal (creating
and MSNBC, the financial clout of an owner and
NBCUniversal, for some odd reason). This giant step
the size of its total audience influence the purchase
reflected consolidation not just within an industry seg-
price of programs: Money matters. And the number
ment but across competitive boundaries. And it was a
of co-owned outlets directly affects a program’s
“buy up” rather than lateral or down: A cable operator
distribution: Audience size matters. The larger the
bought a major broadcast network, along with its
financial risk, the more conservative big owners
ownership in a dozen cable networks. A newcomer
become. Consolidation leads to more reduce, reuse
bought an old-old-timer. Since the 1980s, broadcast-
and recycle rather than to innovation.
ing and cable have been primary rivals, battling head
to head for viewers, but it normally takes a large group
of cable networks to match the ratings of a single
The Themes
broadcast network in prime time. So for several
reasons, this merger shocked many industry insiders. The pressures arising from these three big changes
Cross-media has now become enmeshed media. are themes throughout this book. All chapters in
The number of cable networks exceeds 500, this book examine how programs (units of content)
though many are co-owned by other networks or are selected (or not selected), how content is
very small splinter services. The top 25 get by far arranged in schedules or menus of various kinds
the most viewing and have the most subscribers. (or all over some screen), how the content is pro-
No one can say how many program services there moted to audiences or users and advertisers, and
are online, but about a half-dozen are best known how content and audiences are evaluated (at least
for providing web series, while YouTube, iTunes by the industry, even if that’s not how you see
and their cohort supply virtually infinite and chang- things). We are especially concerned with the limits
ing quantities of videos. In contrast, the number of arising from technology, financing, regulations, pol-
broadcast networks seems to have stabilized at ten icies and marketing needs, and you should be too.
(or nine depending on who you count): The Big Four ■ One central premise is that how content is paid for
of ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC; plus CW, MyNet- determines much of its structure and availability,
workTV and PBS; plus Univision, Telemundo and and the long-term trend is to pay for use (whether
TeleFutura, the three Spanish-language networks. you like it or not).
(PBS often gets left out, leaving nine commercial
■ Another thrust is how the mass orientation and
networks.) But, around the edges, Google seeks to
traditionally rigidly linear structuring of the
make YouTube into a broadcast network, and Net-
broadcast media is adapting to emergence of per-
flix would like to join this exclusive group, so the
sonal and mobile media. (How much difference do
number of networks could change.
you see?)
One significant point is the growth in audiences
for Spanish-language networks: Univision is the fifth ■ We focus on the methods and processes of con-
largest network, far bigger than CW or MNTV or sumption of digital video and audio media, which
any single cable network. A major point is that are dissolving fixed ideas about “channels” and
Comcast’s purchase of NBCUniversal from General “dayparts.”
Electric, as well as AT&T’s, Google’s and Netflix’s ■ Still other recurring themes arise from the ways
aspirations, signal a major shift in the relationships the once-clear distinctions between networks,
among the controlling media entities, and these syndicators and cable companies are fading, and
moves are the likely forerunners of more consolida- while some former competitors are becoming
tion. And new relationships between the social enmeshed through partnerships and mergers, cer-
media and the commercial media are in the wind. tain pressures keep other competitors well apart.
8 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

■ Another recurring topic is how programmers To cover all bases, most big media companies
struggle frantically on a daily basis for bigger have expanded their brands into groups of channels,
shares of the overall American audience and spe- such as the 5 channels of ESPN, the 11 channels of
cific sub-audiences. HBO/Cinemax HD, or the dozen or so channels
■ We are always concerned with how the big media owned all in or part by NBCUniversal and its
conglomerates are co-opting and commercializing owner Comcast. In the case of specialty cable and
online, mobile, social and noncommercial pro- internet channels (called niche networks) such as the
gram content. Military History Channel, Black Entertainment Tele-
vision, Comedy Central and the Tennis Channel (or
■ At the same time, the persistent patterns of daily
still smaller networks focusing on pets or cooking or
work and living continue to influence the avail-
cars or houses or shopping), the programmer may be
ability and arrangement of most media entertain-
more interested in pleasing a particular audience sub-
ment content (and you don’t even notice).
group than in reaching an audience outside the tar-
■ Finally, the realities of economics always over- geted group. Of course, the larger the size of that
shadow all aspects of media programming. target audience, the easier it is to make money.
Look for examples of how these themes emerge in the Very narrowly targeted channels cannot survive
following chapters about specific media situations. long, even on the internet, unless they carry adver-
tising (but if audiences are small, few advertisers will
buy) and/or charge subscription fees—if enough
The Process of Programming people are willing to pay to get the service. But audi-
ences tend to expect most programs to come for free,
Programming is both a skill and an art. The primary so other means of generating money are essential.
goal in programming advertiser-supported media is All programmers must deal with certain limita-
to maximize the size of an audience targeted by tions, most of them economic. Program resources
advertisers. The only way to accomplish this goal is are scarce. Good shows cost a lot of money. Unfor-
to satisfy the needs and wants of that audience, what- tunately, bad shows are also expensive (except on
ever they are today and tomorrow and tomorrow. YouTube). Good or bad, the four largest broadcast
Present-day technology permits viewers them- networks combined (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) spend
selves to choose programs from dozens of sources more than $10 billion annually on programs and
(such as broadcast stations, cable/satellite channels, rights to major events. Their collective share of the
SiriusXM, Netflix, YouTube), giving consumers total audience shrank for several years but has cur-
more-or-less instant access to hundreds—even thou- rently flattened at about one-third of viewers at any
sands—of programs. But oddly enough, most people given time. Audiences are available to consume media
prefer to let someone else do the programming for only so many hours per day, and less of that view-
chore. Viewers tend to choose channels and web- ing went to the Big Four networks as cable networks
sites, but expect someone else to have filled those and then games and social media captured more of
channels/sites in an expert way. Even YouTube the audience. At the same time, Univision’s TV audi-
viewers may choose a topic or known video to ences are swelling in size. In the case of television
start with, but then they typically click on whatever programming for which viewers pay a fee, there is a
follows (despite the commercials). limit to how much they will spend before they start
In the case of mass-appeal channels, such as the complaining to Congress about subscription fees.
major television networks and larger cable networks One byproduct of smaller network audiences in
and internet services, programmers go after as many the United States has been greater efforts to market
viewers as possible. Most advertisers assume that the U.S. program content in other countries. CNN is a
demographic groups they want to reach will be well worldwide service; Disney runs Spanish-language
represented in the total audience, if it’s large. channels in South America and other parts of the
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 9

world. Although ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC are three quarters of U.S. homes and represents maybe
quintessentially American channels, and their U.S. (at least at unsettled times) half of all internet use
popularity depends on them staying so, their parent worldwide. Beginning with a website is the likely
corporations can be increasingly involved with cable path for many future entrepreneurs.
and broadcast channels in other countries. Just as Reaching a national audience is becoming less
U.S. car makers pushed for years to get into the difficult. Internet cafes and Wi-Fi are proliferating,
gigantic Chinese car market, media program produ- and a growing number of program suppliers are
cers yearn to follow in their footsteps. looking for nontraditional program providers. Net-
The following figure (see 1.3) illustrates the not- flix, Hulu and other online video rentals and sales
always-happy relationship between U.S. television services offer another potential avenue for program
viewers and television program services as a tug of suppliers, and the internet’s ability to stream audio
war. The cartoon suggests that as audiences adopt and video programming—looking and sounding
new technologies, programmers must respond with both the same and different from traditional pro-
new strategies for enticing and holding those audi- grams—improves continuously. On the other hand,
ences. Similarly, changing economic, regulatory, and to remain competitive, the broadcasters have long
social conditions usually result in acrimonious ten- been first adopters of content production for new
sions between the sources of programs and their screen technologies—first color, then HD, and now
viewers, listeners and users. 3D programs.
Broadcast programming remains unique
because there is no apparent direct cost to consu-
How Programming Is Unique mers for the most popular shows. Although cable
If Irving Berlin was correct when he wrote that and online programmers siphon away some desi-
there’s no business like show business, then what rable programs, the big broadcast networks are
makes a programming product unique? How are able to provide very popular drama, reality and
programs different from other products that cor- comedy programs, along with top sporting events
porations make for the public? and live news coverage, seemingly absolutely free
Certainly, ease of delivery is key for broadcast- to the audience. Despite all the new media, television
ing. What other product can be simultaneously remains the most used medium (close to 6 hours
delivered to nearly every consumer? Who else can daily), and advertisers know it. They pay for the
attract the biggest audiences? The very biggest sports programs in exchange for having their commercials
and entertainment events still go to the broadcast presented to the audience.
networks, for now. Although the high cost of advertising is passed
In theory, anyone can conceive an idea and sell it to along to consumers, the advertiser’s ability to mar-
a cable channel or a broadcast network or put it online, ket products to huge audiences actually decreases
but the big distributors (cable and broadcast networks the per-item cost of many products because of econ-
through their systems and stations) continue to exert a omies of scale. It usually costs more for producers to
large measure of control over which programs run. market products to a small number of people.
Barriers to entry still limit budding suppliers. Why should radio or television programmers
Nonetheless, it is possible for some program- care how “free” the programs are to the receivers?
mers to start small and build national audiences. In the case of broadcast programming, the low cost
Oprah Winfrey started at a small station doing a to viewers generates audiences large enough to sell
local talk show before achieving national television to advertisers. Contrary to popular belief, broadcas-
prominence and creating her own production com- ters are not in the business of creating programs; they
pany and then more recently her own cable televi- are in the business of creating audiences that adverti-
sion channel (see 8.9 for more on Oprah). Facebook sers want to reach. Even in the case of cable/satellite
was only begun in 2004 and now reaches more than channels and online sites, advertiser support is critical
10 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

1.3 Tug of War

News
Corp

Audience Industry Fox

Viacom Google
Preference/Needs
CBS

Twitter

AT&T
ABC Disney

Program
strategies
Facebook
DVR
Viewing
Verizon
Comcast
NBC
Promotional Advertisers
Web strategies
Pay
Cable

PBS

Uni-
vision
YouTube Availability Time
Basic Warner
Cable Apple

Cable TV
Gamers

Reprinted by permission of Milton Hamburger.

to programmers because costs are seldom borne What Does the Audience Want?
entirely by subscriber or user fees.
The most important part of programming is under-
Programming is a unique product in that it is
standing the audience. What appeals to viewers or
used to lure the attention of consumers so that
listeners or online users? Quite simply, on the sur-
advertisers can show those consumers commercial
face audiences want to be entertained, and they want
messages that help sell other products. Programmers
to be informed. Speaking very generally, these two
work only indirectly for the audience; the primary
elements comprise the whole of programming con-
customer is the advertiser, without whom there
tent (see 1.4 and 1.5). But the devil is in the details,
would be few programs to see or hear. Prime-time
of course.
television might look like YouTube.
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 11

1.4 Recipe for Successful Production

A step-by-step procedure for the process of program-

ming would go something like this. First, choose pro-
grams that seem to meet the needs and wants of an
3. Evaluate reasonable costs for program types and time
slots.
4. Evaluate the competition to determine a scheduling
audience. Second, organize those programs into a coher- strategy.
ent schedule that flows from one program into the next.
5. Make sure a program fits in with neighboring
Third, market the programs to the appropriate audience.
programs.
Finally, evaluate the results and make necessary adjust-
ments. This is the basic recipe for cooking the perfect pro- 6. Employ talented performers whom the public likes.
gram schedule. 7. Hire producers/directors/writers with a record of
success.
1. Target a demographically desirable audience.
8. Deal with currently popular subject matter.
2. Choose appropriate programs for that audience.
9. Emulate comparable high-rated programs.

1.5 What Is Quality?

W henever the word quality is attached to program-

ming, viewers think they know what that means. Do
they? Quality often connotes strong production values (lav-
of viewers finds some subjective value that is independent
of objective criteria. If we cannot agree on what constitutes
quality, does it really exist? Maybe those who use the
ish sets, famous performers, riveting scriptwriting, technical phrase “quality television” really mean to say “programs
achievement) and critical acclaim. Those who fight to save that we really like.”
quality programs often see some substantial social value in Programmers are well advised to be careful with the
such shows. word quality as long as so little consensus exists about what
So why is quality lacking in most television shows? Is it it is. It might be better to strive toward shows that are pop-
money, or could it be that the masses want circuses instead ular (or critically acclaimed) by external standards, rather
of high culture? Perhaps quality signifies only that a group than programs that have intrinsic quality.

The demand for entertainment encompasses a comedies with game show elements: they consist of
mixture of comedy and drama. Narrative stories a situation in which “people” compete to win. But
represent the norm, and these stories have a begin- the most successful of these shows also embody a
ning, a middle and an end occurring within each narrative about participants carried over from
episode.1 Characters have goals resulting from a week to week.
desire. Along the way, they encounter some form By the turn of this century, the former reality
of conflict. In a comedy program, the conflict is a format (Survivor and Fear Factor) had resurfaced on
humorous situation resolved in a way that causes a wave of game shows (Who Wants to Be a Million-
the audience to laugh. Sitcoms usually appear in aire?), which was soon overtaken by other types of
half-hour episodes. In a drama, the conflict results blockbuster reality programs (Dancing with the
from a counterforce, often “the bad guys.” Most Stars and American Idol) and two hit game shows
dramas last an hour, occasionally longer. Nonnarra- (Deal or No Deal and Jeopardy). Many of these real-
tive reality programs are more like situation ity shows are competitions that generate a sense of
12 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

urgency, like sporting events do, making them seem Information programming is also driven by nov-
more important to watch than dramas or comedies. elty and entertainment value. Viewers want fresh
Comedies, which had real staying power for stories that promise something new. Critics can com-
decades, were consistently taking a beating in the plain about the trivialization of information, but net-
ratings in the first decades of the 2000s, leading work and syndicated news and information
some critics to wonder whether viewers find serial programming with an entertainment approach (info-
dramas and series reality shows especially addict- tainment) attracts big audiences. Consider, for
ing. By mid-decade, the biggest draws were Fox’s example, the long-time success of 60 Minutes,
American Idol and such crime shows as NCIS: Los 20/20 and The Today Show. These programs mix
Angeles, CSI and The Mentalist. As has always popular topics with more serious information.
been the case, however, such sporting events as In their newscasts, local stations also necessarily
the NFL games swamp all other shows in audience pay close attention to the lighter side of community
size. events, partly because there are fewer opportunities
Comedies and dramas are composed of various for hard news than on the national level and partly
ingredients that appeal to most audiences: engaging because “positive” stories appeal strongly to view-
dialogue, attractive characters, romantic themes, ers. The trend has reached the point that younger
nostalgia, suspense and high emotion, to name a audiences get much of their news from shows that
few. The audiences for all entertainment genres are actually mock the news, such as The Daily Show
also interested in seeing or hearing something novel, with Jon Stewart.
even if it is an old idea with a new twist (see 1.6). Looking at the types of programs demanded by
Reality shows, on the other hand, create a “human audiences is one way to learn what people want,
spectacle” that is every bit as scripted, primarily although it is not a perfect method. Some people
through postproduction editing, as programs with say they want just comedy, for example, but some
a preproduction script. sitcoms have “serious” episodes that address social

1.6 Uncovering the Mystery

M erely asking television audiences what they want is

difficult. Many times viewers do not know what they
want until they see it, and a short while later they tire of it
because really strong predictors, such as when the audi-
ence is available, are not usually controlled by the pro-
grammers (or the viewers).
and crave something new. Programmers must become The most promising way to predict choice seems to be
accustomed to dealing with fickle audiences. The only ref- to study the actual content of programs, but the industry
uge is to uncover the mystery of how the audience makes has sponsored very little generalizable research. What
choices about what to watch. element in a television or radio program is most important?
The process whereby audience members make choices Some say it is the likeability of the main characters. Others
is seldom clear, but researchers use three basic approaches point to the compelling nature of the story or the format.
to predict those choices. One way looks at the uses and Little research has been done in this area, perhaps
gratifications of media consumption. This approach fre- because using structural predictors is easier than using
quently substitutes the self-reported attitudes of viewers for content variables. In any case, studying programming as
more concrete information on their actual behaviors. A a serious topic is not easy. The networks and other pro-
second way uses additional predictors of choice, such as gram suppliers focus on the ratings and on testing ideas
market size, program length, awareness, cable/DVD/sat- and pilots (see Chapter 2), but programming seems to
ellite penetration, and audience availability. Research find- remain one big gamble where instinct is more important
ings in this area are equally unsatisfying or unusable than science.
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 13

issues, while some dramas venture into comedy. First, there is the matter of dead genres. A genre
Adding to the general misinformation about pro- is a type of program, such as a western or a sitcom.
gramming is the fact that viewers and listeners At various times in the history of programming,
believe they are programming experts merely common wisdom has declared each genre dead.
because they watch or listen. Most people who Family sitcoms were dead in 1982, they said—until
tune to a broadcast program feel that they could Cosby went on the air. Game shows were dead, they
do a better job of choosing the shows and selecting said—until Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? came
the time slots. If that were really true, of course, along. Reality shows such as America’s Funniest
there would be no need for a book on how to be a Home Videos were very popular in the early
programmer. Programming skills can be learned, but 1990s, and then they were dead—until they came
the art is a bit more difficult than it seems to many back a decade later in the form of Survivor.
people. Second, program lore holds that there is a for-
mula approach to building a successful show. For
example, take a grizzled veteran in an action profes-
The Lure of Lore sion and pair that character with a young person to
create dual appeal—something for both older and
Everyone watches television, so nearly everyone pro- younger viewers. Or hire a big-name star from the
fesses to understand what programs ought to be like. world of movies, music or sports. The problem with
Yet merely having preferences does not qualify a such recipes is that they lead to bland television.
viewer—or a programmer—to make accurate deci- Moreover, fans can name plenty of programs fitting
sions or judgments about program strategy. Because these formulas that got quickly canceled—far more
television viewing is so easy, the audience feels con- than shows that lasted on network television.
fident that putting shows on is really simple: Just Third, program lore preaches that certain for-
make good programs and schedule them when they mats always fail. Anything with chimps. Science-
do not conflict with other good shows! Never make
any bad shows. What could be easier?
Because it’s too hard to explain, the profes- 1.7 A Programming Myth
sionals who work at the major broadcast and cable
networks, along with their counterparts at the indi-
vidual stations in each city, sometimes take a simi-
larly simplistic stand. Always do this. Never do that.
Give the people what they want (see 1.7). Or as Dick
T he late Sydney W. Head was a frequent contributor
to earlier editions of this textbook, and he had this to
say about programming:

Block of the National Association of Television A popular fallacy holds that innumerable workable new
Program Executives (NATPE) preached, “Find out program ideas and countless usable new scripts by embry-
onic writers await discovery and that only the perversity or
what works, what doesn’t work.”
shortsightedness of program executives keeps this treasure
Out of this no-brainer philosophy has grown a trove of new material off the air. But television executives
garden of “rules” that the wisdom of experience has hesitate to risk huge production costs on untried talents and
nurtured. Call it folklore or just lore; many pro- untested ideas. Even when willing, the results rarely differ
grammers believe that achieving success in television much because mass entertainment remains the goal. A
national talent pool, even in a country the size of the United
programming is a matter of avoiding common mis-
States (and even for superficial, imitative programming), is
takes. Unfortunately, programming is much more not infinitely large. It takes a certain unusual gift to create
complicated. But it is useful to examine some of programs capable of holding the attention of millions of
the lore that has grown up around programming. people hour by hour, day by day, week after week.
Certainly some of it may be good advice. Like
most lore, however, the student of programming Sydney W. Head
should be suspicious of universal truths.
14 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

fiction drama has never spawned a major network Sources of Programs

hit, not even Star Trek (although X-Files came
Four basic program sources exist for television and
close). Never bank on satire. The list goes on…
radio: Network programs, syndicated programs,
The internet has become the home for thousands of
local programs and online programs. These compart-
experiments in program content—most of these
ments, however, are by no means watertight. Pro-
amateur, short-lived and attracting few repeat view-
duced shows sometimes develop into hybrid blends
ers in many cases, but attracting millions to the big
of local production and syndication, with an online
successes. A few commercial websites, such as those
counterpart. Network entertainment programs “go
produced by Comedy Central and some other pro-
into syndication” to cable channels or broadcast sta-
fessional producers, generate huge audiences for a
tions after their initial plays on the national network;
time, but not for the many daily hours that charac-
then they may be stockpiled online for On Demand
terize conventional television viewing. So far, only a
replay and aired on tablets. Networks also produce
handful of experimental online programs have given
special short segments of programs suited to tablets
rise to new types of television programs for large
or smart phone reception.
audiences, but more may lie ahead. The same pro-
blems face radio broadcasters who want to compete
with the big guys. Network Programs
This chapter—indeed, the rest of this book— The national, full-service, interconnected network is
outlines what practitioners and scholars generally broadcasting’s way of pooling resources to generate
agree are the real fundamentals of programming. information programming. Newspapers shared news
These are the building blocks that programmers con- and features by means of news agencies and syndicates
struct with, whatever the medium, and they go well long before broadcasting began, but broadcasting
beyond the lore described above. It takes a gift to introduced the elements of instantaneous national
create programs capable of holding the attention of distribution and simultaneous programming. There
millions of people hour by hour, day by day, week are nine national commercial television networks:
after week. Competence in the field comes from ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, MyNetworkTV (MNTV),
understanding the sources of programs, the factors NBC, and the three commercial Spanish-language
impacting audience size, and the influences of tech- networks (Telemundo—TEL, TeleFutura—TFA, and
nology, economics, ownership and regulation on Univision—UNI), plus one public noncommercial tele-
programming strategies and practices. Beyond them vision network (PBS). These ten supply broadcast pro-
lies artistry—or magic. grams by making or purchasing them.
Aside from news, talk and news-related public-
affairs materials which they produce themselves, the
Structural Considerations six English-language broadcast networks buy most
of their programs from the big Hollywood studios
Programming can be seen as largely a matter of (all but one of which are owned by the parent cor-
choosing materials and building a schedule. These poration of one of the broadcast networks). Occa-
two processes—followed by promotion and evalua- sionally they buy from the very few remaining
tion—are the essence of what a programmer does on independent production firms. The tortuous route
a day-to-day basis. Choosing programs depends on from program idea to finished, on-the-air network
circumstances that are closely linked to the source of series is variously described in Chapters 2 and 7.
the programming, and depends even more on pre- Network programmers for public broadcasting
dicting what ratings each show will achieve. Simi- face still another situation. Originally designed as an
larly, scheduling is greatly influenced by whether alternative to the commercial system, much PBS pro-
the type of channel that will carry it is broadcast, gramming comes ready-made from the larger mem-
cable, cell, tablet or online. ber stations specializing in production for the
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 15

network and from small independent producers, but programmers who work for cable networks also
it still buys programs, notably the British Broadcast- have far less input into the creative aspects of pro-
ing Corporation (BBC), which now has its own sat- gramming than do their broadcast counterparts.
ellite channel carried on cable in the United States. The great bulk of cable network programming
While PBS selects, schedules and distributes its pro- comes from the same sources as broadcast program-
gramming, no programs are produced by the net- ming—distributors of feature films and syndicated
work itself (although PBS now has its own satellite programs—and, indeed, much of cable content has
channels that compete with its affiliates, but it does been old network programming, although this is rap-
not produce their content either). See Chapter 10 for idly changing as cable networks spend more for
more on public television’s processes. recent off-network hits and greatly increase their
The Spanish-language networks draw much of own production enterprises. Each cable network
their serial programming from Mexico’s Televisa, a seeks for a single signature program that captures
producer of movies and telenovelas (popular soap- attention and gives definition to the whole network.
opera-like serials with a definite ending after some At the same time, the multiplication of digital splinter
months and usually with a moral or educational channels (such as Encore Action, Encore Drama,
point). Some also comes from South America, par- Encore Love, etc., called virtual channels) has greatly
ticularly Brazil. Univision, the fifth-largest television increased the difficulty of the programmer’s task of
network in the country, also produces several long- attracting a large audience for any one channel.
running programs, including the blockbuster of The internet has more varied program sources,
blockbusters: Sabado Gigante. TeleFutura, owned drawing on both conventional television and radio
by Univision, attracts the second-largest prime-time content as well as on original commercial and
audiences among the Spanish-language services. amateur sources. The main sources for web series are
Unlike Galavision, a competing cable network, all Hulu.com, blip.tv and revver.com, although YouTube.
three broadcasters produce newscasts and carry com shows some web series, too. These series may have
live and taped sports, especially soccer and tennis short or relatively long lives, but only a very few ever
matches originating outside the United States. appear on over-the-air or cable television.
About 200 cable program networks deliver the The traditional radio networks once offered by
bulk of satellite and cable systems’ content. Cable ABC, CBS and NBC no longer qualify as full-service
networks (called subscription content networks in networks. Those that have not been sold now resem-
Chapter 9) differ in major respects from broadcast ble syndicators, supplying features and program
television networks. In technical delivery, they are sim- inserts such as newscasts. Conversely, some radio
ilar: in both cases a central headquarters (the network) program syndicators supply stations via satellite
assembles programs and distributes them nationwide, with complete schedules of ready-to-air music in var-
using orbiting satellites to reach thousands of cable ious established formats, much like the TV networks
systems and some affiliated stations (CNN Headline supply schedules of programs, except that the sta-
News, for example, goes straight to some stations). tions now pay the radio networks for the content.
But the financial and working relationships Formerly, the radio networks paid the stations to
between broadcasting affiliates and their networks air the commercials (called compensation), but that
and between cable affiliates and their networks dif- system is disintegrating.
fer fundamentally. In addition to retransmitting
broadcast stations, local cable systems supply hun-
dreds of channels of satellite-distributed program-
Syndicated Programs
ming and must deal with hundreds of networks. Local broadcast programmers come into their own
The traditionally symbiotic relationship between when they select syndicated programs for their indi-
each broadcast network and its 210 or so affiliated vidual stations. They draw upon the following
stations does not exist in the cable field. Most sources:
16 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

■ Off-network series. Programs that have reverted Local Production

to their copyright owners after the network that
Local programs are those shows produced “in-
first aired them has used up its contractual num-
house,” usually by professionals on broadcast sta-
ber of plays (increasingly, the networks demand a
tions (such as the local newscasts), but sometimes
share of ownership rights in many of their shows).
homemade by amateurs who find distribution on
These programs used to go directly to stations, but
public access cable and online channels. Local
nowadays such cable networks as TNT, USA and
newscasts play an important role in television and
A&E gobble up many of the best off-network
radio station strategies (but even newscasts, though
dramas while TBS and the newer broadcast net-
locally produced, often contain a great deal of syn-
works—CW and MNTV—take many of the pop-
dicated material as inserts). Aside from news, how-
ular sitcoms to rerun.
ever, locally produced material plays only a minor
■ First-run syndicated series and specials. Programs role as a program source. It is true that all-news,
packaged independently by producers and marketed all-talk, and all-sports radio stations depend almost
directly to individual stations rather than being first entirely on local production, but those formats cost
seen as network shows (for example, Entertainment so much to run and have such a specialized appeal
Tonight, Oprah and Wheel of Fortune). that they remain relatively few in number, exist
■ Feature films. Movies made originally for theatri- only in the larger markets, and do not have televi-
cal exhibition, although this category has dimin- sion counterparts. Stations simply find syndicated
ished because so many movies go to such premium material cheaper to obtain and easier to sell to
cable networks as HBO, Showtime and pay HD advertisers. Localism is more worshipped than
channels. See 1.8. practiced.

1.8
The Uniqueness of Scheduling
Movies, Movies, Movies Of all the programmer’s basic skills, perhaps sched-

O
uling comes closest to qualifying as a unique radio
f all the program types, the feature film is the most and television specialty. Scheduling a station, cable
in demand because of its popularity on so many system, or network is a singularly difficult process,
different delivery systems. The term window—borrowed and little that is comparable occurs online as yet.
from the world of space flight where it refers to the lim- Even with hundreds of competing channels, the
ited time-space openings when conditions are just right availability of the web, and the proliferation of
for launching rockets—has been applied to the release
remote controls and digital video recorders, the
sequence by which feature films reach their various
audience for one show normally influences adjacent
markets. First, of course, comes the traditional window of
programs. The influence can be to build up adjacent
theatrical release—films are either simultaneously
program audiences or to drag them down. Effective
released in several thousand theaters throughout the
scheduling requires understanding one’s own and
country or put out in stages of “limited release.” Next in
the usual order of priority come releases through the
one’s competitors’ coverage patterns, market and
windows of DVD and pay-per-view cable, then regular audience demographics. Most broadcast stations in
pay cable, then broadcast networks, and finally general a market compete directly for viewers and advertis-
broadcast and cable syndication. Prices for licenses ing dollars, but some viewers are more desirable
(and rentals) decrease at each stage of release as pro- than others, and programmers at stations without
ducts age and lose their timeliness. However, studios a network affiliation or with only a poor affiliation
sporadically experiment with different release cycles for are disadvantaged compared with those program-
specialized movies to see what makes more profit. mers who deliver the most popular network
programs.
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 17

Cable system programmers have different pro- programs, the fan clubs and even the program stars
blems. They have to weigh the claims of competing themselves. Unlike most blog and podcast sites,
services for specific channel locations. Being reposi- these are sophisticated promotional sites created to
tioned (moved to a higher channel number) used to capture attention, generate buzz and feed the fans’
be a very contentious issue between stations and yearning for closer contact with programs and their
cable until the FCC mandated that broadcasters get stars. Commercial interests sponsor most of these
the same digital and analog cable channel numbers sites. Not to be outdone, this textbook itself has a
that they used for their over-the-air channels. section within www.wadsworth.com!
This FCC decision, combined with widespread Fred Silverman, a giant in network program-
adoption of digital cable, has pretty much made ming history, understood that how programs were
channel positions a nonissue. Nonetheless, if posi- promoted was as important as how they were sched-
tions are vacant, cable operators prefer to give the uled. The allocation of immensely valuable airtime
choicest positions—the lowest in a group because to program promotion each year on every network
they are easiest to remember—to the most popular and station is clear evidence that the industry is con-
(or most lucrative) services, whether they are broad- vinced of the truism that the best program without
cast or cable-only. Cable operators especially favor promotion has no audience. If the audience doesn’t
the cable channels owned all or in part by their par- know what day, what time and what channel a pro-
ent corporations. gram is on, the old viewers who miss the show will
have a profound impact on the ratings; if new view-
ers don’t see many exciting promos that convince
The Need for Promotion them to watch a network’s shows, their absence
The broadcast and cable networks forgo billions of will certainly also have a profound impact on
dollars in advertising revenue in order to promote ratings.
their programs on their own air, interrupting pro- It is crucial to understand that just a ratings
grams with clusters of promos and cluttering the point or two stands between the number one and
bottom of the screen with animated program remin- number three broadcast network in most years
ders. Such on-air marketing is essential for interest- (and maybe just a point more to number four). Pro-
ing viewers in new programs and new episodes of motion on and off the air is vital to maintaining and
continuing series, and for retaining audiences by increasing standing in that elite group. The same
making them feel satisfied with the program array. situation occurs among cable networks and at the
In addition, millions are spent on paid program local level. Cable networks vie to be among the
advertising appearing in other media, and on mar- top 10 (or top 25), but most differ by only fractions
keting endeavors in cooperation with such retailers of a ratings point. The slight advantage given by
as Kmart or McDonald’s. Stations also cosponsor effective promotion can be the difference between
concerts and sporting events to attract audiences to making that top list and falling to some lower
local television and radio programs. grouping, and advertisers typically buy by grouping.
At the same time, having a presence in the Local stations often vary only minutely in popular-
online world has become a necessity for all ten ity, too, and a great deal of promotion of a newscast
broadcast networks. First PBS and then the five big- or radio format can boost one station above its
gest commercial networks—ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC competitors.
and UNI—developed huge multimedia sites on the Promotion of online programs takes a different
web, and the major studios and most cable networks form nowadays. It largely consists of gaining
followed suit. Television and radio enthusiasts can favored placement in Google lists and other created
now point-and-click their way through myriad listings of favorites or types of sites. Virtually all top
home pages designed by the networks, their affili- placement is purchased on Google, at least under
ates, the studios, the major cable channels, the generic terms. This revenue contributes to a large
18 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

part of a search engine’s income. Placement is no breaking for lunch; enjoying an afternoon lull;
longer luck of the draw or someone’s idiosyncratic engaging with children after they return from
whim except perhaps on individuals’ sites. school; accelerating the tempo of home activities as
Networks, stations, systems and sites are also the day draws to a close; relaxing during early prime
concerned with their overall images. Increasingly, time; and indulging in the more exclusively adult
fostering positive images around the world has interests of later prime time, the late fringe hours
value in building audiences for exported programs and the small hours of the morning. And, of course,
and associated products (this is called branding). compatibility calls for adapting to the changed activ-
Google and Apple have world recognition as brand ity schedules of Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
names at least as widely known as those of Disney, Programmers speak of these strategies in terms of
CBS, Fox, NBC and the biggest movie studios, and dayparting—scheduling different types of programs
they allot enormous budgets to increasing and main- to match parts of the day known by such terms as
taining those brand names. Promotion, then, is one early fringe, prime time and in the case of radio,
path through the labyrinth leading to high visibility, drivetime.
high ratings and thus high revenue. Cable television’s approach to compatibility has
historically differed from broadcasting’s approach.
Each broadcast station or network has traditionally
The Elements of Programming had only a single channel at its disposal (even if it
shows up on two or three places in the electronic
The various strategies for selecting, scheduling, guide with different numbers). In consequence,
promoting and evaluating programs are derived broadcast programmers must plan compatibility
from a set of assumptions about audience behavior. strategies for what they judge to be the “typical”
These broad assumptions, which are here organized lifestyles of audiences. Most cable networks target
into five groups, become the basis for strategies cap- more narrowly. Like the internet, an entire cable or
italizing on them, even in the changing media satellite system accommodates so many channels
environment: that it can devote some to every type of audience
at all hours, ignoring dayparts. They can cater to the
■ Compatibility
night-shift worker with sports at 6 A.M., to the
■ Habit formation single-person household with movies at 6 P.M., to
■ Control of audience flow the teenager with round-the-clock videos—by using
■ Conservation of program resources a different channel to serve each interest.
The daily share of viewing of the Big Four broad-
■ Breadth of appeal
cast television networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC) fell
below the combined viewing of cable channels several
Compatibility years ago. Broadcasters’ economics—and thus clout—
Scheduling strategies take advantage of the fact that have diminished dramatically because in such large
programs can be timed to coincide with what people metropolitan areas as New York City cable/satellite
do throughout the daily cycle of their lives. The con- penetration has reached 91 percent.
tinuously unfolding nature of radio and television Even so, many cable channels effectively shut
allows programmers to schedule different kinds of down their program services during low-viewing
program material, or similar program materials in dayparts (for example, 3 to 7 A.M.) and let infomer-
different ways, into various dayparts. Programmers cials reign. The owners find it hard to resist the
strive to make their programming compatible with guaranteed advertising income from program-
the day’s round of what most people do—getting length commercials at a time of day when the audi-
up in the morning and preparing for the day; driving ence size is both too small to attract mainstream
to work; doing the morning household chores; advertisers and not large enough to generate viewer
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 19

complaints that the usual shows are missing. By con- more year) to accumulate enough episodes for a
trast, internet use climbs when television is weakest. year’s stripping in syndication (including a substantial
number of reruns). Because few weekly shows survive
five years of prime-time competition, the industry
Habit Formation periodically faces a nagging shortage of quality off-
Compatibility strategies acquire even greater power network programs suitable for syndication. Syndi-
because audience members form habits of listening cated game shows, such as the long-running Jeopardy
and watching. Scheduling programs for strict and Wheel of Fortune, fill the gap. Necessarily, cable
predictability (along with promotional efforts to networks also pick up shows that had short runs, but
make people aware of both the service as a whole for lower licensing prices.
and of individual programs) establishes tuning Cable has adopted different patterns. Especially
habits that eventually become automatic. Indeed, in when just starting out, networks such as FX and
spite of having DVRs, some people will go to Oxygen stripped sitcoms not only day to day but
extraordinary lengths to avoid missing the next epi- across most of each evening until their revenues per-
sode in a favorite series the moment it is aired. Pro- mitted more variety in programs. Networks such as
grammers discovered the basic principle in the early A&E, USA and TNT also strip expensive hit dramas
days of radio when the Amos ‘n’ Andy habit became that are freshly off-network in early evenings and
so strong that movie theaters in the 1930s shut prime time.
down their pictures temporarily and hooked radios No one knows whether audiences find them-
into their sound systems at 7:15 P.M. when Amos ‘n’ selves more comfortable with the structured, compat-
Andy came on. At about that time the fanatic loyalty ible, predictable scheduling of traditional television
of soap opera fans to their favorite series also than with a multitude of digital programming
became apparent, a loyalty still cultivated by today’s choices. Researchers investigating channel repertoire
televised serial dramas. have often observed that, when scores of options are
Ideally, habit formation calls for stripping pro- available to listeners and viewers, most tune in to
grams—scheduling them Monday through Friday at only eight or so of the possible sources. For example,
the same time each day, just as evening news is for many years, when Nielsen Media Research sur-
stripped daily on network-affiliated stations. To veyed homes with access to 200 or more television
strip original prime-time programs, however, channels, it used to find consistently that viewers
would require building up a backlog of these expen- watched only about 15 of them for more than one
sive shows, which would tie up far too much capital. hour per week. Which 15 varies by household, of
Moreover, networks want maximum latitude for course. (Nielsen no longer tries to measure repertoire
strategic maneuvers in the all-important prime-time because the definition of “channel” has become so
schedule. If a broadcast network stripped its three slippery.) The increased variety of program choices
prime-time hours with the same six half-hour made possible by digital cable/satellite television and
shows each night, it would be left with only six DVRs seems to have weakened viewing habits. Only
pawns to move around in the scheduling chess about half of viewers (mostly women) choose in
game instead of the two dozen or so pawns that advance the programs they watch. The other half
the weekly scheduling of programs of varying plays with the remote control.
lengths makes possible. Even so, some people may sometimes prefer to
When weekly prime-time network shows go into have only a limited number of choices. They find it
syndication, however, stations and cable networks confusing and wearying to sift through scores of
schedule them daily in strips (one episode daily at options before settling on a program. We’ve all
the same time), a strategy requiring a large number run across the complaint about having hundreds
of episodes. A prime-time series has to have been on a of channels and nothing to watch! Broadcast
network for four years (with the prospect of one scheduling, as a consequence of compatibility
20 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

strategies and a tendency toward habit formation,

preselects a varied sequence of listening and view- 1.9 Television Versus Books,
ing experiences skillfully adapted to the desires and Newspapers, and Movies
needs of a target audience. People can then choose
an entire service—an overall entertainment pattern
(or “sound” in the case of radio)—rather than indi-
vidual programs.
New technologies like DVRs have increased
C ontrolling audience flow becomes problematic
because listeners and viewers have freedom of
choice. Unlike a consumer faced with the limited deci-
sion of whether to buy a book, subscribe to a newspa-
time shifting but are not likely to eliminate the aver-
per, or attend a movie, electronic media consumers can
age viewer’s need to form patterns of behavior.
choose instantaneously and repeatedly by switching
Most people are creatures of habit, and television
back and forth among programs at will. Hence, pro-
viewing is an activity that begs for routines. Indeed, grammers cannot count on even the slight self-restraint
DVRs may actually enhance habit formation that keeps a book buyer reading a book or a ticket buyer
because they make it easier to catch all the episodes watching a movie so as not to waste the immediate
of a favorite show, thus strengthening a habit. Graz- investment. And, obviously, the polite social restraint that
ing via remote controls diminishes for those who keeps a bored lecture audience seated does not inhibit
make use of their DVRs: Viewers can watch live radio and television audiences. Programmers have the
TV and fill in the gaps when “nothing good is on” job of holding the attention of a very tenuously commit-
with saved favorites. ted audience. Its members take flight at the smallest
provocation. Boredom or unintelligibility act like a sud-
den shot into a flock of birds.
Control of Audience Flow
The assumption that audiences welcome, or at least
tolerate, preselection of their programs most of the is crucial to the strategies of small-audience channels
time accounts for strategies arising from the notion that seek to direct the flow away from competing
of audience flow. Even in a multichannel environ- channels to themselves.
ment with dozens of choices, the next program in a Fortunately for programmers, when watching
sequence can capture the attention of the viewers of television on large home screens, many audience
the previous program. At scheduling breaks, when members remain afflicted by tuning inertia.
one program comes to an end and another begins, Although hundreds of options often exist in a
programmers visualize the audience as flowing from cable, satellite, online, and tablet environment, peo-
one program to the next in any of three possible ple tend to leave the channel selector alone unless
directions: They try to maximize the number of stimulated into action by some forceful reason for
audience members that flow through to the next change. Many times, viewers are engaged in simulta-
program on their own channel and the number neous activities that preclude a focused attention to
that flow in from rival channels or home video, at what programs might be available on other chan-
the same time minimizing the number that flow nels. Moreover, programmers believe that children
away to competing channels or activities. can be used as a kind of stalking horse: Adults will
Many scheduling practices hinge on this con- tend to leave the set tuned to whatever channel the
cept. Audience flow considerations have tradition- children chose for an earlier program.
ally dominated the strategies of the commercial The greater number of program options pro-
broadcast and cable networks and affiliates (see vided by cable/satellite/telco and online services and
1.9). Blocking several similar comedies in adjacent the convenience of remote controls and DVRs have
time slots, for example, takes advantage of audience certainly lessened—but not eliminated—the effect of
flow. By contrast, counterprogramming (scheduling tuning inertia. Researchers recognize several ways the
programs with differing appeals against each other) audience uses the remote control keypad to
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 21

manipulate programming: grazing, hunting up and

down the channels until one’s attention is captured; 1.10 Reruns

A
flipping, changing back and forth between two chan-
nels; zapping, changing the channel to avoid a com-
nyone who doubts the difficulty of appealing to
mercial interruption; and zipping, fast-forwarding a mass audiences need only consider the experience
recording to avoid commercials or to reach a more of the older media. Of 25,000 to 28,000 new books
interesting point. While grazing has fallen off, jump- printed in any one year, only less than 1 percent sell
ing between two programs (such as two games) and 100,000 or more copies; of 12,000 or so records
zipping through recorded commercials are common- copyrighted, fewer than 200 music recordings go gold;
place. Moreover, the home playback unit has under- of 200 feature film releases, only 5 percent gross the
mined Saturday evening ratings for both broadcast amount of money reckoned as the minimum for breaking
and cable programmers: Huge numbers of viewers even. And yet audiences for these media are small com-
regularly rent DVDs on Saturday nights from Netflix. pared with the nightly prime-time television audience.
Thus, tuning inertia continues as only a modest factor Sometimes audience demands and conservation
to consider in broadcast programming strategies. happily coincide, as when the appetite for a new hit song
Program flow is nearly irrelevant for some for- demands endless replays and innumerable arrange-
mats such as all-news radio, all-weather cable chan- ments. Eventually, however, obsolescence sets in, and
nels, and specialized subscription channels, which the song becomes old hat. Radio and television are
actually invite audience flow in and out. Some for- perhaps the most obvious examples of our throwaway
mats aim not at keeping audiences continuously society. Even the most massively popular and brilliantly
tuned in but at getting them to constantly return. As successful program series eventually loses its freshness
a widely used all-news radio slogan goes, “Give us and goes into the limbo of the umpteenth rerun circuit.
22 minutes, and we’ll give you the world.” One
cable news service used to promote itself in variations A high percentage of the programming on cable
of “All the news in 30 minutes.” The Weather Chan- networks and online consists of repeats of the same
nel doesn’t expect even weather buffs to watch for items. The broadcast networks also schedule plenty of
hours, just to return periodically. reruns and now reuse their shows—repurposing—on
In any case, the overall strategic lesson taught by their other owned broadcast and cable networks and
the freedom-of-choice factor is that programs must online, as well as reformatting them for cells and tablets.
always please, entertain and be easily understood. Material related to the popular programs shows up in
Much elitist criticism of program quality arises simply magazine articles, blogs and talk shows. The internet
because of the democratic nature of the medium. has stimulated production of new programs and pro-
Critics point out that programs must descend to the gram types, but on the whole, online and cable heighten
lowest common denominator of the audience they program scarcity rather than alleviating it.
strive to attract. This fact need not mean the absence One further complicating factor, at least for hit
of program quality. After all, some programs aim at series, is their easy availability on DVD. If someone
elite audiences among whom the lowest common really loves a show, they can buy a whole season or
denominator can be very high indeed. entire multiyear runs as a boxed set and need not
search for it in reruns.
Frugality must be practiced at every level and in
Conservation of Program Resources every aspect of programming. Consider how often
Radio and television notoriously burn up program audiences see or hear “the best of so-and-so,” a com-
materials at a high rate. This is an inevitable conse- pilation of bits and pieces from previous programs;
quence of the continuousness attribute. That fact flashback sequences within programs (especially in
makes program conservation an essential strategy. soap operas); news actualities broken into many seg-
See 1.10. ments and parceled out over a period of several hours
22 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

or days; the annual return of past years’ special- A major aspect of the programmer’s job consists
occasion programs; sports shows patched together of devising ingenious ways to get the maximum mile-
out of stock footage; the weather report broken age out of each program item. One strategy is to
down into separate little packets labeled marine develop formats that require as little new material
forecasts, shuttle-city weather, long-term forecast, as possible for the next episode or program in the
weather update, aviation weather and so on. series; another is to invent clever excuses for repeating
The enormous increase in demand for program old programs over and over; a third, the newest, is to
materials created by the growth of cable television adopt multiplatform strategies for each program as it
and the internet would be impossible to satisfy is conceived. For the best programs, viewers seek
were it not that the multichannel media lend them- more and more experience with each show, its char-
selves to repeating programs much more liberally acters, its plot twists, even merchandise. Programmers
than does single-channel broadcasting. A pay-cable respond to the viewers’ desire for more interactions
channel operates full time by scheduling fewer than by using extensions that may include websites and
50 or so programs a month—mostly movies—and blogs, podcasts and other feedback. Nowadays,
runs each film four to six times. Furthermore, extensions spin off all hit programs. They show up
movies first scheduled one month turn up again in in magazine articles and books while spreading across
the following months in still more reruns, which television in the form of program guests, guest hosts,
pay-cable programmers euphemistically call encores. and guest contestants. In the view of a programmer,
Even the basic cable channels rotate the showing of there’s no end to a good idea.
their movies and series, based on the idea that the Before it ever airs, programmers plan versions
audience at 8 P.M. will be different from the audience of a show for broadcast television, for pay-
at 1 A.M. For example, A&E double-runs (plays the per-view, for various internet locations, for tablets,
same episode of) many of its prime-time series, and for cell phones, for magazines, and so on, although
the internet makes available archives of thousands such multiplatform approaches are usually only
(even millions) of old programs—all of which implemented when a show actually becomes a hit.
makes frugality in sharing and repeating programs The losers—without dedicated cult followings—just
even more crucial. fade away. The point is that any beginner can design
Beginning in the mid-2000s, several of the broad- a winning schedule for a single week on a single
cast television networks began offering regularly channel; a professional has to plan simultaneously
scheduled repeats as part of their prime-time line- for all media as well as for the attrition that inevita-
ups. Borrowing a strategy from cable, the broadcast bly sets in as weeks stretch into the indefinite future.
networks recognized that viewers were accustomed to See 1.11.
having multiple opportunities to see first-run shows
within the same week. “This is inevitable,” said Pre-
ston Beckman, the executive vice president of FOX Breadth of Appeal
Entertainment. “No network can program 22 hours Stations and cable systems recoup their high capi-
any more, or in our case 15 hours.”2 Not surpris- tal investment and operating costs only by appeal-
ingly, the networks chose low-viewing nights for the ing to a wide range of audience interests. This
repeats, conserving the cost of filler programming. statement might seem self-evident, yet for many
Programmers can also make creative use of low- years, some public broadcasters made a virtue out
quality shows. The SyFy Channel features packages of ignoring “the numbers game,” leaving the race
of old monster and ghost movies, and SOAPnet for ratings to commercial broadcasters. But this
replays old daytime soap operas for new generations fundamentally unrealistic viewpoint has given
of fans, just as Nickelodeon reruns old cartoons over way to the strategy of aiming for a high cumulative
and over. Another reuse strategy is evident in pro- number of viewers rather than for high ratings for
grams such as Soap Opera Digest. each individual program. This strategy coincides
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 23

1.11 Ripple Effect TV©

T ruly successful TV programs are so compelling that

they draw an audience that is not content to merely
watch. The audience is hungry to go beyond the passive
programs that people talk about—the ones that show up
most often in the blogosphere. With the ripple effect, the
first broadcast is like a stone dropping in water. The big-
and to commune with others in chat rooms and virtual gest splash occurs at the point of impact, but thereafter the
environments—to post videos, download additional con- ring of concentric circles fans out to ripple across a range of
tent, buy the T-shirt, get updates on tablets and phones, platforms, bringing with it further opportunities to profitably
and so on. If a program creates a deep enough sense of harness the audience’s sense of involvement—to allow that
involvement (which is the currency of all interaction), then a audience to develop itself into a community and to satisfy its
creative extension backed up by a rewarding user experi- desires—before coming back (i.e., to the original TV
ence will respond to that desire for further interaction with show’s next episode) for more.
the program.
The programming for which program extensions work Michael Bloxham, Ph.D.,
Vice President, Trendline Interactive
best can be thought of as Ripple Effect TV©. These are the

with the goal of cable/satellite operators, whose cutting across demographic lines and appealing to
many channels enable them to program to small many different social groups. Network television
audiences on some channels, counting on the can surmount differences of age, sex, education
cumulative reach of all channels to bring in suffi- and lifestyle that would ordinarily segregate people
cient subscriptions to make a profit. The internet into many separate subaudiences.
inherently has this broad reach, although not the
big profits—as yet.
The national television broadcasting networks A Model of Programming
continue to “cast” their programs across the land
from coast to coast with the aim of filling the entire As pointed out earlier, the process of actually doing the
landscape. Of course, no network expects to capture job of programming divides into four major parts.
all the available viewers. A top-rated prime-time First, programmers must select programs to go into a
program draws between 10 and 15 percent of program lineup—and separate lineups may be needed
the available audience, although extraordinary for large home screens, for tablets, or for online ser-
programs get nearly double that proportion of vices. Then they must schedule the programs in an
viewers. arrangement that maximizes the likelihood of their
Nevertheless, by any standard, audiences for being viewed by the desired audience. Next, they must
prime-time broadcast television networks are enor- promote them to attract attention to new shows and
mous. Although the audience shares of the Big Four new episodes of series and tell viewers where to find
broadcast networks had dropped from 90 percent of the shows. Finally, they must continually evaluate the
viewers to less than 40 percent by 2012, a single outcome of their decisions. These complex decision-
program can still draw an audience so large it making processes of selection, scheduling, and promo-
could fill a Broadway theater every night for a cen- tion, modified by feedback from evaluation, ultimately
tury. It is important to understand that a rating of determine the size and composition of the audience and
10 still means more than 10 million households are suggest a series of pictorial models.
watching a program, and since households average The model in 1.12 shows each of the major
2.6 people, that means that 26 million people components exerting a proportional influence on
watched a show. Such size can be achieved only by the resulting audience. The model shows that the
24 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

popularity. For all-news and talk radio and televi-

1.12 Basic Four-Part Programming
sion, scheduling surfaces as the arena of competition
Model
and ongoing dynamism. For emerging web series
channels, selection remains the key component.
Selection Scheduling Promotion Audience If the model in 1.12 appears mechanistic, that is
50% 30% 20% Size quite misleading. Even after more than a half cen-
tury of concentrated attention, programming
remains as much an art as a science. And nowhere
is that more evident than in the enormous wealth of
online programming. As the subsequent chapters
Evaluation will reveal, at all stages the processes and outcomes
of programming are affected by the sparkle of
insight, imagination and inspiration.
Reprinted by permission of Milton Hamburger.

Selection
selection component contributes roughly 50 percent The figure shown in 1.13 illustrates some of the
to ratings; the scheduling component contributes many components affecting the selection stage for
about 30 percent; and the promotion component electronic media that are spelled out in the following
contributes about 20 percent. These proportions, chapters. For the broadcast networks, these compo-
however, vary widely for particular media, for par- nents include the scarcity of top-notch writers, the
ticular programs, for different times of day, and even high financial risk of trying markedly different pro-
at different times in media history. gram ideas, and the escalating costs per episode for
Selection, for instance, was probably much the onscreen and off-screen talent. For cable net-
more important and promotion much less important works, the same factors are important for choosing
in the 1950s when CBS and NBC dominated televi- programs, as is the need, usually, to target an under-
sion viewing. Increasing competition in television served audience group. As significant as individual
came first from ABC and later from FOX, then
from cable, then from even more broadcast net-
1.13 Selection Factors
works (UPN and the WB which later merged into
CW). Then PAX morphed into Ion, UNI grew up
and added TeleFutura, Telemundo added viewers, Au
d ien y
and FOX invented MNTV. Now the internet, tablets ce v elt
and smart phones compete directly with broadcast ha
bit No
s
television, altering the relative importance of each Selection
component in the television programming process.
Moreover, scheduling has to be understood as oper- Tre
ndin
ating now across the various media. Overall, compe- s t ess
Co
Dif
y

Talent availability

tition has boosted the importance of promotion and

ilit

fer
tib

diminished the salience of scheduling, especially for

en
pa

new programs and new services.

tia
m

tio
Co

In contrast to television, for popular all-music

n

radio stations promotion is sometimes the most sig-

nificant component in the determination of radio
audience size and composition. On-air contests and
games have a great deal to do with music station Reprinted by permission of Milton Hamburger.
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 25

programs are, even more important is the overall elements, the amount of inherited viewing between
composite that creates a “format” for the cable or adjacent programs, has been consistently shown to
radio channel or internet site. hover around 50 percent in prime time. This means
Additional factors that affect the selection of that half of the viewers watching Program B on a
programs for cable and satellite networks include channel had already watched Program A on that
the need for differentiation from competing chan- channel.3 Program B’s other viewers come from
nels, costs relative to other program types, and the other channels or are newly tuned in for the evening.
ability to capture space on local cable or satellite Inheritance, however, is known to be much lower
systems to reach an audience. On the internet, imag- between incompatible programs and between nonad-
inative designs and antiauthority appeals to teen and jacent programs. Few of the viewers of a romantic
young adults are key elements. drama, for example, would choose to stay tuned for
In radio and online music programming, enor- a violent action movie.
mous efforts go into choosing the songs that appeal Moreover, inheritance is dramatically lower
to a particular demographic and psychographic outside of prime time. One big exception is between
group. Whether they are called music directors or two adjacent soap operas, when inherited viewing
programmers, the crucial task of the people making usually goes up. By contrast, only 10 percent of tele-
these efforts is to find and keep current the songs vision viewers are likely to flow from program to
that the audience will tune in to hear. program in the morning daypart because of the
other activities and obligations of their daily lives—
going to work, for example.
Scheduling In radio, careful attention to each nuance of
It has been long understood that the size of song rotation and news story rotation leads to ongo-
the prime-time television audience is affected by ing scheduling adjustments. Similar attention to
the amount and type of competing programs, the detail is required of online music and video, but as
amount of viewing inherited from preceding pro- Chapter 4 explains, most of early focus was on the
grams, and the compatibility between adjacent technology, and scheduling strategies have only
programs (see 1.14). The most studied of these recently gotten attention and continue to alter as
they seem successful or unsuccessful. Most websites
schedule by topic, genre or alphabetical name.
YouTube and its many imitators let viewers know
1.14 Scheduling Factors which clips and shows are “most recent” or “most
popular” so that users can go directly to that
Ha n programming.
mm tio
ock peti Ordering by title or recency also applies to sites
ing m
Co that replay actual television shows (Netflix, Hulu and
Scheduling Hulu Plus, Crackle, TV-4-PC.com, your-free-satellite.
Inh com, free-internet-tv.com, the-free-tv.com, and vari-
eri ous iPad apps). Counts of hits reveal movements,
ted
ng vie and measures of time-spent-watching a show tell the
cki wi
Blo ng presumed length of viewing (only presumed because
ity
bil

computer users are often doing more than one thing

Ra
ati

nk

simultaneously), but content on many sites that might

mp

ing

be called “programs” doesn’t divide into tidy half-

Co

hour-long and hour-long parcels. To date, systems

haven’t been refined for counting what’s watched
Reprinted by permission of Milton Hamburger. on smart phones, for example.
26 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

Promotion At local stations and at national and global networks,

a static program lineup tends to lose ground, while
The figure shown in 1.15 names some characteristics
ongoing refinements help to maintain and even
that impact the effectiveness of promotional spots on
increase audience size. This shifting of program
the air—such as the location of spots within a pro-
times much irritates habitual viewers!
gram, the position of those spots within breaks, the
In 1.16, evaluation has a wide range of consti-
distance between the promotion and the promoted
tuents, some directly related to program audiences
program (Next? Later tonight? Next week? Next
and others of larger social scope. For example, the
month?), and the familiarity of the program to view-
success of the competing programs affects a pro-
ers or listeners. Such considerations as the physical
grammer’s interpretation of ratings. A show with
environment of a message, the number of people
low ratings scheduled against a megahit on another
reached, and the frequency of seeing or hearing the
channel might well be considered reasonably suc-
message also affect the efficacy of both on-air and
cessful, whereas the same show in a less challenging
print promotion. Program promotion is constantly
location would be expected to perform much better
manipulated in the struggle to gain and hold ratings.
in the ratings. Consider, for example, the inherent
difficulty of trying to target men viewers (on net-
Evaluation works other than the one with Monday Night Foot-
Programmers must constantly appraise programs ball) on Monday nights during football season.
using ratings, hits or other measures, interpreted by In addition, the programmers’ specific assump-
the honed instincts and experience of the programmer. tions about an audience’s behavior and viewing or
Here, evaluation refers to the ongoing interpretation listening motivations affect how programs are
of quantitative information and qualitative judgments selected, scheduled and promoted. In one town, for
that results in revisions of show selections, changes in example, workers start and end their jobs early,
the scheduling of already selected programs, and mod- making afternoons a good time to program to
ifications in their promotion. One important result of them, whereas in another town, companies have var-
increased competition from cable and new broadcast
networks, as well as from the internet, has been to
drive the process of programming into constant flux. 1.16 Evaluation Factors

1.15 Promotion Factors

ce levels
Toleran Au
Clu di
tte ity en
r iliar ce
es

Fam
sh
yl

ar
st

e
n
sig

Promotion
De

Evaluation
s

Dis
nd

Tec
on tan
tre

ati ce hn
olo
e

c
Lo
nr

gy
Ge
Co
cy

nst
en

lue
Stock va
ruc
qu

tio
Fre

Reprinted by permission of Milton Hamburger. Reprinted by permission of Milton Hamburger.

 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 27

ied schedules, lessening impact on the number of radio stations. Other factors that programmers must
available afternoon viewers. Consider how complex constantly scope out are the trends in popularity of
programming would be in a country where the peo- particular program genres, fads in star performers,
ple speak not just one or two but 11 different lan- styles in design and sound effects, and so on. The pro-
guages (see 1.17 for a description of television in grammer’s nearly unconscious awareness of what is
South Africa today). going to become popular and his or her ability to cap-
Programmers’ understanding of the impact and ture it in programming decisions comprise much of
use of the newest technologies is also vital. Smart what is meant by the creative side of programming.
phones and tablets, as well as DVRs, have much Although some critics have decried the constant
affected the processes of program selection and changes in television program lineups in the last dec-
scheduling, and the growth of online music listening ades, industry experience suggests that ongoing
has altered the strategies of traditional broadcast change is essential. Programmers tend to assume
that audiences—especially the highly desirable
young adults—are fickle, have short attention
1.17 Television in Many Languages spans, become easily bored, follow fads, and find

W
other forms of entertainment. It may be that many
program ideas (and songs) wear out and become
ith a population of just 46 million people, South
stale more rapidly than in the past, partly resulting
Africa has only five national television channels
from clones, reruns, repeat plays of music, or web
and no regional channels. Of these five, the South African
chat about a series or song. It may be that perfor-
Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), similar to the BBC in
mers peak for a shorter time than in the past as a
Britain and the CBC in Canada, programs and distributes
three channels nationwide. These channels have to serve
result of constant media attention. It may also be
a population that speaks 11 different languages, and that programmers perceive their careers to depend
although much of the audience is bi- or multilingual, a on identifying and eliminating tiny flaws in program
large proportion does not understand English. lineups and formats. Whatever the reason, ongoing
Most of SABC’s programs are nonetheless in English, feedback from the evaluation process is a critical
including such American daytime and prime-time shows component of the programming process.
as Oprah, The District, and The Bold and the Beautiful. In sum, the basic model of selection, scheduling,
South African–made “soapies” and mini-dramas are also promotion, and evaluation guides the approaches to
very popular. Within these shows, programmers mix specific programming situations that appear in sub-
languages and also use English subtitling to overcome sequent chapters of this book. Collectively, the main
the language problem. To serve educational and politi- model and its parts (1.12 to 1.16) illustrate some
cal needs, national and international news is broadcast major components of the programming process
in 7 of the 11 languages at various times and on differ- that vary in the strategies for specific situations.
ent channels. As you might imagine, scheduling These strategies, as well as the commonplace prac-
becomes an enormous challenge! tices of programming—and the magical creative ele-
The two competing (non-SABC) channels in South ment—are the topics of this book.
Africa broadcast only in English, although one of them,
e-tv, presently attracts the second-largest audience in the
country. The other is a subscription (pay) movie channel. External Influences on
All five of South Africa’s television channels carry
advertisements.
Programmers
Daan van Vuuren Beyond learning the nuts-and-bolts programming
Former Director of Audience Research SABC, South Africa framework, the novice programmer must deal with
Reprinted by kind permission of Linda van Vuuren. strong external pressures that powerfully—at times—
affect decision making, for good or ill. Five sets of
28 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

influences are outlined briefly in the following sections. Another huge technological influence is the
Because the distribution system influences the kinds of inevitable creeping convergence of computers, tele-
programming chosen, technological issues are consid- phones and television. There is little doubt that the
ered first. Without money (economic influences), of various media have begun to come together in and
course, there can be no widespread development of out of the home. For example, the merging of per-
new technologies. From economics flows some kind sonal communication assistants (Palm Pilots, Black-
of structure, creating ownership influences. Whenever Berrys, Treos and their clones, best known by the
corporations and economies get in the way of individ- older name of PDAs) with cell phones and tablets
ual rights, governments create regulatory influences. and Wi-Fi internet access signaled the arrival of por-
Finally, this chapter discusses what is morally right table web/television (see Chapter 4). Surprisingly,
about the work of a programmer (ethical influences). convergence came to handheld devices before it
For example, does the end (ratings success) justify the fully arrived in living rooms!
means (pandering to fickle viewers)?

Economic Influences
Technological Influences There is a saying in business: “Good, fast, cheap—
The long-term effect of media digitization has been to choose two.” The idea that quality, speed and price
lessen station dependence on traditional national cannot all occur at the same time is also true for pro-
networks for television and radio programming, gramming. If most programming is like cheap fast
both as sources of original material and of off- food, then we should not be surprised that the quality
network syndicated material; indeed, it tends also to is not high. The cost of extremely well-executed pro-
reduce the number of local stations (see Chapter 8). gramming is high, and only two or three new TV
The development of HD dramatically affected view- series survive through a second season or longer (see
ers’ choice of channels, and 3D is next. Although 3D Chapter 2). Each year, program development costs
is attracting top-notch production talent, relatively hundreds of millions of dollars. In other businesses
little makes it all the way to home television receivers it is known as Research and Development. In televi-
as yet. The newest portables can display entire televi- sion it is called failure, or futility, or a wasteland.
sion broadcasts, and some run on solar power. The The high failure rate of television programs
broadcast networks may be the biggest guys on the attracts constant attention in newspapers and maga-
block, but they find themselves less able to invest in zines and in TV news and talk shows like Entertain-
high-cost series programming because of the audi- ment Tonight, but when television shows are
ence’s shift to watching cable networks, playing compared to other sources of entertainment, such
back rented and purchased DVDs and downloads, as movies, books and Broadway plays, the TV fail-
and playing games on the internet for long hours. ure rate does not seem so serious. The kinds of pro-
Contributing to this audience erosion is the grams prevalent at any given time can be directly
increased difficulty of persuading affiliates to clear all linked to economics. Some programs can be pro-
requested time for network schedules. At one time the duced cheaply: soaps, game shows, talk shows, real-
networks had considerable leverage over affiliates ity formats and tabloid news. In each case, there is
because the networks leased the coaxial-microwave little expense involved because there is no need for
relays that were the sole real-time program distribution top-name stars or sophisticated writing. These
system. Clearances of network programs were virtually shows may not win many awards, but they create
automatic then. Now, however, satellites give affiliates audience demand without incurring huge costs.
many alternate sources of instantaneous delivery at rea- Economic pressures also include the cost of wait-
sonable cost. All this encourages the emergence of new ing for a show to “grow” into its time slot. Consider-
program providers. Nonnetwork group owners play a able lore has evolved about several programs that had
prominent role among them. early low ratings and might never have become
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 29

successful but that were, for various reasons, allowed parent corporation. As Chapter 2 explains, to boost
to stay on the networks’ schedules despite their rat- profits, when networks have a strong show, they give
ings. Some shows seem to need incubation time to it their best time slot. When they have a strong show
“find an audience.” Amazing Grace was such a in a weak time slot, they often sell it to others (as
series, almost getting cancelled several times before Warner Brothers did with Friends to NBC). If a
rising in the ratings in the fifth year. Some program time slot is strong but the owned show is weak, the
producers feel that the audience never gets a chance network normally tries to buy better programs from
to discover some shows because cancellations come others. If both the show and the time slot are weak,
too quickly because so many millions of dollars are at then the network should recycle its own library (old
stake. movies) or buy cheap reality shows.
In addition, a situation can arise where a show Ownership also directly affects programmers
is canceled even when it finishes among the top at the lower levels of the hierarchy. Nowadays,
shows for the week. Anyone who remembers The nearly all broadcast stations and cable systems
Single Guy or Jesse will realize that some successful belong to companies that own far more than one
shows owe most of their success to the preceding station or system. The profitability of broadcast
program. If the lead-in show has a huge audience, and cable investments attracts corporate buyers,
even a precipitous falloff can leave a strong audience who gain important economies of scale from mul-
share for the weaker following program, but pro- tiple ownership. Because they can buy centrally in
grammers want shows that maintain or build the large quantities, they can get reduced prices for
audience shares from the preceding shows. As Chap- many kinds of purchases, including programs. Cur-
ter 2 explains, programs that “drop share” are can- rent Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
celed, regardless of seemingly high rankings. and Justice Department policies encourage the for-
mation of multimedia companies and very large,
diversified conglomerates, making group owner-
Ownership Influences ship the pattern of the industry. Although the failed
To function in media programming, it is necessary to merger between AOL and Time Warner was the
know who the major players are. The six media first signal of the web’s to major-player stakes,
giants in 1.18 are the companies that have enormous now Google and Facebook loom over the entire
interests throughout broadcasting, cable and the industry. And although AT&T owns only cable
internet. The major commercial television studios systems and phone lines, its executives ponder con-
and producers appear in 1.19. As these charts show, tent ownership, for sure.
these big companies own powerful media interests In broadcasting, the owner of two or more sta-
and combine production, distribution and exhibition tions within a given type (AM, FM, TV) is called a
of programs—the condition called vertical integ- group owner, while in cable television the owner of
ration. The expansion of these mega-corporations three or more cable systems is called a multiple sys-
into all aspects of media was an outcome of the repeal tem operator (MSO). To group MSOs with satellite
of the financial interest and network syndication rules and telephone companies that deliver television, the
(Fin-Syn). broader term multichannel video programming dis-
Because much of media content is produced by tributor (MVPD) applies. About three-quarters of
network-run or network-owned studios, program- the nearly 1,300 commercial American television
mers must make difficult choices among competing stations are under group control (one-third are con-
company interests when acquiring shows. Enhancing trolled by the top 25 groups), and big groups control
the parent corporation’s stock market value usually about three-quarters of the 12,000 U.S. radio sta-
outweighs the importance of higher ratings on a par- tions. In cable, the percentage of systems is even
ticular channel, and executives at the highest levels higher, with more than 90 percent owned by an
are generally focused on maximizing revenue to the MVPD.
30 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

1.18 The Players

 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 31

1.19 The Producers

T he veteran movie and television producers were tradi-

tionally the Big Seven studios of the Hollywood enter-
tainment motion picture industry until Sony bought MGM-
Federal Communications Commission in 2003 to require
that the broadcast networks buy 25 percent of their content
from independent producers. Instead, now the networks
UA in 2004 (reducing the seven to six). Currently, the have some kind of ownership in 100 percent of what they
Big Six studios are Sony (Columbia TriStar, MGM), Walt air, at least in prime time. Moreover, the five major
Disney Studios (Buena Vista, Miramax, Touchstone), Para- networks now require company ownership in all that their
mount (CBS), 20th Century Fox (News Corp.), NBCUni- O&Os buy in the syndication marketplace. This may be full
versal, and Warner Brothers (CW)—though many would or partial participation, but as you can imagine, the eco-
focus on the main four: Columbia TriStar, NBCUniversal, nomics of independent production are no longer
20th Century Fox, and Paramount. “independent.”
In addition, the independent production houses make This pie-splitting situation has driven buyouts and mer-
Hollywood their base of operations. Among independent gers and will soon kill off some production companies…if it
producers, Wolf Films, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach, hasn’t already. As examples, consider the independent
WorldWide Pants, David E. Kelley and Steven Bochco producers listed above. As of 2010, Wolf Films’ television
used to be regular and prolific producers for the networks arm was officially “associated” with NBCUniversal, as was
and the syndication market. But independents are increas- WorldWide Pants. David E. Kelley now does not do pro-
ingly being acquired by large studios, as when New World duction on his own, instead working mainly for FOX or
bought Stephen Cannell Productions, Viacom purchased ABC. Steven Bochco, while still listed as an independent
DreamWorks, King World Productions went to CBS after its producer, no longer has any dealings with broadcasting.
split-up from Viacom, and Witt/Thomas Productions was Witt/Thomas, a company that can trace its history back to
taken over by Warner Brothers. Not much is left. the beginnings of television in the 1950s, has been taken
Consider the prime-time lineup in 2003–04. According over by Warner Brothers. Like Steven Bochco, Carsey-
to the Coalition for Program Diversity, that season CBS Werner-Mandabach refused to sell and found its television
owned 98 percent of its programming. FOX owned 80
market dried up. It no longer exists.
percent, ABC owned over 70 percent, and NBCUniversal
owned nearly 60 percent of prime-time programming. The William J. Adams, Ph.D.
Coalition for Program Diversity unsuccessfully lobbied the Kansas State University

Group ownership of the right stations in the Each of the Big Four television networks and
right markets can be remarkably profitable. ABC, CW (jointly owned by CBS and Time Warner) now
CBS, FOX and NBC’s owned-and-operated stations has about 200 affiliates and owned stations. MyNet-
(O&Os) constitute the most prominent group- workTV (MNTV) has about 165 affiliates, and Tel-
owned constellations. The O&Os of just ABC, emundo (owned by NBC) has about 145, while ION
CBS, FOX or NBC in the top three markets— (formerly Pax) had somewhat less reach at about
WABC, WCBS, WNYW and WNBC in New York; 100 affiliates and soon became a syndicator rather
KABC, KCBS, KTTV and KNBC in Los Angeles; than a network.
WLS, WBBM, WFLD and WMAQ in Chicago— Perhaps surprisingly, although it is the fifth
gross more revenue than any other groups. FOX, strongest network overall in ratings, Univision has
currently with the largest potential television reach, just about 50 affiliates, as does its owned co-
is owned by Rupert Murdoch, the international network, TeleFutura (see Chapters 2 and 7). In
media magnate (see 1.20). those 50 markets, Univision’s ratings often exceed
32 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

1.20 Rupert Murdoch and News Corp.*

N ews Corp. (which might easily be called the FOX

Empire) is a giant among giants. Its annual revenue is
nearly $35 billion, making News Corp. the third largest
■ Newspaper and information holdings include The
Wall Street Journal (in America and Asia), the Dow
Jones Newswires, The Times and The Sun in Europe,
entertainment media conglomerate in America, barely and almost 150 titles in Australia.
behind only the Walt Disney Company (approximately ■ The company owns HarperCollins Publishers in the
$40 billion) and Comcast NBCUniversal (estimated western English-speaking world (U.S., Canada,
$65 billion combined in January 2011, and yes, Europe, New Zealand, Australia), and 40 percent of
NBCUniversal is now one word). HarperCollins India.
News Corporation’s holdings are vast. The annual ■ Digital media holdings include MySpace.com and the
report shows divisions in countries around the world for websites for all Fox shows (e.g., AmericanIdol.com,
filmed entertainment, television, cable network program- TheSimpsons.com).
ming, direct broadcast satellite television, newspapers and ■ News Corp. even owns 32 percent of Hulu and
information services, integrated marketing services, book 50 percent of the National Rugby League in Australia
publishing and more. A sampling of media properties illus- and New Zealand. (It once owned the Los Angeles
trates how vast the Fox Empire is. Dodgers, too.)
■ It owns all things 20th Century Fox, including film and The “fox” who controls this vast media empire is Rupert
television studios and distribution, music recording
Murdoch (born Keith Rupert Murdoch on March 11, 1931),
and publishing, product licensing and merchandising,
an Australian turned naturalized American (in 1985) who
Fox Searchlight Pictures and more.
began his media career with one newspaper in Adelaide.
■ It operates all things FOX, including broadcast and
Like all hugely successful moguls, Murdoch receives frequent
cable networks, which cover the Fox Broadcasting
criticism. A large scandal rocked his empire in the summer of
Company—one of the “Big Four” networks along with
2011 when one of his British publications, News of the
ABC, CBS and NBC in America—plus MyNetworkTV,
World, was implicated for illegally obtaining information
FoxSports, 27 owned-and-operated TV stations, many
other Fox channels around the world, Fox News, FX, and invading privacy, including bribing and phone hacking.
Fox Movie Channel, Speed, Fuel TV, FSN, a number The allegation that tipped the scale was hacking into the
of sports programs and networks globally, the STAR voice mail of murdered teenager Milly Dowler, possibly
channels in Asia, Sky Italia in Europe, 39 percent of deleting messages and leading her parents to think she was
British Sky Broadcasting, various percentages of the still alive. The tabloid closed its doors, publishing its last
National Geographic channels globally and more. issue on July 10, 2011. Soon after, News Corp. dropped

those of all other networks. Of course, how big each broadcast group owners generally employ a head-
station’s market is determines how many people can quarters executive to oversee and coordinate pro-
see the broadcasts, although cable channels spread gramming functions at owned stations with varying
reach even further. Some of the advantages and dis- degrees of decentralization.
advantages of group ownership are spelled out in As for cable, the days of adding and swapping
1.21. bunches of new systems has largely passed. The
Because broadcast stations have a legal obliga- largest MSOs focus instead on competing with
tion to serve their specific communities of license, phone companies such as AT&T and Verison (its
group owners must necessarily give their outlets a FiOS service supplies video; see Chapter 3). Systems
certain amount of latitude in programming deci- tend to create geographically close groupings, thus
sions, especially decisions that affect obligations to generating savings in management. Some MSOs
serve local community interests. Beyond that, have given slightly more autonomy to their local
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 33

its $12 billion bid to acquire the remaining shares of “a catalyst for change” in media. One implication is that,
British Sky Broadcasting. Rupert and his son, James, were while a few people always condemn new ideas, the suc-
called to testify before a British Parliamentary Committee cess of his enterprises demonstrates that hundreds of mil-
regarding the allegations. Murdoch denied responsibility lions want to buy his programs, services and publications.
for what happened, arguing that the decisions were made Another implication is that his successes have forced others
by those he trusted. However, he did say he was in the media business to change, too… and perhaps not
“shocked, appalled, and shamed” at what had happened, always for the better.
apologizing in an advertisement “for the serious wrongdoing
that occurred.” At the company’s annual shareholders’
meeting in Los Angeles on October 21, 2011, some
called for his ouster, but Rupert and his sons James and
Lachlan survived the vote, retaining control of the media
empire.
The scandal caused many in America to question, once
again, the rightness of behemoth media conglomerates.
Can Fox news reporters and journalists from News Corp.’s
many other print and electronic media be objective in
reporting on the man who has the power to fire them? How
can reporters be removed far enough from managers to
operate independently, or can they? What do you think
about media consolidation in light of the News Corp.
scandal?
In addition to the phone hacking charges, other criticism Photo of Rupert Murdoch at the World Economic Forum, January
is aimed at Murdoch, too. For example, while some of the 26, 2007, used by permission under the Creative Commons
programs on FOX television are applauded for their wit and Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license, courtesy of the World
Economic Forum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rupert_
innovation, such as The Simpsons and House, others are
Murdoch_-_WEF_Davos_2007.jpg.
derided for their debauchery and meanness, such as Family
Edward J. Fink, Ph.D.
Guy and Hell’s Kitchen. No one can argue, though, that California State University, Fullerton
FOX network has spawned some megahits, such as Amer-
ican Idol and Glee. Murdoch has often claimed that he is *Columbia Journalism Review (www.cjr.org/resources/).

managers as they try to trim headquarters’ budgets Executives concerned with programming, like
to reduce overhead. Nevertheless, cable group own- those in every other aspect of broadcasting, cable,
ers tend to centralize programming more than and new media, constantly need to update their
broadcasting groups do because cable has no special knowledge of the rapidly evolving field and the rap-
local responsibilities under federal law (as does idly increasing competition. The electronic trade press
broadcasting). Programming in the case of cable sys- provides constant updates, but even more important
tems refers to what networks they carry, although are the many trade and professional associations that
many of the largest MSOs also own several cable provide personal meetings, demonstrations, exhibits,
program networks, so they also produce programs seminars, and publications. Dozens of such associa-
and have a vested interest in distributing them to tions bring practitioners together at conferences on
all the markets they reach, irrespective of local every conceivable aspect of the media, all of which
preferences. touch on programming in one way or another—
34 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

1.21 Group Ownership

T he main programming advantages of group owner-

ship are the cost savings in program purchases,
equipment buys (such as computers, servers, and cameras),
group has no immediate need but which it would like to
keep out of the hands of the competition by holding
them on the shelf until useful later. Also, group execu-
and service charges (such as by reps and consultants) that tives have bird’s-eye views of the national market that
accrue from buying at wholesale, so to speak. Insofar as sometimes give them advance information, enabling
groups produce their own programs, they also save them to bid on new programs before the competition
because production costs can be divided among the sev- even knows of their availability. For their part, producers
eral stations in the group—a kind of built-in syndication often minimize the risk of investing in new series by
factor. Moreover, group-produced programs increasingly delaying the start of production until at least one major
are offered for sale to other stations in the general syndi- group owner has made an advance commitment to buy
cation market, constituting an added source of income for a series. Many promising program proposals for first-run
the group owners. access time languish on the drawing boards for lack of
Group buys often give the member stations first crack an advance commitment to purchase.
at newly released syndicated programming as well as a The stations in the top four markets that are owned and
lower cost-per-station. Distributors of syndicated pro- operated by the national television networks exercise
grams can afford such discounts because it costs them extraordinary power by virtue of their group-owned status.
less in overhead to make a sale to a single headquarters Each such O&O group reaches about two-fifths of the entire
than to deal individually with many stations (see Chapter U.S. population of television households, making their col-
6 on Syndication). A large group can deliver millions of lective decisions to buy syndicated programs crucial to the
households in a single sale. Large group owners can success of such programs. Thus, these few group-owned
also afford a type of negative competition called ware- stations influence national programming trends for the entire
housing. This refers to the practice of snapping up syndicated program market. So important to the success of
desirable syndicated program offerings for which the programs is their exposure in the top markets that some

conferences on advertising, copyright, education, owned content and from charging fees for giving
engineering, digital media, finance, law, management, priority to certain signals on the internet. This dis-
marketing, music, news, production, programs, pro- agreement pits giant broadband companies as Com-
motion, research, satellites and telephone, to name cast, Google, Verison, AT&T and Time Warner
just some. against those who favor treating the internet like
Licensing groups provide the legal and eco- telephone lines, where all comers get free and equal
nomic environment that ensures that artists get treatment. The pivotal issue might be called “pay to
paid royalties for their works. The best-known of play,” meaning that distributors are likely to give
these associations, organizations and groups are favored treatment to companies that pay the most
listed in 1.22, with more about the most important (see Chapter 4).
of all associations to programmers—the National Broadcast radio and television, more than most
Association of Television Program Executives other kinds of businesses, must live within con-
(NATPE)—in 1.23. straints imposed by national, state and local statutes
and administrative boards. Moreover, public opin-
Regulatory Influences ion imposes its own limitations, even in the absence
The hottest topic in media regulation is net neutral- of government regulation. The trend to “let the mar-
ity, the idea that FCC should develop rules prevent- ketplace decide” led to enormous media conglomer-
ing broadband companies from favoring their ates and limited government involvement. Only a
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 35

syndication companies offer special inducements to get The big cable and telephone system owners (MVPDs)
their wares on the prestigious prime access slots on network have many of the same advantages as broadcast groups,
O&O stations. These inducements can take the form of however. Cable systems normally obtain licenses to carry
attractively structured barter syndication deals or cash pay- entire channels of cable programming rather than individ-
ments to ensure carriage. The latter type of deal, known as ual programs or program series (see Chapters 3 and 9).
a compensation incentive, occurs primarily in New York, Thus, major MVPDs, negotiating on behalf of hundreds of
the country’s premier market. local cable or phone systems and tens of thousands of
Although O&O stations remain legally responsible for subscribers, gain enormous leverage over program suppli-
serving their individual local markets, they naturally also ers. Indeed, a cable network’s very survival depends upon
reflect the common goals and interests of their networks. As signing up one or more of the largest MVPDs.
an example of a rather subtle network influence, consider Group headquarters programmers and their sometimes
the choice of the prime access program that serves as a extensive staffs impose an additional layer of bureaucracy
lead-off to the network’s evening schedule. An ordinary that tends to slow local decision making. Local program
affiliate (that is, one bound to its network only by contract executives know their local markets best and can adapt
rather than by the ties of ownership; see Chapter 8) can programming strategies to specific needs and conditions. A
feel free to choose a program that serves its own best group-acquired TV program may be well suited to a large
interests as a station. An O&O station, however, must market but will not necessarily meet the needs of a small-
choose a lead-in advantageous to the network program market member of the group. When a huge MVPD such as
that follows, irrespective of its advantage to the station. Comcast makes a purchase for hundreds of different sys-
O&O stations also must take great care in choosing and tems, not every system will find the choice adapted ideally
producing programs to protect the group image, especially to its needs. Group ownership imposes some inflexibility as
in New York, where they live next door to company the price of its economies of scale.
headquarters.

few rules remain that programmers must know to managers continue to adhere to the basic fairness
avoid possible violations within their jurisdictions. concepts as a matter of station policy. Day-to-day
enforcement of such rules and policies devolves
largely on the production staff in the course of opera-
Fairness and Equal Opportunity tions, but programmers often articulate station poli-
Both broadcast stations and local cable-originated cies regarding balance and stipulate compliance
programming must observe the rules governing routines. Fairness looms large in talk radio and talk
both the appearances of candidates for political television because the talk so often deals with contro-
office (equal time) and station editorials. The versial topics.
equal-time rule for political candidates demands
that broadcasters and cable access channels (not
cable or satellite operators) provide equal opportu- Monopoly
nities for federal candidates, effectively preventing Traditionally, various rules have limited concentra-
entertainers and news personnel from running for tions of media ownership, all of them aimed at
office while still remaining on their programs. ensuring diversity of information sources—in keep-
Although the FCC has formally abandoned its ing with implicit First Amendment goals—although
specific Fairness Doctrine concerning discussion of the recent trend has been to loosen the rules. None-
controversial issues of local importance, many theless, group owners of broadcast stations are
36 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

1.22 The Associations

H ere is a list of important organizations, along with

the home page listings (when available) for the
World Wide Web.
Music Licensing Groups
American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers
(ASCAP): www.ascap.com
Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI): www.bmi.com
Major Industry Trade Associations SESAC: www.sesac.com
National Association of Broadcasters (NAB): www.nab.org
National Cable & Telecommunications Association
(NCTA): www.ncta.com Technical Societies
Radio-Television News Directors Association (RTNDA): Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
www.rtnda.org (SMPTE): www.smpte.org
Writers Guild of America—West & East (WGAW & Society of Broadcast Engineers: www.sbe.org
WGAE): http://wga.org & www.wgaeast.org International Radio & Television Society (IRTS): www.irts.
Independent Film Association (IFTA): www.ifta-online.org org
Visual Effects Society (represents special effects artists):
Programming Organizations www.visualeffectssociety.com
National Association of Television Program Executives International Association for Radio, Telecommunications
(NATPE): www.natpe.org and Electromagnetics (NARTE): www.narte.org
MIPTV: www.miptv.com
National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB):
www.nfcb.org Marketing and Sales Organizations
Alliance for Community Media (ACM): www.alliancecm. Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB): www.tvb.org
org Radio Advertising Bureau (RAB): www.rab.com
Media Communications Association International (MCAI), Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA):
formerly the Independent Television Association: www.snta.org
www.mca-i.org Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau (CAB): www.
Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP): onetvworld.org
www.aicp.com Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (CTAM): www.ctam.com
(AMPTP): www.amptp.org Promax: www.promax.tv

particularly sensitive to regulatory compliance in

of telephone, internet connection and satellite
this area because they have a high financial stake
television channels in some communities. Now
in compliance and, of course, are conspicuous tar-
Comcast’s XFinity, AT&T’s U-Verse and Verizon’s
gets susceptible to monopoly charges.
FiOS battle head to head for subscribers in many
For many years, cable franchises were regarded
large markets.
as “natural monopolies,” because it seemed uneco-
nomic to duplicate cable installations (overbuilds).
Telephone companies, however, have stepped into
this breach. Upgrading existing telephone lines to
Localism
fiber permitted digital broadband delivery (called The FCC traditionally nudged broadcasters toward
DSL), starting the trend for phone companies to a modicum of localism in their program mixes, and
compete for cable consumers by offering packages expected licensees to find out about local problems
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 37

1.23 National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE)

W hen television programmers formed their own pro-

fessional organization in 1962, they called them-
selves the National Association of Television Program
executives, offering a huge array of feature films (singly and
in packages), made-for-TV movies, off-network series, first-
run series, specials, miniseries, documentaries, docudra-
Executives (NATPE)—tacitly acknowledging that member- mas, news services, game shows, cartoons, variety shows,
ship would be dominated by general managers and other soap operas, sports shows, concerts, talk shows and so on.
executives who play more important programming roles Trade publications carry lists of exhibitors and their offerings
than those specifically designated as programmers. at the time of the conventions. (Chapter 6 gives a
Although programmers may track the performance of pro- selection of syndicators along with examples of their
grams and come up with the ideas for new purchases, the offerings.) At the same time, the largest portion of sessions
executives are the ones who authorize the money—and at recent NATPE conferences has been dedicated to the
make no mistake, programs are enormously expensive, new media, but the attendees were largely new-media
running into the tens and hundreds of millions in large
companies and content producers seeking ideas about
markets just to rerun off-network hits.
how to gain distribution.
The broadcast station programming team usually con-
One industry source estimated that 90 percent of
sists of the general manager, sales manager and program
NATPE attendees continued to be focused on the traditional
manager. In cable organizations, the executive in charge
buying and selling of programs, while 10 percent were
of marketing plays a key management role and may have
focused on the new media. Europe has a similar annual
the most influence on programming decisions. In recent
program trade fair, MIPTV. Formerly at that fair, the flow of
years, the role of program manager at many network affili-
commercial syndicated programming between the United
ates has diminished as higher-level staff members frequently
States and other countries ran almost exclusively from the
make programming decisions.
Syndicators put programs on display nationally and United States.
internationally at a number of annual meetings and trade Public broadcasting first whetted American viewers’
shows. For showcases, they rely especially on the annual appetites for foreign programs. And with such specialized
conventions of NATPE and the National Cable Television cable services as the Discovery Channel, featuring foreign
Association (NCTA) held each spring. Starting in 2003, documentaries, and Bravo, with foreign dramatic offerings,
NATPE faced some competition from the Syndicated Net- as well as AZN Television’s Asian programs, and Univi-
work Television Association (SNTA), which meets in New sion’s Mexican and Spanish programs, the international
York in conjunction with the Association of National flow has become somewhat more reciprocal, although the
Advertisers (ANA) that every year holds its well-regarded United States is still much more often an exporter than an
Television Advertising Forum. importer. Just as at the NATPE conventions, there is great
At the annual NATPE conventions, hundreds of syndi- interest at the MIPTV trade fair in innovation and new digi-
cators fight for the attention of television programming tal media.

in a station’s service area and to offer programs fundamentally in their programming outlook from
dealing with those problems. In licensing and license traditional broadcast programmers.
renewals, the FCC gives preferential points for local Nonetheless, increased competition for audi-
ownership, owner participation in management and ences now drives local broadcasters and cable opera-
program plans tailored to local needs. However, tors toward increased localism. In many cases,
localism seems to be getting less and less emphasis. localism has boosted the financial return for those
Moreover, cable operators are not licensed by the stations with a long, honorable history of commu-
FCC and so have no such federal public-interest nity orientation. It is good business to serve the com-
mandate, and as a result, cable programmers differ munity, not merely a requirement. On the other
38 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

hand, economic forces lead to giant corporations for Copyright Royalty Tribunal for distribution (mostly
whom localism gets more lip service than action. to sports rights holders).
The Cable Act of 1992 went further and insisted
that cable systems receive retransmission consent
Copyright from broadcast stations for their signals, which led
With the exceptions of news, public-affairs and local some to believe that cable operators would finally
productions, all owned programs entail the payment pay broadcasters for retransmission. The issue
of royalties to copyright owners—whether broad- seemed largely resolved when most affiliates of
cast, carried by cable, or distributed over the inter- major television networks made deals with cable
net. (Of course, user-supplied content such as on operators for a second local cable channel in lieu
YouTube only necessitates royalty payments when of cash payment.
replayed on commercial services.) Programmers In 2007, however, several small cable operators
should understand how the copyright royalty system agreed to pay the CBS network a per-subscriber fee
works, how users of copyrighted material negotiate (cable compensation) for the right to carry its pro-
licenses from distributors to use such material, and gramming, a break-through for broadcasters.
what limitations on program use the copyright law Although the initial amount was small (about $.50
entails. per subscriber), the deal set a new precedent in
Broadcast stations and networks usually obtain cable/broadcast relations that gave broadcasters
blanket licenses for music from copyright licensing leverage in eventually gaining a second revenue
organizations, which give licensees the right to unlim- stream (in addition to advertising), something long
ited plays of all the music in their catalogs (in pro- desired by broadcasters and, until then, adamantly
grams, promos or song play). For the rights to refused by cable operators (more on this topic in
individual programs and films, users usually obtain Chapter 3). Nowadays, periodic battles erupt
licenses authorizing a limited number of performances between broadcasters and cable MVPDs, threaten-
(plays) over a stipulated time period. One of the pro- ing the loss of favorite programs or, horrors, a foot-
grammer’s arts is to schedule the repeat plays at stra- ball game in one or another market until negotiated
tegic intervals to get the best mileage possible out of settlements are is reached. Chapter 2 deals more
the product. with this hot topic. The hungrier broadcasters get,
Stations and networks obtain licenses for the the more they become anxious to share the sub-
materials they broadcast, with fees calculated on scriber dollars going to MVPDs.
the basis of their over-the-air coverage, but cable A related copyright matter, the syndicated
television systems have introduced a new and exclusivity rule, often called syndex, gives television
exceedingly controversial element into copyright stations local protection from the competition of
licensing. Importation of distant signals have signals from distant stations (notably superstations)
stretched the original single-market program license imported by cable systems. The rule is based on the
to include hundreds of unrelated markets all across long-held principle that a station licensed to broad-
the country—to the obvious detriment of copyright cast a given syndicated program has normally paid
owners (the producers), the ones who stand to make for exclusive rights to broadcast that program
money from the reuse of their programs. The Copy- within its established market area. Satellite retrans-
right Law of 1976 took at stab at solving this prob- mission of certain stations (the half-dozen supersta-
lem by introducing the compulsory licensing of cable tions) undermines this market-specific definition of
companies that retransmit television station signals. licensing and divides audiences. The rule requires
It provided retransmission compensation to the cable systems to black out imported programs
copyright owners in the form of a percentage of that duplicate the same programs broadcast locally.
cable companies’ revenues that went directly to the Most syndicators avoid selling their shows to
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 39

superstations in order to make the shows raunchy talk-radio hosts (shock jocks), the FCC
“syndex-proof.” has repeatedly advised broadcasters that censorable
indecent language could include anything that
“depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as
Lotteries, Fraud, Obscenity, Indecency measured by contemporary community standards
Federal laws generally forbid lotteries, fraud and for the broadcast medium, sexual and excretory
obscenity, and laws regarding them apply to locally activities or organs.” Raunchy radio content from
originated cable as well as to broadcast programs. Howard Stern led the FCC to levy a $1.7 million
Conducting gaming and cheating audiences are defi- fine on his syndicator (see Chapter 12), eventually
nitely forbidden activities, and the fines are prohibi- driving Stern to unregulated satellite radio. The
tive. Shows that feature state-run lotteries, however, increase in number and size of indecency fines that
are an exception to the rule. If a state says stations started in 2004 hastened the migration of most adult
can air the state lottery, the FCC doesn’t care, but radio programming to Sirius XM. By the late 2000s,
stations cannot run their own lotteries to make pressure on stations to excise certain indecent words
money. Programmers also need to be aware of from programming seemed ironic—given that the
special Communications Act provisions regarding U.S. president and other elected officials had pub-
fraudulent contests, plugola and payola (see Chap- licly used some of them.
ters 11 and 12). Moreover, the FCC has designated late night as
Indecency, a specialized interpretation of a safe harbor on television and radio for adult mate-
obscenity laws, appears to apply only to broadcast- rial. It is noteworthy that in this designation the
ing. The 1984 Cable Act sets specific penalties for commission used the words for the broadcast
transmitting “any matter which is obscene or other- medium, implying that broadcasting should be trea-
wise not protected by the Constitution” (Section ted differently from other media, a concept out of
639), but subsequent Supreme Court decisions keeping with much FCC-sponsored deregulation.
affirmed that cable operators qualify for First Thus, cable networks feel free to schedule dramas
Amendment protection of their speech freedom, as at 7 or 8 P.M. that most broadcasters would only
does the internet. This puts on those alleging obscen- air at 10 P.M.
ity the heavy burden of proving the unconstitution-
ality of material to which they object; in fact, several
court decisions have overthrown too-inclusive Libel
obscenity provisions in municipal franchises. In News, public-affairs programs, and radio talk shows
practice, MVPDs have greater freedom to offend in particular run the risk of inviting libel suits.
the sensibilities of their more straitlaced viewers Because of their watchdog role and the protection
than do broadcasters, whose wider reach and depen- afforded them by the First Amendment, the media
dence on the “public airwaves” (electromagnetic enjoy immunity from punishment for libel resulting
spectrum) make them more vulnerable to public from honest errors in reporting and commentary on
pressure. For some years, Congress has shown public figures. Unlike on the internet, broadcasters
signs of tightening the restrictions on cable, includ- must take due care, however, to avoid giving rise
ing restrictions on nudity. to charges of malice or “reckless disregard for the
In a 1987 ruling, the FCC broadened the previ- truth.”
ous definition of prohibited words in broadcasting Though the media traditionally had won most
to cover indecency. That definition had been based libel cases brought against them, by the early 1990s
on a 1973 case involving the notorious “seven dirty this trend had been reversed, and juries awarded
words” used by comedian George Carlin in a huge fines. Moreover, win or lose, it costs megadol-
recorded comedy routine broadcast by WBAI-FM lars to defend cases in court. Managers responsible
in New York. Responding to complaints about for news departments and radio talk shows need to
40 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

be aware of libel pitfalls and to institute defensive (such as cutting football games or a network’s entire
routines. These defenses include issuing clear-cut signal) until fee agreements are reached.
guidelines, ensuring suitable review of editing, and
excising libelous matter from promotional and
other incidental material. To assist local program- Ethical Influences
mers, the National Association of Broadcasters Programmers continually wrestle with standards.
(NAB) has issued a video that illustrates some of They are not necessarily questions of media freedom
the common ways news programs inadvertently but of taste. What is good taste? Like anything else,
open themselves to libel suits. the definition depends on a consensus of the people
who have to live with the definition.
Over a period of time, the erosion of public
Digital Must-Carry taste standards has mirrored the erosion of other
Since the late 1990s, the FCC has pushed for con- aspects of public life (such as manners). Viewers
version of all U.S. television households to digital might be more offended if television were the only
reception both to foster efficiency and to release culprit, but it is increasingly impractical to expect to
the traditional over-the-air (analog) channels for be able to take a walk in the mall or go for a drive
reassignment to Wi-Fi, mobile telephony, and other on the highway without being assaulted by some-
uses. A 2006 Geneva agreement set 2015 as the one’s “free speech” in the form of a lewd T-shirt
world switch-off date, after which no country need or scatological bumper sticker. In the process, the
protect the analog signals in adjacent countries, and public consensus about “what is shocking” impinges
most countries have moved swiftly to convert. As of on “what is good taste.” Some viewers will defend a
2012 about 92 percent of U.S. households had con- program with violent or sexual content by saying,
verted, and the process went even more swiftly in “You think Show A is bad. It’s not nearly as bad
Europe where the EU mandated switch-off at the as Show B.” Show A becomes the standard, and
end of 2012. The rise of 4G smartphones and tablets Show B is the exception, until Show C comes
puts even more pressure on the system to free up along. Then Show B becomes the new standard,
spectrum. and Show C the new exception.
The FCC’s fundamental must-carry rules The ever-widening spiral may not be rapid, but
require cable companies to carry all locally-licensed there seems to be a steady broadening of what is
television stations, and the HD regulations require acceptable. Programmers are caught between the
carriage in the station’s originating format (HD in expectations of one audience that wants “in your
most cases), while also providing a non-HD digital face” entertainment and the complaints from
signal for subscribers without HD equipment. These another audience that struggles to hold onto civility.
rules explain the very long repetitive lists of channels A minority of producers (and their networks) go for
each cable operator provides. What will happen, shock value and try to lower the standards one small
and how fast, with 3D is an open question, but notch at a time. Like the drops of limestone slowly
when 3D becomes commonplace for stations, the accumulating on the floor of a cavern until a stalag-
must-carry rules are likely to apply. mite forms, the amount of impolite language and
However, splinter signals from a station do not situations has grown into high peaks in some pro-
have must-carry protection. Moreover, broadcast grams on evening television, especially late-night
networks cannot charge cable companies license shows. The exposed right breast of Janet Jackson
fees unless retransmission consent agreements have in Super Bowl 2004’s halftime show apparently
been reached instead of must-carry. As already men- was the final straw for the FCC, which immediately
tioned, such negotiations have led big cable opera- began to reassert its regulations against indecent
tors to hold specific signals hostage temporarily programming, as it does periodically.
 CHAPTER 1 A Scaffold for Programmers 41

Not everyone agrees there is a problem with radio and television have the means to maintain
program standards. Here is a look at the arguments some level of decency in the mass media.
currently in vogue when the topic of ethical stan- How did things get so out of whack? When
dards is discussed. there were only three networks, the Standards and
“It’s just entertainment.” The public derives its Practices departments held a pretty tight rein, but
values from such institutions as family, schools, when pay movies and MTV came along, the compe-
churches and the mass media, but as the authority tition for audiences heated up. Certainly, the most
of families, schools and churches declines, the con- egregious examples of sex and violence come from
tent of radio and television programs takes on a movies and music videos, yet some viewers want still
larger role in the socialization of young people. more adult content. The slow erosion of civil public
“If you don’t like it, turn it off.” True, but I can behavior also affects media limits, but the amounts
turn off only my own television set. My neighbors’ kids of sexual and violent content are merely surface
will still be intoxicated by the violence in afternoon chil- issues. What matters are deeper concerns about
dren’s programs. They will also learn from prime-time how people in society learn to solve problems and
television and soap operas that it’s all right to be pro- get along in spite of differences.
miscuous. The cultural values of a nation are not wired
to my individual ability to shut off my set. If someone
poisoned all the drinking water in my area, you might The Pressures and Pulls
say, “If you don’t like it, don’t drink it.” I guess I could
buy bottled water, but I have to live in the same society Well into this new millennium, the landscape of tele-
that my neighbors’ children inhabit. vision continues to undergo a sea change, and you
“Parents have the responsibility to monitor have to ride on it or with it. Currently, the industry
programming.” This argument rarely comes from a pressures consumers to switch from digital to high
parent, unless it’s a parent who works as an execu- definition. While broadcasting remains the largest
tive at one of the broadcast networks. Anyone who and most powerful advertising medium, the new
thinks this will work is overly wishful. Children will media check its growth.
see what they want to see if it is readily available at a The Federal Communications Commission has
friend’s house, their daycare center, the mall or other indicated that over the coming decades, broadcasting
group viewing locations. One person who has some will be replaced by broadband. Eventually, media
control over the ready availability of seamy pro- entertainment may go entirely wireless, replacing
gramming is the programmer. both broadcasting and cable (including most satellite
“Censorship, even voluntary censorship, vio- transmissions). And some new technology will even-
lates First Amendment rights.” The Bill of Rights tually replace the Wi-Fi of today, perhaps internet
has 10 amendments, but somehow the first gets all signals carried by light fixtures that fluctuate below
the attention, perhaps because the media readily our visibility. Magic, huh? Certainly more upheaval
control what gets our attention. A lot of other free- in the communications business world lies ahead.
doms are equally precious to the well-being of citi- Instead of a wealth of free programming, all
zens, such as the right to a fair trial. The community entertainment content may eventually require some
standards of the present age would easily shock the form of pay. We are evolving toward paying once
framers of the Constitution. for access to a movie or television program on any
A drinking water analogy is apt. If a very slow and all media devices. But there’s a long way to go.
poison is released into the water supply and results At this time, the strategy for the traditional media
in amoral, uninformed residents, then the culprits seems to be “if you can’t beat them, buy them.” In
are those who work for the treatment plant. Like- essence, a single company must program at least two
wise, those who choose and schedule programs for versions of itself—one in broadcast (or cable) and one
42 PART ONE Introduction to Programming

in broadband. In addition to online services, programs broadcast world. A cluttered screen doesn’t work
with ads now appear on cell phones and tablets, and well on a cell phone.
Americans own nearly as many cell phones as televi-
sion sets (and the Japanese seem to own more tablets
than laptops). Indeed, worldwide, there are far more
Notes
cell phones than television sets. Because the spread of 1. Several narrative series have had another characteristic:
advertising to multiple media threatens the traditional Not only do individual episodes have ends, the entire serial
financial model of broadcasting, the big companies concludes after some years, such as Lost and 24 and for
have bought, merged and developed their way into telenovelas. This limited format has moved to cable chan-
all aspects of media, becoming media giants with fin- nels such as Syfy, with series such as Stargate Universe and
Andromeda that run to a conclusion.
gers in a wide range of media pies.
2. Bill Carter, “MEDIA; TV’s Loneliest Night of the Week
Influences work both ways: Although viewers
Is Starting to Look Very Familiar.” New York Times, June
quickly noticed that broadcast television adopted 21, 2004. www.NYTimes.com/
many features of computer screen displays, particu- 3. J. G. Webster, P. F. Phalen and L. W. Lichty. Ratings
larly in newscasts and sports, ironically, the current analysis: The theory and practice of audience research,
online world is growing to look more like the 3rd ed. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum, 2006.
PART

2
Frameworks for
Media Programming
Part Two Outline
Chapter 2
Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 45
Chapter 3
Multichannel Television Strategies 91
Chapter 4
Online Television Strategies 128

43
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 2
CHAPTER

Prime-Time Network
Programming Strategies
William J. Adams and Susan Tyler Eastman

Chapter Outline
Blurring the Boundaries Summer Schedules
Prime Hours Premieres
The Scandals
Program Renewal
Vertical Integration Program Lifespan
Diminishing Audiences Pivotal Numbers
The Prime-Time Advertising Program Costs
Game
New Program Selection
Audience Targeting Program Concepts and Scripts
Ideal Demographics and Flow Advances and Pilots
Classic Scheduling Strategies Schedule Churn
Appointment Viewing
Promotion’s Role
Prime-Time Ratings Changing Format Emphases
Sweeps and Overnights
Pocketpieces and MNA Reports Network Decision Making
Prime-Time Scheduling The Risks and Rewards
Practices Ahead
Shifting Network Seasons
Limited Series
Notes

45
46 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

A chapter on prime-time network programming

in this day and age! To many of you it must
seem like a manual for the proverbial rearrangement
of deck chairs aboard the Titanic—after it hit the ice-
On the positive side, the networks represent
brand names that are known around the world.
The CW and MyTVNetwork, the newer English-
language networks, strive to catch up with the estab-
berg and has sunk up to its deck. In the last half- lished entities, just as the Spanish-language networks
decade, the broadcast networks (Six English- Telemundo and TeleFutura strive to catch up with
language now according to Nielsen) lost over half front-runner Univision. Moreover, because network
the audience they had and now have prime-time rat- audience sizes have plunged in recent years, major
ings that are the equivalent of those of the better cable changes in how the traditional networks select,
networks. In 2009 both Broadcasting & Cable and schedule and evaluate programs have occurred, the
Variety stopped publishing weekly ratings, probably focus of this chapter.
because they were so embarrassing to the networks.
Nonetheless, despite the shrinking size of network
audiences, prime time still matters a great deal to a Blurring the Boundaries
lot of people.
The ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC television net- During the last few years the separation between the
works are the most recognizable parts of their parent five top media companies has begun to blur. This
corporations although not the most profitable seg- started when CBS and Time Warner partnered, turn-
ments. They haven’t been that for a long time. But ing the WB and UPN into the CW, thus also giving
even today they serve three key functions. First, the CBS access to Warner Brothers productions. Viacom
networks often act as loss leaders drawing attention owns Paramount and once owned CBS, and while
to the programs and stars, despite being outdone in officially Viacom and CBS are separate companies,
profits by owned stations (O&Os), cable networks, they still share the same chairman and several other
theme parks, publishing and other commercial inter- board members. Disney and ABC are wholly
ests. Second, they are systems for cross-promoting enmeshed, and Comcast, with its dozens of cable
these other less visible corporate counterparts. networks, now controls NBC.
Third, it can be argued that until recently the At the same time, several networks have
major networks’ advertising and entertainment launched such joint online ventures as Hulu (see
roles were most useful because they deflected criti- Chapter 4). It is owned by Disney, News Corp and
cism from other aspects of the company business. Comcast/NBCUniversal. In 2011, Warner Brothers
The TV networks act as magnets for people who purchased Flixster and Rotten Tomatoes, thus giv-
want something to complain about—and noise ing it an outlet equal to Hulu. Warner Brothers
about actors and TV shows limits potentially nega- plans to introduce a system that will allow videos
tive stories related to other corporate interests. downloaded on Flixster to be saved so that they,
All roles have weakened, however, in the last like DVDs, can be viewed at any time. How much
few years. ABC, CBS and NBC’s ability to generate they’ll charge for this service and whether CBS will
and control news related to their corporate busi- be a favored participant is unknown, but just the
nesses diminished very fast once FOX’s cable news, suggestion was enough to send Disney and Apple
the internet and talk radio broke their collective into fits. The takeover of Rotten Tomatoes seems
voice monopoly (of course, a bad smell surrounds odd as this site does not offer videos. It reviews
FOX’s parent company for the goings-on in films, and people were openly wondering just how
London). Nowadays, there is plenty of chatter valuable those reviews would now be when one of
about every success and every blunder made by the producers of those films owned the site.
any of the networks, sometimes with political and Regardless of what one may think about all this
economic ramifications. merging, it will continue. Even as you read this, the
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 47

Big Five are negotiating still other joint agreements

in the areas of production and distribution. Broad- 2.1 Original Programming’s Role

T
casting’s survival in the face of Netflix and other
internet innovations, while still facing the threat of
he major difference between the broadcast net-
rising cable audiences, necessitates new relationships works and cable networks has long been the
among competitors. amount of original programming used. The top five
broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UNI) have it
Prime Hours throughout their schedules. While the cable networks
generally have original shows in only a portion of their
Of the more than 50,000 hours the nine broadcast schedules, there are so many cable networks that the
networks program yearly, about one-quarter is sin- amount of original programming available for off-network
gled out for special critical attention—the nearly 170 syndication coming from cable now almost equals that
hours of commercial prime-time programming each coming from the broadcast networks. Moreover, cable is
week. That figure, multiplied by 52 weeks, equals moving toward more original syndicatable production
more than 8,800 hours of prime-time network pro- (see Chapter 9) even as broadcasting moves away from
grams a year provided collectively by ABC, CBS, it. As a result they are now challenging broadcasting for
NBC, FOX, UNI, CW, MNTV, TEL (Telemundo) off-network syndication dollars. More importantly, as
and TEF (TeleFutura). broadcasting has moved more and more into programs
Audience ratings throughout the day are impor- with no afterlife, and as they have continued to push half
tant, of course, but prime-time ratings are the ones hour sitcoms for the syndication market, cable has begun
everyone takes note of, especially those of the Big to take over the international market.
Five (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and Univision). The 22
prime-time hours—from 8 to 11 P.M. (EST) six days
each week and from 7 to 11 P.M. on Sundays— about part of any schedule. It remains the focus of
constitute the center ring for the traditional networks, critical and regulatory concern. The prime hours
the arena in which their mettle is tested. FOX make or break a network’s reputation and continue
programs 15 hours on seven nights of the week, to be the most visible part of an entertainment cor-
competing head-to-head with the older networks. poration’s businesses (see 2.1).
CW programs 13 hours (avoiding Saturdays), and
MNTV programs 10 hours, dodging both Saturdays The Scandals
and Sundays. Univision fills 28 hours weekly, starting When we talk about broadcast television, we are
at 7 and running until 11 P.M.; some of this program- really talking about one small part of five giant
ming is duplicated on TeleFutura. Telemundo pro- entertainment monopolies that use their airwaves
grams all of prime time but not necessarily with to endlessly cross-promote the various parts of
original content. (Filled with a mix of original pro- their businesses, to influence government and,
duction and syndicated Mexican and South American when possible, to swallow or defeat competitive
programs, Univision nonetheless beats all competition threats. The network morning shows have become
in some markets.) thinly disguised vehicles for promoting the parent
Prime-time programs are the traditional source company’s prime-time and cable interests. The mag-
of virtually all off-network, online and much foreign azine business is obsessed with promoting the latest
syndication plus DVD, tablet and smart phone sales, stars, newest series, and happenings on the com-
and in consequence, remain the centers of long-term pany’s cable and broadcast networks. Even the ven-
profit potential. Also, while the rating difference erable 60 Minutes finds it an absolute necessity to
between prime-time and non-prime-time periods interview the latest author from Simon & Schuster,
may not be as large as it once was, prime time is owned by CBS. (To this day, few people realize the
still the most heavily promoted and most talked publisher and CBS are actually part of the same
48 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

company, just as few of you students realize many of taken over by giant international entertainment
your expensive textbooks (but not this one) and 60 corporations. Although the giants became more
Minutes come from the same company.) and more powerful, they could not stop the ratings
They all do it. Fox News runs the latest results from slide (see 2.2).
American Idol, a FOX reality show, as if they were the Faced with eroding audience shares, declining
news equivalents of another war, and virtually every revenues and increased competition for viewers
FOX news personality just happens to have a book, (often from other parts of their own companies), in
which he or she mentions constantly, and which just the late-1990s the broadcast networks turned to the
happens to be published by HarperCollins, a News Federal Communications Commission. In response,
Corp-owned publishing house. NBC hypes government in the 1996 Telecommunications Act the FCC
proposals as if they came from Heaven itself—as long relaxed many of the rules governing broadcasters.
as there’s a contract in it for GE. ABC news shows end- The most dramatic changes in regulations affected
lessly hype the goings-on at Disney, and CBS loves to ownership, eventually permitting the networks to
work stars, who just happen to be in the latest Para- own stations reaching 35 percent of the population.
mount picture, into their top programs. Further FCC relaxation on ownership or the grant-
In 2006, this cross-promotion resulted in a disas- ing of exemptions has continued since that time
ter for FOX when the public responded with outrage allowing more cross ownership (owning radio sta-
over O. J. Simpson’s book on “here’s how I would tions, other TV stations, print interest and so on).
have committed the murder if I had done it.” The reac- With this enormously increased potential clearance
tion grew so loud it forced the cancellation of the book for each network’s programs (unlike affiliates,
deal, a primetime “news” special interview, and owned-stations can’t decline any network programs,
resulted in the firing of a well-known editor at Harper- no matter how poorly some are doing), combined
Collins (owned by News Corp). CBS executives with the power of affiliation and very deep corpo-
breathed a sigh of relief as people forgot about their rate pockets, the Big Four quickly took over the best
2004 Super Bowl costume malfunction, about which stations in the top markets.
the official line still remains “we knew nothing.”1 Moreover, the FCC also removed program
In 2010 NBC got embroiled in the Leno/O’Brien ownership limits (the so-called financial interest
late-night debacle (see Chapter 7), and in 2011 they rules), thus permitting the networks to actually
were caught censoring the words under God from own the programs they broadcast. The networks
the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the Davis then used their clout to put an end to most indepen-
Cup. In each case, there is little doubt that both dent production houses, eliminating competition
the industry and Hollywood were truly shocked by and becoming, as never before in the history of elec-
the public’s reactions. Why did uproar happen over tronic media, the true producers of their programs.
these network programming disasters? The answer Thus, most of the programming process, from pro-
is they affected the few truly legendary shows still duction of programs (by owned studios) to distribu-
left on the networks. These bad decisions caught tion via the broadcast or cable network through
the population’s interest and forced them to come owned stations and cable systems or through the
face-to-face with what mainstream television had web-through owned web sites, to publicity from
become. They didn’t like it. the TV and online units that promote everything, is
largely controlled by a few enormous companies.
Being vertically-owned limits what program-
Vertical Integration mers can do. For example, each network increas-
ingly feels pressure to program with series owned
During the 1980s and 1990s, broadcast ratings fell. by its parent company even if those programs
Stockholders panicked, and the networks were sold don’t work. By 2004, no programs were aired that
to other companies, which themselves were then the networks did not at least partially own. Indeed,
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 49

2.2 Graph of Network Ratings

50.0

40.0
Total Rating for Broadcasting

30.0

20.0

10.0
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Year

This graph shows the total ratings for all broadcast networks from 1989–90 to 2010–11. FOX was added in 1990–91. UPN and WB
were added in 1994–95 and the Spanish language networks were added in 2006–07. For ratings by network see table 2.4.

in an ironic turn of events, the production arms of clearance fights with large cable or satellite systems
the Big Five companies (particularly that of Time over rights payments and over which other
Warner, which was strong in production but much company-owned networks would have to be carried.
weaker in distribution) were complaining that other These battles actually resulted in one or both of
members of the Big Five wouldn’t even look at their these two major broadcast networks being pulled
proposals for new shows until they had been given a off the air for a short time in some areas, with dev-
share of ownership. One outcome was that Time/ astating results for short-term ratings and advertis-
Warner partnered with CBS to create the CW to ing revenues, as well as for long-term audience sizes.
gain access to the CBS network. Then, over the New Year’s holiday in 2010, News
Problems arise when business decisions made by Corp went to the mat with Time/Warner cable over
the parent corporation fail to adequately consider retransmission fees paid to run Fox O&O stations in
their impact on the television network (see 2.3). In nine major markets, even going off the air for a time.
recent years, FOX and ABC have been in several Time/Warner soon agreed to significantly higher
50 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

fees. Suddenly there was a new standard and the lowest at 2). Indeed, by mid-decade, cable’s collective
other major companies wanted in. The allure of an ratings in prime time had passed those of the combined
extra one to two billion dollars in “found” money broadcast networks. By 2011, individual cable pro-
was just too great, even though it may mean even grams carried in prime time—like Jersey Shore, Bill
further erosions to their audience.2 O’Reilly, True Blood, Deadliest Catch and others—
Even worse, the entire industry seems bent on were beating competing network broadcast shows in
self destruction. In the face of massive declines in the ratings, as were such Spanish language programs
the audience, both unions and stars continue to as Sabado Gigante, Univision’s highly rated variety
demand ever-increasing salaries. A look at the net- series, and Soy Tu Duena (Women of Steel) its top
work ratings in 2.3 indicates that the networks did rated novella. Removing such megahit shows as CSI
not recover from the writers’ strike that affected the and American Idol from the analysis would drop the
2008–2009 season. (One axiom of programming is average ratings even further. It’s easy to understand
that loyal viewers who are forced to change their why problems with just one show, such as Two and a
viewing habits rarely change back.) Half Men at CBS or the end of Smallville on CW, can
But the unions aren’t the only problem. Back in throw an entire network into panic.
2003 it was huge news when NBC agreed to pay
each cast member for Friends a million dollars an
episode just to keep them for one more year. At The Prime-Time Advertising Game
the time, original episodes of Friends had rating of Traditionally, prime time has been the financial
about 15. More recent problems with Charlie Sheen jewel in the media crown, pulling in billions of dol-
of Two and a Half Men revealed that he was being lars each year for the networks. Until recently, the
paid $2 million an episode, plus his share of syndi- drop in audience size has been compensated for by
cation revenue and whatever other perks he con- higher advertising rates, by adding more spots
tracted, but Two and a Half Men was only getting within programs (many prime-time shows now air
about a 4 rating, and that’s less than half what the 20 minutes of ads per hour), and by producing
show was getting only a few years earlier. While it fewer episodes. Increases in advertising rates, as
may have been the number one sitcom in the country high as 15 percent per year, have not been uncom-
just then, that is more a sad comment on situation mon, and complaints from advertisers have been
comedies ratings than praise of the show. shrugged off. Where else can they go?
As far as the major broadcast networks are con- Most prime-time advertising spots are sold in
cerned, production costs have just gone too high, late May and early June during the up-front sales
which is one reason the cable networks are moving period. Advertisers guarantee themselves access to
in fast on original production (see Chapter 9). They top programs or desired time slots by locking them
can do the same show for a fraction of the cost in at least three months in advance. Of course,
because salaries are lower (cable networks are because the programs have not aired, there are no
exempt from many union rules) and they seldom ratings with which to set prices. Therefore, the prices
produce their shows in Los Angeles. for ads are based on estimated ratings provided by
advertising agencies and guarantees provided by the
networks. If a network does not make the guaran-
Diminishing Audiences teed rating, it will have to run spots for free until the
As 2.3 shows, American broadcast network ratings number of missed points is made up. If a program
have been falling over the last two decades. Indeed, does much better than predicted, the advertisers get
the average primetime rating in 2011 was 2.9 for the a bargain. The system appears to favor the adverti-
broadcast networks (FOX highest at 3.8 and NBC sers, but that is seldom the case.
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 51

2.3 Average Prime-Time Network Rating from September to May, 1980 to 2011

Year ABC CBS NBC FOX WB/UPN/CW UNI/TEL

1980–81 18.0 19.0 17.2

1981–82 17.7 18.5 15.2
1982–83 16.6 17.7 14.5
1983–84 16.2 16.8 14.5
1984–85 15.0 16.5 15.8
1985–86 14.3 16.0 17.1
1986–87 13.6 15.4 17.1
1987–88 12.7 13.4 15.4
1988–89 12.6 12.3 15.4
1989–90 12.9 12.1 14.5
1990–91 12.0 11.7 12.5 6.1
1991–92 12.2 13.8 12.3 8.0
1992–93 12.1 12.9 12.0 8.1
1993–94 12.1 11.7 10.3 7.1
1994–95 11.7 10.8 11.5 7.1 1.9/4.1
1995–96 10.5 9.6 11.6 7.3 2.4/3.1
1996–97 9.2 9.6 10.5 7.7 2.6/3.2
1997–98 8.4 9.7 10.2 7.1 3.1/2.8
1998–99 8.1 9.0 8.9 7.0 3.2/2.0
1999–00 9.3 8.6 8.5 5.9 2.6/2.7
2000–01 8.4 8.6 8.0 6.1 2.5/2.4
2001–02 6.3 8.1 8.8 5.7 2.5/2.7
2002–03 6.0 7.9 7.4 5.8 2.5/2.2
2003–04 5.9 8.5 7.3 6.0 2.5/2.3
2004–05 6.4 8.4 6.6 5.3 2.4/2.3
2005–06 6.0 7.3 5.8 5.5 1.9/1.5
2006–07* 6.2 7.8 5.7 6.2 2.0 2.0/0.5
2007–08 5.7 6.4 5.1 6.4 1.6 1.8/.6
2008–09y 2.9 3.1 2.8 3.6 .9 2.0/.7
2009–10 2.4 3.6 2.5 2.9 ** 1.1/**
2010–11 2.3 3.6 2.0 3.8 ** 1.2/**

Note: The chart combines ratings for ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW, UNI and TEL in the September to May season years when they were
operating with a rating above 1. The FOX network started broadcasting before 1990, but for the first few years its ratings were not reported
in the trade press. Similarly, Univision and Telemundo were not included until 2007. At present, CW, Telemundo and MNTV get ratings of
less than 1 (as small as .4 or .3) and shares of just 1, so they fall within Nielsen’s margin of error and are not reported.
*WB and UPN were combined, for the most part, into CW in 2006.
y
This season involved a writers’ strike that affected the numbers
**Ratings dropped below 1 and were not reported.
52 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

2.4 Owners and Audits

A recent event illustrated how corporate profits can

dominate the business decisions of subsidiaries.
According to trade reports, Peter Jackson, internationally
such as Peter Jackson, this closed bidding practice costs
tens of millions of dollars. In short, rather than allow the
audit, New Line was willing to forgo a potential hit movie
recognized for his Lord of the Rings movies, broke off worth billions.
relations with New Line Cinema, a Time Warner com- More recently, the producers of Smallville have been
pany, and would not participate in a New Line Hobbit locked in legal battles with the CW. They claim the CW is
prequel because Time Warner refused to permit an inde- giving Warner Brothers-owned stations and other Warner
pendent audit of the reported $4 billion income from the Brothers affiliated entities special deals for very low prices
Lord of the Rings trilogy. This ended production until New on Smallville, thus cheating the producers out of millions in
Lines’ options on the Hobbit ran out because, without the profit sharing. However, insiders say this is just how things
New Zealand production facilities, it was too expensive for are done these days. In an ever-narrowing market, both in
New Line to do. terms of product and competition, pressures come from all
It is widely believed that New Line was only allowing sides. No one part of the company is allowed to threaten
companies that its parent owned to bid on such things as the overall bottom line, even if that means massive losses in
foreign distribution, broadcast and cable rights, DVDs, revenues for individual parts of the company or squeezing
merchandising and so on. For the parent company, such other people involved with the project even when the
arrangements provide a great advantage: All profits come company must work with them in the future.
to it, and money can be moved around so that taxes are William J. Adams, Ph.D.,
lessened. The difficulty is that for independent producers Kansas State University

In actual numbers, although the ratings look the sponsors have to take programs they don’t really
small, each point represents a percentage of the 116 want and spend more than they would if they just
million television households in America (as esti- bought the strongest shows. Although sponsors
mated by Nielsen in 2012). Thus, a 2.4 rating stands object, they continue to buy just as they always
for about 2 million households, each with an average have. After all, where else are they going to go?
of 2.6 people viewing. Even a rating as small as 2.4 Until recently, that “where else?” question ended
means the program is attracting 6 to 7 million people all discussion. It has always been easier for the adver-
at one time. Such ratings are sufficient for many tising industry just to do what has always been done.
advertisers and still better than average cable pro- For 20 years the compensation rates for the agencies
grams earn, but the biggest advertisers are getting placing advertisements declined steadily (from around
nervous as they also have to pay a lot more for 15 percent in the 1980s to the low single digits), giv-
broadcast programs than for cable programs. ing them no incentive to make extra efforts.
The ability to predict ratings is weak at best, and As audience size continued to decline and net-
the networks tend to be very conservative in their work ad rates skyrocketed, however, the corporate
guarantees. For the last few years, the networks sponsors themselves began to get back into the act.
have further protected themselves by refusing to sell During the 2004–05 season, many of the biggest
the top-rated shows except as part of package deals. sponsors refused to go along with network attempts
In other words, if sponsors want to buy time in a to make double-digit increases in advertising rates,
program like The Mentalist or The Good Wife, they forcing the broadcast networks to drop increases
also have to buy time in much weaker shows. In this back to 6 to 8 percent. For the first time in that
way the networks assure the sale of time slots that season, almost half of all prime-time slots had not
might otherwise be left open. Of course, this means been sold by the end of the up-front sales period,
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 53

and cable and the internet reaped the benefits. The

networks haven’t forgotten this scare.3 2.5 Cutting the Cord

W
In 2008 top advertisers refused to pay ABC,
CBS and NBC a so-called integration fee of $125
ired Magazine compared the cost of the internet
million on top of whatever prices they had negoti- television with traditional TV (by which they
ated during the upfront sales period. Advertisers meant signals delivered via cable or satellite). To equal
pointed out this fee made sense when someone had the cost of cable or satellite, they calculated that the
to physically insert ads into programs, a practice average person dropping cable or satellite would
that no longer existed (and a fee that FOX, the need a digital antenna to get broadcast stations ($50),
CW and cable networks did not charge4). Adverti- Hulu ($119.88 per year), Joost, YouTube, TV.com,
sers also continue to object to the practice of calcu- network Web sites (free), Netflix instant ($107.88 per
lating the ratings by totaling “live plus three days,” a year plus a Roku box at $79.99), and Apple TV or
practice that drives up their costs (see Chapter 5). Amazon Video on demand ($229 for the Apple box,
Both FOX and the CW are moving toward more $1.99 per-show for average definition programs; for
integrated ads, in other words, product placement hi def, the authors figured $517.40 per year for one
deals, and ABC and CBS are beginning to test the show per week night). The savings to move from
waters.5 cable/satellite TV to internet TV was $360 to $540
Moreover, cable networks and the internet are (depending on whether one was replacing satellite or
no longer the only real competitors for advertising a cable premium package) during the first year and
dollars or for content. Much of the challenge for $720 to $900 per year thereafter. Cutting the cord
advertising revenues seems to be coming from sounds like a good deal for savvy viewers, but what do
cash-plus-barter syndication deals (discussed in advertisers and broadcast networks do then?*
Chapter 6). Some syndicated programs outdraw William J. Adams, Ph.D.
Kansas State University
most network shows, and the prices they can
demand from the spot ad market reflect that *Wired Magazine, Sept. 2010, “Wired’s guide to picking your
power. By mid-decade, the syndicated Friends, Sein- perfect tv setup.” Wired.com/magazine/2010/08/ff_howto_
feld, and Two and a Half Men pulled more than watchtv/
$200,000 per 30-second spot, and several others
drew at least half that amount (see 2.4).
Advertisers must also deal with the new non- up. Many reality shows can’t be syndicated, can’t be
traditional ways of obtaining programming. For rerun on the air, can’t be sold overseas or online, and
years broadcasters took comfort in the fact that have no value as DVDs. Once viewers know who
they were free while all alternatives cost a lot. As won, they don’t want to see the shows again.
the alternatives begin offering more choices and ser- FOX, however, figured out how to make extra
vices than broadcasting, the industry quickly learned money from the reality show American Idol and
that many people were willing to pay for what they used the process to justify the cost of producing
wanted (see 2.5). Glee. This new method is separate from traditional
In short, networks are no longer the economic advertising or syndication revenues. American Idol
powerhouses they once were, but the profits for gives massive promotion to singers (often several
their parent companies keep growing because they people going into the finals—not just the winner)
own most of the alternatives. Nonetheless, concern who are then signed by Columbia Records, with
about program production is mounting. So far, the whom FOX has a profit-sharing deal. These singers
broadcast networks are still expected to produce the then go on tours using FOX-owned promoters with
original programs that then feed the rest of the system. audience tickets sold through FOX-owned outlets.
But as networks rely more and more on cheap reality Much the same is true for Glee, which by all previ-
programs, the pool of programs with an afterlife dries ous standards should be too expensive to be
54 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

produced for television. But, not only does it pro- Also, product placement began to affect pro-
duce top numbers (relatively speaking) with 18 to gram content. Sears, while not the actual producer
33 year olds, it’s also a hit in DVD sales, sales of of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, did make a
recordings by the cast, tickets to cast tours, in inter- huge investment, in return for which the reality
net sales of the production numbers (which can be show prominently featured Sears products in their
downloaded after each show for a nominal price), makeovers. As a result, in the 2011 sweeps, Extreme
and online sales of re-viewings of the episodes. Makeover ranked number 5 for product placement
While these moneys don’t go directly to the with 45 occurrences—still minimal compared with
FOX network, they do go to News Corp thus mak- American Idol’s 102 occurrences (it was number 1
ing both shows worthwhile investments. As an in product placement according to Nielsen).
added bonus, the other networks can’t rush into Perhaps the most interesting development, how-
production with Glee knock-offs as there are very ever, was illustrated by a deal TNT made to insert
few people in Hollywood who know how to do products into reruns of Law & Order. Generic pro-
musicals anymore. After all, it was assumed to be a ducts were digitally replaced with brand names that
dead format. This practice of creative aftermarket paid for the privilege. Sometimes described as virtual
selling of a program and its participants suggests advertising, this is the next logical step in computer-
one profitable direction for broadcasting’s future. generated content. Already widely used in sporting
In addition, too many spots in breaks and high events, virtual ads do not require the actual place-
ad rates have caused a rethinking among advertisers, ment of a physical product. The advertisement exists
and the result has been an enormous increase in only in the computer.
product placement within programs on FOX and With virtual ads, advertisers can aim their mes-
the CW. Product placement was standard practice sages to specific markets. For example, Coca-Cola
in the early days of television, and it has been a big now pays to have the judges on American Idol
moneymaker in movies ever since ET followed that drink their product. But through the use of virtual
trail of Reese’s Pieces. Cable networks have aggres- ads, in New York those judges could be drinking
sively sought out companies to place their logos or Vanilla Coke, while in California they sip Caffeine
products in prominent positions on original cable Free Diet Coke, and in the South it might be Classic
shows. But until recently, the broadcast networks Coke filling those glasses. The same process can be
were reluctant to follow the trend, calling it demean- used to replace the generic products shown in older
ing, and claiming it cheapened the value of the tra- TV shows with high-paying brand names. Of more
ditional spot advertisement and could possibly raise concern to advertisers is the fact that the same pro-
legal issues. cess can be used to replace an existing brand name
The smaller networks, however, with less to lose with a higher-paying competitor. In the past, prod-
given their lower ratings, were willing to try. Soon, uct placement was forever. No more. If Coke won’t
the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer was not only kick in more money, the stars may be drinking Pepsi
drinking but also mentioning Coke products, and a in the reruns and Dr. Pepper on the DVD. The
yellow VW was prominently featured in Smallville. maker of M&M’S could finally correct its earlier
As the money began to roll in, the traditional net- marketing mistake and have ET follow their little
works wanted a piece of that action, and soon chocolate product instead.
brand-name products were appearing everywhere The multiplatform strategy was the next
except in ABC, CBS and NBC’s prime-time shows. response to declining advertising revenues. The net-
Product placement became so common that Nielsen works began distributing their most valuable prop-
Media Research launched a new service in 2004 erties across many media, packing the additional ad
called Product Placement Measurement to allow time—at high rates—with broadcast. Advertisers
subscribers to track their products and those of who wanted mass network exposure were then
their competitors through various TV shows. forced to develop plans for internet, cable, tablets
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 55

and even iPod media. Beginning in 2008, CBS and

NBC also began demanding that out-of-home view- 2.6 The Aging Audience

I
ing be counted and began placing dedicated screens
in unusual places. By 2011, NBC had partnered with
ronically, network audiences are aging, far beyond
IdeaCast which has TV screens in over 900 health what most can imagine. As of 2010 (the latest pub-
clubs and with the University Network which is on lished numbers), these were the median ages of network
181 college campuses. Similarly, CBS purchased viewers:9
SignStory outright, which operates screens in 1,400
grocery stores and partnered with Ripple which has CW 34
1,500 screens in specialty retail locations like Jack in FOX 44
the Box, and aligned with Automotive Broadcasting ABC 51
which provides screens in car dealerships.6 NBC 49
In 2010 ABC, CBS and NBC joined FOX and CBS 55
CW in moving production of their non-sitcom pilots Univision 34
out of California. Film L.A., which tracks produc-
tion, noted a 42 percent drop in pilot production Such aging scares network executives because the
between 2005 and 2009. That didn’t mean fewer trend potentially affects advertising revenue and the via-
pilots were being made; they just were not being bility of many kinds of programs. One response has been
made in California. By 2011, Los Angeles and the to focus on the ratings for certain desirable segments of
state had declared “runaway” productions a crisis, the audience. The few youth-oriented programs being
while Las Vegas was announcing plans to build a offered, such as Glee, get lots of hype. Even supposedly
studio. This represents a loss of $100 million dollars “young shows” often aren’t: The median for Two and
to the Los Angeles region alone. The reason the pro- One Half Men is 50 and Dancing with the Stars is 60.
duction is moving out is simple: Costs drop dramat-
ically. Not only do productions get out from under
strict union rules, but they also get a 10 percent to
25 percent reduction in taxes.7 asked whether the networks would know the main-
While ABC, CBS and NBC have only moved stream if they were drowning in it (see 2.6). For the
pilot production away, FOX, CW, Univision and last 30 years, the broadcast networks have relent-
Telemundo also moved actual series production lessly pursued one segment of the audience to the
out. While California is suffering a financial crisis, exclusion of other television viewers. Programs
production in areas like Hawaii, Florida, Colorado have been targeted toward the younger, more
and Chicago is booming. Canadian and Mexican urban audience in the major population centers—
studios are running at capacity. Univision and Tele- matching the coverage area of the network owned-
mundo have massive production in Miami and in and-operated (O&O) stations—and away from the
Mexico; most of it is original programming, which more thinly populated rural markets where the net-
they now syndicate to Spanish-speaking countries works have no direct ownership interests.
instead of just buying programs from them.

Ideal Demographics and Flow

Audience Targeting When NBC programming head Paul Klein first pro-
posed the concept of ideal demographics back in the
In 2003, James Poniewozik, writing for Time maga- early 1970s, he believed the networks could go after
zine (owned by Time Warner), noted the falling his so-called ideal demographic group without
numbers for broadcast television and asked, “Does losing the rest of the audience because at the time
the mainstream still exist?”8 He might better have it was widely agreed that people watch television,
56 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

not shows. In a three-network era, Klein reasonably and syndication as well as to broadcasting. A pro-
assumed that viewers were forced to stay with one of grammer for E!, for example, when commenting on
the networks, so why not go after the most desirable its generally low numbers said, “I could create a stunt
audience? To Klein, that meant urban women 18 to pretty easily that would pop a household rating, but I
34 years of age. He believed they were the most sus- would bring in people my parents’ age.”13
ceptible to advertising and controlled the economy. Many syndicators seek the younger 18 to 34
They were also, it was claimed, the largest segment audience, particularly for their daytime program-
among the many demographic divisions. ming, even though this demographic group is practi-
When faced with critics who pointed out that the cally nonexistent during daytime hours and not what
over-50 crowd had more money and that the poten- many sponsors want. When ABC announced the can-
tial television audience consisted of as many men as cellation of their soap operas in 2011 and replaced
women, Klein simply dismissed the older audience as them with talk programs, sponsors pulled out en
too set in its ways (to respond to advertising) and masse, pointing out if they wanted talk audiences,
dismissed men as non-shoppers. Almost at once, they’d have bought talk shows in the first place.
there were signs he might be wrong. The year CBS When asked about the popularity of reality
and NBC introduced ideal demographics to the shows, Betsy Frank, executive vice president of
schedule, their ratings plunged, and ABC found itself research and planning for MTV and one of the
in the unaccustomed position of being Number One. most quoted professionals in the business, pointed
Klein thought that just proved his point. The audi- to the appeal to young audiences. She went on to
ence hadn’t left; they had just changed channels.10 argue that the ideal MTV viewer should be under
By the mid-1970s there were clear signs of audi- 25. She pointed out that this group represents
ence erosion. The networks denied it, claiming meth- 70 million people, only 7 million fewer than the
odology errors in the ratings. By the mid-1980s there baby boomers.14 It is ironic to note that MTV itself
were no more denials. What had been a trickle was pulls ratings of only about 1 in this group, implying
now a flood. Broadcasting was hemorrhaging view- that only about 1 million of those 70 million poten-
ers, largely to cable. As the audience got smaller, the tial viewers actually watch MTV.
ideal changed slightly and shifted to consist of urban At the broadcast network level, the program-
women 25 to 49 years (all races). By 2004 “women” mers argue they know that targeting the ideal demo-
had been dropped from official statements, but many graphic group creates problems, but they have little
argued that it was still understood. When network choice because most advertisers demand this audi-
ratings showed a massive loss of male viewers during ence. ABC and NBC claim that two-thirds of all
the 2003–04 season (a combined broadcast network prime-time advertising money is spent on this
loss of almost two million men a night), advertisers group. Of course, this argument is a little like
weren’t surprised. To paraphrase what they told the ESPN looking at its advertising and claiming adver-
reporter, “What are the networks offering that men tisers only want sports. Realistically, what else could
would want to watch?”11 Indeed, targeting Klein’s they buy on prime-time broadcast networks?
ideal audience had produced a programming “gender To be fair, CBS argues the ideal should be
gap” between male and female viewers. higher, 25 to 54 years to be exact (which happens
More recently the press has complained about a to be closer to their audience demos), and FOX
liberal versus conservative political gap in network argues that 18 to 34 year old urban men should be
programming.12 Moreover, the assumption that included (a group they just happen to appeal to), but
younger women control shopping could now be advertisers argue that the question itself is wrong. It
challenged by a trip to any supermarket. may be that any demographic approach is outdated
An obsession with 18- to 49-year-olds, called because so many companies now use psychograph-
“the most desirable audience” or “the audience ics, or lifestyle data, to target ads—not just age, sex
most demanded by advertisers,” applies to cable and ethnicity.
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 57

Aside from a program’s demographics, the net- strong program, the anchor show. Also known as
works look for audience flow from program to pro- the lead-off, this first prime-time show sets the
gram. Each network hopes to capture and hold the tone for the network’s entire evening. It is believed
largest possible adult audience, especially from that this maneuver can win or lose a whole night
8 P.M. until 11 P.M. or midnight, with a recent and thus affect the ratings performance of a full
emphasis on late-night offerings (a time period week. Programmers have traditionally believed
which draws a much larger percentage of young that the network winning the ratings for the first
people). Network strategies are usually directed hour of prime time also usually wins the entire
at achieving flow-through from program to pro- night.
gram within prime time—that is, encouraging the A strong lead-off used to be considered so
audience to continue to watch from show to show, important that the major networks routinely
although this tendency grows weaker as the num- moved a popular established series into the 8P.M.
ber of program options increase and as the hour (EST) position on every weeknight, even if it meant
gets later. Networks continue to try to produce raiding, and thus weakening, strong nights to get
flow by careful scheduling, such as placing pro- proven shows for lead-offs. A classic example
grams with similar story lines one right after occurred in 2003 when the WB moved Smallville
another, although remote controls, digital guides, to the first spot on Wednesday and on Sunday to
too many options and DVRs make flow-through shore up those nights, while FOX in 2010 put
difficult to achieve. Nonetheless, virtually all tradi- Glee as the lead-off to Tuesday, moved House
tional scheduling strategies have been designed to back to the lead-off position on Monday and used
maintain this flow. American Idol as the lead-off on several days of
the week.
As ratings continued to slide, fewer successes
Classic Scheduling Strategies remain to move around, making this strategy fade
Programmers believe that surrounding a newcomer in importance on most networks, even though
with strong existing shows ensures the best possi- their programmers continued to express faith in it.
ble opportunity for the newcomer to rate as high By 2007, NBC was scheduling cheaper scripted or
as the established hits. Several strategies have reality shows to lead-off prime time; inherently,
long been used to achieve protection for new and such shows are low-rated, at least to start, and
underperforming series. About a dozen strategies thus would provide no lead-off power. At the same
now dominate prime-time scheduling: anchoring, time, however, FOX led off Mondays with its hit
leading-in, hammocking, blocking, doubling, linch- Prison Break, and CW led off Thursdays with the
pinning, bridging, counterprogramming, blunting, strong Smallville, using these as evening anchors.
stunting, supersizing, seamlessness, rotating and CBS uses its many versions of the CSI franchise in
sampling. a similar way.
Several of these protect new programs, others
2. Lead-in Strategy. Closely related to the lead-off
build flow or challenge competitors. While many
or anchor show, the lead-in strategy places a
years of practice have shown the usefulness of
strong series before a weaker (or any new) series
these strategies, they are becoming much less practi-
to give it a jump start. Theoretically, the strong
cal as they depend on a reservoir of strong, estab-
lead-in carries part of its audience over to the next
lished series, and broadcasting now has very few of
program. A new series following a strong lead-in
these available.
has a modestly better chance of survival as com-
pared with a new series with no lead-in or a weak
1. Anchoring Strategy. All schedulers use the lead-in. To get a strong lead-in, the networks often
strategy of beginning an evening with an especially shift strong series to new nights or times. No show
58 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

is safe in any schedule position, as King of Queens program within a set of similar dramas or sitcoms
and Becker found out when they were moved from filling an entire evening (or at least 2 hours of one
their strong Monday slot to act as lead-ins for the type) is a venerable and respected practice.
short-lived The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H., and The theory of blocking is that an audience tun-
subsequently sagged in their ratings. ing in for one situation comedy will stay for a sec-
3. Hammock Strategy. Although scheduling ond, a third and a fourth—if the sitcoms are of the
strategies can help bolster weak programs, it is same general type. The first show in a group usually
obviously easier to build a strong schedule from a aims at young viewers or the general family audi-
strong foundation than from a weak one. Moving ence. Each ensuing series then targets a slightly older
one of a pair of established series to the next later audience, thus taking advantage of the fact that as
half hour and inserting a promising new program children go to bed and teenagers go out or do
in the middle time slot can take advantage of homework, the average age of the audience goes up.
audience flow from the lead-in program to the Blocking works best during the first two hours of
rescheduled familiar program, automatically pro- prime time but typically loses effectiveness later in
viding viewers for the intervening series. This the evening.
strategy is known as hammocking the new series— Traditionally, the only risk was believed to be
in other words, a possible audience sag in the that a new comedy might lack the staying power of
middle will be offset by the solid support fore and its “protectors” and damage the program that fol-
aft (also called a sandwich, with the new show as lows. Today we know there are other risks such as
the filling). burn out: So many programs of the same type that
The 2003–04 season provided a classic ham- people get sick of the whole genre. We also now
mock example with The Apprentice shoved know that when broadcasters place too much reli-
between Friends and ER. Hammocking is one ance on just a few types of programs, the cost of
strategy that continues to be effective, but it can those shows goes up dramatically. When Paul Klein
provide misleading information on the strength of declared no real need for variety back in the ’70s,
the center show. For example, much was made at and that the networks could just concentrate on sit-
the time of the relatively high ratings for The coms and crime dramas, then the cheapest programs
Apprentice, but in truth, even in its protected spot, to produce that could still pull large audiences, he
it lost almost 4 points compared with the Friends believed that the cost of production would go down.
lead-in and 2 points compared with ER. More- But costs went up. By the 1980s, half-hour sitcoms
over, when moved to the unprotected Wednesday cost more than either westerns or science fiction
night slot, it dropped into the bottom third of the hours. We now know that any time the networks
ratings. Hammocking guarantees a new series will rely heavily on any one genre, its cost skyrockets,
get sampled, however, which automatically gives making this a dangerous strategy in more ways
the new show a better chance. The Apprentice, than one.
slightly revised into The Celebrity Apprentice, and Examples of blocking (also called stacking) are
protected initially in a hammock, became one of easy to find in prime-time schedules every year on all
NBC’s few successful shows. This strategy, how- the networks. During the 2006–07 season, FOX
ever, presumes a network has enough strong formed a successful animated/family sitcom block on
shows to create hammocks, an assumption that is Sundays of The Simpsons, American Dad, Family
increasingly rare. Guy and War at Home, which is still mostly in
4. Blocking Strategy. By 2011, this was the most place five years later. Recently, the networks have
used, albeit least effective, of all programming blocked hour-long dramas, games and reality for
strategies. Block programming or placing a new whole evenings—for example, CBS’s NCIS to
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 59

NCIS: Los Angeles to unforgettable on Tuesdays or with fewer and fewer real hits, the networks have
FOX’s Prison Break to House, two cult hits one after had to find ways to use the few strong shows still left
another for a time. to them. This is one of those ways. Also known as
5. Doubling Strategy. One hot trend, now that tentpoling, the network focuses on a central, strong
networks have fewer hit shows to work with, is show on weak evenings, the linchpin, hoping to use
creating blocks using the same show, running epi- that show to hold or brace the ones before and after
sodes of the same sitcom one right after the other. it. This strategy was the basis for NBC’s move of
Called doubling, it started with FOX, which ran Law & Order: SVU to Saturday nights and CBS’s
Cops, followed by Cops—and then finished the move of Cold Case Files to 9:00 on Sundays. These
block with America’s Most Wanted. In 2005–06, moves also formed blocks, an added bonus, and
ABC doubled Lost on Wednesdays, while FOX demonstrate that scheduling strategies are often
doubled That 70’s Show and NBC doubled Scrubs. combined. NBC’s shift of focus to its 9:00 shows—
By the next season, the CW was doubling Reba all away from 8:00 anchors—exemplifies the use of
across the schedule. linchpins.
Since networks don’t increase the number of 7. Bridging Strategy. The bridging strategy is not
episodes produced, the negative byproduct is that a as common in commercial broadcasting as the
much-doubled show must go into reruns even other strategies, but it has been useful to public
sooner—which can easily trigger burn out. ABC broadcasting and such cable networks as TBS and
found this out when it overused Who Wants To Be HBO. Bridging has three variations. The best-
A Millionaire, and it was also the case with Deal Or known one is the regular use of long-form pro-
No Deal, Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader and grams (one-and-a-half hours or more) that start
the Law and Order franchise. Even at this writing, during the access hour and continue into prime
the powerhouse CSI variations are dropping in the time, thus running past the broadcast networks’
ratings for the entire franchise. lead-offs and negating their strategies (for viewers
One variation is to run an old episode followed who might have changed channels). HBO, for
by a new episode. By mid-decade, hit comedies, example, often schedules a hit movie starting at 7
reality series and even a few hour-long dramas were or even 7:30 P.M. (EST) to bridge the start of net-
being doubled and even tripled as with Terra Nova. work prime time.
Another variation involves stripping episodes on The second variation of bridging involves
different nights like a miniseries. This has become a starting and ending programs at odd times, thus
common practice with short-run series like Ameri- causing them to run past the starting and stopping
can Idol, Dancing With The Stars, Survivor and points for shows on other networks. This creates a
The Bachelor. Shows such as According to Jim, bridge over the competing programs, which keeps
Extreme Makeover, Deal or No Deal and Arrested viewers from switching to other channels because
Development have appeared night after night, but they have missed the beginnings of the other
usually for just a few weeks at a time. Copying shows. For example, TBS regularly starts its pro-
cable networks like USA, TNT and A&E, the grams at 5 minutes after the hour. As a result, TBS
broadcast networks occasionally turned an entire viewers are forced either to watch the next TBS
evening over to one show, as ABC did sporadically show or tune into another program already in
with Desperate Housewives and CBS did with the progress.
original CSI. CBS has used the bridging strategy successfully
6. Linchpin Strategy. Most scheduling strategies in its Sunday night lineup. The network regularly
rely on having enough strong programs around runs Sunday football games (or other sports)
which to build a schedule for new series. However, beyond the hour point, thus throwing the rest of
60 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

the night off by about 10 minutes. This means that mere fact they broadcast in Spanish is a counter
the audience that watches 60 Minutes is stuck with to other broadcasters, and puts them in an entirely
CBS for the night. NBC and FOX have copied this separate competition group in some markets,
practice with their Sunday afternoon sports broad- although Univision’s own data shows many of
casts. The alternatives for viewers are to leave a its shows are watched by sizable non-Spanish-
show before it is over or to tune in to the compe- speaking audiences.
tition late. 9. Blunting Strategy. Networks that choose to
A third variation on this strategy involves match the competition by scheduling a show with
scheduling half-hour shows against hour-long identical appeal are blunting the competition. For
shows on the competing networks. FOX, by plac- example, in the 2006–07 season, CBS and NBC ran
ing a strong show like King of the Hill first, forced CSI: New York and Medium against each other on
the audience to watch the weaker Oliver Beene or Wednesdays, and ABC and NBC ran Grey’s Anat-
tune into the middle of hour-long programs on the omy and ER against each other on Thursdays, in
other networks. The risk is that viewers may go to each case effectively splitting the legal-show fans and
cable or turn to the DVR. Modern viewing habits, medical-show fans. Such blunting attempts often
split screens and digital guides have further weak- don’t last long as one show usually proves more
ened this strategy as many people now watch more popular than the other.
than one show at a time, just switching back and If two networks are already blunting each other,
forth when something exciting seems to be a third network that counterprograms often gets
happening. higher ratings than either of the other two networks.
8. Countering Strategy. The networks also sched- In other words, the two networks running similar
ule programs to pull viewers away from their com- programs split part of the audience, while the
petitors by offering something of completely counterprogrammer, in theory, gets everyone who
different appeal than the other shows, a strategy likes its program plus all those who dislike the genre
called counterprogramming. For many years, for being blunted on the other two channels. One recent
example, ABC successfully countered the strong, example occurred when ABC ran the magazine
women-oriented series offered by CBS and NBC on show Primetime against CSI and Medium; another
Monday nights with Monday Night Football—until occurred when CBS ran Shark against Grey’s Anat-
2006 when the games went to ESPN. To counter omy and ER.
Desperate Housewives and Cold Case Files, NBC 10. Stunting Strategy. The art of scheduling also
introduced Sunday Night Football. ABC clearly includes maneuvers called stunting, a term taken
counterprogrammed CBS’s Survivor with Ugly from the defensive plays used in professional foot-
Betty. ball. Stunting includes scheduling specials, adding
Traditionally, counterprogramming challenged guest stars, having unusual series promotion and
the ideal demographics approach because it relied otherwise altering the regular program schedule at
on finding a large, ignored group of viewers and the last minute. Beginning in the late 1970s, the
scheduling a program for them. In the late-2000s, networks adopted the practice of deliberately
the CW was countering the older networks by making last-minute changes in their schedules to
programming for teenage women, while FOX pro- catch rival networks off guard. These moves—cal-
grammed for young urban men. Univision coun- culated and planned well ahead of time but kept
terprograms the English-language networks by secret until the last possible moment—were
stripping three shows, Heridas de Amor, La Fea intended to blunt the effects of competitors’ pro-
Mas Bella and Mundo de Fieras, across the week grams. Generally such maneuvers are one-
from 7 to 10, Monday through Friday, then vary- time-only because their high cost cannot be sus-
ing its 10 P.M. and weekend shows. Of course, the tained over a long period.
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 61

Scheduling hit films, using big-name stars for 11. Supersizing Strategy. In recent years, the net-
their publicity value, and altering a series’ format works have developed a form of stunting used
for a single evening are common attention-getting mainly for the sweeps months. This method, called
stunts. Glee has provided a number of classic supersizing, allows them to pull questionable series
examples: Top musical personalities “drop in” on off the air without having to find another show to
rehearsals. Such stunts have high promotional fill their time slots. To fill the time, the network adds
value and can attract much larger-than-usual length to their biggest hits and advertises them as
audiences if well promoted. Of course, the fol- specials. Supersizing is now common for hit sitcoms
lowing week, the schedule goes back to normal, and reality series, although rare so far for hour-long
so these efforts get people to sample shows but dramas. Doubling can be considered a similar strat-
rarely create long-term improvements in series egy with the same goal. Networks often schedule the
ratings. supersized climax of their reality shows to coincide
CBS used another form of stunting when it with sweeps weeks.
paid more than $4 billion for rights to sporting
events (including Major League Baseball) during 12. Seamless Strategy. In the 1990s the networks
the 1990s. This proved to be a financial disaster. turned to still another strategy intended to accel-
Although the network expected to lose money erate the flow between programs. First NBC, fol-
most years, it hoped that the rewards from pro- lowed by the other networks, eliminated the breaks
moting CBS shows during the World Series and between key programs (Seinfeld to Frasier, for
championship games would be worth the cost. example). Viewers normally make most use of their
Those hopes proved fruitless, and CBS lost tens of remote controls in the two minutes or so that has
millions of dollars with no ratings improvements traditionally occurred between programs, thus
to show for it. running the end of one program right up against
Investing in popular but unprofitable specials the start of the next avoids the opportunity for
to promote other shows on a network remains a remote use. This is called a seamless transition, and
popular form of stunting, however. The Olympics its goal is to keep viewers watching whatever net-
are a perfect example. NBC acknowledged that work they began with.
the money paid for the 2004, 2008 and 2012 In another twist, ABC (soon copied by the
Summer Games would be more than it could get other networks) instructed producers to cut out
back, but it planned to use the games to promote all long title and credit sequences and to begin
and then lead directly into the new fall season, every program with an up-tempo, attention-
thus justifying the cost. It liked this arrangement getting sequence. Titles then appear later in a
so much it paid $4.38 billion for the next four program, some times as much as 10 minutes into
Olympics (2014 to 2020). the program after viewers have, presumably, been
Strangely enough, ABC, which first discovered hooked. At the ends of programs, all networks
the real value of sports, has pulled out of most have experimented with split screens and
megasports bidding, arguing that the big sporting squeezed credits. Originally, some program action
events have become too expensive to be worth (or “bloopers”) filled part of the screen to hold
their price tags (although co-owned ESPN put in a viewers’ attention right into the next program (or
losing bid on the 2014–2020 rights). ABC may very close to it). However, this space now usually
well have been right because so far NBC’s plans contains ads or promos for the upcoming series.
don’t seem to be working when viewed from Another variation on this strategy involves run-
outside the network. On the other hand, perhaps ning a “next” icon or a promotional crawl for
NBC’s image and ratings would be worse without the upcoming series over the last segment of the
the Olympics rights! preceding show. Many viewers find this
62 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

incredibly annoying, and the networks (and follow it to its normal night. In a variation in
advertisers) know it, as witnessed by the fact that 2010, Cape aired its premier episode on both net-
they never do it during the ads. But promotional work and cable channels during the first
crawls on programs have the added advantage of week—cross-media scheduling. To be effective, like
making home recordings off-the-air less desirable, many other strategies, such practices have to be
and thus, the networks believe, a spur to DVD combined with heavy promotion campaigns during
sales. the initial showing advertising the show’s normal
13. Rotating Strategy. This is a very old strategy day and time.
being reintroduced because of a shortage of original Although these scheduling practices can readily
episodes and the need to have original programming be identified in prime-time network lineups, there is
during sweeps periods. In the early days of network little reason to believe any has an overwhelming
television, the very popular Jack Benny Show ran impact on viewing. Most were developed at a time
every other week, regularly alternating with another when few people had remote controls or DVRs, and
program. By 1960, this practice had disappeared, digital cable’s wealth of channels and the internet
but then some cable networks reintroduced it in a didn’t exist. On-demand options and recording via
slightly different variation. As they moved toward DVRs also encourage viewers to do their own sched-
more original production, but usually ordered uling. Today, the audience has little reluctance to
merely 10 to 13 episodes, cable programmers were change channels, and there is no shortage of places
faced with the problem of what to do when original to go
episodes ran out. The web carries rebroadcasts of highly rated or
They solved the problem by scheduling more much-talked-about shows, further undermining net-
than a single series for the same time slot. For work efforts to manipulate audience flow on televi-
example, Syfy Channel runs 10 to 13 weeks of sion during prime time. Nonetheless, most experts
Warehouse 13, followed by 6 to 8 episodes of believe that well-defined and executed application
Eureka followed by 7 episodes of Merlin. This of these programming strategies helps a broadcast
allows Syfy’s programmers to maximize the value of network hold onto significant portions of the view-
the original episodes while spreading out production ership. They continue to believe this even in spite of
costs, having a total of 26 episodes, which with falling numbers for network programs. On the other
reruns, fills a whole season. By 2011, the networks hand, the ratings might be worse … or so networks
were beginning to do the same thing with reality like to think.
series. For example, FOX and CBS each scheduled a
hit, American Idol and Survivor, to run during
sweeps and then filled the time between sweeps with Appointment Viewing
other, far less popular programs. Until now, sched- For decades, scholars have argued about how people
uling multiple series for a single time slot has been watch television. For most of the last 50 years, prac-
largely limited to reality shows on the broadcast titioners assumed people passively watched the set—
networks, but the practice (and the need) is not programs (the least objectionable program the-
spreading. ory). In short, when they had time (availability),
14. Strip Sampling Strategy. In the last five years, a viewers tuned in and then looked for something to
technique to get new programs sampled appeared: watch.
new series aired on several different nights across About a decade ago, some researchers began con-
their premier weeks—horizontal stripping. The tending that people actively planned their viewing
theory is that wide exposure will allow as many around specific programs that would continue their
people as possible to see the show and thus will current mood or change a bad mood. This view proved
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 63

to be a hard sell in an industry that had long dismissed were surprised to find that people were willing to
the idea of program loyalty in all but a few cases. For buy DVD sets of complete seasons of their favorite
example, everyone recognizes that many soap opera television series. While ABC, CBS and NBC long
viewers plan their activities so they can watch their resisted offering their shows in DVD sets, FOX and
favorite afternoon programs—that is, appointment the CW made a sizable portion of their profits from
viewing. But, experts argued, this happened rarely in these sets and even program for them.
prime time, perhaps only with such megahits as Amer- Changing concepts of ordinary viewing beha-
ican Idol, live sporting events, or occasionally with viors makes the successful selection and scheduling
highly-touted miniseries (mostly the domain of public of mass-audience programs increasingly difficult for
broadcasting and cable these days). programmers. The truth is, as far as the major net-
Some shows, like Glee and NCIS, generate loy- works are concerned, programming is bait. It is a
alty and exhibit appointment viewing; their fans are lure to get viewers to watch commercials and a com-
willing to pay extra fees for on-demand viewing modity that can be resold to stations, mainly their
and DVD sets. When researchers looked closely at own O&Os, as syndicated bait to get viewers for
program preference, they found that viewers their ads. The discovery that series could be resold
develop strong mental images about when their as DVD packages forced programmers to begin to
favorite programs are on and tune in with those consider the actual value of the program itself
programs in mind. This presented a very different (see 2.7). For programmers, however, appointment
view of habitual viewing, which had always been
assumed to be a factor in channel or network loy-
alty. This understanding of the power of viewers’
mental images of network schedules led to intensifi- 2.7 The Value Question
cation of the amount and type of on-air, print and

T
online promotion in order to create and manipulate
such mental images. Simultaneously it led to o further complicate matters, the industry can’t figure
renewed interest in creating programs that spur out which shows have resale value. FOX, for
viewing by appointment—that is, shows that are example, planned The Simple Life, its “Paris Hilton meets
so special or events so unique that viewers plan Green Acres” reality series, for fast DVD release. The
their time around them. On the other hand, the network applauded as the series’ ratings climbed, got
the DVD set to the stores only one week after the series
continual shuffling of the schedule is a practice
finished its run on the air, and then watched as sales
that breaks down habitual viewing and thus
went nowhere.
increases viewer frustration.
Meanwhile, Firefly, which FOX had dumped without
It must be understood that despite program loy-
even using all of the ordered episodes, went straight to
alty and appointment viewing, people do not tune in
the top of the DVD sales lists and stayed there. It was
every week. Most viewers do not change other plans subsequently rushed into production again as a theatrical
to watch even their favorite television programs. movie. At the same time, the success of Family Guy on
They find comfort in knowing the series will still DVD, another of FOX’s cancelled series, was so great
be there next week and that they can watch missed FOX un-cancelled it. Its performance on the network,
episodes in rerun or on DVR. however, was and still is only mediocre (ratings of about
DVRs have also profoundly changed people’s 2), revealing that loyalty and a willingness to buy a
views of when they have to watch. The time- series on DVD are not necessarily related to broadcast
shifting of favorite programs is now a common prac- audience size. The CW has known this for years as DVD
tice because DVRs make it easy; this has become so sales make up a huge part of the profits for two of its
important that several days after a program first airs series, Smallville and Supernatural.
are now included in the ratings. Many programmers
64 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

viewing may not only refer to the planning of activi- produced more often. These demands have led to
ties to allow the viewing of a series; it may also be a ratings being reported continuously and in a number
measure of how much a viewer enjoys a particular of different ways, many of which are outlined in
series and how much money and time he or she is Chapters 5 and 6. As a quick heads up, for prime-
willing to invest in it. time network programming, the most common of
these are the sweeps, overnights, pocketpieces and
multinetwork reports.
Prime-Time Ratings
Regardless of whether an advertiser wants sheer ton- Sweeps and Overnights
nage or a specific audience segment, currently, com- Four times each year a highly controversial rating
mercial spot costs depend mainly on the absolute event occurs—the sweeps. In November, February,
ratings plus 3 days (= total estimated audience) of May and July, Nielsen Media Research uses people
the programs in which the commercials occur. Niel- meters in the larger markets and diaries in the smal-
sen is developing ratings for commercials from its ler markets to gather audience viewing behavior that
minute-by-minute people-meter data, but those are is converted into ratings, shares and demographic
not yet in common usage. A television advertiser, information for local television stations and a grow-
in contrast to an advertiser on a formatted radio ing number of cable networks. The sweep results,
station, must pay for all viewers, whether or not particularly the November and February periods
they fall within the desired target audience. Esti- when audience viewing levels are at their highest,
mated program ratings are the major determinant directly affect the rates these cable networks and
of the cost of a commercial spot. local stations (including network-affiliates and
Ratings, however, lack precision. As pointed O&Os) charge for advertising time.
out in Chapter 5, network ratings estimate the view- Traditionally, the summer sweeps were of less
ing of 116 million television households using data importance. One summer the ratings dropped so
collected from 12,000 cooperating families, and it is badly that affiliates began to balk at clearing net-
very unlikely that these estimates are exactly right. work summer shows, but in recent years some of
In fact, statisticians sometimes claim that no sub- the biggest hits have actually started during the sum-
stantial difference exists between the 10th-rated and mer. This has led the networks to claim they have
50th-rated shows in prime time; the differences in moved to a full 52-week season.
their ratings could result from nothing more than The stations demand that the networks display
inevitable sampling errors. their highest-quality merchandise during the sweeps
Because advertisers (and ad agencies) have agreed periods to attract the largest possible audiences and
to base the price of a commercial spot on the absolute maximize ad revenues. This practice makes the four
number, however, they ignore this inability to measure sweeps periods, especially November and February,
small differences. A top program such as The Office highly competitive and, at the same time, not always
that has a rating of about 4 and an advertising price the most valid indicators of a network’s or station’s
of $450,000 per 30-second spot will generate millions real strength.
of dollars more in revenue than a program such as National ratings take several different forms.
Cougar Town with a rating of about 3 and a spot Aside from the sweeps, the overnights are the most
price of $200,000, even though the difference in rat- avidly monitored ratings data. They are gathered
ings between the two is statistically meaningless at the through people meters which sample 25,000 people
levels normally set by statisticians. The treatment of (5,000 for national ratings and 20,000 for local
ratings as absolute numbers by both advertisers and ratings) in 56 major markets. The overnight ratings
networks has led to fights over unmeasurable fractions are used to monitor overall urban audience reaction
of a rating point and demands for more measurements, to such “program doctoring” as changes in casts,
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 65

character emphases and plot lines, and to compare inexpensive to make, and the concept has been
the viewing of major sporting events on broadcast sold to producers in other countries, who use the
and big cable networks. The overnights also indicate same program idea and title but staff the house
immediately whether a new program has “taken with people from their own countries. In Brazil, for
off” and captured a sizable audience in the urban instance, Big Brother is one of the highest-rated pro-
markets. Advertising agencies also use the overnight grams, and the contestants are considered major
numbers to make predictions about specific shows stars. While most game, reality and talent shows
that then become the basis of ratings expectations have no life after their first run, either as DVDs,
(and sales rates). off-network syndication or network reruns, the con-
For example, when Smallville first started, it cept may have value and be syndicatable. Programs
was predicted to get a share of 3 but actually got a like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Deal Or No
7, thus making it a hit, even though its subsequent Deal, Dancing With The Stars, The Bachelor or
ratings were at the bottom for all series. Since that Survivor had no value to the international market
time, its DVD sales have made its rating almost irrel- as programs, but had great value as ideas. When
evant, as it has run for 10 years, never getting more syndicated, the other country actually produces it.
than a 4. Indeed, CW was almost in a panic as it While the money may not come directly to the net-
finally announced the series would end in 2011. work, it still comes to the parent company. Of
Missing the predicted number (getting one much course the money for traditional off-network syndi-
lower than expected) in the overnights during the cation never came directly to the network either.
first few weeks of a newly introduced program’s And the process reverses: NBC bought the idea for
run spells cancellation unless the ratings show a Voice from non-U.S. sources. (Simply stealing the
hint of growth—or unless the program is expected show, as Norman Lear did with All In The Family,
to have stronger appeal to a specific audience. JAG is no longer an option.)
was canceled by NBC but picked up and run suc- Other series, such as The West Wing and Bones,
cessfully by CBS, which argued that it had a strong were only moderate rating performers but generated
rural and male appeal not represented in the city- strong critical and special-interest appeal and thus
based overnight ratings. CBS was subsequently remained on the schedule, giving them time to grow
proven right. Recently, when Friday Night Lights into true rating success stories, which led to big sales
was dropped by broadcasting, it was picked up by as DVD sets (and long runs on cable for Bones). Still
cable and run successfully. other programs, such as Heroes, were designed to run
Sometimes international appeal is a factor in let- on both a broadcast network and a cable network at
ting a show build an audience. For example, Prison the same time, requiring advertisers to predict com-
Break was only a moderate rating success for FOX, bined ratings/shares. Some programs like Monk were
but it showed strong international potential and not designed for running on both cable and broad-
offered a racially diversified cast during a year with casting but have because parent companies try to
little other racial diversity in prime time. Thus, double the value of an unexpected success.
Prison Break was renewed while higher-rated series Even though the ability to accurately predict the
were canceled. In 2010, Hawaii 5-0 found itself in numbers, especially for new series, is very low, adver-
much the same situation. It was not high in the rat- tising agency predictions still have tremendous power.
ings, but its international syndication potential For example, during the 1999–00 season, advertisers
seems to be very high so it was proclaimed a hit. predicted Secret Agent Man would get barely a 2
Still other shows that are cheap to produce but share. As a result, the series was canceled without air-
have no aftermarket potential may be held because ing even one episode. Who knows? Given a chance,
the shows’ concepts are so valuable. For example, the audience might have turned to it as they did to the
Big Brother has always had ratings of about 2 or 3 summer surprise hits Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
for CBS, hardly great numbers. But the show is and Survivor (the first one), both of which were
66 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

predicted to generate ratings so low they didn’t even It comes from the 12,000 national people-meter
get a regular season start. On the other hand, the households selected to match census demographic
same agency experts predicted that Coupling would guidelines for the entire country. Though this infor-
be one of the highest-rated new series in 2003–04. It mation is published only every other week, these data
certainly did not live up to that prediction. are available to Nielsen subscribers via computer the
next day. A data bank provides, upon request, data
not only for the nine major broadcast networks but
Pocketpieces and MNA Reports also for selected cable networks.
The ratings report traditionally of greatest interest to As 2.8 shows, more than 11 million people
the creative community, and the one most familiar to watched CBS’s Cold Case that Sunday from 8:15
the public, is published every other week in a small to 9:15, and the program’s average rating for the
booklet known as The Nielsen Pocketpiece (see 2.8). hour was 10.5 with a share of 15. At the same

2.8 Sample Pocketpiece Page

 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 67

time, more than 10 million people watched FOX’s rating times 2.6). They point to the percentage
Major League Baseball game, getting a rating of 9.5 increase over last year, a show’s first-place position
and a share of 17 or so for that 8:15 to 9:15 P.M. in a time slot, the percentage of the ideal audience it
hour of the game. ABC also did well with Extreme captures, and so on—anything but the actual rating
Makeover: Households, watched by nearly 9 million numbers, which are usually dismal. A decade ago
people; that show got a rating of 8.8 and a share of programmers joked that the ratings books were
13. NBC did less well in the competition, attracting designed to be complicated so that any programmer
just under 5 million people to American Dreams that could find something that he or she was doing right.
week. The show got a rating of 4.3 and a share of 7. Now they keep the ratings a secret. Nielsen permits
Just over 3 million people watched WB’s Charmed, the ratings for only the top 25 programs to be
and it got a rating of 3.0 and a share of 5 (quite reported in the press.
satisfactory for WB, now called the CW). The rating
for the series Doc on PAX (now called ION) aver-
aged about a 1.0, with about a 1 share. Prime-Time Scheduling Practices
At present, Nielsen is handling almost 1,300
computer requests for pocket-piece data monthly, The entire process of prime-time programming
suggesting that its people-meter data may eventually breaks down into three major phases: deciding to
replace or diminish the importance of the over- keep or cancel already scheduled series, developing
nights. Unlike the urban nature of the overnights, and choosing new programs from the ideas pro-
the pocketpiece provides estimates for the entire posed for the coming season, and scheduling the
nation, including ratings/shares and the all- entire group. To understand program evaluation,
important demographics for both prime time and selection and scheduling, the changing concept of a
daytime, plus general information such as average season needs to be spelled out.
ratings by program type, number of sets in use by
days and by dayparts, comparison of television
usage between the current season and the one pre- Shifting Network Seasons
ceding, and other details. From the 1950s to the present, the main viewing
Network programmers also find Nielsen’s year has periodically expanded or contracted until
Multi-Network Area Report (MNA) very useful. it settled on 40 weeks, usually running from late
The statistics in this report cover the 70 leading pop- September to the end of May. The remaining 12
ulation centers in the country, represent about two- weeks (off-season) occur in summer. Production
thirds of total television homes nationally, and break cost increases combined with a high mortality rate
out the O&O markets. The networks use MNA decreased the size of episode orders for renewed
reports to compare the performance of the major series to 20 or 22 episodes by the 1990s, filling in
networks without the distortion caused by the one- the season with specials and reruns.
and two-affiliate markets included in the national Nowadays, ABC, CBS and NBC tend to order
Nielsen reports (although few now exist). MNA just 6 to 10 episodes at a time, although occasional
reports include the so-essential demographic break- 22-episode guaranties are given to capture a high-
outs and give the networks figures related to their profile producer or star. And network contracts
owned stations without distortion from smaller mar- now say “cancelable any time” (although Charlie
kets where they have no ownership interests. Sheen sued claiming they had no right to cancel
As network ratings have fallen, the way the net- Two and a Half Men, or rather to cancel him, as
works report them has also changed. Very few press CBS continued with the series). Even having 22 epi-
releases or promotional materials actually refer to sodes fails to cover the May sweeps; but these sweeps
the ratings or shares anymore. Rather, they report are important to affiliated stations while being too
the millions of people who viewed something (the expensive for the networks to fill with specials.
68 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

Because the network license fee gives the right Limited Series
to two showings of each episode for the one pay-
Starting back in the 1990s, the networks began
ment, and because the networks need to get their
interrupting the regular season with tryouts of new
money’s worth out of every episode, for the last
series in strong prime-time slots. March, April and
decade reruns have begun early and often. They
the summer months became tryout months for lim-
are usually scheduled at the end of the fall season
ited series (generally four to six episodes). This off-
in December (no ratings then) and between the Feb-
and-on method of scheduling allows the networks to
ruary and May sweeps. Traditionally, weaker epi-
test a new program under the best possible condi-
sodes used to be rerun in summers, but the need to
tions while preserving original episodes of the most
fill 40 weeks has resulted in reruns of nearly all epi-
popular series for the May sweeps.
sodes during the main viewing year, with episodes of
Whether inserting a new series into the ongoing
quickly canceled series, new pilots and original real-
prime-time schedule is an effective strategy is debat-
ity series saved for summers.
able. New shows usually get highly inflated ratings
Specials, sports and limited-run tryouts fill the
while in a popular show’s time slot, but such ratings
remaining weeks of the regular season. However,
seldom hold up when new show moves into their
the definition of a “special” has become extremely
much weaker permanent slots. At the same time,
loose. During a recent season, specials included
constantly interrupting a popular show tends to
rejected pilots, such fluff shows as ABC’s 21 Hottest
cause its ratings to go down. Series tried out during
Stars Under 21, and so-called news specials that
the summer months suffer from the opposite effect.
were indistinguishable from the regular news maga-
Because summer ratings are so low, even if a pro-
zines and reality shows.
gram significantly improves ratings for the slot, the
It used to be that placing a program on hiatus (a
absolute quantity of viewers seldom looks good, and
rest or break) meant that it was awaiting cancella-
the usual result is quick cancellation.
tion. Over the decades, a few series came back from
Many reality series, including American Idol
a hiatus with a new actor or plot line, and stayed on
and Dancing with the Stars, however, were planned
the schedule, but most just disappeared. Nowadays,
as limited-run series scheduled during sweeps weeks.
if a series has 22 episodes to air, original episodes
Having only a few episodes reduces production costs
end before Christmas and then return in February
and allows the producers to stage much publicized
or March to run without interruptions to the season
tryouts around the country (that people pay to
finales in May sweeps.
watch and participate in) between actual runs of
Another option for filling gaps in the schedule is
the program. Survivor now follows the same year-
stripping, which refers to scheduling episodes of a
round tryout scheme, but was originally a limited
program, usually a magazine series like NBC Date-
summer series.
line, on several different days across the week. This
In truth, the majority of new series are aired
practice has not seemed to harm the numbers for
first in limited-run experiments, not pilots. The
news format shows, but it killed Who Wants to Be
majority of new programs tried by ABC, CBS,
a Millionaire? as a network show. However, after a
NBC and FOX run for fewer than eight weeks. In
hiatus of a year Millionaire returned as a syndicated
contrast, UNI, TEL and the CW tend to leave new
series, and later went back on ABC as a special. In
series on for a full season, but some programmers
more limited form, stripping has been employed
argue that this stems not from a different philosophy
with such situation comedies as Till Death, Scrubs,
but from a lack of the money required to constantly
Reba and That 70’s Show, and with such reality
develop replacements. (MNTV and TEF carry
shows as Next Top Model, Survivor and Nanny
mostly rerun entertainment series.)
911, which often run two and sometimes three
Programmers argue that limited-run series in all
times a week. FOX dose this regularly with Ameri-
seasons are the wave of the future. They point to the
can Idol and Dancing With The Stars.
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 69

success of such cable programs as Monk and The that did not make the fall schedule. (Previously,
Sopranos, which ran 8 to 12 weeks, went off, and these pilots would never have been seen by anyone
then came back later for another 8 to 12 weeks. This outside the network programming department.) By
allowed cable programmers to stretch the run of the the 1990s, not only were network ratings down
popular original series into the summer months, but the costs for program development were so
when they often wiped out the networks in the high that the networks could no longer absorb the
ratings. expense of the development stages for new shows
However, as with most things concerning the that never reached the air.
networks, the situation is not quite that simple. In Summer became the arena for reruns of weak
broadcasting, the combination game/reality formula series episodes or episodes of quickly canceled series
used in Celebrity Apprentice, Survivor, The Amaz- that were paid for but never used, and for episodes
ing Race and American Idol forces programmers of never-scheduled shows or reruns of canceled
into a scattered scheduling approach. A new game series. Running pilots as made-for-TV movies, sum-
has to start and run its course as one person is mer specials, and short-run tests of series became
thrown off the show each week, and then end the three ways to recoup much of a network’s invest-
game. It then takes several weeks to get the next ment. By 2007, the networks had begun to repeat
episode of the game ready for broadcast. Something their top shows on Saturday nights, further exhaust-
has to fill the weeks between the main reality series, ing their rerun potential for summers.
so why not use another cheap reality game and then However, the practices of doubling, tripling and
alternate them back and forth in the schedule? In stripping episodes during the regular season, com-
cable, programmers used the broken-run strategy bined with airing many unscripted series, which can-
largely because they could not afford a full 22 epi- not be successfully rerun, began leaving little that was
sodes. They needed the money from the first run to fresh for the summer months. Indeed, the neglect of
produce the second run. This scattered approach to the summers by ABC, CBS and NBC made them a
scheduling helped disguise the fact that there weren’t gold mine for the cable networks, which began killing
very many original episodes being produced. the broadcast networks in the summer ratings. In
Network-planned limited runs of such high-cost addition, the affiliated stations worried about the
series as Lost serve much the same purpose. Limiting extreme ratings drops during July sweeps.
the number of episodes produced each season keeps FOX further complicated the picture when it dis-
production costs down and produces revenue to sup- covered that summer was a good time to get people
port more production. Theoretically, this type of to sample series they did not normally watch. This
scheduling also builds anticipation in the audience, network was able to build an audience for several
allowing a network to promote an upcoming series of its regular series by continuing original episodes
almost like a special event that hypes the ratings dur- into summer, which were supported by active promo-
ing sweeps weeks. ABC shocked many fans in 2007 tional campaigns. To take advantage of the potential
by announcing Lost’s end date of 2010, after a six- for discovering its shows, FOX began heavily pro-
season run. The producers claimed that fans moting its reruns as a “second chance to see what
deserved the security of knowing that all the you have been missing.” FOX’s success was later cop-
show’s convoluted storylines would play out fully as ied by NBC in its “New to you” promotion that
intended. emphasized the fact that “if you haven’t seen it, the
program is new to you.” By the early 2000s, this
strategy was sufficiently successful to force the other
Summer Schedules networks to pay more attention to their summer sche-
In the late 1980s, the networks began using March dules. Most networks now schedule at least one or
and April, as well as summer, for testing new pro- two new series during the summer, although none
gram ideas in short runs and airing rejected pilots seems intended to continue during the main season.
70 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

Even when a summer series generated a lot of talk or actually reduced the sampling of new shows. For
higher-than-expected ratings, as was the case with the example, viewers who find an appealing show at a
short-run FOX series Roar, the show was dropped certain hour in early September are unlikely to check
the minute September rolled around. out new shows when they debut some weeks later at
Until the breakthrough by extremely cheap the same hour. Viewers also won’t stay around (or
unscripted (this doesn’t mean no writers, it just come back) when a new show they like vanishes for
means no union writers) series like Survivor, even several weeks while the network stunts. As a rule,
when a summer series outperformed expectations, fans of comedy will find another comedy at that
it was seldom picked up. Programmers generally hour and stick with it; fans of drama will become
wrote these offerings off before they ever went on loyal to another drama.
the air. As a result, a show must break all records In addition, a large number of new network pro-
to get attention from programmers who have grams, particularly replacement shows, begin their
already moved on to next season’s planning. runs in January or February, thus creating a second
The original Survivor on CBS, which ran only season on the networks. By late fall each year, the fate
during the summer of 2000, was such a surprise of most prime-time programs already on the air has
megahit. It spawned several clones (look-alike become clear. Holiday specials usually preempt those
shows) for the subsequent season (Temptation Island, destined for cancellation or restructuring, while more
The Mole and Big Brother), and then American Idol, popular series go into reruns and special holiday
a summer copy of a British series, did the same thing episodes, which are often cut together pieces of ear-
for FOX. Suddenly summer was seen as the time to lier episodes with a loose plot—such as characters are
try reality series. With the advent of original summer trying to remember something—to tie them together.
schedules and the promotion of reruns as original By January or February the networks are ready
programming for people who normally watched the to launch their second seasons—with almost the
competition, the July ratings books took on more same amount of promotion and ballyhoo as are
importance as a measure of network and pay-cable accorded the new season premieres in September or
pull, as a limited vehicle for pre-fall testing, and inci- October. Nonetheless, they then promptly preempt
dentally, as a way to satisfy affiliates. the new schedule to promote and run special pro-
gramming for the February sweeps, and then they
introduce more new series in March. As a result, it
Premieres is hard to argue that there are clear seasons any lon-
Traditionally, the networks premiered their new ger. Rather, network programming has become a
series during a much-publicized week in late Septem- round of constant changes. As a strategy, this is
ber. However, in 2004, because of the late summer called the continuous season approach. Indeed,
Olympics, the networks declared the end of fall pre- back in 2009, NBC said there were no more seasons,
mieres as such. The reality is that series have debu- and the others have adopted the same practices.
ted in scattershot fashion for the last decade, usually Schedule changes are occurring every week.
throughout September and October (and occasion-
ally as early as August or as late as November).
Theoretically, spreading out the premieres keeps Program Renewal
new programs from getting lost in the rush, gives
viewers maximum opportunity to sample each new Evaluation of on-air shows goes on all year. The
network show, and accommodates interruptions critical times for new programs starting are before
caused by baseball playoffs, the World Series and the sweeps in November, February, May and July;
other major events such as the Olympics. In fact, those doing badly during sweeps are then quickly
spreading out “premiere week” has diminished the replaced before the next sweeps occur. The final
excitement associated with a new season and decision on whether to return an iffy program to
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 71

the schedule the following fall is usually made 5. The scarcity of outstanding program forms and
between March and May because the networks fresh, top-rated production and writing talent,
showcase their fall lineups at their annual affiliates as well as a network propensity for formulaic
meetings during those months and up-front sales series, which leads to a great deal of copying
begin. Last-minute changes, however, occur right and very low levels of originality
up to the opening guns in the fall. 6. The loss of key actors because they become
bored or move on to other projects
Program Lifespan 7. The move toward the cloning of prime-time
The average lifespan of popular prime-time series hits, which results in a sameness that causes
has declined steadily over time. In the 1950s and even the best ideas to wear out faster
1960s, such shows as The Ed Sullivan Show, Guns- The shortened lifespan of prime-time series
moke, What’s My Line? and The Wonderful World reflects the complexity of program license contracts
of Disney endured for more than 20 years. These that generally ran for five to seven years. Each new
records for longevity will probably never be matched episode of a program is assigned a license fee,
again in prime time—with the exceptions of news whether the show is produced by the same company
magazines and cartoons like The Simpsons. By that owns the network intending to carry the pro-
1980, a program lifespan of 10 years was regarded gram or another entity. The license fee size varies
as a phenomenon. By the 1990s, 5 years was an out- with cost factors such as costumes, special effects,
standing run for a successful series. sets, stunt work, the amount of location versus stu-
A decade later, because the networks became dio shooting, cast size, the producers’ and stars’
the producers, they gained a vested interest in the reputations, the program’s track record, the demand
longevity of their programs. Series such as Small- for series in the same genre and so on. Traditionally,
ville, Supernatural, NCIS, 7th Heaven and Law and this cost represented about three-quarters of the
Order are now moving back toward 10-year life- actual cost of production and told the executive pro-
spans. The networks have become very reluctant to ducers how much they were going to have to kick in
cancel anything that succeeds, even modestly, if they to actually make the program.
can make a profit from it. When a series first makes it to the air, the net-
Several factors accounted for this shortened work controls the contractual situation and usually
lifespan: requires several concessions from everyone involved.
1. Above all, the high cost of renewing writers, At this time, the producer commonly has to sign
directors and actors after an initial contract over such rights as creative control, spin-off rights,
expires limitations on syndication and scheduling control.
Everyone also agrees to a specific licensing fee for
2. The increased sophistication or, some argue, the
the run of the five-year contract, regardless of the
shortened attention span of the viewing audience
program’s success (after all, most shows fail). Typi-
3. The constant media coverage of television cally, this licensing fee makes no concession for shar-
shows and stars (as in Entertainment Tonight, ing the profits should the program become a hit.
People and Us magazines, the morning talk However, when the producer and the network now
shows and so on), which wears out each series work for the same corporation, the leverage lies with
idea quickly the parent company (see 2.9).
4. The practice of syndicating a series while it
continues its network run, of releasing DVD
sets, and of doubling and tripling (or other Pivotal Numbers
overusing while on the network), which leads to Choosing which programs already on the air will
burnout continue and which will be pulled (renewals and
72 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

2.9 License Contracts

T raditionally, producers practice deficit financing (pay-

ing more to produce a series than the network pays in
license fees) because the potential profit from off-network
Under such renewal conditions, a network could some-
times profit by dropping a popular show. But because
finding hits has been so difficult, the networks generally
syndication can run into the hundreds of millions of dollars. decide it’s better to give in rather than have another huge
If a show is a hit, the producers can make up any losses. hole open up in their schedules. For example, NBC did bite
Producers typically agree to licensing contracts lower than the bullet with the moderate hit ER, paying $13 million per
actual production costs in order to get their shows onto the episode for one year just to keep this centerpiece for its
networks so they have chances to be hits. Thursday night schedule.
For those few shows that really succeeded, in the old The repeal of the financial interest rule, however, meant that
days, at the end of the first contractual period (normally five the networks could (and do) now own the programs. Because
years), the tables were turned: Now the producers and the network is itself the producer, tables don’t turn so completely
stars enjoyed the advantage because the series had a track (oh, actors can still get pushy, and the unions can cause trou-
record. In short, if the network wanted to keep making the ble, as they did during the 2008 season), but all costs and
series, concessions would have to be granted, usually in profits belong to the same corporation, giving it enormous
the form of much higher salaries or bigger shares in profits leverage over salaries and profit sharing. Although deficit
for the producers. Friends illustrated this dilemma when the financing is still practiced for tax purposes, it occurs between
stars each demanded $1 million an episode in 2003–04 arms of the same company. One outcome of the new power
even before any other salaries or production costs were relationship is that the networks seem to hold the few big hits
figured. longer even as cancellations for new series come quicker.

cancellations) is perhaps the easiest decision network possible, while programs in the top third are usually
programmers have. The decisions are based squarely renewed. The most difficult decisions for network pro-
on the network’s profit margin—in essence, sub- grammers involve programs in the middle third—the
tracting the cost per episode from advertising reve- borderline cases—or programs that
nue. Normally, revenue has been directly related to 1. are weakening but are nearing their fifth year.
ratings. Until the 1980s, a weeknight rating below
20 (or an audience share of less than 30) almost 2. are only just beginning to slide in the ratings.
always resulted in a program’s cancellation on any 3. are highly rated but draw the wrong
network. But because of steady network audience demographics.
erosion, by the mid-2000s, the Big Four’s numbers 4. produce low ratings but draw a high percentage
had plummeted to a minimum weekday prime-time within a desirable demographic group.
rating of 4 and a share of 9. 5. have low ratings but high profit margins.
If the profit margin is high enough, such as with
CBS’s series Big Brother, a show will be retained 6. produce strong critical approval but marginal
with even lower numbers. Thus, profitability is the ratings.
source of the power of reality programs. A few, such Occasionally, the personal preferences of a top
as American Idol, have high ratings numbers, but network executive, the reaction from critics, letter-
most do far worse than hour-long dramas. But typi- writing campaigns or an advertiser’s support may
cally, unscripted shows are incredibly cheap to pro- influence a decision, but the prevailing view is that
duce, making the profit margins enormous. cancellations had far better come too soon and too
Entertainment series stalling in the bottom third often than too late. Indeed, network programmers
of the Nielsens are usually canceled as soon as insist that advertisers and corporate headquarters
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 73

will not tolerate a program that doesn’t offer instant “the new reality revolution” because of the genre’s low
success. cost, in spite of disastrous rerun numbers and no syndi-
Replacement series, however, rarely do signifi- cation potential. Currently, a new reality show costs at
cantly better than the original programs in the ratings least $1,500,000 per episode. Even such megahits as
(see 2.10), and they push development prices even Survivor cost only about $3 million per episode,
higher. Therefore, large group owners occasionally whereas the price tag for an episode of Two and a
pressure their networks to hold on to problematic Half Men is close to $20 million. (Original cable series
shows. Group owners can affect cancellation deci- cost much less than the broadcast equivalent because
sions, as can direct participation from key sponsors, they are done in non-union shops outside of
but this happens only rarely. For example, in 2003 California.)
Procter and Gamble pulled its advertisements (pur- Because the company controlling the network
chased during the up-front buying) from Family now usually owns the production, it has to cover
Law, saying the content was not what the company all costs, so the fee itself is largely irrelevant except
had been promised. As a result, CBS was forced to to the accountants at tax time. For accounting pur-
pull the offending episodes from the rerun schedule. poses, the license fee is still used to allocate the
In addition, the O&Os can affect a decision because actual cost of production to various departments,
they report to the same parent corporation. Such pres- and it tells the network how much it has to earn
sure can be positive (to hold) or negative (to kill). during first run and then during rerun to break
More than the other networks, FOX and CW even. How networks allocate these costs varies enor-
seem less traditional and readier to look for poten- mously and largely depends on what will generate
tial profits outside those generated by advertising. the lowest tax bill at the end of the year. At present,
They are more likely to keep shows with strong one of the biggest cost factors is how a program is
off-network syndication or DVD sales potential, produced from a technical standpoint (see 2.11).
and seek shows with potential for non-direct sales Because there are only a limited number of top
from tours or music sales and on-demand or internet producers and writers for any given genre, especially
revenues. high demand for a particular type of show forces
costs up. By 2012, the fee for a successful reality
series had gone up almost 400 percent but was still
Program Costs far below the cost for any other type of program-
In addition to ratings, profits left after subtracting ming (with the exception of news magazines like
licensing costs from advertising revenues influence 20/20).
program cancellations. Two prime-time programs A show’s potential for profits in syndication
of the same length, on the same network, with iden- also affects how high its license fee can go. Action
tical ratings will, ideally, produce identical amounts hours have traditionally been expensive to produce
of revenue for that network. If, however, one of but have been highly syndicatable in both the
them has slightly higher per-episode licensing costs, domestic and international markets. They are also
say as little as $100,000 an episode, over the length highly desirable for the parent companies’ own
of a season that difference would equal just over cable networks. However, following the takeover
$2 million more in costs. It is clear that the program of most independent production houses, the number
with the higher licensing cost will be canceled before of original action series dried up. In 2004–05 there
the lower-cost series. In recent years, the networks were only three action hours available in syndica-
have scheduled more program genres with low pro- tion, Andromeda, Stargate SG1 and Mutant X. By
duction costs—witness the proliferation of news 2007, no original action hours were on the market.
magazines and reality shows in prime time. In 2008, only one new series, Legend of the Seeker,
Nonetheless, unexpected megahits like Survivor was offered. It was produced in New Zealand, but
and American Idol have led programmers to promote distributed through Disney (ABC). For the broadcast
74 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

2.10 Time Slot Ratings

T he history of ratings for the time slot a program fills

may be the strongest measure of how that program
will perform. After all, a “history” takes into account such
ones where previous programs failed. In the last 20 or so
years, more than half of all new shows have been sched-
uled in prime-time slots that already ranked in the bottom
factors as the competition, the leads in and out on all third of the ratings, and most were also in slots ranked third
channels, the network’s myths and policies, and the pub- compared to the competition. Clearly, the strength of a time
lic’s viewing habits and expectations. The reality is that slot should be considered when the decision is made to
more than 80 percent of the series scheduled in new time hold or cancel a series.
slots (new or moved shows) do not alter either the ratings or This, however, has not usually been the case at the
the ranking for their slots significantly. This means that a networks: In practice, a program’s rank and absolute rating
series placed in a top-rated time slot probably will be a top- overrule expectations for a time slot. As a result, a series
rated series, and conversely, a series placed in a weak with a 9 rating would usually be held, while a series with a
position will be weak. 4 would be cancelled, even if that 9 represented a loss of
The majority of the remaining shows get lower ratings several points (by comparison with the lead-in program or
than their time slot averaged in the previous season. This the previous program in that slot) and the 4 represented a
means that when a series does change the historical pat- gain. Because there is only a small chance that a series will
tern, the change is usually for the worse. Chances are less significantly improve the ratings for a time slot, considering
than 5 percent that a program will significantly improve the ranking an absolute rating appears to be self-defeating in
ratings for the time slot even at the generally accepted 68 the long run.
percent level (one standard deviation rather than the two Because the majority of available slots are going to be
normally used in research). weak in any case, wisdom suggests holding onto series that
Low-rated shows are subject to a widely accepted con- improve the numbers and slowly rebuilding holes in the
dition called double jeopardy. According to this idea, low- schedule would be sound practices. Because a short
rated shows have both low exposure and little chance of replacement series is very unlikely to do any better and is
getting more exposure. This is because popular programs expensive to develop, common sense would also seem to
are chosen by more people, and those viewers are more advocate holding onto new programs longer to give them
committed to the shows. Thus, unpopular programs suffer time to build audiences. After all, Seinfeld generated ratings
from increasingly fewer and less-committed viewers. of only 11 and 12 during its first year (which now seems
Obviously the best scheduling ploy would be to place incredibly high, but stunk back then), losing badly to Home
every series in an already strong position, an impossibility Improvement. Nonetheless, the pattern of the three major
in programming. The slots open to programmers are usually networks has been “decide quickly” and “cancel fast.”

2.11 Production Methods

A ccording to data from NATPE, as of 2005, physi-

cally producing a program on film (not including the
cost of talent) ran about $1,000 per minute. Tape was less
editing, special effects, and so on—ran about $7,000
for 45 minutes of high-definition product (less than $100
for minute). This enormous cost differential—about one-fifth
expensive but still around half that cost. Producing the pro- the cost of film—drove the high-definition revolution in
gram digitally—using a digital camera and a computer for Hollywood.
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 75

networks, this meant a lucrative part of the syndica- an hour-long series into several more programs with
tion market had evaporated in less than five years. only minor changes. Originality has never been a big
This part of the market has been taken over by cable selling point for broadcasters, but franchising pro-
which is now relied on for almost all hour-long syn- grams creates extreme sameness because a fran-
dicated product. chised show merely has a different cast and
Crime dramas then surfaced as a means to fill perhaps location. By the mid-2000s, CSI had been
network schedules at a somewhat lower cost than cloned to three different cities (Las Vegas, Miami
action hours, resulting in schedules full of Law & and New York) and blended with JAG to form
Order and CSI look-alikes. Although the network NCIS. Law & Order had added a Special Victims
studios were cranking out afternoon talk shows Unit and Criminal Intent, and followed them with
and judges banging various gavels, they were gener- even more analysis in Criminal Minds. People were
ating few dramas outside of crime and lawyer only half joking when they suggested that next we
shows. (The main exception was The Mentalist, the would have Law & Order: SUV where the charac-
success of which gave rise to a handful of “psych” ters would investigate crimes from large sponsor-
shows.) At the same time, the networks were having placed vehicles.
no luck producing new hit sitcoms, resulting in a Over at FOX, they were working on turning
certain amount of panic in the syndication market. American Idol into a franchise by changing music
styles or featuring contestants of different ages. For
network programmers, franchising has three enor-
mous advantages:
New Program Selection
1. Generating hour-long programs for foreign
Phase two in planning a new fall season—selection syndication or whose premise can be syndicated
and development of new program ideas—poses internationally
more difficult problems than ongoing program eval- 2. Reducing decision making for new series ideas
uation. The four networks consider as many as
3. Creating signature programs to be identified
6,000 new submissions every year. These submis-
with a network, thus helping to set it apart from
sions vary from single-page outlines to completed
other program suppliers
scripts that come from writers or producers. Deci-
sion makers favor ideas resembling previously or Viewers have generally had to look to cable for
presently successful shows. They even quietly agree fresh ideas in such programs as Six Feet Under, Nip/
that almost all so-called original successes are in fact Tuck, Burn Notice, Warehouse 13 and so on. But
patterned after long-forgotten programs. American the most popular cable shows are sometimes reused
Idol, for example is just the Original Amateur on sister broadcast networks, as was the case with
Hour with a snotty Ted Mack. Glee merges the Monk and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. This
musical with a dramatic series, a modestly innova- double scheduling of the same show is called repur-
tive idea, copying a Disney cable movie and 7 Brides posing and goes both ways. For example, NBC ran
for 7 Brothers, the last broadcast effort. all three versions of Law & Order on its co-owned
One year, NBC promoted its move toward new USA and later syndicated the original series to TNT.
and daring ideas with Titans, described as a “quirky It also ran Heroes on the co-owned Syfy Channel. In
yarn about a big city lawyer returning to his home- fact, the entire SOAPnet channel seemed to be a way
town in Ohio,” despite this being the same plot as for ABC to rerun its afternoon soap operas at night
Providence, Judging Amy and Ed. But then, none of for women who work during the day. One has to
the other networks have been any more original. wonder what will happen to it now that ABC is
The newest way of generating additional net- down to one soap opera. But Heroes proved so pop-
work programs is franchise programming—cloning ular with younger viewers that NBC broke the
76 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

“avoid sci-fi” rule in 2008 and experimented with and then NBC to allot more money to develop new
Journeyman, Bionic Woman and (unbelievably) the program ideas. The network that has recently
weird Chuck. dropped the most in the prime-time ratings is always
the hungriest for fresh ideas and the most willing to
risk trying them.
Program Concepts and Scripts Before authorizing any production, the program
Many program concepts are dismissed out of hand; executive will first order one or more full scripts and
others are read and reread, only to be shelved a bible. Nowadays, a network typically pays about
temporarily—or even permanently when a network $50,000 for a half-hour comedy script and $70,000
is worried that the idea might possibly be a hit but for a one-hour drama script. Exceptional (read suc-
won’t take the chance and doesn’t want anyone else cessful) writers demand much higher prices. The
to chance it. A few, usually variations on present hits bible outlines characters and their relationships, sug-
or linked to top stars or producers, get a favorable gests sets that will be needed, and summarizes future
nod with dispatch. Such big-name directors as Barry script ideas or the way the program can develop
Levinson, Oprah Winfrey or Rob Reiner are during its proposed run. At this stage, the producer
courted and given contracts to develop anything also looks for production locations—at least for the
they want, but without promises to actually run pilot—outside of California.
the shows. The networks fight desperately to find
that immediate hit that will pull in a young
audience. Advances and Pilots
Of the thousands of submissions that land on A pilot is a sample or prototype production of a
the networks’ desks, roughly 600 are chosen for fur- series under consideration. Pilots afford program-
ther development. At this point, all parties sign a mers an opportunity to preview audience reaction
step deal, a contract providing development funds to a property. Each of the Big Four networks orders
in stages to the producer. In the past, a step deal between 30 and 45 pilots to fill expected gaps in its
also set compensation rates if the show were success- new season lineup (fewer for CW and Spanish-
ful and gave the network creative control, which are language networks). Once a network decides to
still important when a show is not wholly owned by film or tape a pilot, it draws up a budget and
one network. advances start-up money to the producer. The bud-
As a rule, step deals authorize scripts or, in get and advance may be regarded as the third major
some cases, expanded treatments. The approved step in the program development process.
concepts often take first form as special programs, Half-hour pilots cost from $1.5 million to
made-for-TV movies or, increasingly, test characters $3 million, depending on things like sets, costumes,
in established shows. For example, the characters special effects, star power and so on, with one-hour
Green Arrow and Aquaman were introduced in drama pilots costing more than twice that amount.
Smallville, both of which became strong contenders Traditionally, pilot production costs were generally
for their own series. In the end, the CW decided to higher than costs for regular season shows because
keep them part of Smallville, but that may now new sets had to be built, crews assembled and start-
change as that show has ended its run. If a concept up costs paid. (However, the ongoing costs for the
was submitted initially in script form, a rewrite may few megahits have recently risen far higher than the
be ordered with specific recommendations for costs of their pilots.)
changes in concept, plot or cast (and even new wri- FOX and many producers have denounced the
ters and in some cases, producers). pilot system because of its incredible expense and
Until recently, ABC traditionally supported abysmal success rate. FOX demands 5- to 10-minute
many more program ideas at this stage than CBS, presentation films in place of full-blown pilots for
NBC or FOX, but ratings shifts have led first CBS many shows, but this radical idea has met strong
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 77

2.12 The Program Development Process

Process begins with the review of new ideas submitted in the form of pitch sessions,
requested submissions, open submissions, or company-developed proposals.

Step 1: Possibilities

Reject Basic contract turning

over creative control and
setting basic pay schedule
for 5 to 7 years

Step 2: Possibilities

Reject Shelve Assign to Provide money for

another producer script development

Step 3: Possibilities

Reject Shelve Assign to Provide money for

another producer pilot

Step 4: Possibilities

Reject Shelve Assign to Set aside for possible Provide a limited

another producer mid-season replacement episode order

resistance from the other major broadcasters. Now- The decisions to select series for airing based on
adays, of the approximately 130 pilots produced their pilots usually take into consideration the
annually, many are formatted as made-for-TV following:
movies. These can be played on regular movie
nights and sold internationally as parts of movie 1. Current viewer preferences as indicated by rat-
packages, thus recouping the investment even if ings or profit margins
the series idea is not picked up. Series failing to 2. Costs
make the final selection list for the fall season are 3. Resemblance between the proposed program
held in reserve in anticipation of the inevitable can- and concepts that worked well in the past
cellations. After seeing the pilots, the networks also
“short order” some backup series, authorizing pro-
4. Projected series’ ability to deliver the targeted
demographics for that network and its adverti-
duction of four to six episodes and additional
sers and its O&Os
scripts in case a backup show used as filler is unex-
pectedly successful. For a visualization of the devel- 5. Types of programs the competing networks air
opment process, see 2.12. on nights when the new series might be scheduled
78 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

The following are of secondary weight but also In most cases, these preemptions were caused by
relevant to a judgment: running extra episodes of an already existing series
(for example, running hordes of back-to-back epi-
6. The reputation of the producer and writers
sodes of Reba)—or by reversing the existing shows
7. The appeal of the series’ performers (the talent) (for example, so cleverly flipping Grey’s Anatomy
8. The availability of an appropriate time period and Desperate Housewives) for just one week, or
9. The compatibility of the program with return- by blocking the network’s franchise shows for a cou-
ing shows ple of weeks (such as running all the CSIs on the
same night or all the Law & Orders, or just one
10. The longevity of the concept (for example, in a
version three times, or…or…). Such preemptions
program centered around children, the pro-
hurt the long-term ratings of the bumped shows:
ducer must remember children grow up)
Lost audiences don’t come back. Very few examples
Finally, increasingly relevant are these factors: of churn were the result of airing specials.
In short, regularly-scheduled series were missing
11. The number and type of countries that might
from their scheduled slots almost two out of every
buy the show or idea in syndication
four weeks between September and May. The wri-
12. The ability to reuse the show in another co- ters’ strike can account for some of this during the
owned venture (another broadcast or cable 2008–2009 season, but nothing accounts for it dur-
network) or platform (internet or mobile media) ing the other years. And the churn rate was even
13. The size of the potential DVD sales market worse during the summer.
14. The viability of inviting other companies to Changes now occur weekly and it’s virtually
share the initial expenses impossible to tell when the network is trying a
stunt, fixing a move that didn’t work, or dumping
15. The possibility for advertiser tie-ins or cross
a show quickly. It is hard not to agree with Brooks
promotion.
(see 2.13) that this constant motion represents panic.
Of equal importance is whether the parent corpo- A program that a network wants to get rid of can
ration can control the entire process from production be canceled outright or manipulated (time-shifted or
to multiplatform distribution. The chief programmer churned) until its ratings fall. Manipulation some-
juggles all of these considerations and perhaps others. times makes good public relations sense when a
show is critically successful or widely popular—but
not quite popular enough among the desired demo-
Schedule Churn graphic groups. Some critics have suggested that this
Stunting has resulted in a continual shifting of was the problem with Touched by an Angel. Analysis
prime-time schedules, called scheduling churn. of program churn over the long haul leads to two
(Here the term churn refers to the continual shifting conclusions:
of programs within the network schedule and should 1. An individual program’s ratings almost always
not be confused with the term subscriber churn as it fall when it is moved two out of three weeks
is used in the cable and pay-television industries.) (especially when moved in the second season).
Moving programs in the schedule, using short
2. A new series—one that had improved upon the
runs and cancelling quickly are not the only causes
time slot it was originally given—always fails
of churn. These actions don’t take into account net-
when moved.
work preemptions of their own shows, which have
become distressingly commonplace. Indeed, over Prime candidates for purposive schedule manip-
the last four years, each of the four major networks ulation include programs with higher-than-average
has averaged about a 40 percent preemption rate. production costs that would cause managerial
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 79

2.13 Explaining Network Churn

I ndustry expert Tim Brooks, author of The Complete

Directory of Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows,
blamed much of network churn on “panic.” He pointed out
When one of these shows eventually slid downward,
though, the overall ratings for that network went into a free
fall. When this happens, as it inevitably does, program-
that ratings had been declining since the mid-1970s but mers panic.
that the decline was not steady. Rather, ratings would first Instead of changing the practices that seem to be driv-
drop and then stabilize for a few years. When this hap- ing the audiences away, they do more of them. For exam-
pened, programmers would proclaim success, claiming ple, when ratings began another free fall in 1997,
they now had control of the problem (and then they would programmers went into another schedule-shuffling frenzy.
continue doing exactly what they had been doing). By 2004, the heavy reliance on reality series had multi-
These periods of stability were related to specific pro- plied the problem because such series almost always
grams that, for a time, according to Brooks, brought in big decline significantly in audience size in their second sea-
audiences. During the 1980s, it was Cosby; then in the sons and have no afterlife in either syndication or as DVD
mid-1990s it was Roseanne and Home Improvement. Later sets. Those based on a gimmick, like The Simple Life, often
the numbers again stabilized when ER and Seinfeld fall apart completely. Franchise shows seem to hold up
became hits, then Survivor further solidified them for a time. better in syndication, but never match the original in ratings.

problems if abruptly canceled (because they are sup- their broadcast and owned cable channels. For some
ported by a highly-placed executive or advertiser). big-budget or especially promising shows, paid
The 1995 shift of Murder, She Wrote on CBS from advertising in program guides and magazines also
Sundays to Thursdays may have been an example of helps draw audience attention, often through cross
this type of move. Two notable shifts, The West promotion deals with advertisers.
Wing from Wednesday to Sunday in 2005–06 and Concurrently, the networks open elaborate
King of Queens in 2006–07 from Monday to websites for each new program containing character
Wednesday, are probably examples of purposive bios and pictures, the backstory of the series and the
schedule shifts. Once low ratings or even a down- current plot line, merchandise to buy, interactive
ward trend is achieved, network programmers can chat groups, feedback options, recent episodes or
point to the numbers to justify cancellation (on the previews of upcoming episodes and other elements.
few occasions when some justification seems useful). On-air promotional announcements are believed to
During panics, however, programs seem to be play a pivotal role in the ratings success of a pro-
moved for no apparent reason: Merely showing the gram. Particularly essential are the on-screen tune-
parent company that something is being done seems in messages, now taking up a significant portion of
to be the real programming strategy at such times. airtime. Websites have a different function: They are
thought to build loyalty to the program and involve-
ment with specific characters, both contributing to
Promotion’s Role satisfaction with a series and to frequent viewing.
In the fall, on-air promos plug every program
All broadcast networks use frequent on-air promo- scheduled to appear in a season lineup. Weak or
tion and online promotion, as well as paid advertis- doubtful offerings needing extra stimulus get extra
ing, to introduce new and moved programs. exposure on all platforms, at least until the network
Beginning as early as mid-July and continuing surrenders. Not until a program is safely past the
through November, networks intensify promotion rocks and shoals of its first several airings (or until
of both their programs and their overall images on the network decides it can’t risk more early trials)
80 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

does promotion let up. At least minimal on-air pro- the-scenes specials is also critical for capturing atten-
motion continues as long as a show is on the sched- tion. Some networks also join with major businesses,
ule, but websites fade away (from lack of updates) such as Kmart, Sears or McDonald’s, to jointly pro-
when a show seems destined for cancellation. At this mote the new season or a specific program.
point fan sites take over (see 2.14). Promotions in print, on the air and on the web
In addition, networks use print promotion, espe- are the primary ways networks invite viewers to try
cially magazines and newspaper listings, to catalog out programs. They are also the means by which the
offerings for particular evenings. For a long time, networks convince viewers to associate a program
TV Guide magazine was so important to network with a particular network (franchising or branding).
television that programmers sometimes delayed At the same time, parent corporations are demand-
schedule changes so that the alterations could make ing heavy cross-promotion of a company’s many
TV Guide’s deadline for affiliate program listings. subsidiaries—such as the CW using its TV shows
The promotional value of TV Guide was enormous to promote music from Atlantic, Elektra, Reprise,
until its format became unwieldy after the digital Rhino and Warner Bros. Records—which uses up
channel explosion. Cable systems now provide elec- air time that would previously have been used to
tronic guides, essential because of the huge numbers promote episodes of individual programs. And it
and types of channels (digital, HD, 3D), with several leaves less and less program time.
ways of sorting and classifying program titles.
Magazines like People and Us have become
major outlets for printed promotional materials,
often run as features and not identified as promo-
Changing Format Emphases
tional material. Cross-promotion using morning
To minimize risk, networks continue to rely on the
shows and cable outlets carrying popular behind-
traditional winners in prime time—situation come-
dies, dramas and movies—and somewhat reluctantly
added unscripted programs (in shorthand, reality) to
2.14 Fan Sites this exclusive list. Another change has been the

V
increased use of specials, a term encompassing one-
irtually every program has fan sites on the internet, time entertainment programs, major sporting events,
and these remain long after the networks have for- and more infrequently, news documentaries or inter-
gotten a series. Indeed, one key function of fan sites is views. Nonetheless, the proportions as well as kinds
the more or less illegal sharing of taped episodes among of formats dominating evening schedules have altered
fans. (According to Variety, studies have shown most over time (see 2.15).
people would use official downloads if they were Situation comedies and crime dramas have a
available and at low prices; most people only pirate long history in network television, stretching back
what the networks don’t offer.) In addition, there are to such shows as The Life of Riley and Dragnet in
people who collect copies of virtually everything TV the early 1950s all the way through The Big Band
does, even if the networks don’t think the offerings have Theory and CSI in the late 2000s. In one recent sea-
any value. Somewhere out there are people who think son, the broadcast networks offered over 75 sitcoms
My Mother the Car was a great show. Truth is, most and 30 crime dramas; in a subsequent season, the
people don’t think of it as pirating when they find a show distribution had flipped to 17 sitcoms and 38 dramas
“in the trash” that the networks threw away. The net-
plus 26 unscripted shows (and another 22 dramas on
works, or at least their parent companies, might strongly
Univision). The concentration of shows into sitcoms
disagree with that. At present, the networks are not
and dramas occurred because they:
keeping up with technology in their programming, their
promotion, or their archiving. ■ attracted sizable audiences in the young female
demographics.
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 81

■ syndicate well off-network. A fast-paced variety, talk, and game show, Sabado
Gigante airs every Saturday evening and attracts
Unscripted shows supplanted some of this con-
huge Spanish-speaking audiences inside the United
centrated group because they:
States and throughout South and Central America.
■ are comparatively inexpensive to produce. About 100 specials each year on U.S. television are
sports specials, including the annual Super Bowl and
Because of demand the cost of sitcoms and
World Series games. The remaining 100 divide
crime shows produced in the United States has esca-
among dramatic specials and news specials, includ-
lated beyond that of most other formats. (Univision
ing interviews such as those by Barbara Walters, and
buys its soap-like dramas—telenovelas—less expen-
occasional documentaries.
sively from Mexico or produces them in Miami.) As
Entertainment specials often attract superstars
a result, the crime drama has moved to the franchise
(such as Robin Williams or Bob Newhart) whose reg-
route, and situation comedies have begun to all look
ular motion picture work, performance schedules or
alike. Although examples of top-rated shows in both
health prevents them from participating in series pro-
of these types can be found, their overall success rate
grams. Star-studded specials can invigorate a sched-
has declined steadily. Most years, the networks do
ule, encourage major advertiser participation,
not produce even one truly successful new sitcom (or
provide unusual promotional opportunities, and gen-
drama).
erate high ratings and critical approval. However,
Situation comedies fall into two main types:
they cost a lot of money and are consequently rare.
family-based comedies like Two and a Half Men,
Programs such as Glee or Saturday Night Live now
George Lopez and How I Met Your Mother—and
bring in these superstars as guests. In some cases,
occupational comedies like Becker, The Office and
stars may actually beg, or rather have their agents
Scrubs. Together, these two types account for more
beg, to get on the program. A flood of award
than three-quarters of all situation comedies offered
shows, clones of the Academy Awards and Grammy
over the last 20 years. More unusual sitcom formats
Awards, are now promoted as “Star-Studded Spe-
such as 10 Things I Hate About You or That ’70s
cials,” but few are as big a draw as the annual Acad-
Show occasionally turn up, but only in limited num-
emy Awards. Indeed, many so-called entertainment
bers. Crime dramas have slowly changed—from pri-
specials are merely long forms of regular series or
vate citizen do-gooders like Magnum P.I. to gritty
regular episodes with big-name guest stars.
police dramas like NYPD Blue to investigations of
For example, the record-breaking final episode
somewhat revolting body parts like CSI and Bones.
of M*A*S*H (amassing an extraordinary 77 share)
The mid-1990s also saw the return of court-
was an extended episode of the existing series, as
room dramas, often in connection with a police
was the final episode of Seinfeld. Friends did several
show (as was the case with Law & Order and
long-form shows leading up to their final episode, all
Law & Order: SVU), or on their own (as in The
of them called specials. Network programmers are
Practice, Judging Amy and Without a Trace). Small-
awake to the possibility that too many specials dif-
ville, an unusual comic book format, is most likely
fering sharply from the regular programming might
to become the franchise for the CW using the Justice
interrupt carefully nurtured viewing habits beyond
League characters now part of Smallville.
repair—hence, the trend toward long-form episodes
Of the approximately 700 specials each year,
of regularly scheduled series. Such shows also have
more than 500 have been entertainment specials
the advantage of being relatively inexpensive to pro-
for young adults, such as the Justin Timberlake
duce and promote, and they exploit existing audi-
specials, the Charlie Brown Christmas specials and
ences, thus reducing risk.
Univision’s long-running Sabado Gigante, often con-
Nowadays, network prime-time sports consist
sidered a special even though it is part of the regular
of playoffs and championships in the major sports,
schedule. That’s because of the type of program it is.
82 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

2.15 Is There a Doctor in The House?

A lways a runner-up. That might be that way to describe

medical dramas on the broadcast networks. Never
the dominant format, but always there, usually in the top
It’s hard to think of Emergency as groundbreaking—but
for the first time, a medical show had an ensemble cast, not
just two major characters. What was meant to form a bridge
10. However, over the years, they changed. between action-adventure and medical drama also formed a
Back in 1948, medical programs were serious science. bridge between the existing formula and its next incarnation,
Starting on the old Dumont Network (and then moving to which occurred in 1982 with St. Elsewhere. Set in a big-city
CBS), The Johns Hopkins Science Review was one of those teaching hospital, St. Elsewhere was a complete break from
shows critics loved and very few people watched. It offered the programs with the God-like doctors that preceded it.
the latest breakthroughs in medicine and other areas of Here doctors were all too human, with some driven by
science (a topic that has moved to evening newscasts). In money, others by a yearning for fame. Instead of solving
the early 1950s, long before Googling, the program was everyone else’s problems, doctors started worrying about
where people went to get the latest word on the polio epi- their own. The whole show was somehow less antiseptic,
demics and the treatments. It was also where they went to grittier, more inner-city, and the topics they dealt with ranged
see the latest information about rockets. When it went off from breast and testicular cancer to AIDS to rape and gang
the air in 1954, it was replaced with two shows: Medical violence and so on. This was the show that made it okay for
Horizons on ABC—a series, like Johns Hopkins, which men to appear nude, at least from behind. Doctors on tele-
presented the latest breakthroughs, but only in medicine— vision would never climb back up on the pedestals they had
and Medic on NBC, which dramatized case files from the previously occupied. Even when the doctor is a certified
Los Angeles Medical Association. Medic was more suc- genius, such as in FOX’s House, he’s still an arrogant jerk.
St. Elsewhere’s most enduring legacy, however, was the
cessful, but both typified the ways the medical profession
ensemble cast. From that time, right through Gray’s Anatomy,
was dealt with during the 1950s. Medicine was serious
no one or two stars carried a medical drama. From the point
stuff, and even when stories were dramatized, they came
of view of producers this has the huge benefit of allowing
“theoretically” just from the facts.
stars to leave and new ones be brought in without damaging
That all changed in 1961 when two groundbreaking
the show. As a result, ensemble programs can run forever, so
shows hit in the same year. Dr. Kildare (taken from the
long as there’s a sickness to tackle. Notably, not a single
movie of the same name) and Ben Casey both featured a
character who appeared in the early episodes of NBC’s ER
brilliant, but nonconformist young doctor and his wise,
was still there when it finally finished its 15-year run in 2009,
older mentor. These doctors did more than cure sickness—
and yet the show continued to be a top-10 contender. By
with almost God-like success: They also solved an endless
evolving over time, the medical drama has not only kept itself
array of other people’s personal problems. For the next 20
healthy but has been longer-lived than most formats.
years, right up until Trapper John, they set the formula for
successful medical dramas. But in 1972, a slight change William J. Adams, Ph.D.
began to creep in with the premiere of Emergency. Kansas State University

as well as special events such as the Olympics are relegated to the weekends (see Chapter 7). Most
(see 2.16 about Roone Arledge’s extraordinary soccer, wrestling, Nascar, and other sports com-
influence). FOX and NBC, in particular, often use mand prime time only on cable, not on the broad-
sports to fill the first two months of the new cast networks.
prime-time season, introducing regular series as late Cable has become the true home of sports. Even
as November. Although the networks carry a great ABC responded to pressure for the network to do
deal of football, basketball, baseball, tennis, and something to attract more “ideal women,” even at the
golf, and Univision has soccer, most of these shows expense of its traditional audience for the long-running
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 83

2.16 Roone Arledge: The Man Who Brought Sports into Prime Time

W hen Roone Arledge was first hired by ABC in 1960

as a lowly assistant producer, the television net-
works considered sports to be second-rate entertainment.
prime time. Monday Night Football, an Arledge creation,
premiered in 1970 and quickly became a phenomenal
success in the ratings. (It is worth noting that CBS and NBC
Even professional team owners at the time believed that had both rejected the NFL’s proposal for the show.)
televised sports existed to sell tickets for the ballparks. During the 1970s, one sport after another moved into
Roone Arledge could not have disagreed more. He was prime time, and fees for broadcast rights for sports sky-
convinced that sports programming could entertain the fans rocketed because of soaring revenues from prime-time
at home, and under his leadership, the sports broadcasting advertising.
industry was completely recreated. In the following decades, sports programming expanded
Arledge came up with a revolutionary approach to further into network schedules, and limited choices have
producing sports: He borrowed the production techniques given way to lineups containing dozens of channels devoted
of entertainment and used them to duplicate the experience to exclusively to sports. In addition, many professional lea-
of actually attending a game at the stadium. He used many gues, college conferences, and even some individual teams
more cameras, microphones and graphics in his sports tel- have started their own television networks (though they are
ecasts than his competitors had ever used, and he experi- more like syndicators than real networks). Also, some profes-
mented constantly with new technologies. Arledge and his sional leagues have partnered with cable and satellite provi-
team of talented engineers pioneered or refined the use of ders to offer premium access to all regular and postseason
underwater cameras, handheld cameras, isolation cam- games. Sports has continued to dominate much of broadcast
eras, field microphones, split screens, instant replay, slow schedules, with league playoffs and championships consis-
motion and freeze frames. Their efforts resulted in new tently among the highest-rated programs year after year.
production techniques that heightened the drama of sport- Despite starting with very limited resources, Arledge
ing events. Arledge also began the practice of focusing on transformed ABC Sports into the preeminent sports network
the personalities and stories of the athletes. He invented of the day and initiated a phenomenon that lasts to today.
what was called “up close and personal” coverage—air- Although Arledge died in 2002, his immense influence will
ing pretaped biographical features of athletes right before continue to be seen for decades to come. He forever
their events—to involve viewers emotionally with the changed ABC, and beyond that network, programming
players and the outcomes. strategies and schedules for all television, the economics of
During the 1960s, the television networks aired sports professional and college sports, and the way that viewers
only on weekend afternoons. But ABC’s successful prime- watch sports on television.
time broadcasts of the 1968 Olympic Games convinced
Arledge, by then the president of ABC Sports, that sports Timothy B. Bedwell
programming could compete with sitcoms and dramas in Produce, Media Quarry, LLC.

Monday Night Football, and shifted the show to ESPN. news magazines and game shows. It refers to the
(Also, ESPN makes more money for Disney than ABC types of programs that do not require the expensive
does, which probably affected the move.) Big sporting writing and controlled production used for other
events do bring prestige to the network, are popular series. While such shows have writers providing
with affiliates, and fill out advertising packages by ad-libs for hosts and outlining situations, the writing
delivering male viewers of all ages, but the costs paid costs as well as talent costs are minimal compared
by broadcast networks for the biggest events no longer with other genres. These three types of programs are
match returns. certainly not new. The magazine format goes back
Unscripted programming is the overall term decades, game shows ruled the airwaves during the
used by the industry to cover reality programs, 1950s, and artificial situation shows can be traced
84 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

back at least as far as Candid Camera. What is new directly by a network’s news division and have
is the power they command. earned consistent though middle-of-the-pack ratings
Like the sitcom, there have been some immense for years. Like the other unscripted formats, maga-
hits in the reality genre. American Idol, Survivor and zine series are, comparatively, very cheap to pro-
Dancing with the Stars have had staying power, but duce, and unlike reality series, several have been
others, such as Joe Millionaire, did well once but fell able to run forever with little decline from their ini-
apart once the gimmick was known. To date, nearly tial ratings. They also serve as prestige programs for
all reality series have dropped substantially in the the networks (see 2.17). But like reality series, mag-
ratings during their second outings. Even the most azine shows have no afterlife. Neither type works
popular series in this format (with the two notable well in rerun, and they have no life as a DVD set
exceptions of American Idol and Survivor: Vanuatu) and no syndication potential, although in some
don’t match on a regular basis the ratings of a CSI, rare cases their ideas may be franchised to other
Gray’s Anatomy, The Mentalist, The Office or other countries.
top scripted series. Game shows enjoyed a brief resurgence in the
The power of reality is that it is incredibly cheap late 1990s, were badly overused, and then appeared
to produce: less than one-tenth the cost of scripted to vanish. Actually, they merged with reality series,
programs. The networks have also been able to stan- most of which are now games, but in its purer form,
dardize reality shows by fitting them into a rigid for- the game show had been relegated to syndicated
mula: A group of people you hope you never meet in access time (for instance, Jeopardy and Wheel of
real life backstab and cut each other’s throats on the Fortune).
way to a big prize; during each show, one partici- Although increased costs have led to fewer
pant is thrown off after the group performs some movie nights over the last few years, three types of
outlandish stunt; the outcast then hits the morning productions regarded as movies still fill some of
talk shows and news circuit to hype the ongoing prime time on the broadcast television networks:
program. The only thing that changes is the situa- (1) theatrical feature films, those made originally
tion. One variation that makes critics groan is the for release in theaters; (2) made-for-TV movies, sim-
dumbed-down quiz show, epitomized by Are you ilar to feature films but made specifically for net-
Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader?. Because reality work television airing in a two-hour format
shows are so cheap to produce, they also provide a containing commercial breaks; and (3) miniseries,
way to create original summer programming, thus multipart films made especially for broadcast airing
helping the move toward a full 52-week schedule. in installments. All three types share these major
But the flurry of creativity that characterized advantages for the networks:
some of the early entries has now settled into as for- ■ They fill large amounts of time with material that
mulaic a pattern as most sitcoms. One problem with
usually generates respectable ratings.
reality series is that many of the concepts were bor-
rowed from popular shows in Japan and Europe, ■ They make it possible to air topical or controver-
and thus our versions are very hard to sell back. sial material that may be deemed inappropriate
The other major problem is that each show needs a for regularly scheduled network series or can be
gimmick, and to maintain the shock value (and thus taken directly from the headlines.
generate hype), the situations have been pushed ■ They permit showcasing actors and actresses who
closer and closer to outright pornography or life would otherwise never be seen on television.
risking situations. We may yet get our first on-air ■ They allow the network to reward stars from their
tragedy. popular series by giving them a movie.
Magazine series like 60 Minutes, 20/20, Prime-
time, Dateline and so on are almost as numerous as The three kinds of movies also share one major
reality series in prime time. The shows are produced disadvantage—extraordinarily high cost for the
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 85

2.17

T ick tick tick tick. A ticking watch quickly became

synonymous with CBS’s groundbreaking, hour-long,
investigative news magazine, 60 Minutes, when it
Bomber who had been found guilty and sentenced to
death. McVeigh ranted against the U.S. government, and
subsequently face-to-face interviews with death-row inmates
launched on September 24, 1968 (the stopwatch were made illegal. In 1995, 60 Minutes did not run a
appeared after few episodes). Legendary news producer story, for which it was criticized. The producers had infor-
Don Hewitt (1922–2009), who directed venerable CBS mation that Brown & Williamson, a tobacco company, had
newsman Edward R. Murrow for the first few years of See disregarded information about the health risks of its cigar-
It Now (1951–1958), directed the first televised presi- ettes and had tampered with the tobacco to enhance the
dential debates in 1960 (Kennedy v. Nixon) and pro- effect of nicotine. Don Hewitt hesitated to run such a
duced the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite for scathing expose, and instead The Wall Street Journal broke
years, created this prime-time Sunday staple, serving as its the story. Eventually, 60 Minutes aired an altered version,
executive producer until 2004. It is the longest-running, minus some of the most incriminating evidence. The Oscar-
regularly-scheduled, prime-time broadcast program in nominated film, The Insider (1999), dramatizes this inci-
American television. It has garnered 78 Emmys and five dent. When all is said and done, though, it is expected that
Peabody Awards. It was the top-ranked show for five hard-hitting journalism, as championed by 60 Minutes, will
years and among the top-10* Nielsen-rated programs for run into criticism sometimes; otherwise, it can be argued
23 seasons (1977–2000). It continues to be among the that the reporters are not doing their jobs.
top-20 shows each week and the most-watched news Doing their jobs is a hallmark of the 60 Minutes
magazine. TV Guide ranks it number six among its “50 investigative team. Whether reporting on Vietnam and
Greatest TV Shows of All Time,” and the only news pro- Watergate in the early years or the current presidential
gram in its top 10. administration, this original and time-honored news mag-
Today’s investigative techniques of hidden cameras, azine, which its creator, Don Hewitt, said married “show
“gotcha” guerilla tactics, and re-edited interviews can be biz” and “news biz,” is considered to be the preeminent
traced to 60 Minutes. Originally hosted by Harry Reasoner investigative program on American television. It paved the
and Mike Wallace, other journalists and commentators way for many that followed, including ABC’s 20/20
have come and gone in the 40-plus years of this storied (1978), PBS’s Frontline (1983), NBC’s Dateline (1992),
program. Morley Safer, Lesley Stahl, Andy Rooney and and others. It has been franchised in other countries,
others became household names and celebrity reporters including Australia, New Zealand and Peru. Audio
thanks to this high-profile “magazine for television” (as broadcasts of the show are distributed by CBS Radio,
Reasoner introduced it in the first episode). Part-time corre- and commercial-free audio podcasts are available from
spondents include a laundry list of legendary news person- iTunes. The TV broadcasts stream on CBSNews.com
alities, including Ed Bradley, Connie Chung, Anderson and CNETTV.com. The show has its own website at
Cooper, Walter Cronkite, Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel, CBSNews.com and its own YouTube channel, http://
Lara Logan, Dan Rather, Diane Sawyer and Eric Sevareid. www.youtube.com/user/60minutes?ob=5. It has
Through the years, 60 Minutes has been embroiled in spawned a few other series, such as the short-lived
controversy for some of its reporting. In 1982, a package 60 Minutes II, and it has a relatively new web
asserted that General William Westmoreland withheld series, 60 Minutes Overtime (http://www.cbsnews.com/
information about the Vietnam War from key people in 60minutesovertime), with internet-exclusive content beyond
Washington. Westmoreland denounced the story, and the TV program. A pretty good run for a show that just keeps
60 Minutes issued a statement that it did not believe the on ticking….
general was unpatriotic, while standing by the accuracy of
the report. In 2000, the program landed an exclusive Edward J. Fink
interview with Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City California State University, Fullerton
86 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

networks. Miniseries are typically the most expen- new characters and plot ideas—especially for material
sive, and theatrical movies the second-most costly. that might be too risqué for broadcast networks!
Both are more risky in ratings than made-for-TV The made-for-TV movie has replaced the pilot
movies, but all three remain popular because they as the major method for testing new series ideas.
fill big chunks of time and can be used to temporar- Programs such as Glee, succeeded as television—or
ily plug holes in the schedule until programmers can in this case cable movies (High School Musical)—
figure out something to schedule. before becoming series. Made-for-TV movies as
Theatrical movies have declined in popularity pilots have four distinct advantages:
because of exceptionally high costs and generally
1. They can be profitable.
low ratings when run on the Big Three networks.
The truth is that by the time a theatrical movie 2. They can target a desired demographic group.
makes it to broadcast TV, it is already very late in 3. Audiences and affiliates like them.
its life cycle. It has played the theaters, run on pay- 4. They have international syndication potential as
per-view, and is probably available on VOD. It may theatrical movies.
have been released for rental, run on cable movie
channels and sold as a DVD. Consequently, ratings TV movie pilots now average $5 million to
on the networks are almost always disappointing, make (some as high as $10 million), but they pay
even for the biggest blockbusters. Made-for-TV their way whether or not the concept ever becomes
movies just perform better. Miniseries not only per- a series. Even when they fail, the networks usually
form better but also have a strong afterlife in foreign have made a healthy profit on the TV movie’s initial
syndication and as DVDs. run, its foreign syndication and the DVD sale. More-
Many viewers and critics bewail the disappear- over, the made-for-TV movie has the advantage of
ance of the dramatic anthology format: a set of being made-to-order to fit within a network’s exist-
single-episode television plays presented in an ing schedule. It can target a specific audience to
unconnected series. What actually happened was maintain a night’s flow and avoid the disruptions
that the anthology format went through a style that specials often cause.
change and returned as the made-for-TV movie. The success of limited series on PBS’s Masterpiece
During the 1955–56 season, the very peak of the Theatre led the commercial networks into the produc-
anthology era, dramatic anthologies made up tion of multipart series presented in two to six episodes
about 526 hours of prime time. In the 1989–90 sea- on successive nights or in successive weeks. Called
son, a peak year, 624 made-for-TV movies aired in miniseries, they could run for as long as 10 or more
prime time (not including those made for cable). hours, typically beginning and ending on Sunday
The best of these movies compare favorably with nights—the night of maximum viewing. Shorter mini-
the best of the dramatic anthologies of the earlier era. series tend to be scheduled on sequential nights, while
Such movies also allow the networks to respond longer series stretch over two weeks, skipping the eve-
quickly to major news events. The Scott Peterson case nings on which the network has its most popular pro-
was a movie even before it went to trial. The Elizabeth grams. These extreme long forms, however, have
Smart and Jessica Lynch stories became competing become very rare because of their exceedingly high
films on more than one network, and the big guys cost. Despite the advantages of blockbuster ratings,
fought about who was going to be first to do the prestige, critical acclaim and series potential, the broad-
Anna Nicole Smith story almost as much as the law- cast networks switched from long-form to short-form
yers fought about who was going to get to bury her. miniseries (four to six hours).
Hot topics like drugs, sex and teenage problems can be Such high-level fantasy concepts as Merlin,
dealt with in movies in ways a prime-time series just Alice in Wonderland and Leprechauns, the Romeo-
doesn’t allow (see 2.18). TV movies shown on co- and-Juliet takeoff, earned high ratings on the networks
owned cable channels are another method of testing but also sold well internationally and as DVD sets
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 87

2.18 The Movie Mistakes

O ccasionally, made-for-TV movies can show how badly

out of touch with their audiences the networks can be.
CBS was truly shocked by public reaction to its docudrama
showed it again. ABC reacted to the success of Mel Gib-
son’s The Passion of the Christ (in spite of negative Holly-
wood and mainstream press) by rushing its alternative
on President Reagan. It seems to have never occurred to version of the Passion out for the 2004 Easter season, but
CBS’s higher-ups that much of the public would take the network seems genuinely surprised that Judas bombed.
offense at its portrayal of Mrs. Reagan as a shrew and the After all, the made-for-TV movie had a religious theme; why
former President as a bumbling but affable storyteller. The didn’t it work? Recently a network announced plans for an
public’s reaction to the tendency to make things up for animated series on Jesus Christ as a teenager having pro-
dramatic effect seems also to have stunned the Hollywood blems with his overbearing father. Will they ever learn?
community. When the press picked up on the public outcry,
Viacom quickly pulled the show from CBS and moved it to William J. Adams, Ph.D.
Showtime, which immediately declared it a hit and never Kansas State University

marketed on the air during the original network show- often results in (1) canceling programs favored by
ing. NBC adopted the practice of putting delayed millions of viewers, (2) countering strong shows by
repeats on its cable networks about one week after ini- scheduling competing strong shows, (3) preempting
tial broadcast airings, thus producing another round of popular series to insert special programs, and
advertising revenues. Widespread adoption of this (4) falling back on reruns late in the season when
multistep profit system, similar to the one used for the outdoors beckons and audience levels begin to
Hollywood motion pictures, made the miniseries drop off.
more popular than ever by the turn of the century. However, the type of program, the ranking as
But a decade later, such event programming has compared with the competition, the size of produc-
become rare for broadcasting, budgets going instead tion fees, and the target demographic group may be
to original production for cable. as important as the ratings in cancellation decisions.
New situation comedies, strongly desired by the net-
works’ O&Os, and reality-based series are much
Network Decision Making more likely to be held than other kinds of series pro-
ducing equivalent ratings. Also, series with low pro-
Few program decisions precipitate as much contro- duction fees are more likely to be held than more
versy as the cancellation of programs. Because com- expensive programs, and finally, series that appeal
mercial television is first of all a business—with to the network’s concept of “proper demo-
tens of thousands of stockholders and billions of graphics”—and some would now argue “political
dollars committed for advertising—the networks’ correctness”—may be held even when ratings are
overriding aim is to attract the largest possible low. And occasionally, like once in a decade or so,
audience in the ideal demographic range at all audience outcry restores a favorite for a while, as in
times, or at least to appear to be trying to do that. the case of cancelled and then revived Jericho on
Networks always aim at the number-one position. CBS or Friday Night Lights, which got new life on
Traditionally, ratings have been considered the cable. Critical approval and the extraordinary pro-
most influential prime-time programming variable, motional opportunity that public acclaim provides
and the networks make many controversial deci- also figure in decisions to cancel or hold low-rated
sions each year based on these numbers. This new programs (see 2.19 and 2.20).
88 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

2.19 The Critics

A cclaim usually has some effect only in the absence of

other rating successes. The kudos for Hill Street Blues,
for example, bolstered NBC’s image at a time when it was
school student and a teacher to Dawson’s Creek to gener-
ate negative press. ABC did the same thing with NYPD
Blue. The nude scenes were there to stir up controversy.
sorely in need of prestige, persuading programmers to stick After the press furor generated by the Madonna/Britney
with the show even in the face of low ratings. The same Spears kiss, CBS was probably trying to trigger similar
connection between critical acclaim and patience even in press attention with its 2004 halftime show at the Super
the face of low ratings can be seen for the moderately Bowl. It just didn’t count on how negative the public reac-
rated The West Wing on NBC or Bones on FOX. Some- tion would be. Many argue that the atomic bomb detona-
times the networks decide to go along with the critics, at tions on 24 and Jericho, the grittier aspects of Prison Break
least until something with better numbers comes along. and the graphic details in CSI and Bones have also been
On the other hand, critical shock also seems to be designed to generate such shock. Instead of being bowled
desirable as far as the networks are concerned. The WB over, however, the critics have raved about the new
openly admitted that it added a love affair between a high realism.

The Risks and Rewards Ahead wrong time period, the wrong concept, the wrong
writing, the wrong casting, poor execution of a
Supposedly, the major networks prowl for the good idea, poor execution of a bad idea, overwhelm-
breakthrough idea—the program that will be differ- ing competition, the wrong night of the week, and a
ent but not so different as to turn away audiences. dozen other factors. Conversely, success is very hard
The Cosby Show was one such show in 1984–85, as to analyze or copy, even though that has become the
was ALF in 1986. Married ... with Children aston- driving goal of the broadcast networks.
ished viewers in 1987, Roseanne made a splash in Although the actual cost of production has gone
1988, Friends reintroduced the buddy sitcom in down dramatically through the use of digital tech-
1995, and Malcolm in the Middle suggested an nology and computer-produced effects, other factors
entirely new idea for the family sitcom in 1999. have canceled out the savings and caused the full
The biggest change was the rebirth of the prime- cost of production to continue to skyrocket. Some
time game show with Who Wants to Be a Million- of those factors are directly related to programming
aire? in 2000—after an absence of nearly 40 years— decisions and seem to be the opposite of what many
and its combination with reality in the form of Survi- would naturally assume would happen. For exam-
vor. Next came graphic special effects and mystery ple, the inability of programmers to produce success-
that produced the success of CSI beginning in 2002, ful shows has actually caused the price of
and then the blatant sex in Desperate Housewives. Its production to go up. With so few true hits, program-
success relaxed standards all through the broadcast mers seem willing to pay almost anything to keep a
networks. Then CBS came up with The Mentalist, successful program, as demonstrated by the incredi-
which spawned a half-dozen medium and psychic ble amounts paid to renew such series as ER and
shows. Most recently, FOX reinvented the musical Two and a Half Men.
with Glee, though few have attempted to copy it. The networks are also locked in bidding wars for
In recent years, all four major networks have top specials and sporting events, again causing the
had entire seasons without a single new hit. In prices to go through the ceiling. In a strange type of
truth, network programmers can only guess what domino effect, however, as the top price levels have
the next hit will be and why it succeeds. A program gone up, directors, writers, actors and people in all
failure is easier to analyze. It can result from the other branches of production have also demanded
 CHAPTER 2 Prime-Time Network Programming Strategies 89

2.20 The Censors

T he broadcast Standards and Practices Department, a

behind-the-scenes group, theoretically used to exercise
total authority over all network programming. Cynically
to air a locker-room scene that included nude men photo-
graphed, as the producer put it, “tastefully from the back.”
By the mid-1980s, child abuse, abortion, and homosexu-
and often angrily called “censors,” the department once ality were the problematic topics, while the 1990s brought
acted as policeman and judge for all questions concerning the thorny questions of AIDS, condoms, obscene language,
acceptability of material for broadcast. It often found itself and, as always, how explicitly sex could be shown.
walking a thin line between offending viewers or adverti- By the mid-2000s, concern focused on violence, nudity,
sers and offending the creative community. It had to decide drinking, and smoking, and one of the hottest issues was
between the imaginative and the objectionable. whether some reality shows were rigged. This question
Members of the department typically read submitted scripts; surfaced with the discovery that certain exciting scenes in
attended rehearsals, filmings, or tapings; and often previewed Survivor were staged and that ABC network executives had
the final products before they aired. They were everywhere. If, overruled the judges in their American Idol clone, Last
in the department’s lordly judgment, a program failed to con- Comic Standing—a show in which the audience suppos-
form to network standards in matters of language or taste, it edly selected the next top comedian—apparently to pro-
could insist on changes. Only a decree by the chairman or duce a more demographically-friendly result. At the same
president of the company could overturn its decisions. time, gay groups and other liberal organizations were
However, Standards and Practices was one of the first demanding more positive portrayals of gays in program-
areas cut back when budgets grew tight in the 1990s, and ming, and some producers wanted even more graphic and
as a result, this department has little day-to-day impact controversial depictions of sex in prime time.
today (although its existence is loudly touted during election The present situation has led to some very strange
years when an increase in media criticism usually occurs). reactions, especially noticeable on cable. The Syfy Chan-
Moreover, even when it had considerable power, over the nel, for example, owned by NBC Universal, bleeps out
years the department’s criteria for acceptability were forced bad words on some shows but ran Tripping the Rift for
to change. In the early 1920s, one of the hottest issues was years, which is little more than animated porn. Now the
whether such a personal and perhaps obscene product as network censors seem focused on political correctness and
toothpaste should be allowed to advertise over the radio on gaining points with minorities, not on offending special
airwaves. By 1983 the hottest question was whether interest groups like gays. As long as programs don’t cross
NBC’s censors would permit a new series, Bay City Blues, the lines set by the FCC, pretty much anything goes.

more. As a result, costs at all levels have gone up even programmers would leave most new series alone for
as ratings have gone down. The network takeover of at least a year to see if they could build audiences.
production not only didn’t slow this process, how- The continual hope for that one elusive program
ever; it actually increased the rate of its rise. that will break the trend, however, produces a type
At the same time, the incredible failure rates have of feeding frenzy in which no programmers are will-
resulted in an insatiable demand for replacement ing to deviate from the present destructive cycle.
series. It is not at all uncommon for half of new Predicting the future of any medium is a risky
prime-time series to fail by network standards within undertaking at best. As ratings and compensation con-
their first six weeks. These shows have to be replaced, tinue to fall, eventually the largest non-network group
and because development is the most expensive phase owners may decide they can do better on their own.
of production, the constant demand for new series It would be natural for such group owners to either
has sent development costs out of sight. As these increase their participation in original syndication
new programs rarely do better than the preceding production for their own systems or join with disgrun-
series in those time slots on the same channels, one tled old executive producers as to form new produc-
would presume, just considering the economics, that tion houses, thus in essence becoming networks
90 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

themselves. For ten of its owned stations, FOX created Indeed, the mixed broadcast/cable/online model
MyNetworkTV to replace the prime-time shows that now used by ION and Univision is the likely future of
UPN formerly supplied. the business. In any case, one thing is clear: The next 50
Such scenarios suggest that the future American years will bear little resemblance to the last 50 years.
broadcasting system could more closely resemble the
system that presently exists in such countries as
Notes
Japan, rather than what is now familiar. In short, 1. Eggerton, J. (Feb. 9, 2004). Sexy halftime stunt has
there would be more networks but fewer affiliates affiliates fuming. Broadcasting & Cable, pp. 6, 37.
(and maybe way fewer stations, as Chapter 4 sug- 2. Littleton, C. (Feb. 22–28, 2010). Free tv’s found
gests). That is to say, the networks would be doing money. Nets and their affils revel in new coin from cable.
their own productions, which would then be distrib- Variety, pp. 1–37.
uted through whatever stations they own as part of a 3. Becker, A. (March 3, 2008). Buyers give lowdown on
much larger entertainment wing of a corporation. upfronts. Broadcasting & Cable, pp. 3–26.
Companies like Hallmark have been doing pro- 4. Eggerton, J. (Feb. 18, 2008). Advertisers rankled by
duction for years (nowadays Hallmark has its own network fees. Broadcasting & Cable, pp. 3–26.
cable network). Is it possible that they could join with 5. Ives, N. (March 16, 2011). American idol returns to
other large companies to make their own shows? dominance in product placement. Advertising Age. adage.
com/article/mediaworks/American-idol-returns-domi-
Many, like Sears and Procter and Gamble, seem to be nance-product-placement/1494191
threatening that now, arguing that they couldn’t possi-
6. Guthrie, M. (Jan. 21, 2008). Out-of-home tv: Now it’s
bly do worse than the present broadcast system. Only everywhere. Broadcasting & Cable, pp. 4–21.
time will tell how the present situation will work itself 7. Schneider, M. (April 12-18, 2010). Pilots depart from
out. Only six things seem to be sure bets right now: coasts: L.A., gotham deemed too expensive for nets. Vari-
ety, pp. 1–20.
1. Television is not going to go away: Might
8. Poniewozik, J. (December 29, 2003). Has the main-
change a bit, but it’ll live.
stream run dry? Time.
2. The power of the big broadcast networks to 9. Bauer, D. (April 17, 2011). Broadcast tv audience aging
control information and entertainment will faster than us population. Huffington Post. www.huffing-
continue to decline, forcing the networks to tonpost.com/2010/08/16/broadcast-tv-audience-agi_n_
change into new entities. 683009.html
10. Klein, P. (1979). Programming. In S. Morgebstern
3. The division between broadcasting and cable (ed.), Inside the TV Business. New York: Sterling.
will continue to blur as the companies buy into
11. Amdur, M. (Nov.2, 2003). Case of the disappearing
one another and begin to mirror each other and eyeballs: Big bucks at risk as nets suffer separation anxiety.
make greater use of the internet. Variety. variety.com/article/VR1117894931?refcatid=
4. Aftermarket selling of reality and other shows 1275&printerfriendly=true
will become the centers of creative effort. 12. Gilbert, C. (April 21, 2011). How Democrats and
Republicans use the media (very differently). Journal Sen-
5. Virtual advertising and product placement will tinel. www.jsonline.mobi/more/news/120368144.htm
expand into regular programming as revenues 13. Romano, A. (July 22, 2002). At E!, Youth will be
from traditional advertising decline. served. Broadcasting & Cable, p. 22.
6. Multiplatform strategies will become part of every 14. Frank, B. (July 7, 2003), Check out why young view-
program proposal and central to all productions. ers like reality programming. Broadcasting & Cable.
 3
CHAPTER

Multichannel Television
Strategies
Susan Tyler Eastman and Michael O. Wirth

Chapter Outline
Multichannel Video Pro- Audience Size
gramming Distributors Repetition and Ratings

The Big Gamers Promotion Strategies

Cable Systems Local Origination on Cable
Satellite Systems
Entertainment Channels
Telephone Systems
Local-Origination News
Selection Strategies Programming
Technical Considerations Community Access on Cable
Legal Considerations
Changing Usage
Economic Considerations
Nonlocal Programming
Marketing Considerations

Scheduling Strategies What’s Sneaking Up

Evaluation Strategies Notes

91
92 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

D o you get a lot of tweets and postcards from

the company that supplies your television
service? Or from the companies that don’t? How
many ads try to persuade you to add a zillion chan-
(MVPDs)—or sometimes “multivideo program dis-
tributors” because the full definition is too big a
mouthful. (In some jokes, they are the “most valu-
able program distributors.”) Most MVPDs offer a
nels and upgrade to HD? Change to DirecTV? Switch mix of voice, internet and video services, so calling
to U-verse? Upgrade to Xfinity? Or add FiOS to your AT&T, for example, a “telephone company” or
cell service? Competition among the wired and video Comcast a “cable company” describes their history
service companies is fierce. The battle for subscribers rather than their current broadband business. On
and revenue has now moved to the mobile media, and the other hand, DirecTV is primarily a satellite
soon will expand to potential adopters of 3D. video distribution company. For all types of
MVPDs, it’s video that accounts for the largest
part of the revenue stream, but the distinction
between video (or television) and internet has
Multichannel Video become largely one of hardware rather than content,
Programming Distributors and that hardware is slowly merging. By 2015, it is
expected that more than 90 percent of the country’s
New communications technologies and looser fed- households will subscribe to some kind of multi-
eral regulations created a whirlwind in the market- channel programming distributor, some for a single
place for multichannel service providers. Cable, service, such as internet or cable connection, but
satellite and telephone companies began blanketing many for a large expensive “trifecta” of services.
homes and offices with combos of digital television, Only 1 percent of those subscribers will be dial-up
DVRs, on-demand video, voice telephony and fast households, the rest broadband. At the same time,
(and superfast) internet connections. Cellular com- online video distribution or “over the top video”
panies got into the game by offering 3G/4G and will continue to grow with an increasing number
Wi-Fi internet connections and wireless video pro- of consumers choosing to “cut the cord” to get
gramming. Despite active competition, consumers’ their TV over the internet. Current MVPD penetra-
monthly bills grow steadily larger, easily to $100, tion is about 92 percent (see 3.1), and it should grow
$200 and, in some cases, even higher. to over 95 percent within the next ten years thanks
Cable, satellite and telephone companies are the to a significant expansion in online video distribu-
major broadband carriers: They use telecommu- tion. Most consumers will take a mix of services.
nications signals of far higher capacity than earlier All three distributors, cable, satellite and tele-
in the twentieth century, thus “broader bands.” phone companies, provide wide ranges and changing
Companies that provide broadband signals to lineups of digital video and audio programming. Cable
deliver video programming are collectively called and telephone companies also offer high speed internet
Multichannel Video Programming Distributors and both wired and wireless voice services as they

3.1 MVPD Subscribership 2012

Subscribers % /116 m. USTV HH %/107m. MVPD HH

CABLE 70 million 60% 66%

SATELLITE 32 million 26% 30%
TELEPHONY 5 million 5% 5%
Non-MVPD 9 million 8% 8%
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 93

compete for customers, more or less. It’s that “more or chapter because they do matter to the communities
less” that makes the differences…and maybe the win- they serve. But they aren’t in the big game.
ners. As one Bell Atlantic (now Verizon) executive pre-
dicted, “The people who will win this game are the
folks who provide depth and breadth in programming The Big Gamers
and knock-the-socks-off customer service.”1 Thus,
major players that offer the best service along with Three types of program retransmitters dominate the
the most kinds of services—nearly all of which contain MVPD business: terrestrial wired cable, direct satel-
programming content of one kind or another—have lite broadcasters, and terrestrial wired and wireless
the long haul advantage. The broadband technologies telephone phone systems, although increasingly, the
that deliver multichannel media certainly give viewers big cable companies offer both wired and wireless
more options and more flexibility, but at a high cost. services. Collectively, the nine biggest MVPDs served
And the huge expense of the complex technologies has more than 75 percent of the 116þ million U.S. tele-
forced many smaller companies to merge (or leave the vision households in 2012, and since about 8 percent
game). of households have no MVPD service, that leaves
Irrespective of the kind of owner—cableop, way less than 20 percent for all the smaller operators.
satco, or telco (the short-hand terms for cable oper- In addition, foreign-managed companies of these
ator, satellite company, and telephone company)— types reach millions more subscribers around the
the job of multichannel programmers is normally to world. (Is there any urbanite in the world under age
select, schedule, evaluate and promote channels of 30 who doesn’t have a cell phone?) Not surprisingly,
television and audio programming out of the hun- the more than a thousand U.S. operators of these var-
dreds of content networks (described in Chapter 9) ious distribution systems face common problems.
and to provide wired and wireless phone and inter-
net services. However, the meaning of “select” is far
different than in broadcasting as described in Chap- Cable Systems
ter 2. Rather than select individual programs, The term cable system refers to geographically
MVPD programmers must choose whole channels bounded and franchised wired companies using fiber
for their lineups, depending as much or more on optic and coaxial cable to deliver from dozens to hun-
financial negotiations than type of content. Indeed, dreds of video and audio program channels to sub-
the biggest current battle is to determine how much scribers. Nearly all also offer broadband (high-speed)
money video distributors will pay the program pro- internet and wired telephone services, and the biggest
ducers and how various middlemen (banks, credit cable systems also offer wireless (4G/3G/Wi-Fi) voice
card companies, mobile phone carriers, software and video. Typically, local cable operators pick up sig-
and hardware companies) will get their share of nals from several orbiting satellites and terrestrial
cell and video revenues. Moreover, the spread of broadcast antennas and then redistribute them via
HD followed by VOD and 3D has made the com- cable wires to homes and other buildings. Subscribers
petitive marketplace even more complex and confus- pay from $40 to $150 or more per month for cable
ing for the programmer, the distributor and the services; the total depends on the number of services
consumer. taken by the consumer, how many set-top boxes
Video programming is predominantly a nation- (STBs) are being rented, whether they opt for digital
wide business. Nonetheless, a few local cable pro- video recorders (DVRs), and how many VOD movies
grammers remain that serve a city or limited were rented in a particular month. The most basic
region. These programmers’ jobs focus on producing cable service—retransmission of local off-air local
and then scheduling programs for one or more chan- station signals and a few cable networks—may be
nels of local or regional cable or, more likely, web available for as little as $30 or $40, but most house-
offerings, and they are discussed at the end of this holds want (many would say “need”) far more than
94 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

3.2 Top Five Cable Operators, 2012 3.3 U.S. Satellite DBS Services, 2012

Cable Internet Phone N of sub % of Video

(millions) (millions) (millions) (millions) TVHHs Channels

Comcast 22.8 17,6 9.0 DirecTV 19.3 17 370

Time Warner 12.4 10.0 4.5 DISH Network 14.1 12 400
Cable
Cox 4.9 3.9 2.5
Charter 4.5 3.3 1.8
Cablevision 3.1 2.7 2.2 hard to bite off a tiny share of the business. The two
main satcos provide service packages of between 60
and 400 channels and charge between $35 and $115
per month for their packages, while the newcomers
offer only a few dozen channels, albeit at far lower
that, adding high-definition, premium, or 3D channels; monthly cost to subscribers.
DVR and STB fees; internet service; and/or both land- If long-term success in the competition among
line and cell phone service. MVPD services depends on their ability to provide
As the chart in 3.2 shows, Comcast (which also consumers with all communications services—a
owns 51 percent of NBCUniversal) is the dominant “triple play” of video channels plus broadband
force in cable television and home internet service internet access and telephone service—satcos are
and is third largest (after AT&T and Verizon) out of luck. Both big satcos supply plenty of HD
among providers of telephone service. Comcast, (but not 3D so far), and DISH offers somewhat
together with the other four largest multiple system more channels while DirecTV offers exclusive
operators (MSOs, the term for the companies that sports packages. But neither has the ability to com-
install the wires and manage local service in multiple petitively supply high-speed internet connections or
franchise areas)—Time Warner Cable, Cox, Charter any kind of phone service unless they join forces
and Cablevision—serve about three-quarters of all with a terrestrial phone or cable company, which
cable subscribers. Comcast itself consists of hun- eats into profits (and is sometimes hard to explain
dreds of separate geographic franchises in 39 states to potential consumers). The third generation of
welded into one huge operating company. just-launched communications satellites has far
larger capacity than previous satellites Nonetheless,
satcos are not likely to cost effectively compete with
Satellite Systems cableops and telcos (see 3.4), making satellite com-
The term DBS is used only in the United States; in panies poor contenders for high speed internet cus-
the rest of the world, DTH (direct-to-home) means tomers except in rural places with no other options.
all kinds of home satellite delivery services. As you The particular advantage of satcos is that they can
probably know from frequent advertising messages, bring service to the millions of households outside
the two biggest companies providing domestic DBS metropolitan areas.
service are DirecTV and DISH Network. Jointly,
they have about 33 million subscribers (28 percent
of multichannel households). Telephone Systems
As 3.3 shows, by 2012 about 19 million house- The term telephony refers to service for both stan-
holds subscribed to DirecTV, and about 14 million dard wired phones and wireless or cell phones. By
subscribed to DISH, although such startups as 2012, analog voice telephone service had largely
VOOM and the Christian Sky Angel were trying given way to a digital meld of voice and data in
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 95

3.4 Getting to Today’s Satellite TV

S atellite systems traditionally referred to three signal

distribution methods:
(1) low-power C-band home satellite dishes (HSDs);
the most desirable geosynchronous satellite slots because of
aggressive bidding by DirecTV and EchoStar (DISH). The
modern, high-power Ku-band satellites allow subscribers to use
(2) medium-power Ku-band direct-to-home (DTH) satellite dish antennas of one to two feet in diameter. (The Japanese
systems, such as Asia’s STAR TV; and broadcast video and data using an even higher frequency
(3) high-power Ku-band direct broadcast satellite (DBS) band, Ka, to antennas the size of American half dollars.)
systems, such as DirecTV and DISH in the United States and Between 2011 and 2012, a new generation of satel-
SKY in Europe. lites was launched with ten times the capacity of earlier
The oldest form of satellite program delivery, TVRO communications satellites. WildBlue and HughesNet,
before the 1980s, required huge backyard dishes (often among others, offer satellite internet service with download
two or three yards in diameter) that were often banned by speeds of 1.5 to 2.0 Mbps and upload speeds of
horrified neighborhood associations—but the business was 256 Kbps for a cost of around $80 per month for their
really killed off by the scrambling of satellite signals and the fastest service offering. This is 30+ times faster than dial up,
FCC’s requirement that home dishes be licensed (no more but considerably slower and more expensive than the high
free out of market NFL games). Now consumers must pay speed internet service offered by cableops and telcos
for service through a cable or satellite company, and the (via FiOS and U-verse). In addition, it takes a measurable
large dishes have almost totally disappeared from urban amount of time for signals to go up 22,000 miles and
and suburban backyards. (Only a few remain in the west come back down again, which leads to noticeable delays
and up in Alaska where signals are hard to get.) and sluggish performance for internet users who participate
The medium-power Ku-band DTH services lasted only a in internet gaming or who watch streaming video feeds. As
short while in America, selling off to DBS largely resulting from a result, such services are primarily aimed at rural markets
their smaller channel capacity and getting squeezed out of that are not served by cableops and telcos.

the larger markets, and mobile service (meaning most urban areas, your local phone company has
tablets or cell phones). Public and in-home Wi-Fi digital lines and is linked with a cellular company
are other services that cableops and telcos can so that together they can provide any or all wire
offer, and they have become an increasingly desired line phone, cell phone, and internet service (at least
component of both television and computer access. through DSL [digital subscriber line]). The largest
Counting who delivers how much of what is phone companies also typically offer some type of
complicated by the two kinds of telephone service— multichannel video service. But the smaller compa-
wired and wireless. AT&T, Verizon, Qwest/Century- nies lack the nationwide array of cell towers that
Tel, Comcast and thousands of small local phone AT&T and Verizon have; in spite of roaming
companies provide wire line telephones, but the hot contracts, calls just die in a lot of places outside
business is cellular service—where Verizon remains the home area.
dominant because AT&T’s threatened purchase of Verizon (FiOS) and AT&T (U-verse) have
T-Mobile did not suceed. invested billions of dollars installing fiber and digital
Table 3.5 shows the percentage of subscribers to upgrade a significant portion of their urban and
with the two major kinds of service in the domestic business landline networks so they can offer broad-
market. AT&T and Verizon are clearly the national band services capable of competing with those
mega-giants, with Sprint much smaller and third in offered by cable companies. However, most rural
line with respect to cell phone service but Qwest/ areas continue to be served by twisted copper pairs
CenturyTel has 10% of landline subscribers. In that are inadequate for offering video or high-speed
96 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

3.5 Comparative Telephone Subscribership

Landline Subs (% share) Cell Subs (% share)

Sprint Nextel 0 (0%) 53 million (18%)

AT&T 39 million (45%) 101 million (34%)
Verizon 25 million (29%) 108 million (37%)
T-Mobile 0 (0%) 34 million (18%)
Qwest/CenturyTel 9 million (10%) 0.9 million (0.3%)

3.6 Wireless Cable

T here is another small player in the MVPD game.

Operating alongside cable companies are a few
microwave distributors of video called multichannel multi-
below 100,000, which represents less than 0.1 percent of
the multichannel video distribution marketplace.
Implementing another vision for using the MMDS spec-
point distribution service (MMDS) operators, more com- trum in the late 1990s, MCI WorldCom and Sprint each
monly called (rather ironically) wireless cable. Wireless purchased a significant number of MMDS operators (alto-
cable operators broadcast channels of local television and gether, about 60 percent of the total MMDS licenses) with
cable networks using microwave frequencies from an the intention of using this spectrum as the “last-mile” con-
antenna located on a tower, tall building, or mountain. nection to homes for the provision of high-speed data and
Homes, apartments, and hotels receive the signals by using voice services. When sending video to cell phones and
a small microwave dish, typically about 16 to 20 inches in other wireless devices captured consumers’ interest, the
size. A set top converter, identical in function to a cable TV spectrum was re-deployed for wireless video and popularly
set top box (STB), has to be located near each TV receiver. named Wi-Fi.
MMDS most successfully served portions of large cities Although still and moving video pictures are rapidly
where tall buildings are not too numerous to block the line- appearing on cell phones, pagers, and personal commu-
of-sight microwave signal, but their inability to simulta- nication assistants (PCAs, formerly PDAs, such as Black-
neously provide high speed internet connection and a large Berrys) using this MMDS spectrum, most of the material
enough menu of video, coupled with signal security issues, comes as short form video because of the small size of the
killed them off except within apartment complexes where screens. 4G smart phones (iPhones, Androids) with broad-
landlords want to provide a multichannel television service. band capability have had a dramatic impact on mobile
The number of wireless cable subscribers has dropped delivery of email, high speed internet, and data service.

internet connections. FiOS service is available to FiOS is the only broadband network that takes
16 million households in Verizon’s wire line service fiber all the way to the home. Although this means
area (i.e., it is available to about 60 percent of Ver- that it can offer the fastest broadband internet ser-
izon’s potential wire line subscribers); U-verse is vice, it also means that it is the most expensive to
available to 27 million households in AT&T’s wire- build. U-verse is an IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) ser-
line service area. FiOS and U-verse are only available vice that uses VDSL (very high bit rate digital sub-
to households actually passed by the upgraded net- scriber line) to distribute signals via a significantly
works. So cable companies continue to have the upgraded but less expensive network (compared to
superior broadband network in most U.S. geo- FiOS). FiOS and U-verse provide high quality, wire
graphic areas. line competition for cable companies. However, they
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 97

rarely compete with each other (because there is lit- one channel is going after men 18–49, then other
tle overlap between the markets in which Verizon co-owned channels normally need to target other
and AT&T offer wire line telephone service). FiOS demographic groups—younger, older, women, or
has almost 4 million video/cable subscribers and teens or kids, or people with a particular hobby or
about 4.5 million high speed internet subscribers. lifestyle interest (in cars, in cooking, in fashion or in
U-Verse has over 3.5 million subscribers to its specific sports). However, not all networks stick to a
video/cable and high speed internet services. single audience all the time. The broadcast networks
cast a very wide demographic net most of the time,
but when the Olympics rolls around, all networks
Selection Strategies owned by whoever has the rights (for the last couple
of decades, NBCUniversal) must share the huge
A strategy is a plan to achieve a goal, such as to win mountain of programming and perhaps target some-
by defeating competitors. For MVPDs, the ultimate what different groups than their usual programs do.
goal is to make money, of course, and generally, And then there is Syfy Channel, owned by
MVPDs make money two ways: by signing up sub- NBCUniversal. You’d think it would be full of science
scribers for their various services and by selling fiction movies and series, and it regularly carries Star
advertising. They do best if they capture more Gate Atlantis, Star Gate Universe, or Eureka (mostly
subscribers—and hang onto them—than others in in summers) and disaster and monster films, but it
the same business. Each newer technology becomes also carries WWE Smackdown. And one night a
a platform for potential profit, so corporations week Syfy schedules people tiptoeing around old
encompass many layers of strategies. Each small buildings with flashlights pretending that they see
part of a system has its own goals and plans that ghosts! The authors don’t know who watches that.
normally have to be made to mesh with what the The point is that selection of programs is as
higher-ups want. complex for cable networks as it is for broadcasters,
In the case of the highest corporate media levels, but they are working across many channels instead
an overall strategy includes such segments as lobby- of largely within a single channel (or one broadcast
ing for regulatory advantages, minimizing tax rami- channel plus an online version, at any rate). At the
fications, supporting research and development of same time, all program-related strategies have to
new technologies, planning for growth, consolida- take account of shifting seasons, program contracts
tion and mergers and so on. These strategic elements and life spans, as well as the development and pro-
reach beyond the programming concerns of this motion of signature programs. Nonetheless, those
book but may affect them. The meshing of various content networks owned by an MVPD have even
goals and strategies becomes more complex when more considerations to weigh, some of which may
many broadcast and cable networks operate under narrow a network’s choices to targeting audiences
a single corporate owner, as is the situation with not served (at a particular day and time) by the
Comcast, Disney, Time Warner, Viacom and News rest of the media corporation. And they may narrow
Corp, who must strategize to effectively program for selection tactics to programs that work as well for
many of the fixed and mobile media. Who owns a smart phones and tablets as for larger screens.
content producer and what else that corporation Because some MVPDs (satcos and telcos) do not
owns (and its overall financial condition) affects own program content networks, and thus must con-
what its individual parts can do and not do. centrate on passing through programming owned by
From the perspective of a single program net- others, their selection strategies focus completely on
work, the goal is to make money for the parent cor- negotiating pay for replay rights.
poration by selecting programs that attract Some experts predict complete conversion to a
audiences that advertisers want to reach (usually totally on-demand video distribution system by mid-
the 18–49 age group). On the other hand, if decade. Other experts predict a complete move to
98 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

wireless distribution of television at some point in Technology is not the same from company to
the future. However, several roadblocks will slow company. VOD comes under different names and
any transition. These include overlapping technical, with different characteristics. Comcast calls its ser-
legal, economic and marketing circumstances affect- vice “On Demand,” and if you have a Comcast dig-
ing cable, satellite and telephone delivery and recep- ital STB, programs and movies (many free and some
tion and thus programming selection strategy. Not for a fee) are instantly available via an On Demand
all factors inhibit innovation and change, however; channel, and you can watch the same episodes and
some encourage them. Successful programmers jug- movies as often as you like. Some other cable com-
gle all the variables of physical and legal limits, panies, with less advanced tech, offer only Pay Per
licensing and marketing costs, along with revenue View (PPV) and charge per viewing of a rotating set
potential, to select the best options for their coverage of movies and specials. (Decoding and billing num-
areas, and thus the mix of services necessarily varies bers can be supplied online or by telephone.) Satcos
somewhat from town to town and from one com- require subscription to their DVR service to get a
pany’s footprint to another. much more limited form of VOD (compared to
Many selection considerations relate to technol- cable, FiOS and U-verse). Besides being slow
ogy and law because the former is changing so rap- (remember all those miles up and down the signals
idly, while legal applications and interpretations are have to travel), while the files gets loaded onto your
trying to catch up. We look first at seven hot topics DVR’s hard drive, the programs are only available
in media technology. for a limited time and then will be erased. If you
want to watch a downloaded movie again, you
need to pay again.
Technical Considerations
Just as one aspect of new tech becomes clear, some
other development seems to undermine that under-
2. Capacity
standing! But here are some tried and true elements Capacity is currently less of a problem for most
of media technology. MVPDs. Construction of optical fiber Hybrid
Fiber/Coax (HFC) systems throughout the country
in the 1990s combined with digital compression of
1. Location and Income video signals (so that more channels can be trans-
Technology is not the same throughout an MVPD’s mitted through the same amount of bandwidth)
territories, let alone throughout the country. Distri- enormously increased cable’s broadband carrying
bution and reception technology in urban areas is capacity. The end of over-the-air analog television
far advanced over rural areas, where great geo- in 2011, widespread consensus on distribution stan-
graphic distances and low household density make dards, and continued advances with respect to digi-
both wired and terrestrial wireless signals expensive, tal signal compression means wire line multichannel
even impractical. The huge footprints of satellite sig- distributors have greatly expanded their technical
nals better serve large rural areas. capacity. Telcos can only bring competitive multi-
Those who can afford to subscribe to the maxi- channel video services to communities where they
mum of what’s available have far more advanced have fiber wiring fully installed (see 3.7). However,
and faster services. The less a household spends on rapid expansion of 4G/3G/Wi-Fi capacity for cell
tech, the slower it is likely to be. A related matter is phones is occurring in high-usage urban areas, mak-
tech dependency: Part B needs Part A in order to ing video via smart cell phones (e.g., iPhones) and
make Part B work. Households cannot access video tablets (e.g., iPads) a reality.
on demand (VOD) without paying for an operator- It also takes time for companies to roll out the
supplied digital set-top box (STB). (TiVo won’t newest distribution technologies, and not all compa-
work for Comcast’s on-demand, for instance). nies operate on the same schedule. One part of a city
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 99

3.7 The Role of Fiber Optics

A nother element in the conversion to digital systems is

fiber optics. Cable systems and telephone companies
are evolving toward all-fiber communication networks
dorms and classrooms—when part of the signal travels via
ordinary telephone or cable lines. At present, FiOS offers
the only complete fiber to the home (FTTH) service. If Veri-
because of their much higher capacity (as much as 1,000 zon is able to identify a set of highly valued consumer ser-
times a comparable thickness of coaxial cable), better vices that require the additional speed achieved by taking
picture quality (because fewer and different types of fiber all the way to the home, it could gain it a significant
amplifiers are required), and greater reliability (through advantage relative to its competitors. Failure to identify such
redundancy because systems typically use only a portion of a service will result in lower profitability relative to its com-
capacity and thus have plenty left over for backup petitors due to the higher costs associated with FTTH.
channels). Although enough miles of optical fiber have been strung
In most systems, however, fiber installation ends at to reach to the sun (and probably back again), and fiber
nodes that serve something between a neighborhood and delivers data at the rate of one billion bits per second (a
a block or so of homes (fiber-to-the-node—FTTN)—because gigabit), fiber has been used primarily as a long-haul
installing fiber all the way to individual homes (fiber- medium. Away from big cities, a shortage of high-speed,
to-the-home—FTTH) will not be cost-effective for the fore- local-access connections between consumer residences and
seeable future. The cable industry believes that most ser- MVPD operators persists. As the quantity of high-speed
vices, including high-speed internet connection and VOD, internet connections increases, however, the number of spe-
can be adequately provided with FTTN, and that they can cial paid services via wire will dramatically increase, and the
continue to increase system capacity as needed by moving cost of these services may decline. Whether cable operators
the nodes closer to the “neighborhood” (i.e., having each or telephone companies will ultimately dominate—or split—
node serve a smaller number of homes). the delivery of high-speed internet service to U.S. homes has
Users of up-to-date office campuses that are equipped been a big question for the communications industry. At
with fiber all the way, however, commonly notice (and present, cable is winning with an almost 60 percent share of
complain about) a significant lessening of speed and reli- U.S. high speed internet subscribers compared to about
ability at home—compared with their all-fiber offices, 40 percent for telcos (see 3.1).

may have technologies available that other parts (video, audio, voice, data), and the number of func-
don’t, causing negative consumer reaction (compa- tions it performs (and thus services it delivers) can be
nies have to field lots of calls and say “sorry, not gradually increased over time…all the way to virtual
available in your area”) and consequent political projects and 3D. On the other hand, as new band-
fallout. width intensive services are developed, such as
The fundamental element in capacity is opera- holography if and when it ever becomes practical
tional bandwidth, the width of the frequencies that for television, the demand for spectrum will continue
signals can use. Years ago, plain-old-telephones used to expand.
a mere 5 kHz of bandwidth, so high and low sounds
were cut off. Cable began with MHz wires but
today, the 1 GHz fiber platform is widely installed 3. Digitization
throughout urban areas. MVPDs view fiber and For cable, the high cost of upgrading systems to all-
amplifier technology in terms of platforms, or levels digital transmission and providing advanced set-top
of potential capability, and the 1-GHz platform has boxes has led the industry to utilize a phased rollout
tremendous capacity. With appropriate design archi- strategy. Cable operators seek to retain as many of
tecture, it can be utilized for mixes of digital signals their subscribers and advertisers as possible while
100 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

moving step-by-step into digitization as the eco- On the home recording front, the public’s rapid
nomic payback becomes visible. An overnight shift adoption of digital music and DVD players killed off
was impossible because it would have required all VCRs and videocassettes (except for the preschool
cable subscribers to have a digital set-top box for children’s market). About 86 percent of all house-
every television set in the home. holds have DVD players. Although Blu-Ray won
Although all broadcast stations supposedly the DVD standards battle in home playback, victory
ended analog transmission in 2011, most homes came a bit late. Access to many of the same pro-
still have some analog TV receivers (with a digital grams over the internet has slowed Blu-Ray’s pene-
conversion box). Additionally, the capital expendi- tration, and creating libraries of DVDs is a practice
ture connected with the transition to digital was that is likely to fade away. Consumers can load
quite high, so MVPDs vie for high-end customers movies and TV shows at high speed on flash drives
and look for services that will attract additional rev- if they want portability, so the DVD becomes unnec-
enue. As the internet becomes a bigger part of the essary. Meanwhile, Hollywood is rushing to play
television system—and vice versa—subscriber choice catch-up by digitizing its enormous libraries of old
will expand dramatically. movies and television series to make them available
For satellite companies, digitization was never online…once a bullet-proof digital rights manage-
an issue. DirecTV and DISH Network launched ment (DRM) system is fully in place.
their operations as fully digital systems, often tout-
ing the quality of their picture and sound in their
marketing efforts to consumers. Although each of
4. High-Definition Television
these DBS systems uses a different digital video com- Virtually all prime-time television programs and
pression system, both are able to deliver on their major sporting events on ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC
marketing promises. Satellite companies are, how- and PBS appear in HD. Over 100 cable networks,
ever, restricted by the number of transmission chan- including ESPN, CNN, TNT, A&E, USA, TLC,
nels currently licensed to them by the FCC: 46þ for Comedy Central, several Discovery channels, the
DirecTV and 107þ for DISH. Using present-day dig- pay networks and most regional sports networks,
ital compression standards of 12 to 1, DirecTV can as well as the largest television stations, offer much
transmit more than 600 channels, and DISH can of their evening programming in HD.
send around 1,300 to subscribers—far more than Although more than 60 percent of homes have
most cable systems offer. The extra bandwidth is HD screens, nonetheless, three-quarters of viewing
used in a variety of ways including: distributing still occurs in standard definition for two main rea-
local TV signals back into local markets (i.e., local sons. First, many consumers haven’t hooked their
into local), for their slow internet and for delivering sets up to HD signals—requiring a special HD set-
limited VOD services. top box from an MVPD for a monthly fee. Second,
From the consumer’s perspective, digitization much TV viewing takes place on non-HD TV sets
necessitates the eventual replacement of all existing away from the main set, though such sets are slowly
television sets and usually devoting a higher propor- being replaced with HD-capable screens in homes.
tion of discretionary income to subscriber fees. HD Moreover, older television reruns will continue to
and 3D are further add-ons. Because most people look like standard definition on any screen because
have several sets and won’t throw out old ones that of the way they were produced (the kind of cameras
work, the industry has been forced to recognize that they were shot with).
not all TV sets will be digital even in digital house- DirecTV dishes and receivers can handle the stan-
holds and, moreover, that some of the remaining dard compressed digital standard-definition signals
8 percent of non-MVPD U.S. households will con- (non-HD signals) and HDTV signals from satellites
tinue to depend on inexpensive down-conversion in both progressive format (scans like computers in
boxes for each TV set. 720p HD) and interlace format (scans like television
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 101

3.8 The Competing Scanning and Recording Systems

H igh-definition television (HDTV) contrasts with

standard-definition television (SDTV) and lower-
definition TV systems used in other countries. SDTV (480i)
HDTV channels into their channel lineups. This system is,
not surprisingly, supported by cable operators, as well as
by ABC and FOX. One additional option is 480p, with
has 480 lines of resolution and uses interlace scanning. 480 lines of resolution scanned one after another progres-
The HDTV system called 1080i has 1,080 lines of resolu- sively on the screen. It allows for transmission of either
tion and displays images using a form of interlaced scan- multiple programs in the space of one channel or data
ning that first transmits all the odd lines on the TV screen services such as internet access. It is, quite logically, sup-
and then the even lines. This system of HDTV is supported ported by Microsoft and various computer companies who
by CBS, NBC and the CW. The competing HDTV system, use progressive scanning, and 480p is considered to be
called 720p, offers 720 lines of resolution and displays enhanced-definition television (EDTV) not HDTV. Finally, the
images using progressive scanning, which means it trans- SDTV standard in the United States is not the same as the
mits each line from top to bottom. This system provides standard in Europe and other places, just to keep things
image quality close to that of 1080i. Moreover, when interesting. So don’t buy a DVD somewhere else and
transmitted at 24 frames per second instead of the usual expect to play it at home in the States.
60 frames per second, cable operators can squeeze more

in 1080i ATSC). The differences between systems are deterrent to marketplace penetration of 3D televi-
described in 3.8. Indeed, a single satellite receiver can sion sets.
function simultaneously as a digital television receiver
for over-the-air signals and for high definition of
both kinds and provide seamless switching among all 5. On-Demand Television and Audio
channels, accompanied by Dolby Digital surround In spite of the significant cost of doing so (cableops,
sound. satcos and telcos pay bigger rights fees for programs
Of course, 3D is also beginning to penetrate the and movies stored in an on-demand library), cable
marketplace, with and without glasses. 3D will be a operators have been rapidly rolling out various on-
big draw for sports bars and other public places demand services because they have the potential for
now, but 3D works best on the small hand-held or great profitability. Competing technologies exist, but
game screen at present. Without glasses, the viewer Comcast’s strong market power tends to set the
must look squarely at the screen to get the 3D effect standard for other cableops, as well as for telcos.
(as on a smart phone or home game machine). In In one system, content gets streamed in real-time
crowded informal settings such as bars, glasses are though a set-top box or DVR; in another, content
a considerable annoyance. (It is possible that the is downloaded to a computer, DVR or—for audio
jump to holography will occur before any kind of only—a portable media player. Internet television is
3D gets widely adopted.) However, as with HD, a a form of downloaded VOD, as is the format some
large enough quantity of 3D games, programs and airlines have adopted, called AVOD.
movies will have to be produced and distributed If the rights holders and distributors can agree on
before consumers will become interested in investing a mutually profitable fee structure, a complete shift to
in expensive 3D television sets. Creating such con- this form of interactive transmission by cable and telco
tent will take a considerable amount of time and operators is likely. In the decades ahead, many experts
financial investment by the content creation and dis- predict that very few live broadcasts will occur. Even-
tribution industry. Additionally, the current lack of tually, only a few networks will deliver real-time sports
a de facto technical standard for 3D TV is also a and breaking news; the rest of television will be
102 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

on-demand programming, operating much the same allows program distributors—whether cable, satel-
whether the consumer seeks entertainment or informa- lite or broadcaster—to reconstitute programs and
tion, and looking the same to the consumer whether movies in viewable form on home equipment.
the original source was once called a broadcast, New and complex technical solutions are
cable, satellite, telephone, wireless or online network required to manage the delivery of these different
and whether the programs are watched on television, content types in an integrated and harmonized way
computer, smart phone or tablet screens—or no that has to be entirely transparent to the consumer
screens at all. of the multimedia services. Such solutions are com-
To imagine the near future of television, con- ing but both technical and financial impediments
sider radio and its shift to MP3s and then internet slow the process.
downloads. Ultimately, on-demand services will Set-top converters, for example, have some
mean the realization of a greatly expanded channel downsides for subscribers. Most converters defeat
universe by combining the vast resources of the the utility of the television’s original remote control
internet with most preproduced and recorded video and interact poorly with purchased DVRs (such as
and audio programs and, less happily, with a large TiVo), frustrating subscribers and generating com-
supply of commercial messages targeted to individ- plaints. Moreover, subscribers must pay monthly
ual consumers. The speed of this huge change, which for each converter box, raising monthly bills in
is now in progress, depends on several things. These homes with many television sets. (The national aver-
include the deployment of smart set-top boxes (with age is three, and it is common to have as many as
complex software) and the spread of greater stan- five or six TV sets and a mix of accompanying DVD
dardization among technologies via open or flexible players and DVR units.) Now that smart digital
architectures (infrastructures that can transform any boxes have replaced analog boxes, cable program-
kind of signal into something the viewer can see and mers face difficult decisions about how to provide
hear whenever they want to view it and on whatever sophisticated capabilities without disrupting service
screen on which they want to view; see 3.10 about to households with only elementary capability.
MPEG-21). At the other end, the speed of transfor- For a long time to come, there will be house-
mation also depends on consumer willingness (that holds (or secondary TV sets) that will need simple
is, desire) to purchase video “by the program” in down-converters to take digital signals back to ana-
their homes. log signals ($30 at the supermarket). DVRs incorpo-
rate hard drives and fancy computing functions,
giving them replay, record, search and other capabil-
6. Standardizing Standards ities, and they become increasingly sophisticated
To take advantage of complex information flows with each generation. Cable operators are in a tran-
and to seamlessly mix signals coming from many sition period, moving inexorably from limited
sources—from computer data, broadcast television, addressability toward a totally addressable digital
cable television, telephone, banking signals, infrastructure that should eventually eliminate one
shopping credit records, fax and so on—requires of DBS’s current advantages over cable.
common standards—from sophisticated switching The newest intelligent boxes include a cable
centers down to the basics of jacks and plugs— modem, advanced graphics, greater speed and a
across the entire communications industry. Wide- “triple-tuner” architecture that allow customers to
spread adoption of the MPEG-2 transmission and simultaneously watch television, access blogs and
storage formats for video and audio and MPEG-4 vlogs on the internet, record several channels talk
(the chip language for digital video compression) on the telephone and use their tablets to wirelessly
have been steps on the way to industry-wide stan- interface with the set-top box. Rollout proceeds in
dardization that apply to broadcasting, cable, satel- fits and starts because of the increased capital invest-
lites, telephone and the internet. Their utilization ment required to deploy such smart boxes and
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 103

because of the continuing development of new set- Imagine watching a television show, then instantly
top box capabilities. Instead, set-top converters ordering the soundtrack or a particular star’s dress
evolve and mutate, gaining abilities until they reach or sweatshirt, without even having to dig out a
the full-service, intelligent two-way platform. credit card. The charge for the item will simply
Once standardization of the technology is appear on the monthly service bill. Viewers could
achieved—at some date in the future—such million- also play along with a popular game show or do
circuit converters (and DVRs) will probably move banking and pay bills without getting up from their
inside television sets, but adoption of such advanced living-room or office chairs—all by clicking a remote
technology will require replacement of all home elec- or, more likely, through use of their tablet. Although
tronic equipment, and thus widespread adoption will some of these functions can be done at present on a
be slow in arriving. In the meantime, incorporation of computer, all require more than merely clicking a
high-definition signals and connections to other digi- button.
tal services must be worked out among industry com- Some interactive options are already available
petitors, further slowing implementation of new from a number of cable and satellite operations:
services. All the user interface hurdles will delay DISH in the United States; SKY Broadcasting
implementation of these and many additional techno- in the United Kingdom; TPS and Cable Lyonnaise
logical advances. in France; PrimaCom in Germany; Via Digital in
Spain; and Galaxy Latin America, the exclusive pro-
vider of DirecTV in Latin America. Such companies
7. Interactivity as Canoe Ventures, OpenTV, ICTV Inc. and Visible
It was once thought that program guides, home World have been working with MVPDs and pro-
shopping and games would push the cable industry grammers to expand viable business models for
toward implementation of secure interactivity (two- interactive television in the United States.
way communication between users and cableops).
Instead, advertising has been the driving force in
meshing the internet with television in home living Legal Considerations
rooms. Advertisers want minute-by-minute access to Selection strategies have a legal side, too, and we
usage patterns, and most want consumers to have look at eight concerns here. Like all businesses,
the ability to click to access additional information MVPDs must adhere to federal law, state law and
about products that interest them, the kind of thing municipal agreements, and several long-established
easy to do on a computer. Coming first to cell policies promulgated by Congress, enforced by the
phones and tablets, as broadband gets to more FCC and upheld by the courts particularly affect
homes, spillover into programming will occur. All programmers.
kinds of programs—from education to cooking to
comedies—may eventually avail themselves of the
ability to ask viewers to respond in real time. 1. Universal Access
Interactivity via the internet has already revolu- One congressional media policy is the goal of equal-
tionized information gathering about audiences and ity for rural and urban users. This goal has more
methods of calculating audience size, and its spread than a century of tradition in government regula-
to television is altering both the revenues available to tions encouraging and then demanding access to
cable, satellite and telephone companies and pro- utility and telephone services for all citizens, and it
gram content. For example, with some advanced drives many policy decisions regarding television
interactive setups, viewers can tune in to a live sport- and the internet. Above all, communication technol-
ing event, then choose their own camera angles, ogies are viewed as essential to the proper operation
select the most recent statistics or purchase their of a democracy—for both their informational and
favorite players’ jerseys—all by clicking a remote. their educational capacities. Thus, access for all the
104 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

public, irrespective of household income or geo- local broadcast television signals. Without a legal
graphic location, is a policy goal. requirement forcing cable systems to carry all local
For several decades, the main method of imple- broadcast stations, cable operators could have
menting this goal was a federal mandate requiring excluded some stations from easy access to cable
the delivery of terrestrial radio and television broad- viewers because the installation of cable connections
cast signals to all homes. Historically, Congress usually means over-the-air antennas are discon-
viewed cable and satellite services as secondary to nected. Cable operators could be expected to want
broadcast service, though the courts tended to equal- to carry highly watched network affiliates of the
ize their value. Since 1996, access for all to the inter- major networks—but to have less desire to carry
net has been a goal, but implementation lags behind small-audience religious, foreign-language, educa-
policy, largely because imposing regulations on the tional, public and quasi-independent stations and
internet early in its development was widely seen as shopping affiliates. Shopping channels, for example,
inhibiting innovation and speedy growth. Although compete for viewers with channels owned by the
dial-up access is now widespread in rural areas, cable MSO or shopping channels with which the
regulators’ attention has shifted to ways of encour- operator has a favorable financial arrangement.
aging affordable availability of broadband and wire- Any broadcaster excluded from cable systems
less services. would be greatly threatened financially because of
An important part of that access is to AT&T’s decreased audience reach. Congress (eventually sup-
and Verizon’s data networks. Although existing ported by the courts) decided cable “must carry all.”
voice roaming rules allow local competitors to con- Next, the question shifted to whether satellite
nect to other networks for out-of-area telephone services, which wanted to carry the most highly val-
calls (voice), it took a 2011 FCC decision to force ued local TV stations in each market, had to carry
the big guys to permit access for data—meaning all local broadcast signals. Would DBS have to pro-
sending pictures, doing email, searching Google vide retransmission of all local stations (called local-
and watching online video. Smart media require into-local service), eating up considerable bandwidth
large amounts of bandwidth to accommodate all and necessitating high scrambling costs because their
the things consumers want to do, and their expecta- footprints overlapped many markets? On the one
tions are the same whether they live in urban or hand, DBS providers had long sought the lifting of
rural areas. Providing consumers who live in rural prohibitions against carrying any local terrestrial
areas with “adequate” access to broadband will broadcast television stations; on the other hand,
require governmental subsidization through the gen- they said that being required to carry all local sta-
eration of universal access fees along with the pay- tions in order to carry some local stations, irrespec-
ment of higher monthly fees by these customers. tive of content, would be difficult, very costly, and
not in the public interest. Even with sufficient capac-
ity, hypothetically satellite operators offering merely
2. Must Carry the affiliates of all nine broadcast networks plus a
One of the most contentious regulatory issues of the PBS station to all 210 markets would require the
1990s—carrying well into the twenty-first century— operators to catch more than 2,110 signals, scram-
is the required carriage of signals. The issue of must ble them, and then selectively unscramble 10 signals
carry divides the program providers (networks) from for each market.
the distributors (local cable systems, telcos and It was decided that although DBS companies
DBS companies) and even more vociferously divides have the option of providing local-into-local service,
local broadcasters from other multichannel video they would not be required to do so. However, if
distributors. they carry one local market TV station they are obli-
Initially, the must-carry question was whether gated to carry all the stations in that market. Today,
cable operators should be required to carry all DISH offers local into local service in all 210
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 105

Designated Market Areas (DMAs) and DirecTV’s programming stream under the current must-carry
local-into-local service reaches more than 94 percent rules. At the moment, carriage of secondary digital
of U.S. television households. DBS subscribers typi- television programming depends on successful nego-
cally pay a monthly fee to receive their local chan- tiations between local TV stations and MVPDs
nels via DBS unless they purchase a program (cableops, telcos and satcos) through the retransmis-
package that includes local channels as part of the sion consent process. At the same time, Congress
cost of the package. has made it very clear that it expects local TV sta-
After the turn of the century, the contentious tions to broadcast some form of HDTV, not just
issue shifted to digital must carry. Although federal multiplexed SDTV.
law required broadcast stations to shift from analog
to digital signals, as long as a significant portion of
the public could receive only analog signals, broad-
3. Net Neutrality
casters had to (for economic as well as political rea- Then the whole topic of must carry rotated sideways
sons) distribute both kinds of signals. Most cable to become a concern about the internet carrying (or
operators however, claimed that they lacked the not carrying) all content in the pipeline without
channel capacity to provide two signals for every favoritism or overage fees. Dubbed net neutrality,
broadcast station (along with a wide range of both the fear is that internet service providers (cable com-
analog and digital cable networks) and that most panies especially) might install equipment that
households could only receive analog signals. At blocks competitors’ programming, or even more
the same time, broadcasters argued that their enor- likely, inhibit high-bandwidth usage by creating tier-
mous financial investment in digitization would ing systems or instituting overage charges. The ques-
be squandered unless local cable operators were tion to be decided is whether carriers should be
required to carry both their analog and digital sig- prohibited from exercising data discrimination.
nals during the transition from analog to digital. The Some online games, for example, require huge
FCC declared that cable operators were required to amounts of bandwidth.
carry either the analog or the digital signal, not both. Another high-bandwidth usage group of ser-
Once the conversion to all digital was accom- vices is peer-to-peer communications (P2P).
plished, the battle shifted to multicarriage, or carriage Although it originally referred to file sharing systems
of multiple digital (but non-HD) signals from one sta- such as BitTorrent and Napster, the concept has
tion as opposed to only carrying that station’s high- been broadened to social communication among
definition signal. Congress’s announced intention is peers as in YouTube, Facebook, and social games.
to shift the country to high-definition television. P2P ties up large amounts of bandwidth with ser-
Complicating the issue, the larger stations now vices that typically don’t make money for the carrier
argue that the most viable business model for many (or its parent corporation). In addition to concerns
stations might be to divide a digital channel into a with usage based data discrimination, public interest
hybrid HD service (less than true hi-def) along with advocates are concerned that broadband providers
several other SDTV (standard-definition television) (cableops and telcos primarily) might favor their
multicast program services, rather than fill it with own content and applications (or of third parties
only one channel of true HDTV. In essence, many who pay for priority) over other content and appli-
broadcasters wanted to copy cable networks by cations. Cable companies, for example, might rather
becoming multichannel program suppliers and deliv- consumers consumed its cable television networks
ering multiple channels of programming (perhaps all than played elaborate games such as Farmville or
news or local sports, all old movies or non-English chatted on Facebook.
programs—some hybrid HDTV and some not). The FCC established Net Neutrality Rules in
However, to date, the FCC has ruled that a sta- late 2010. These rules: (1) require all broadband
tion is entitled to carriage of only one primary video providers to publicly disclose their network
106 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

management practices (transparency), (2) restrict “pay” indirectly for carriage of their local stations;
broadband providers from blocking internet content and licensing some local news to cableops for local
and applications (no blocking), and (3) bar fixed video-on-demand. By contrast to the cableops,
(not mobile) broadband providers from engaging in DISH, Verizon and AT&T decided in 2007 to pay
unreasonable discrimination in transmitting lawful direct cash for the rights to retransmit local TV sta-
network traffic-including favoring their own con- tions, which rang loud warning bells of change in
tent/applications or that of third parties who pay the industry.
for priority over other content/applications (no With the rise of strong competition in the
unreasonable discrimination). No one is very happy. MVPD marketplace among cableops, satcos and tel-
cos, “must have” local television stations (ABC,
CBS, NBC and FOX network affiliates) now have
4. Retransmission Consent the leverage to negotiate direct cash payments from
In 1992 Congress allowed local television stations to cableops (and other MVPDs) for carriage of their
choose between being carried free of charge by cable signals. In fact, retransmission consent fees are the
systems or negotiating with the operators for some fastest revenue growth area for big four network-
compensation for carrying their signals (retransmis- affiliated television stations accounting for 12 per-
sion consent). After some years in the courts, the law cent or more of a many station’s cash flow.
was upheld, and stations have the choice of opting Recently, some spectacular battles over retransmis-
for inclusion under the must-carry rules or giving sion consent between content owners and redistribu-
permission for carriage, with the majority of stations tors have flared. ABC, for example, cut its signal to
picking the latter. In order to deliver local-into-local Cablevision systems the day of the Academy
service, the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act Awards, which led to a settlement just as the Oscars
of 1999 also required DBS companies to seek aired; and Time Warner Cable and FOX settled a
retransmission consent agreements with those televi- heated retransmission consent dispute the day before
sion stations that chose this option over must carry, the Sugar Bowl.
thus essentially treating all multichannel distributors Then tablets become the hot issue—and by
alike, including telephone companies. extension other mobile media like smart phones.
When the rules first went into effect, most cable Viacom (owner of MTV and Comedy Central) and
MSOs refused to pay direct cash for any broadcast Scripps (owner of HGTV and the Food Network),
signal. Consequently, the broadcast networks (and supported by other content owners, demanded that
other major group broadcasters) initially exchanged distributors (Time Warner Cable and Cablevision)
their owned-and-operated stations’ retransmission pay a premium for streaming television channels to
rights for cable carriage of cable channels owned new media like iPads. The cable operators in turn
by their parent corporations, such as FX, MSNBC, insisted that the right to distribute to other media
Food Network and ESPN2. This worked for a while. was already covered by previous retransmission con-
By the turn of the century, however, Disney and tracts for cable carriage.
FOX (along with others) were aggressively seeking There are two main concerns here: One is who
leverage against such major cable operators as Cox supplies the app for content channels: Will consu-
and Time Warner. Their tactics included requesting mers use apps arranged by their cableops, apps pro-
more favorable channel placement (lower or “good” vided by content channels, or downloads through
digital numbers—the easy-to-remember ones) on paid services like Netflix? Or all of the above? Hav-
systems for all Disney or FOX-owned cable net- ing iTunes, for example, provide the app has advan-
works; asking MVPDs to pay relatively high tages because it can log fees to an existing account,
monthly per-subscriber fees for carrying new cable and its apps can be made to work only within the
networks owned by Disney or FOX; entering into an consumer’s home, not as a mobile service (without
ad barter arrangements with cableops to get them to extra fees). Every company in the middle of the
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 107

3.9 Mobile Wallets

C ell phones with embedded chips are set to replace

credit cards and bank cards: A simple swipe, and a
bill is charged or money falls from the ATM. But the same
carriers want to collect fees for every use of their phones.
Consumer protection groups fear that any new system
will cost consumers more, in part because fancy new
battle for pieces of fees charged for tablet apps is being equipment would have to be installed everywhere.
fought over the cell phone among somewhat different Nonetheless, after a decade of debate, agreement is
players. The banks and big payment networks (Visa, slowing inching forward. Isis, a joint venture by AT&T,
MasterCard) want to continue to collect fees from mer- Verizon and Discover, is experimenting with a system of
chants; Google and PayPal want a new system that gives mobile payment, as is Barclaycard in Britain and the
them cuts as servicers like banks; and Apple and mobile United States.

3.10 MPEG-21 and the Future

O ne hopeful sign is the current tentative agreement on

MPEG-21, a comprehensive new technical standard
for multimedia on the near horizon. It speaks to the pro-
rights associated with multimedia content and under-
standably seek to acquire income from those who make
use of their content, MPEG-21’s appeal is that it inte-
cesses of exchanging, accessing and manipulating grates two critical technologies: one that allows consu-
video and audio across all media—from the internet to mers to search for and obtain content—either personally
broadcasting to wired and wireless transmissions of all or through the use of intelligent agents—and another
kinds. It potentially divides the monetary pie for the that presents content for consumption that preserves the
participants in any exchange, and one of its great usage rights (through payment of royalties) associated
appeals is that it can readily exclude unpaid file shar- with the content. However, MPEG-21 is more a hope
ing. Because different parties have intellectual property than a reality at present.

distribution process wants some revenue from the and cannot carry. Some MVPDs, for example, have
stream, and iTunes and Netflix naturally want policies against carriage of adult programming.
healthy cuts (see 3.9). Moreover, parent cableops often sign agreements
The second main concern is how to count audi- with program suppliers that have the net effect of
ences. The more television viewed by consumers on compelling carriage of a particular cable network
iPads and other tablets, the greater the importance of on all their systems irrespective of whether it
counting every viewing of every program in order to might be the best choice for each market. A cable
sell advertising effectively. Chapter 5 outlines the mea- network naturally wants the largest possible audi-
surement problems. How this will all work out and ence and can offer discounts to a cableop to
what it will cost consumers are unknowns (see 3.10). encourage wide carriage. Channels with a lot of
violence and sexual material have been the biggest
problems. With giant cable operators having thou-
5. Corporate Policies sands of local systems scattered across the country,
In addition to legal carriage requirements enforced standardized channel selection is unlikely to be an
by the FCC, the policies of the parent corporation ideal fit for every location but it is economical for
may impose restrictions on what a local system can the MVPD.
108 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

6. Franchises couple more sets of rules are relevant in some

situations.
Historically, every cable system has had to win a fran-
chise (a contract) from a local municipal government
in order to operate in the local geographic area. Once 7. Syndicated Exclusivity
cable operators receive a franchise, most are required Another area of federal concern has to do with exclu-
to pay a percentage of their revenues into local gov- sive rights to show syndicated programs. Federal reg-
ernment coffers. This is called the franchise fee, and ulations now enforce the syndicated exclusivity rule
cable subscribers see it listed on their monthly bills. (often called syndex), which requires cable operators
Local government justifies charging operators a fee (and now satellite and telephone program carriers
because they are making commercial use of local too) to black out syndicated programs on imported
infrastructure (streets, trees, public rights of way) signals (distant stations or satellite-delivered cable
that belong to the whole community. Cable operators networks) in an area when any local station possesses
then list the franchise fee on the bill (typically about 5 exclusive rights to the syndicated program. For exam-
percent of the subscriber’s monthly statement) to ple, if both WGN, the Chicago superstation, and a
inform cable subscribers about this so-called tax. local station in Indianapolis (or Kansas City, Fresno,
In addition, local franchise agreements often spec- Atlanta or wherever) happen to carry rerun episodes
ify that cable operators must provide a specific num- of Frasier, and IF the local station has stipulated
ber of public, educational and government (PEG) exclusivity in its contract with the syndicator (usually
access channels. DBS companies also have public for a stiff price), the superstation must be blacked out
interest obligations amounting to 4 percent of their or covered up with another show in the franchise
channel capacity. DirecTV, for example, carries area when Frasier is on the local station.
C-SPAN, NASA TV, Link TV and others. The advent Most importantly, the syndex rule also applies to
of Verizon’s and AT&T’s entrance into the multichan- sporting events carried by satellite. Because most local
nel television business led many states to replace local cable systems lack the insertion equipment to cover up
franchising with state franchising requirements for one program with another, such superstations as
telcos in order to speed up their competitive entry KTLA, WPIX and WGN have tried to make them-
into the multichannel video distribution business. selves as “syndex proof” as possible by scheduling
Periodic refranchising of local cable operators only original programming or paying for exclusive
used to be a hurdle for each cable operator and national rights to syndicated shows as WGN did with
local government every 10 years or so. Since 1992, American Idol Rewind and 24. Another example is
local communities have been forbidden to grant TBS’s having exclusive national rights to The Andy
exclusive or monopoly franchises, so telcos cannot Griffith Show for many years but losing them to Via-
be excluded. At the same time, local communities com’s TV Land when its term of license ended in the
must legally prove that an incumbent franchisee has mid-1990s. DBS and telcos are also required to provide
provided inadequate service—a difficult thing to dem- syndicated exclusivity to local TV stations. But the
onstrate to a court’s satisfaction—in order to refuse most valued syndicated programs are sporting events
to renew an existing cable provider’s franchise. When because they involve live original programming, huge
coupled with the ever-changing multichannel compet- audiences and big advertising revenue; in consequence,
itive landscape, cable operators appear to have a the cost for exclusive national cable or satellite rights
strong renewal expectancy with respect to refranchis- for sports programs is usually very high.
ing, which, in theory, makes it more difficult for local
authorities to negotiate for improvements. In sum,
federal regulations have generally freed MVPDs to 8. Antennas
program as they wish, with the exception of the Another bone of contention has to do with regulations
must-carry and retransmission consent rules. But a about antennas. The FCC’s Over-the-Air Reception
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 109

Devices Rule removes the ability of local governments, away from satcos and telcos and getting non-
property owners and covenant-controlled communi- MVPD subscribers to subscribe). Nearly every
ties to restrict individual home-owners’ ability to aspect of the cable and satellite business involves
install outside antennas (dish or aerial) in order to cost expenditure as well as potential income. In
receive video programming signals from television sta- deciding whether to carry a new channel, operators
tions, wireless cable providers and satellite/telephone have to calculate whether the benefits (revenues) will
systems. The rule prohibits most restrictions that (a) outweigh the expenses. On the benefit side, revenues
unreasonably delay or prevent installation, (b) unrea- come mostly from monthly subscriber fees and
sonably increase the cost of installation, or (c) preclude advertising time purchases; on the outgo side,
reception of a signal of acceptable quality. The rule expenses include the cost of carrying and installing
applies to subscribers who place video antennas on the program services, paying for copyrights, and
property they own, including condominiums and paying for churn. Understanding the basic econom-
cooperatives that have an area for the subscriber’s ics of MVPD program delivery involves knowing
exclusive use (such as a balcony or patio) in which to who pays whom.
install the antenna. The rule also applies to townhomes In general, MVPDs pay to carry content. Most
and manufactured homes, as well as to single-family established cable networks require each local cable,
homes, and in essence greatly increases the number of satellite, or telephone operator to pay a monthly fee
potential customers for wireless cable and DBS service. for each program service supplied, calculated as a dol-
lar amount per subscriber per month, and ranging
from a few cents per sub to more than $6 per sub for
Economic Considerations ESPN. A number of the more than 600 cable networks
By the second decade of the century, just over eleven come without charge to redistributors (especially
hundred (1,162) separate cable companies operated highly specialized services), and a very few actually
in the United States, down slightly from a decade pay the MVPDs for carriage (mostly retail or brand-
ago (1,191 in 2000). To reduce operating costs and new services offering short-term arrangements). In the
increase operating efficiencies, cable companies past, Univision paid some cable operators a small
bought, merged or swapped systems to create large amount per Spanish-surname subscriber (rates varied
clusters of geographically adjacent or nearby cable with the quarter of the year), but its great popularity
systems. Operating all (or most) of the systems in a ended the need for such payments. FOX paid cable
local area under a single manager saves significantly operators for one year to add Fox Sports to their sys-
in overhead and marketing costs. It has also allowed tems. Cableops now pay Univision and FOX a per-
the cable industry to achieve the size required to gen- subscriber-per-month fee to distribute these networks
erate the billions of dollars of cash flow required to to their subscribers.
upgrade the cable system plant in order to offer Shopping services are a notable exception; they
broadband, telephone service and video on demand usually pay local cable operators a small percentage
services. Clustering is clearly more efficient than of sales as a carriage incentive and may operate as a
operating a patchwork of scattered systems in differ- barter network on an exchange-for-time basis, similar
ent counties and different states. Studies also show to the barter programs discussed in Chapter 6. A dis-
that above the 5-million-subscriber mark, significant tributor such as Home Shopping Network presells
economies of scale emerge. Because most U.S. homes most advertising spots, although a few local availabil-
can subscribe to cable if they want to, but only ities (avails) may be included as an enticement for the
about half do, growth for cable companies can be cable service to carry the channel. Nonetheless, most
achieved in only two ways: sell more varied domes- MVPDs pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars
tic services (high speed internet service, telephone each month for the cable networks they carry.
service, etc.) to existing subscribers and do a better Premium movie networks (HBO, Showtime,
job of acquisition marketing (taking subscribers Starz, Cinemax and others) have a different licensing
110 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

pattern: The local MVPD gets between 40 and 50 television companies have subscription revenues
percent of the monthly fee paid by subscribers, and plus only national advertising.
the remainder goes to the program network. This fee-
splitting arrangement explains why MVPDs offer so Subscribing The number of new subscribers in the
many premium channels and are so anxious for their United States to MVPDs has been slowly increasing for
subscribers to upgrade. more than a decade. Consumers who want to sign up
One successful method of gaining shelf space for for cable or a competitor can do so as virtually all homes
a new program service is to offer equity holdings are “passed” by the wires or a satellite signal. Thus, the
(partnership) to MVPDs. Systems are more moti- focus of the big MVPDs has been on upgrading current
vated to place an owned service advantageously on subs to higher levels of service. Fees for minimum service
the system because they benefit from its success. on cable have been kept low by federal mandate (that
On-demand services threaten to change the is, rates have been regulated), and basic service (the
game. If, eventually, all or most existing programs minimum level) usually includes only the local broad-
are constantly available, then what selection strategy cast stations and local-access channels. But few people
can a corporation or a channel adopt? One part of settle for just basic television service; they want broad-
current strategy is certainly for content producers to band internet and more digital channels. So customer
hang onto specific program rights as long as possible bills rise rapidly, keeping MVPDs profitable.
to force viewers to seek the most desirable shows via Typically, beyond the local stations’ signals, addi-
just one channel. Or alternatively, in the future, a tional channels are divided into tiers of programming,
corporation might create a large shared pool of such as an expanded basic or “classic” tier, other dig-
VOD programs accessible from any co-owned ital service tiers including foreign language tiers, mul-
channel—convenient for audiences but making mea- tiple premium movie and sports tiers, and several HD
surement of individual program audiences very diffi- tiers and maybe 3D tiers. Acquiring HD in the home
cult. If all older programs are available constantly, requires subscribers to rent one HD set-top box per
then the strategy for selection clearly devolves on television set, and it requires a subscriber to pay a
choosing new programs to produce, and airing monthly fee for HD service. Currently, major cable
them repeatedly to capture maximal viewership operators average $50 to $60 in monthly revenue
before releasing them into any VOD pool. At pres- from each subscribing household, and a customer’s
ent, program rights for streaming videos (what VOD bill may easily exceed $150. MVPDs usually bundle
uses) are negotiated along with the right to air an television content with phone and internet services in
entire channel of series or movies on an MVPD. “deals” with varying time limits so comparing across
Still another expense comes from the rising cost of companies becomes tricky.
utility pole attachments. Utility pole attachment rates Altogether, cable holds flat at about two-thirds
are regulated by the FCC for both cable and telecom of multichannel households, and DBS serves almost
services (including wired and wireless services), which one-third, and telco just less than a tenth. But
pay a pole rental fee of $7 per foot per year. Cities and MVPDs that provide superfast internet service are
utilities that own the telephone poles that both cable less concerned about cord-cutters than DBS because
and telecos attach to are hungry for revenue and thus most cord cutters will be their internet subscribers
are raising the rates for such attachments. This is one anyway, and because content services on the internet
more pressure toward wirelessness. are fast becoming pay services. As a result, cablecos
and telcos will get their dollar share either way.
New enhanced services linked to the web are
1. Revenues expected to be the “killer applications” of the next
In general, MVPDs have two revenue streams: sub- decade. Just as Google offers overlay of maps with
scriptions and advertising. Cable ops and telcos other displays, so Autonomy and its competitors
make money by selling both subscriptions and offer video insertion over real-life scenes. The first
national and local advertising, whereas satellite “wower” was a demonstration of moving images in
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 111

a newspaper as one turns pages (as seen in Harry more homes—whether terrestrial or satellite—it has
Potter movies!). Soon, a cell phone passed across considerable leverage with program suppliers in nego-
store windows in a mall will overlay images of special tiating monthly fees. As the largest operator of all,
sales or other information for prospective shoppers. Comcast has enormous clout.
Estimates are that MVPDs collectively spend more
Advertising On the positive side for cable opera- than $35 billion on programming license fees each year,
tors, high programming costs can be offset in the case with approximately 75 percent of these payments going
of the most popular cable networks because the local to advertising-supported cable networks. The fees per
operator can sell up to two minutes of spot time per cable network vary from nothing to as little as a nickel
hour (local avails) on the most popular channels. per subscriber per month to about $6 per subscriber per
(This advertising is in addition to the national advertis- month (see 8.11). ESPN, the most popular and most
ing the cable content network sells.) Local advertising profitable of all channels, costs an average of nearly
became a more viable source of revenue as an outcome $6 per subscriber per month and requires operators to
of increased clustering of cable systems. In addition, also carry ESPN2, ESPN Classic and ESPNEWS. For
cable systems owned by different companies can join MVPDs, ESPN is an absolute must-have. In contrast,
to create large virtual geographic regions for the distri- such smaller audience services as truTV (formerly
bution of advertising messages. As with broadcasting, called Court TV) charge in the neighborhood of $.35
there is greater interest in purchasing ads on the most per sub per month (which is still $35,000 a month in a
highly-rated (USA, TNT, Discovery) and tightly tar- midsized market with 100,000 subs). The fees paid to
geted (ESPN, MTV) cable networks. In contrast, satel- cable networks become a sizable monthly outlay for a
lite operators presently lack the ability to sell local system that carries 50 or more advertiser-supported
advertising, but as spot beaming capabilities and networks to 10,000 or 20,000 subscribers, as the fol-
other required technologies improve, the potential for lowing equation shows:
DBS carriage of regional advertising increases.
$:10  50 services  10;000 subs ¼ $50;000
Offering spots for local sale is a major bargaining
point for cable content networks when renegotiating Thus $50,000 is the whopping monthly cost for just
carriage contracts with local cable systems. For the 50 networks in a tiny franchise area.
most part, these spots are deducted from program Just imagine what Comcast must pay each
time rather than network advertising time, so they month for 300 content channels for 24 million subs!
cost the content network little. There is, of course, a Even AT&T’s U-verse has over 100 channels to pay
practical limit to how much a program can be short- for, times its subscriber list of almost 3.5 million.
ened to allow for advertising. Moreover, advertising Moreover, network/distributor contracts sometimes
spots that cannot be sold (such as spots in less popu- specify even larger per-subscriber fees if the network
lar programs or in lightly viewed time periods) offer is placed on an upper tier—under the assumption that
little advantage to a local cable system. fewer people will subscribe to an upper tier or pack-
age of channels. Inclusion on both regular digital and
2. Expenses HD tiers is advantageous to content networks (and
Carriage Fees Cost is directly affected by whether broadcast stations), so normally, MVPDs don’t pay
the cable content network is advertiser-supported any extra fees for duplicating the same content. The
(most cable networks) or subscriber-supported (pre- fees are for any carriage at all (see 3.11). Such over-
mium channels), whether the MVPD owns at least head costs underlie the battle over retransmission
part of the network, and which additional incentives rights that is currently being fought between the own-
the network offers the operator. The cable industry ers of over-the-air television stations and MVPDs.
has consolidated very rapidly, partly because getting
larger gives definite advantages in negotiation for Compulsory Copyright In addition to network
lower per-subscriber prices for program networks. If fees, all cable and satellite systems pay copyright
an MVPD controls a subscriber base of 10 million or royalty fees to the Licensing Division of the U.S.
112 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

3.11 Retrans Battles

P rogrammers and cable system operators have always

had a symbiotic but tense relationship. Each needs the
other, but negotiations between the two over the price paid
effectively declared that if people wanted local TV signals,
they could buy antennas.
Ultimately, the two sides settled on a model that gave
by (cable) distributors to program content suppliers has broadcasters extra channel capacity, in lieu of cash, to start
bred interesting and sometimes even headline-inducing new services, a reward that eventually turned out to be
clashes. In the 1980s, the flash-point involved popular nearly valueless in the digital era. As those retransmission
basic channels. Cable operators beat back a proposed consent contracts came up for their regular three-year
price hike for MTV in 1984 by launching a short-lived renewals in the late-1990s and into the 2000s, however,
competitor, the Cable Music Channel. TCI, the nation’s broadcasters became increasingly bold in their demands
leading cable company in the 1980s, used a similar ploy for payment. In what may have been a watershed show-
to dampen a planned rate increase by ESPN. While fights down in late 2004, a smaller broadcasting chain, Nexstar
over cable programming services, especially the expensive Broadcasting Group, pulled its stations off of cable systems
ESPN family of channels, continued into the 2000s, the in four markets. Nexstar wanted direct cash payment for its
focus has largely shifted to payment for local broadcast channels. The cable operators said no. The blackout lasted
signals. 10 months and cost Nexstar millions. Two of the larger
Broadcasters and the broadcasting networks historically cable operators involved in the dispute, Cox and Cable
have sought compensation for cable’s use of their over- One, eventually settled, not for cash but for guaranteed
the-air programming. The Copyright Act of 1976 required advertising purchases on the Nexstar stations. Some smal-
cable distributors to pay a royalty for the use of distant ler cable operators, according to Nexstar, did finally agree
broadcast signals (but not for local signals), and this pro- to pay a modest retransmission fee.
vided some broadcasters and program producers, for the Perhaps emboldened by Nexstar’s move, in 2006 CBS
first time, with a modest income stream from cable. It wasn’t president and CEO Leslie Moonves predicted his network
until the Cable Act of 1992, however, that broadcasters would begin hammering out carriage fee agreements with
were given the legal power to withhold their local signals if cable operators over the coming years. Hearing this threat,
cable didn’t pay. The traditionally pugnacious cable in 2007 Time Warner Cable and the parent of ABC’s
operators refused direct compensation in the first round of stations (Disney Corp.) negotiated a high-profile distribu-
negotiations following the ’92 Act. Cable executives tor/supplier settlement. It provided a compensation

Copyright Office based on the number of distant sig- compulsory copyright fees in excess of $100 million
nal over-the-air television stations they carry. DBS from DBS distributors and of more than $200 million
providers pay approximately 30 cents per subscriber from cable companies. Payment of these fees allows
per month per station to carry distant signals. (But cable systems and DBS to carry such superstations as
remember that not all DBS subscribers necessarily WGN, KTLA, WPIX, WWOR and others.
choose to receive the distant signals being carried). These funds are returned, proportionately in
The formula for cableops and telcos is very theory, to copyright holders such as the holders of
involved. The basic approach to this requires cable- rights for sporting events, music, movies, domestic
ops to pay 1.064 percent of each system’s gross and foreign television programs and so on, though
receipts for the first distant signal carried. For the there is some debate about whether sports rights
second, third, and fourth distant signal they pay holders get enough or too much from the royalty
0.701 percent of gross receipts and for the fifth and pool. From the operator’s perspective, they are an
beyond, they pay 0.330 percent of gross receipts. On additional expense. Copyright holders would like
annual basis, the U.S. Copyright Office collects to eliminate the compulsory license for carriage of
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 113

package that covered Disney’s ABC-owned stations and its generated significant news media interest because it meant
must-have cable channels (ESPN, ESPN 2 and the Disney that Cablevision’s New York area subscribers were
Channel). The contract also guaranteed Time Warner’s deprived of FOX coverage of the start of the 2010 World
subsequent carriage of HD versions of the popular Disney Series. (Horrors!) The timing of the dispute was no coinci-
properties. While details of such agreements are typically dence, of course. The standoff lasted 14 days before mil-
confidential, the package’s terms were such that Time lions of angry baseball fans forced a resolution just in time for
Warner could maintain it had not paid direct fees to carry Game 3 of the series. Terms, again, were not disclosed, but
the ABC stations. their nature could be divined from a Cablevision statement
That fiction eroded swiftly, however. Cable operators that declared, “Cablevision has agreed to pay Fox an unfair
were, quietly, beginning to pay broadcasters for their local price for multiple channels of its programming including
signals. In 2010, retransmission talks between Disney and many in which our customers have little or no interest.”
Cablevision focused specifically on carriage fees for Dis- The price war between cable and the broadcast industry
ney’s ABC stations. When discussions bogged down, Dis- is likely to continue and perhaps escalate. In contrast to the
ney pulled WABC-TV off of Cablevision’s New York area 1980s, cable operators now feel like the underdogs in the
systems early on the day of ABC’s scheduled coverage of battle and have asked the government to intervene. The
the Academy Awards. It was a short-lived blackout, with FCC, in 2011–2012, was reviewing the rules. Meanwhile
carriage reinstated about 14 minutes into the awards some cable operators took their cases directly to customers,
show. Arbitration led to settlement, with trade press reports informing them of the prices they now pay for off-air signals.
suggesting that Disney received between 25 and 50 cents Charter Communications and Suddenlink Communications
per subscriber per month. reportedly include the new broadcast retransmission cost on
Later in 2010, Cablevision engaged News Corp. in a subscribers’ itemized bills. Charter lists the cost under “taxes
similar, but much more acrimonious, dispute. In October, the and fees” as a “broadcast TV surcharge.” (Of course, this is
two companies came to loggerheads over carriage of a like the way cable operators tell subscribers how much of
suite of channels that included the Fox Business channel, Nat their bills get paid to their municipalities.)
Geo Wild, and the FOX broadcasting stations. Cablevision
balked at the price asked by News Corp, and FOX pulled its Patrick Parsons, Ph.D.
The Pennsylvania State University
signals from the Cablevision systems. The blackout

distant TV signals. However, so far, Congress has any local system or DBS service can be calculated for
agreed with the MVPD industry that continuation a year, or for any length of time, by dividing the num-
of the compulsory licensing system is in the public ber of annual disconnections by the average annual
interest. number of total subscribers; all systems keep careful
track of their churn rates.
Audience Churn: Another big problem is audi-
Disconnects in
ence churn, or turnover. Subscribers who disconnect,
a time period
even if they are replaced, cost the system in hookup  100 ¼ % chum
Average number of total
time, administrative record changes, equipment loss
subscribers in that period
and duplicated marketing effort. Annual churn rates
are typically around 30 to 36 percent for basic cable Not all cancellations can be prevented, of course,
and 50 to 80 percent for premium services and digital because people move, children grow up and leave
cable. For DBS providers, typical overall annual ser- home, and local economic recessions cause unem-
vice churn is around 18 percent. The churn rate for ployment and cutbacks on services. College towns
114 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

normally have lots of cable cancellations at the end established that nowadays the multichannel audi-
of spring semester and lots of new connections in ence differs not at all from the over-the-air-only
the fall, but minimizing avoidable audience churn audience or even the online audience, but in particu-
is one of the primary responsibilities that a ser- lar markets, subscribers to a system may differ dra-
vice’s programming and marketing executives matically from national norms. One cable system,
share. for example, may have more middle-aged, upscale,
Turnover on premium channels occurs more urban subscribers with higher-than-average incomes
frequently than with the basic service. Instituting and deep broadband penetration, while another may
hefty charges for disconnecting single channels has have many more large families of mixed-age mem-
reduced the practice of substitution, in which sub- bers, and fewer broadband subscribers. The upscale
scribers casually drop one premium channel to try households might want documentaries, sporting
another. Nonetheless, several premium channels events and HD, while the large families might want
such as American Movie Classics, Galavisión and G- and PG-rated movies and kids programs.
Disney were forced to move from premium to basic Foreign-language channels are highly desired in
services, and the challenges faced by other premium major cities, but less so in most small towns outside
services have led to mergers and even occasional the Southwest.
combined marketing efforts by such direct competi- Program services have to be chosen so that
tors as HBO and Showtime. every subscriber has several channels that are espe-
Given the easy availability of movies online and cially appealing (see 3.12). In a big change from the
the increased ability of copyright holders to market past, the method today is to bring hundreds of tiered
movies directly to consumers, premium cable ser- digital and HD channels to homes at 10 or 12 dif-
vices will need to continuously reinvent themselves ferent price levels, accompanied by premium movies
to remain economically viable in the future. HBO and pricey sports packages at the very high end (and
Go, which allows existing HBO subscribers to access 3D where available).
and watch HBO content on mobile video devices
(smart phones and tablets), represents one such
attempt at reinvention. Nonetheless, unfavorable Scheduling Strategies
economics may eventually end stand-alone pay
channels. But powerful companies survive by Up to this point, this chapter has been concerned
morphing into new entities. with the technical, legal, economic and marketing
factors that impact the selection strategies of cable
and satellite programmers—in other words, how
Marketing Considerations and why cable and satellite operators pick some ser-
After technical, legal and economic considerations vices to carry rather than others. In addition, opera-
have been evaluated, the multichannel programmer tors have scheduling, evaluation and promotional
still has to weigh several marketing factors in concerns.
deciding whether to carry a particular network Currently, cableops, satcos and telcos negotiate
and how to position and promote it. Cable with a program supplier, such as a cable network or
and telco programmers seek to attract and hold a television station, to carry its programs on a sepa-
both the local audience and the local advertiser; rate channel. For many years, much negotiation
satellite programmers must seek both national involved which channel number a station would
advertisers and audiences. To achieve these goals, get, but the 1992 Cable Act required that over-
both must maximize new subscriptions and mini- the-air stations have numbers corresponding to their
mize disconnections. over-the-air channel numbers (called channel match-
The nature of the local audience determines ing) or be placed on a mutually agreed-upon chan-
what has particular appeal. National research has nel. The law never applied to DBS and never applied
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 115

3.12 The Phenomenon of Lift

S ome services of particular appeal are considered to

have lift in that they will attract subscriptions to higher
tiers or premium services. The major sports channels create
MVPD even though they very rarely generate any increase
in subscribers.
With the goal of gaining lift, one year HBO intensely
lift on virtually all MVPD systems, and HD regional sports promoted its hit series The Sopranos but found that its
channels draw fans to an even higher tier. Game channels expensive marketing effort only temporarily doubled its
have this impact for households with children aged 10 to subscribers, and that after a month, most new subs had
15 years. Lift generally diminishes as systems add more canceled the service. A further strategy, adopted by the
and more services, however, which has led to discounting entire industry, has been to locate adult programming only
and bundling of services that mix high and lesser appeal on premium or pay-per-view tiers, which makes good eco-
channels in upper-tier packages. Cultural channels are nomic and political sense because people who are willing
often marketed more for their balancing effect than for any to pay extra for adult fare can get it, while households that
lift they create, and similarly, public-affairs channels, clas- don’t want adult programming to be visible need not be
sified advertising listings, and community access services aware of it. Having adult fare, however, definitely provides
are carried because they create a positive image for the lift.

to cable networks because they have no legally and moved to mixed entertainment and information
assigned numbers. tiers with something for most people and situations in
Moreover, the law never envisioned HD’s rapid each of several gradually expanding tiers (for higher
proliferation, so some strange temporary placements and higher prices), until a subscriber got everything.
of stations occurred, but because it’s sensible (and to However, as part of the shift to higher and
avoid court cases or new Congressional action), higher channel capacities (the great increase in the
over-the-air stations are getting channel matched as number of channels), Comcast has introduced a logi-
HD expands. For example, Comcast used 1000s as cal numbering structure in many of its systems,
HD channel numbers, so the local broadcast Chan- within its mixed tiers, that varies between content
nel 6 (an ABC affiliate) on Channel 6 in basic service grouping and appeal groups. For example, broad-
(which happened to be placed on 908 for a few cast stations hold the 1000s; news and weather
years) now appears on 1006. Similarly, Channel 8 channels appear in the 1100s; channels aimed at
(a CBS affiliate) appears as 8 at the basic level (inex- women are numbered in the 1300s; those for chil-
plicably at 912 in early HD) is now 1008 in HD. It dren in the 1500s; sports in the 1600s; movies in
seems likely that the 900 numbers will fade away as the 1800s; and the 1200s are “all others,” meaning
HD becomes widespread. entertainment. This system means that adjacent
Cable systems continue to experiment with con- channels will have similar content appeals, probably
tent clustering schemes—placing cable networks on because children, news, and sports viewers tend to
virtual tiers according to their content or appeals (see persist as users of the up/down arrows on remotes.
3.13). For example, channels can be grouped accord- Interestingly, 3D channels are merely assigned
ing to whether they are (1) all narrowly alike in content-related numbers like other HD, although
content—such as sports channels, movie channels, premium HD movies (1900s), pay-per-view (1700s),
or audio channels; (2) all alike in their appeal to a non-HD sports packages (500s) continue to stand
particular target demographic group—such as for apart and can usually be added separately if a sub-
children or Spanish-speaking viewers; or (3) typed scriber wants them. Clearly, Comcast shares the
broadly by content as in all entertainment or all view that all subscribers will eventually become HD
news. For a time, most MVPDs tossed uniformity subs.
116 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

U-verse consists of about 100 channels, all HD, highlighted (via interconnection with Facebook,
and they are grouped much like Comcast’s, into all Twitter, and the like).
children’s, all news and information, all premium At some point in the all-high-definition future,
(movies), all sports, and the catchall of “variety.” operators are expected to transition totally to menu-
Other cablecos, satcos and telcos utilize similar or topic-driven systems. Menu systems make chan-
schemes to assign networks to their systems. nel numbers (and therefore lineup concepts) nearly
Wired and wireless systems have long employed irrelevant. Just as all channels coming through a
three kinds of virtual lineups in their interactive VCR used to be converted to Channel 3 on the TV
electronic guides: Listings by day and time, the set, so in the future digital television sets might have
alphabetic listing of service names, and thematic only a single “channel” and receive all input from a
clustering. Time listing is useful for finding what’s converter (built into television sets), leading to the
on now or soon; alphabetic listing makes the search disappearance of the very idea of channels. Nonethe-
for a particular channel or program quick; clustering less, it is hard to conceive of a time when all set
suits channel-by-channel selection within the group- owners will want to subscribe to all services for all
ing. None especially suits grazing. There are just too sets. For the purposes of pricing, some subdivisions
many channels. will be needed.
One strategy that facilitates jumping is incorpo- Eventually, viewers are expected to have indi-
ration of social media into the program selection vidual web search agents capable of “knowing”
process. For example, a brief on-screen message our individual likes and dislikes. The size and distri-
might say “Others who selected this program also bution of channel arrays then become irrelevant
watched…” Alternatively, the names of the channels because search agents can jump around at lightning
or programs that “friends” are watching might be speed. Clustering would remain only as an aspect of

3.13 Uniform Lineups

E ven within a single Nielsen DMA (see Chapter 5),

having the most popular advertising-supported ser-
vices on the same channel numbers on all cable systems
Angeles, however, did not match the one adopted in
New York.
Moreover, technical considerations limit the realization of
makes selling advertising easier. Standardization within a such plans in many markets that have long-established sys-
market is called a common channel lineup to distinguish it tems. MVPDs are in varying stages of technical expansion
from the ideal of consistent positions for services from mar- into virtual channels (assigned numbers for users that have
ket to market across the country (called a universal chan- nothing to do with actual distribution frequencies). And users
nel lineup). Nationwide standardization of channel differ on their needs. Those who utilize “appointment view-
positions has the particular advantage of making national ing” and want to go straight to a particular show are unlikely
on-air promotion more effective. to care about logical channel arrangements, and people
The goal of any kind of uniform channel lineup—local who use onscreen guides find channel numbers irrelevant—
or national even for the dozen most popular services—is a although standardization among menus and search systems
long way from realization. The Los Angeles DMA was the is another as yet unrealized goal. Annoyingly, how it all
first major market in which several cable operators agreed works differs from house to house and differs from hotel to
on a common channel array (in analog), and in the late hotel. But for those like children who use the remote’s arrows,
1980s newly constructed systems (new-builds) in Philadel- content adjacency is ideal. Uniformity makes sense for some
phia and New York adopted uniform analog channel viewers but is especially useful for effective promotion by
configurations. Those patterns seem to be surviving into the networks and stations and, even more important, for lower-
digital and then HD eras. The pattern adopted in Los ing the cost of advertising.
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 117

guide listings, providing a way to scan options market (for all the dozens of networks) often exceed
onscreen, should a viewer actually care to look those for the highest-rated station.
with his or her own eyes. Advertisers had little interest in the small num-
bers of per-channel viewers (which are even smaller
when the DBS and telco audiences are removed)
Evaluation Strategies until the cable industry came up with four strategies
for increasing the number of people reached simul-
Multichannel services have two evaluation concerns: taneously and for making them more salable to
evaluation of audience size and measurement of pro- national or regional advertisers.
gram popularity. These result in very different prac- The first strategy has to do with geographic cov-
tices, and some are unique to cable because wireless erage in portions of a state. Because the geographic
and satellite systems do not carry local advertising. area covered by an individual cable franchise is far
smaller than the coverage areas of a single broadcast
station, the cable industry now links franchises over
Audience Size a wide area (like the center of a state) by microwave
Evaluation of MVPD audiences has been a long-time or cable to create large interconnects. Advertising
problem. The overriding difficulty is that the audience interconnects are arrangements for the simultaneous
shares for cable network channels cannot be exactly showing of commercials on selected channels. Of
compared with over-the-air audience shares. Although course, each operator must purchase expensive
nowadays multichannel distributors collectively reach insertion equipment for each channel that will have
about 90 percent of the homes reached by broadcast local advertising added. (The ads usually cover up
television, each individual channel attracts only a promotional spots sent by the networks, and how
portion of the people watching via cable, wireless, many and which ones can be covered by local
telephone or DBS (and not all cable networks appear spots are specified in cable network contracts with
on all or even most services). local cable operators.) Interconnects generally occur
Usually, cable network ratings range from 1 to 4 in or near large markets, however, leaving thou-
percent of total TV households in prime time rather sands of cable systems with unsalable (too small
than the 7 to 8 percent that the top local broadcast and undefined) audiences. Moreover, satellite ser-
affiliate achieves. Looked at nationally, a top network vices cannot be part of local interconnects. Their
TV show, such as American Idol or an NCIS season subscribers add to the national ratings but not to
premiere might get a rating of 12 or 13, while a top audiences for local or regional advertising.
hit on cable rates in the 4s and 5s (although NFL A related strategy is zoning, which refers to sub-
games often reach 8s and 9s on cable). During the dividing an interconnect into tiny geographic areas
height of interest in huge news events like the Egyp- to deliver geographically targeted advertising, which
tian and Libyan uprisings and Japan’s earthquake and permits even small local businesses to purchase low-
tsunami in 2011, CNN’s and Fox News’s ratings cost ads that reach only their neighborhoods. A dry
reached very high levels (such as 12s and 14s). Spo- cleaner, for example, hardly wants to pay to reach
radic season-opening or ending episodes of cable dra- the other side of town where the competition
mas (such as The Closer) rise into the teens. The only operates—but might find two or three zones on its
cable networks to do consistently better is ESPN, and side of town ideal for reaching potential customers.
it fails to reach the level of top local affiliates most of A third strategy is roadblocking—scheduling
the time. the same ad on all cable channels at the same time
However, without disasters or extraordinary so that the advertiser’s message blankets the time
events, these and other popular cable networks usu- period. This can be done nationally by buying the
ally attract fewer than 2 percent of viewers individ- same minutes of time on all major cable networks,
ually. Nonetheless, the collective cable ratings in a or handled locally in one market by inserting the
118 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

same ad simultaneously on all channels in an inter- newspapers to attract new subscribers. However,
connect. Then, no matter where a remote user looks because money was tight as a result of huge capital
on the lineup, the same commercial spot seems to be expenditures and because cableops faced no multi-
playing. (Some big advertisers buy all the broadcast channel competition, most cable companies’ market-
networks also, thus airing a single ad virtually every- ing efforts were minimal at best for more than a
where on television in the whole country at the same decade. After the turn of the century, increased com-
time.) petition from satcos and telcos, coupled with the
A fourth strategy has been to develop criteria profits to be made from upgrades to internet and
other than ratings for wooing advertisers. Sales voice services, drove an explosion in competitive
executives for the cable networks generally empha- promotion.
size the homogeneity of viewers of a particular chan- Early on, competition from satellite services
nel, meaning their demographic (age, gender) and raised the bar for cable, and then telcos joined
psychographic (lifestyle, income) similarities. View- the battle for subscribers. To capture them from
ers of MTV, for example, are alike in age and inter- conventional cable, DBS and telco services designed
ests; weekday viewers of Lifetime are mostly women; clever marketing tools that carefully targeted
viewers of the HGTV share a common interest in specific groups of potential subscribers. No longer
homes, furniture and gardens. The clustering of sim- was one ad good enough to reach everybody. As
ilar channels on digital services also makes it possi- thousands of its subscribers left cable for satellite
ble for an advertiser to roadblock a group of service and later for telco service, the cable industry
channels with homogeneous viewers. woke up and began spending the money to make
more effective advertising tools. Mailers and TV
and online ads touting the advantages of signing
Repetition and Ratings up for FiOS or U-verse or xfinity can’t be avoided
On the programming side, program repetition is these days.
another strategy used to increase audience size. Another way to bolster (or retain) subscriptions
Sales executives for cable television report how is to promote exceptional program content and
many people saw a program in all its airings, rather unusual program channels. When MVPD program-
than how many saw it on, say, Tuesday night at 9 mers are deciding which networks to carry, they
P.M., the usual way that broadcast ratings used to consider how much promotional support a particu-
be calculated (though they are wising up as their lar content network provides. On-air promotion as
shows are viewed on laptops and tablets). For well as print advertising and merchandising has
cable, the size of the cumulative audience is often three advantages: It’s valuable for boosting ratings
more salable than the audience for a single time for new programs, reducing subscriber churn, and
period. Reporting cumulative audience size makes creating positive images in the minds of subscribers
programs seem more popular and more visible, and advertisers. National networks can supply
thus better environments for advertising messages. professional-quality consumer marketing and sales
materials, including on-air spots, information kits,
direct mailers, bill stuffers, program guides and
Promotion Strategies other materials that local systems lack the resources
to create. In other words, some fees paid to national
Effective promotion of MVPD systems took a back- cable program suppliers are, in effect, returned in the
seat to technical problems for several decades. Once form of advertising avails, co-op advertising funds
America was close to fully wired, cable systems and prepaid ads in publications such as People mag-
began to pay more attention to marketing their ser- azine that attract audiences to cable network pro-
vices. Cableops used such traditional advertising gramming (and thus to upgrade to more tiers of
tools as flyers on doorknobs and ads in local service).
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 119

Nowadays, cable, telco and DBS operators affairs. When produced and controlled by the cable
make use of both online promotion and on-air operator or a contractor, such channels are called
video insertions to get their messages across. Major local-origination (LO) channels, although the news
content suppliers also maintain elaborate websites channels tend to cover such wide areas that they are
about key programs, another factor in subscriber often referred to as regional cable. When produced
retention. While use of print advertising in maga- and controlled by a local not-for-profit group, such
zines and newspapers has declined, cable operators channels are called community access. Local and
employ interconnects to run self-promotion on a regional cable-only channels have the long-term ben-
variety of channels. They use spots that might other- efit of differentiating cable from competing wireless
wise have been sold, foregoing that revenue, to tout and DBS services and, in some cases, the short-term
what the subscriber misses by not having HD ser- benefit of generating advertising revenue.
vice, what’s available on VOD and premium HD
channels, and how much more X service offers
than Y or Z. Entertainment Channels
In the long run, having large numbers of sub- Channels with original entertainment content pro-
scribers who subscribe to high levels of service can duced (or purchased) by cable operators themselves
be expected to bring in more revenue than the cost are universally commercial and intended to supple-
of the promotional spots and print ads to lure them ment a system’s profits. The programming is
to upgrade. Even more important is that such pro- selected, scheduled and evaluated for its suitability
motional spending has become critical to maintain- for carrying advertising messages. Religious broad-
ing market share in the increasingly competitive casters (really, cablecasters) operate about one-third
multichannel video marketplace. of local cable channels, and they typically mix syn-
dicated programs with local and nationally distrib-
uted religious programming, including gospel music,
Local Origination on Cable discussions of gospels, sermons and religiously ori-
ented talk, some of which are merely slightly dis-
At the local level, cable programming means several guised sales messages. In addition, a few foreign-
very different things, with no equivalent on the part language cable channels have a full spectrum of
of satcos and telecos. On one hand, local cable refers news, entertainment and talk in one non-English
to the programming activities of the 7,400 or so language. Many of these channels have dropped
managers of cable systems or their MSOs. They their over-the-air channels in favor of becoming
may produce their own local/regional channels of digital-only splinter networks with national
information or entertainment, such as an all-day distribution.
newscast or a high-school sports channel. On the The remaining local-origination channels
other hand, broadcasters also make use of some around the country tend to operate as regional
cable-only channels to replay or multiplex addi- news channels or are programmed like independent
tional channels of programming. Finally, local television stations. When entertainment oriented,
cable also refers to the programming activities of they can carry nationally syndicated series or
several thousand not-for-profit community access movies—very old ones because the programs are
groups or centers. Theirs is the most local of all licensed cheaply as a result of the relatively small
cable programming and has flourished in some cities cable audiences (compared with the audiences of
for nearly four decades, although the internet is rap- broadcast stations or even cable networks). Such
idly altering this kind of local cable programming. programs may be chosen and scheduled locally but,
Local cable channels consist primarily of enter- like syndicated programs on broadcast stations, are
tainment mixed with infomercials, classified adver- not very local. Toledo, Ohio, for example, has a
tising channels, sports, and news and community popular LO channel called Toledo 5 or WTO5
120 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

3.14 Toledo’s Local-Origination Channel

B ecause Toledo has only five local broadcast stations,

TV5 was able to become the WB affiliate (now CW)
for Toledo and to license a great deal of “good” unsold
benefit of a listing at the top of the newspaper’s grid, right
under the local broadcast stations, instead of burial in the
Ws where TV Guide places it (and similar channels).
syndication. Now called Toledo 5 or WTO5, this local- The “station” has its own website (www.wt05toledo.
origination channel carries off-network reruns, such as Two com) and operates with a great deal more funding than the
and a Half Men, The New Adventures of Old Christine, usual local-origination channel. The combination of having
Family Guy, The Cosby Show, and Friends and first run a national affiliation, only a few local broadcast stations in
syndicated programs such as The Wendy Williams Show, the market, supportive ownership by the local newspaper
The Tyra Show, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns and George and carriage on Buckeye, Time Warner Cable and Com-
Lopez. cast cable systems in Northwest Ohio and Southeast
Because the local newspaper (The Toledo Blade) owns Michigan places Toledo 5/WTO5 in the forefront of suc-
the local cable company (Buckeye Cablevision) that owns cessful local-origination channels that compete directly with
Toledo 5/WTO5, the channel receives the enormous broadcast stations.

that is remarkable for its off network and first run cable channels and are increasingly favoring the
syndicated series (see 3.14). web over cable.
On other LO channels, high school and minor
league sports are especially effective for attracting
audiences of considerable appeal to local advertisers. Local-Origination News Programming
Local talk programs also provide an ideal environ- News is a powerful environment for advertising
ment for both local and national infomercials. messages and thus popular with many commercial
Major national companies such as Sears, Verizon, entities that want to reach news consumers and
Ford, General Motors and Procter & Gamble supply make money. Having hyperlocal services helps sys-
the bulk of direct-sell infomercials to cable systems, tems attract and retain subscribers and keeps them
and these are supplemented by shorter infomercials in the good graces of local franchising authorities
from nearby car dealers restaurants, pharmacies, that grant them their licenses.
home builders and the like. Hyperlocal infomercials One strategy has been to replay broadcast news-
may be produced in the cable system’s facilities (for casts on cable channels. Pittsburgh Cable News
a fee). Channel (PCNC), for example, began in 1994 as a
Classified advertising channels, often produced retransmission consent channel. (Federal law
by local newspapers, have been another somewhat requires local television stations to give permission
successful area for local cable, especially when oper- to cable systems for carriage of their signals and
ated in conjunction with a daily paper. Digital inser- allows them to negotiate a fee or other compensa-
tion equipment permits the quick updating of listings tion from cable operators in exchange for rebroad-
and the use of photographs (and some video), mak- casting their signal.) Many stations exacted cable
ing local real estate, car, and other classified ads as channels of their own in lieu of monetary payment.
well as Yellow Pages viable as auxiliary revenue Most of these are solely rebroadcast channels,
streams for cable. Because the internet provides but a joint effort of WPXI-TV (Channel 11) and
much the same opportunity for reaching out to view- cable operator Tele-Communications, Inc. (now
ers, however, religious broadcasters, retail compa- Comcast) created the Pittsburgh Cable News Channel
nies and newspapers are generally operating that now carries live WPXI newscasts at 7 A.M. and
websites with the same content they put on local 7 P.M. and multiple repeats of WPXI’s latest newscast
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 121

along with local talk and information shows (www. can spend hours on breaking events and enough
wpxi.com/pcnc). The pricing of ads on PCNC is com- time on stories about health, sports and entertain-
parable to that of local ad inserts on CNN and Head- ment events to avoid the taint of sensationalism.
line News, and cable systems carrying the channel Cable news producers’ success with audiences
receive two minutes of ad time per hour. All other and owners comes from an intense focus on local
advertising revenue is split between WPXI and interests and, especially in times of stress, lots of
Comcast. ongoing weather and traffic reports. The details
Modeled on CNN and its repeating counterpart, emphasizing the problems important to neighbor-
Headline News, a number of cable-only local and hood residents and businesses appeal to viewers
regional cable news channels (see 3.15) have been and advertisers, and the very low cost of such
formed, some of which attract considerable industry reportage appeals to cable operators.
attention. Although they require significant capital In line with keeping expenses minimal, these
investments (in some cases, many millions of dollars) regional/local channels take advantage of the newest
in equipment, crew, reporters and studios to get going robotic cameras and other automation, which may
and have high daily operating costs, their revenue result in some odd pictures at times but reduces (com-
potential is usually much greater than for entertain- pared with broadcast newsrooms) the technical staff
ment channels because they attract more regular necessary for them to function. The reporters tend to
viewing. What the services share is their focus on be young and inexperienced, are often interns or
smaller geographic areas from the “region” down to employees working for nonunion salaries, and carry
the neighborhood. Traffic reports are often street by their own handheld video cameras with portable
street, weather reports describe in detail what is video recorders, eliminating still other staff costs. By
important in small geographic areas, and “news” using portable tripods, reporters can even tape them-
moves down to the level of parades, store openings, selves at the scene of events and in interviews. As one
and official city activities. This kind of information reporter for New York 1 News put it, “I do a story
also transfers very effectively to online services every day. I dream it up. I set it up. I produce it.
integrally connected with these cable channels. I report it, and I even edit it. I get to do everything.”2
Local and regional cable-only news services dif- The backpack video journalist who functions as cor-
fer from ratings-driven broadcast stations. The latter respondent, reporter, camera operator and producer
normally divide their newscasts into half-hour seg- has become the model for inexpensive news gathering.
ments, devoting airtime to sensational crimes, fires Although financial support must initially come
and accidents, and also include nonlocal stories if from a parent corporation with deep pockets and
they are likely to hold audience interest. On broad- patience, major national advertisers have become
cast stations, local events get only a few minutes at increasingly interested in cable-only news and its
most, and events likely to be of interest to only a few online counterparts. Local and regional cable news
viewers are scrapped. channels can attract advertising from businesses too
In contrast, hyperlocal cable-only news chan- small to be able to pay broadcast station rates. Rates
nels that operate live for several hours daily— on New England Cable News are about $500 for a
increasingly 24 hours as they become established 30-second spot, compared with the $3,000 or so on
and profitable—can focus on neighborhood events a Boston network affiliate. Although such cable
on the scene and at length if they might be of interest channels typically average less than a 1 rating for 24
to a few viewers. Most model themselves on CNN hours, local disasters drive up ratings dramatically. For
rather than the broadcast network newscasts and example, New York 1 News had ratings of about 6 for
carry hours of live programming, although New its live coverage of a winter snowstorm.
York 1 News has been very successful using a half- Local and regional cable news channels also have
hour news wheel (see 3.15). With the luxury of more highly interactive internet sites to further enhance
time to dwell on events, regional and local networks their viewers’/users’ ability to selectively choose
122 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

3.15 Regional Cable News Services

T he first and best known of the regional all-news ven-

tures on cable continues to be News 12 Networks,
which includes seven regional cable news channels in the
use of comprehensively trained journalists—who report,
videotape, and edit their own stories—and broadcasts that
are structured in half-hour programming wheels has become
New York area. Launched in 1986 by Cablevision as a global model for inexpensive news coverage. In addition
News 12 Long Island, News 12 Networks is a division of to advertising, it attracts revenue by charging for consulting
Rainbow Media, the programming arm of Cablevision about low-budget news.
Systems Corp. News 12 Networks offers 24-hour local Northwest Cable News (NWCN), now owned by
news service in Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey, Belo Corporation, came on the scene in 1995 when KING
Westchester, the Bronx, Hudson Valley, and Brooklyn Broadcasting (that is, KING-TV in Seattle, KREM-TV in
(see www.news12.com). News 12 Networks reach Spokane, KGW-TV in Portland, and KTVB-TV in Boise) used
3.8 million cable households in the New York its retransmission consent leverage to gain shelf space on
tristate area. cable systems in Washington, Oregon and Idaho to
Each service supplies news about the local region to establish a 24-hour regional cable news channel. NWCN
residents, beginning each morning with a radio-style mix of provides news programming, which is targeted to the
news, weather and hyperlocal traffic reports (for example,
geographic area it covers. As a result, NWCN achieves
live from key points on the Long Island Expressway on
higher ratings than CNN Headline News, and it is avail-
News 12 Long Island). Then the service continues at a
able to a approximately 2.9 million viewers (see www.
slower pace throughout the day with reports on local com-
nwcn.com).
munity events, live interviews, local news updates, and
The Texas Cable News (TXCN) was established in
reprises of national and international news. Stories include
1999 as Belo’s fourth regional cable news effort. Although
everything from school parades to unsolved murders to
some regional news channels choose to cover a metro area
reports on issues like garbage dumping and pollution. With
or even a limited part of a metro area, TXCN followed the
a staff of 150, facilities rivaling those of nearby broadcast
design of NWCN by opting for coverage of vast regions
stations, and an annual budget of more than $10 million,
News 12 Long Island, the flagship service, attracts enough (that is, the entire state of Texas) that include multiple metro
advertising revenue to make a profit. Interestingly, its high- markets. In 2000, Texas Cable News established
est viewing comes in prime time. TXCN.com as its online presence. TXCN has a staff of 30
Time Warner Cable established New York 1 News (reduced from 75 in 2005) devoted to administration,
(NY1) in 1992 as a 24-hour news channel. NY1 and its 50 operations and sales. It has no reporters of its own. Its
full-time news reporters and anchors serve New York City’s newscasts depend entirely on contributions from its televi-
five boroughs from an all-digital (and almost tapeless) facility. sion and newspaper partners, The Dallas Morning News
NY1 also provides NY1 Noticias, a 24-hour Spanish- (owned by A.H. Belo Corp) and WFAA-TV8 in Dallas,
language news channel launched in 2003, NY1 Rail and KHOU-TV in Houston, KENS-TV in San Antonio, KVUE-TV in
Road, a 24-hour cable news channel focused on the vehic- Austin, and the company’s Washington, DC, news bureau
ular traffic and mass transit conditions in New York’s five (all owned by Belo Corp). TXCN is available to cable
buroughs and a corresponding website, www.ny1.com, to subscribers on 13 Texas cable systems, 10 of which are
complete its thorough approach to news coverage. NY1’s owned by Time Warner Cable (see www.txcn.com).

among news stories and to have news on demand. As establishing a successful media convergence strategy
a result, the same news information appears simulta- for local and regional cable news channels. In the
neously on a cable channel and online. This serves to long term, regional/local cable distribution may take
broaden the audience and is a key factor in over the role that local broadcast stations have
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 123

In Washington, DC, NewsChannel 8 (NC8), owned by channel that serves 1.8 million Chicago area cable
Allbritton Communications, was founded in 1991. NC8 households. CLTV shares content and staff with WGN-TV
is a 24-hour news channel available to approximately and the Chicago Tribune. Both the newspaper and CLTV
1.1 million Washington, DC, metro-area cable subscribers. are specifically oriented toward the suburban Chicago
It uses a fiber-optic delivery system to deliver targeted local audience. One goal of the cable channel is to promote the
news (on a nightly basis with separate anchors and produ- value and expertise of the newspaper reporters, which
cers) and advertising (on a 24-hour basis) to suburban should, in turn, improve newspaper circulation (see
Maryland, Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia. www.cltv.com).
NC8 operates three local news bureaus from which it origi- Central Florida News 13 (CFN 13) is Orlando’s only
nates live coverage (see www.tbd.com/tv). 24-hour local news channel serving the central Florida
The Comcast Network (formerly CN8) employs more region. Started in 1997 and originally owned by Orlando
than 400 people, and is a 24-hour regional cable news, Sentinel Communications (that is, the Tribune Company)
talk, sports, and entertainment network owned and operated and Time Warner Communications, Bright House Net-
by Comcast. The Comcast Network was launched as CN8 works (formerly called Advance/Newhouse Communica-
launched in 1996 and is available to millions of cable homes tions) now owns CFN 13. CFN 13 is affiliated with CNN
in its Mid-Atlantic service area (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and provides local and regional news, weather, traffic,
Washington, DC, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware). Its and sports programming (see www.cfn13.com).
programming is primarily locally produced regional news, The Dispatch Broadcast Group (which includes WBNS-
entertainment and sports (high school, college and profes- TV, WBNS-AM/FM, and The Columbus Dispatch in
sional), with 90 hours per week of original programming Columbus, Ohio) launched Ohio News Network (ONN)
including some live, interactive and on demand program- in 1996, becoming the first state-wide 24-hour cable news
ming (see www.csnphilly.com/pages/comcastnetwork and channel in the country. ONN can be seen in more than
www.csnwashington.com/pages/comcastnetworkshow). 1.8 million Ohio cable households in such cities as Cleve-
NBCUniversal owns New England Cable News land, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton and Toledo. ONN
(NECN) is a 24-hour regional cable news network, which specializes in providing highly localized news, weather,
was launched in 1992 by Hearst and Comcast. NECN and sports along with a regionalized approach to state-
provides news, weather, entertainment, and sports to wide news coverage. It utilizes partnerships with a number
3.7 million homes in a large number of New England com- of over-the-air television stations (including WBNS in
munities. It has won many awards, including a George Foster Columbus, Youngstown, WEWS in Cleveland, WHIO in
Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont/Columbia University Dayton, WKRC in Cincinnaiti, WTOL in Toledo, etc. to
Broadcast Journalism Award, and a National Edward R. rebroadcast local news programs and to share ONN stor-
Murrow Award. In addition to its standard programming, ies with these stations (see www.onntv.com). For further
NECN also regularly produces documentaries focused information on local and regional cable news channels,
on issues of importance to New Englanders (see www. visit www.newschannels.org, the website of the Asso-
necn.com). ciation of Regional News Channels, and http://en.
Begun in 1993, Tribune Company owned Chicago- wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:24-hour_television_news_
land Television (CLTV)is a 24-hour regional cable news channels_in_the_United_States.

traditionally played because cable does not use scarce responsible for the demise of some of the regional/
airwaves (although the broadcasters are likely to step local cable news channels that have shut down over
in as owners and producers of content). Wired cable the past decade. For example, Orange County News-
distribution, in turn, may soon be supplanted by channel ended in 2002; the Florida News Channel
wireless web services, which may be at least partially failed in 2003; News 24 Houston died in 2004, as
124 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

well as News 9 San Antonio in 2004; Southern Ari- and, with the drop in price and increased sophistica-
zona News Network ended in 2010; and Local News tion of video equipment, fewer members of the public
on Cable or LNC5 died in 2010. are seeking the video training that access centers can
provide, and their training equipment has largely
become obsolete. Thus, the centers focus increasingly
Community Access on Cable on digitizing their facilities to aid in the convergence
of video and computer input and output.
In dramatic contrast to commercial cable, the access A few access programs have moved up to wider
channels operated by community groups are non- distribution, and the flamboyant Bobby Flay, host of
commercial and driven by educational, artistic and several shows on The Food Network, got his start on
public service goals. They tend to operate on the access television. The best of public access television
neighborhood and city level, rarely reaching outside get Philo Awards (the name comes from television
county boundaries. Federal law permits local and inventor Philo T. Farnsworth), and the worst are
state franchising authorities to require cable systems played at the Found Footage Festival for comic effect.
to provide channel space and sometimes financial In the early 1990s, the hilarious “Wayne’s World”
support for community access services. spoofs about access television as part of Saturday
Although by law these services divide into three Night Live helped raise awareness of public access
kinds—public, educational and government (PEG) television on the national level, for better or worse!
channels—in practice, they usually operate out of
community access centers. Such centers are noncom-
mercial and local not just in practice but also in active Changing Usage
philosophy, and they provide alternative program- The more than 1,000 access centers in America come
ming that would never be viable on for-profit stations in a bewildering variety of organizational setups,
or local-origination cable channels. The mainstays of and many are finding common bonds with farseeing
access content have been community-produced public libraries. As the repositories of printed books
videos, video art, municipal meetings and hearings, and periodicals move into DVDs, CDs and computer
and educational productions. Like commercial com- storage of ideas, their noncommercial, anticensor-
panies, they are finding the internet increasingly effec- ship, free-speech and open-access goals come to
tive for reaching their audiences, and they face the merge into those of community access television
same problem of having to fund the shift from analog centers.
to digital including HD. Many access centers, including one of the oldest
Traditionally, access has meant two things to in America—Bloomington’s Community Access
local-access centers: (1) access by community mem- Television Service (CATS)—have located themselves
bers to the means of television production through within a community public library and receive finan-
training classes, arrangements for loans of TV cam- cial support from the city, county, library (a taxing
eras, and the sharing of editing equipment; and authority in Indiana) and cable operator. This par-
(2) access by community members to an audience ticular center operates five PEG channels: a city gov-
through the cablecasting of locally produced pro- ernment channel, a county government one (mostly
grams. The underlying principles guiding the staffs meetings and some interviews); an educational chan-
of access centers are the ideas of free speech for every- nel called The Library Channel; a traditional public
one, the egalitarian use of the media, the fostering and access channel where community members supply
sharing of artistic expression, the accessibility of all the content; and a SCOLA channel (news from
people to affordable education and instruction, and other countries in their native languages).
open and participatory government decision making. In many other communities, once-separate local
The internet is proving an even more effective arts centers and local television centers have come
vehicle for achieving these goals than cable, however, together to become community media centers and
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 125

are evolving into community communications cen- channels that unfold programs over time. Live car-
ters. They can involve institutional networks, local riage of public meetings of municipal government,
libraries, health centers and schools, connecting local school districts, environmental protection com-
them to each other, to community agencies, and to mittees, councils, planning approval commissions,
the internet, all of which have become central to and live carriage of other ad hoc meetings on com-
their future survival. It is not the particular technol- munity issues continue to be carried on cable system
ogy (television, books or computers) that ultimately local-access channels. However, the increased pene-
matters but serving the mission in the community— tration and quality of high speed internet service has
the mission of public access to the means of greatly increased the amount of online video stream-
communication. ing of public meetings of all types.
Many of the community members who were
once clamoring to gain local-access time to televise
their home videos or local performances, however, Nonlocal Programming
can now exhibit continuously on personal websites, Although it was once thought that all access channels
bypassing one of the motivators for public cable would carry only locally produced programs, some
access. One striking aspect of the internet has been regional and national sources are now available to
the rapid shift of art video and low-budget movies supplement what can be made locally. In addition
from cable access to the web. Video artists now fill to public broadcasting, noncommercial services
multiple websites with original film shorts, and the such as SCOLA provide unedited segments of broad-
internet provides places for the videos of birthday cast news from other countries in their original lan-
parties and church fairs as well as the more serious guages. Especially popular in university towns and
animation and dramatic films that once character- cities with large foreign-born populations, SCOLA
ized local public access cable. offers, over the course of a week, news, weather
Educators, another group that formerly sought and cultural information from such varied sources
large numbers of cable access channels, have also as France, Spain, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Italy,
turned increasingly to websites to provide interaction Korea, Greece, China, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania,
with students and parents. Homework instructions Latvia, Macedonia, the Netherlands, Moldova, the
can go online; email allows personal messages from Ukraine, the Philippines and other countries.
teachers to students or parents; and the cost of such The oldest distributor of access programming
sites is far less than for effective cable production. has been the Deep Dish TV Network, available to
Religious groups that also clamored for more time on community access centers via satellite and now the
local-access channels now, on the internet, have more internet. (The name Deep Dish refers to parabolic
freedom to program as they wish. Nonetheless, receivers as well as apple and pizza pie!) A not-
church groups that wish to reach older, downscale for-profit program distributor, it is supported by
constituents who tend to avoid computers still seek donations and grants, as are Free Speech TV and
a significant portion of time on access television, cre- Democracy Now! Independent and community pro-
ating problems for some managers as they see other ducers create the highly diverse programs and
kinds of traditional access fare fading in quantity. largely political documentaries or analyses these sat-
In many well-wired communities, local govern- ellite services circulate on such topics as housing, the
ments are also finding websites effective for some of environment, civil liberties, racism, sexism, AIDS,
the kinds of information they produce. Long lists of the Middle East and Central America.
community events, community service agencies and Deep Dish identifies itself as “the first national
government office phone numbers suit menu-driven grassroots satellite network” and quotes author
websites better than television channels. Users can Studs Terkel: “The idea of a democracy in this coun-
access the websites at their convenience and select try is based on an informed citizenry, an intelligent
only the material of particular interest, unlike cable citizenry—and you can’t be intelligent without being
126 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

informed.”3 These services appear unscrambled on U.S. homes), advertisers will need to develop new
commercial satellite transponders; the programs are strategies for getting their products out and mes-
carried by 200 or so cable systems, some public tele- sages heard. Product placement within television
vision, and radio stations (including NPR), and on programs is one such strategy, and such marketing
the internet, and come directly to backyard dishes tricks as discounts, coupons and other kinds of fee
(HSD). reductions for watching commercial messages have
also surfaced. In addition, some advertiser sup-
ported programmers have begun to require that
What’s Sneaking Up fast-forward DVR functionality be disabled as a
condition for providing programs on demand.
On-demand programming coupled with delivery of How far this will go and how the public will adapt is
TV Everywhere represents the leading-edge of ser- unknown.
vices for MVPDs. It has long been considered the Cable, telco and satellite distributors moved
cable industry’s “holy grail.” However, only rapidly into the HD service business and look
recently has on-demand’s cost fallen sufficiently to ahead to 3D. In the short run, as HD set penetration
move it into commercial market rollout. Likewise, continues to increase (over 60 percent of U.S. homes
recent advances in wireless (4G/3G/Wi-Fi, tablets have at least one HD set), upper tier HD service
and smart phones) have made TV Everywhere both offerings from MVPDs can be expected to generate
economically and technologically possible. More significant revenue. However, once the transition to
than half of MVPD subscribers have access to on- digital is complete, separate non-HD service tiers are
demand video programming and the rapid increase likely to fade away, and all television will be HD
in wireless access devices and penetration of user (unless it’s 3D or holography or something new we
interfaces between wireless and wire line networks haven’t yet heard of).
is promising to make TV Everywhere a reality. Although cable was long the clear market leader
Existing challenges for VOD include: figuring in the area of high-speed internet service, telcos are
out a way to get subscribers used to purchasing on a catching up where FiOS and U-verse are available to
per-program rather than on a per-channel or per- consumers. The question now is how much longer
package basis, negotiating low enough rights fees Verizon and AT&T will continue to supply the
with Hollywood to make VOD profitable, and con- internet and wire line telephone service components
tinuing to negotiate an earlier window for releasing of DBS’s triple play packages. Cable telephony ser-
movies to increase VOD value proposition for con- vice has been growing rapidly thanks to the wide
sumers (see Chapter 9). TV Everywhere challenges availability of VoIP (Voice of Internet Protocol) tele-
include investing the capital needed to provide con- phone service offerings by cableops. Today, cable
sumers with the required technology so that subscri- has approximately 25 million VoIP telephone sub-
bers can consume video content when (anytime), scribers. Of course, telcos have responded with
where (in the home or away from home), and how appealing packages of television, internet and voice
(on a TV, tablet, smart phone or laptop) they want telephone to counteract cable’s move into telephony.
to receive it. In addition to the technical challenges, Now that AT&T and Verizon have made the major
MVPD distributors and programmers will also need capital investment required to build competitive
to overcome the intellectual property rights associ- broadband networks (FiOS and U-verse) to compete
ated with TV Everywhere. with cable in significant parts of their coverage
The advertising industry’s concern about DVRs areas, it will be very interesting to watch as things
has led to elaborate tracking of viewer patterns to develop.
learn how common commercial skipping continues On the reception end, consumers await wide-
to be and what factors minimize it. As DVRs prolif- spread distribution of truly intelligent converters
erate (now approaching 50 percent penetration in incorporated into new television sets and computers,
 CHAPTER 3 Multichannel Television Strategies 127

and user interfaces that provide seamless connectivity equivalent of the semisentient computers in science
between wireless and wire line devices. Consumers fiction. Agents will eventually mutate into avatars
also await improvements in interactive program guides (virtual selves) with virtual bodies that can interact
and search approaches to allow them to personalize with other avatars on the internet, far beyond the
program viewing and searching. As the number of cartoon representations that exist today.
channels and programs proliferate, consumers need As broadband speeds become faster and faster
more efficient methods of identifying content (i.e., and screens on handheld devices become bigger and
entertainment programs, news stories, etc.) they brighter and keyboards become virtual, watching
would like to consume. Great advances are on the video content on tablets, smart phones and laptops
immediate horizon in this area as MVPDs and other will continue to improve as will user interfaces
distributors develop much simpler and more intuitive between wireless and wire line distribution devices.
ways for consumers to identify programs to watch. Nonetheless, history will repeat itself: Mobile media
This includes incorporating such social media as Face- will supplement—not supplant—traditional media.
book and online connections like Amazon.com to get Consumers will still want large TV screens in their
like-minded consumers to “share” what they like and homes (and public places) and desktop computers in
don’t like as part of the search process. their workplaces. However, 4G and Wi-Fi will have
Sometime further in the future, it is envisioned a dramatic impact on consumers, and the world will
that mass guides will evolve into personal search be a different place when most people can access the
engines that utilize virtual agents that can be pro- internet—for video, audio or text—whenever they
grammed by the user or that can learn on their want to and wherever they are.
own to make selections for individual users, from
the huge sea of available entertainment, news and
commercial content. An agent programmed for
Notes
each individual will notify him or her about specific 1. Kenneth Van Meter, president of Bell Atlantic Video
video content, blogs, vlogs and RSS postings based Services’ interactive multimedia platform division, speak-
on previously expressed preferences or current ing before Kagan Services’ Interactive Multimedia Forum,
wants and desires. The process of reprogramming 18 August 1994, New York.
an agent (by voice or perhaps merely by what is fre- 2. Seligmann, J, Covering the neighborhood. Newsweek,
quently chosen or requested) will eventually become 13 December 1993, p. 6.
transparent to users, and over time, increasingly 3. From the brochure cover for Deep Dish TV Network in
sophisticated agent programs may become the New York, 2000.
 4
CHAPTER

Online Television Strategies

Douglas A. Ferguson

Chapter Outline
The New Programs Geography
Competition Economics
Wi-Fi’s Role
Strategic Considerations
Evolution, Not Revolution
Daypart Compatibility
Web Program Producers Habit Formation
Movies Plus Audience Flow
Series Plus Conservation of Program
Upstarts (Big and Small Ones) Resources
Original Content Suppliers Breadth of Appeal
Professional Web Videos
Specific Approaches
Ubiquity
Selecting Content
Enhanced Viewing Scheduling Content
Social Networks Promoting Content
Other TV Apps
Online Measurement
Online Program Guides
What’s Coming Fast
Video Games and Virtual
Worlds Notes
A Conceptual Framework

128
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 129

W hen you watch YouTube or Netflix, hap-

pily, you needn’t follow a pre-structured
schedule of programs, and you needn’t watch on the
largest available screen to see what’s going on. Any
At the same time, promotional information
associated with regular television programs (called
enhancement) appears on websites supplied by any
and all broadcast and cable networks, every Holly-
handy screen will do. When you go online to watch wood studio, most stations, most music producers
a clip or show you missed on TV, you’ll probably find and other key groups in the entertainment industry.
links on the screen to other shows and clips that you Everyone wants you to watch what they provided.
might like. Just like in traditional television, the com- At the same time, those self-contained computer/
panies that supply online content have strategies to phone options called apps (for applications, in case
keep you coming back for more (and staying longer you’ve been trapped in a cave) provide program
to watch the ads or pay a subscription). Online televi- guides, live chat and other interactive functions
sion strategies address the growing number of that “enhance” the viewing experience. As you
unstructured program options available on various know from experience as well as the news, social
screens viewed by the media audience. This chapter media apps allow viewers in different locations
explores those online programming strategies, for watch television together as if they were in the
web programs, social media and video games. same room, commenting on content and receiving
enhanced information.
The third principal category of online media
The New Programs consists of interactive games. Certainly, its game
function is one of the internet’s unique aspects, and
In a programming book, one expects to learn what people can play solitaire or puzzles by themselves or
online “programs” are, but their definition con- interact with others at distant locations (sometimes
tinues to be fuzzy and evolving. As in all media, with guns!) in elaborate video games. Notably, most
entertainment and information are the major con- video games involve entertainment and storytelling,
tent types, but in the online world, they come in just like traditional television, but with this added
innumerable permutations, so it’s more useful to dis- dimension of interactivity. You get to participate in
tinguish among web programs, enhancing informa- the action, sometimes along with friends and stran-
tion and interactive games as the key kinds of online gers (until you get virtually killed, of course, or all
program content. your crops die).
Just as in conventional television and radio, most Although the internet certainly contains moun-
online entertainment content is storytelling, and tell- tains of “information,” much of it is either related to
ing stories—real or fictional, in video or in games—is retail sales and other businesses or consists of refer-
the primary task of what are collectively called web ence material (current and archived data) or per-
programs. Thus, on the internet, the term includes sonal/political content (such as individual websites
short and long video programs akin to television and chat on a wealth of topics), and is thus outside
series, specials, documentaries, theatrical and made- the parameters of this book. This chapter focuses on
for-TV movies, web-only newscasts and hosted online content that is similar or at least related to
entertainment/talk shows. Web programs fall into what appears on television.
two distinct categories. First are the repurposed
showings of traditional television programs, such as
reruns of The Daily Show or NCIS via Netflix or Competition
Hulu and NBC Nightly News on MSNBC.com. The Of the three types of online content, it is web pro-
second type consists of original content produced spe- grams that offer the most direct competition to tra-
cifically for online distribution, such as clips on You- ditional media (although electronic games pretty
Tube or Revver. By 2012, Americans were streaming much wiped out the board game industry, at least
over 15 billion videos per month (see 4.1). for those old enough to read). But the online
130 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

4.1 Streaming and Capping

S treaming is the digital distribution of audio or video in

near-real time, the closest thing to conventional over-
the-air or cable/satellite television programs. Streaming
people were hogging the bandwidth. So internet providers
quietly introduced plans to cap, or limit, the amount of
information that could be downloaded in a billing period,
differs from broadcasting because the viewer receives a usually 250 gigabytes. The situation was analogous to
single transmission not intended to be seen at the same banning really big eaters from the unlimited buffet line.
time that other viewers watch. Just like with a television set, Because downloading was never a huge activity,
anyone with a computer and a connection to the internet except for a few, the introduction of data caps generated
can receive streamed pictures and sound, and the faster very little controversy. But streaming is a different matter.
the connection, the better those pictures are. The number of Like downloading, streaming exhausts huge amounts of
web users who are willing to watch streamed video grows digital bandwidth. Unlike downloading a movie late at
as connection speeds increase. Competition between night, however, streaming takes place during peak hours.
cable modems and DSL to get you as a customer, like the While wireline providers like cable and telcos can expand
competition between cable and satellite, has stabilized their capacity to meet the demand, wireless was hitting the
(but not yet driven down) the cost of broadband limits of peak-hour bandwidth as early as 2011. It makes
connections. sense (to some) to either throttle back activity or erect a
The introduction of unlimited data plans for internet and monthly cap. Of course, if you have become accustomed
cell phone providers was a huge selling point when com- to an unlimited data plan on your cell phone, you would
panies were first building a base of wired and wireless see it differently. Suddenly the buffet line has become a
subscribers. But as more people began downloading more menu of a la carte items, or you can only go through the
and more video programming, it became clear that a few line once, perhaps with a slightly smaller tray.

availability of streamed TV shows and movies Thus, online or on tablets, if they want to, view-
certainly caused the greatest disruption to “the ers can watch repurposed content from regular tele-
way things have been done.” You can see this in vision channels (via Netflix and Hulu Plus, for
the name that the television industry gave to example). They can also watch made-for-web con-
streaming videos: over-the-top (OTT) services. tent from program producers who don’t use tradi-
Pricewaterhouse-Cooper (PwC) forecasts 9 million tional distribution channels (producers of YouTube
OTT viewers by 2015.1 PwC also forecasts that the clips, for example), creating industry competition
money consumers will pay for online video subscrip- between traditional and online television in these
tions (along with what distributors will pay to air two categories. However, for viewers who “cut the
the programs) will rise to $99 billion by mid- cord” from cable and satellite providers, web pro-
decade. Moreover, and perhaps even more disrup- grams are all in the same category (see 4.3).
tive to current economics, parts of the internet are
now being distributed directly to portable devices
(cell phones and tablets)—the so-called third screens Wi-Fi’s Role
(TV sets and computer monitors are the first and How many toys do you have? Are they separate or
second screens). Viewers can go online at their linked? In the last decade, an explosion of home net-
offices or fire up their tablets at the beach to watch working has occurred in which household electron-
television, and sometimes they opt to watch conven- ics devices, such as computers, TV sets, stereos,
tional program channels unconventionally (see 4.2). phones and video games, are interconnected around
Clearly, the typical settings for enjoying video enter- the entire house without the need for wiring. Oper-
tainment have now moved well beyond the home. ating on the Wi-Fi standard allows users to transmit
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 131

4.2 TV Anywhere and Everywhere

T hanks to online video, nowadays you can watch tra-

ditional TV almost anywhere. One way is to purchase
a Slingbox. Hook your home cable or satellite to the
pay $4.99 for a comparable service (but FilmOn does
offer a very brief trial service for free).
Handheld audio and video players also supplement
Slingbox, and then tune in all of your channels with a media content received by cell phones. Apple’s iPod Touch
broadband connection from any remote location. Copy- and iPad are the most common of the portable media
right isn’t a problem because you are already paying your players, and they are capable of storing (or streaming)
multichannel provider for the right to watch. You are merely hours of video, which can be displayed on a small (iPod
extending the reach of the cable coming into your home. Touch) or larger (iPad) screen. Unlike most cell phones,
With a Slingbox, you can extend that reach nearly around these devices can connect to Wi-Fi transmitters in the home
the world. or in some public spaces. Despite concerns that most
Cable operators’ response to Slingbox was to come up people would not choose to watch a small screen, media
with their own devices and “TV Everywhere” offerings. analysts have observed that viewers seem willing to adapt
Thanks to tablets like the iPad and apps like that for Com- to the largest or smallest screen that suits their situation at a
cast’s Xfinity, subscribers can watch television virtually any- particular moment. In other words, if 3.5-inch screens are
where. Over-the-top service is sometimes described by the all people have when riding on subways, then they’ll use
“four anys”: Viewers can watch anything, anywhere, any- them until they get home to their beloved 42-inch HD
time, on any device. A viewer connected to the web can display.
watch on their second and third screens (desktop computers Of course, most viewers still prefer their video to appear
and mobile devices) what they pay to watch for on their first on their home television receivers, and the bigger the bet-
screen (television set). ter. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 was the first device to offer PC-
Even without adding equipment, you can still watch to-TV downloads, and other companies (Nintendo Wii and
regular channels (besides clips on websites) with services Sony Playstation) soon followed. Even without additional
like FilmOn or ivi TV). Subscribers to these services get hardware, media companies have begun to anticipate the
access to hundreds of worldwide TV and radio channels viewers’ desire to watch online video on TV sets. Several
through their computers. Add a device such as Apple TV, manufacturers now offer HDTVs that have their own wire-
and you can even transmit the video programs to your less connections, thus allowing viewers to bring internet
television set. (Does that feel like going around in a circle?) video to their main TV sets (meaning that no computer
FilmOn is a subscription service, charging $10 per month needs to be in the same room as the TV set). A fifth of all
to receive live programming, while subscribers to ivi TV only new sets shipped in 2010 had such built-in connectivity.

streams of data (from computer keyboards, graphic television set, a device that has enjoyed a privileged
cameras, photo printers and home video cameras) location in the home for the past 60 years but where
within a small geographic radius via radio waves. computers do not normally reside. The “smart”
The central unit is typically a desktop computer home imagined decades ago by futurists is finally
with immense storage capacity that acts as a server beginning to emerge, and this includes new video
for the rest of the home. The computer links to any and online abilities for those ubiquitous cell phones.
number of cable boxes, alarm systems, stereo audio But using Wi-Fi in homes has proved more techni-
systems, video game consoles, video displays and cally problematic than envisioned because older
who knows what that hasn’t been invented yet. equipment balks, and so it has rolled out slowly in
Typically, Wi-Fi internet content comes to por- homes.
table laptops anywhere in the house or yard. Also it Outside the home, connecting to the web is a
can bring internet video to the main (biggest) simple matter of visiting a store or restaurant with
132 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

4.3 Cord Cutters

T he term cord cutters applies to former cable/satellite

subscribers who have “cut the cord” to save money by
getting their movies and videos from Netflix, YouTube and
other programmers are counting on the relative conve-
nience of cable and satellite technology to save their busi-
nesses. Most homes are already wired to traditional
Hulu Plus. Still, traditional television has a big advantage sources, and current subscribers easily understand how to
over video streaming: It can deliver HDTV-quality pictures, select programs from a cornucopia of options. Streaming
while video streaming via the internet remains compara- video sometimes requires new devices and works best with
tively limited in picture quality. home Wi-Fi networks. Meanwhile, major cable operators
As you can imagine, the prospect of losing monthly such as Comcast maximize their "TV everywhere and any-
cable subscribers to streaming video has worried some where" options and promote a general shift to HD to stem
traditional suppliers and distributors of television shows. But the tide of competition from streaming competitors.

a free Wi-Fi zone. Travelers expect their hotel rooms Web Program Providers
to offer Wi-Fi networks; libraries and schools typi-
cally feature Wi-Fi capabilities. Some cities have It won’t come as a surprise that repurposed content on
public Wi-Fi, and many federal legislators consider the web primarily takes the form of television shows
free public access a right rather than a privilege, like and movies. As of 2012, the major providers of repur-
public drinking fountains and restrooms. In addi- posed shows were Netflix, Hulu Plus, Apple iTunes and
tion, you can buy a monthly “Wi-Fi Anywhere” ser- Amazon Instant Video. A second category of web con-
vice so you aren’t limited to public connections and tent is original programming, for which YouTube and
can link in wherever signals reach. its close competitors are best known. Recent off-
network and off-cable repurposed programs are some-
Evolution, Not Revolution times free and thus supported by ads, as on Hulu, but
the major online providers rely heavily on paid sub-
A good guess is that consumer habits will evolve
scriptions. Original made-for-online content, on the
slowly as younger viewers grow older and older
other hand, is almost always free and supported by
viewers learn new tricks. In many households, the
advertising. Pretty much, you get what you pay for.
price difference between full-cable service and web
programs, however, may influence a cost-based
switching decision, somewhat akin to the way cell Movies Plus
phones convinced some households to cancel their Netflix evolved from a distribution channel for
landline phone service (while many younger people rented DVDs through the mail to the largest supplier
now never consider landlines at all). The broadcast of program-length streaming videos. It streams
networks and their allied production studios will professionally-produced content live over the inter-
also benefit from streaming video, because net- net rather than downloaded as a single file. Monthly
works can spread their risk among additional dis- subscribers with a broadband connection can watch
tribution windows when they can repurpose Netflix through their computers, game consoles,
programs to subscription services. The fly in the smartphones, iPad-like tablets or web-enabled televi-
honey is who gets the money. A merging of inter- sion receivers. The company still rents out movies,
ests will occur IF, and it’s a big if, and when equi- but in 2011 it began competing with the major tele-
table splits of rights and royalties can be agreed to vision networks, producing original video content as
by dozens of parties. Economics will always be the well as continuing to stream older shows and
driving force. movies.
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 133

Netflix was the first major supplier of Hulu Plus evolved as a subscription website that
professionally-produced content. For $7.99 (plus provided the same content as Hulu (with fewer com-
an additional $7.99 if you also want the option of mercials) but expanded its menu to include entire
DVD delivery to your mailbox), you can watch an seasons of popular programs shown on regular tele-
online library of popular television shows and vision, sometimes offering multiple seasons of espe-
Hollywood movies. Its subscriber lists had grown cially hot series. For example, Hulu Plus has all the
to over 25 million by 2011, two-thirds of whom Saturday Night Live programs dating back to 1975,
used the streaming-only option (before the price hundreds of hours’ worth. As with Netflix, Hulu
increase from $9.99 for both options to $15.98). Plus also streams theatrical movie releases from
Netflix online apparently made a sizable dent in selected studios such as Miramax Films. The cost
the sale of DVDs, which declined a whopping per month is $7.99, the same as Netflix. Hulu Plus
20 percent between 2010 and 2011. focuses on well-known television series, but also fea-
tures some original made-for-web content (especially
during the summer months when regular network
Series Plus television is on hiatus). As of 2011, Hulu Plus had
Hulu was originally designed as a free website to 875,000 subscribers.
stream content produced by regular television net- Apple iTunes is another source of videos, typi-
works, plus a few original series. While CBS remains cally downloaded rather than streamed. Although
a holdout, NBC, ABC, FOX and many large produ- iTunes is best known for 99-cent music downloads,
cers like Viacom participate in streaming recently- Apple sells individual video programs for $1.99, and
shown programs on Hulu with few commercial because of its instantly recognized name, grabbed a
interruptions. (CBS.com and CWTV.com provide steady group of customers. Customers using iCloud
network shows for online viewing of CBS and the as virtual (online) storage for their music can also
CW networks, respectively.) store videos, but the sheer size of video files may
The catch is that each video is preceded by a soon require a streaming solution instead of down-
pre-roll, which is a commercial that must be played loading, especially if portable devices are tied to off-
(not on FF) before the selected clip begins to roll. line storage (“the cloud”). The number of users is
Interestingly, 1 in 6 viewers abandon viewing a 50 million, although many download music instead
video clip during a pre-roll, but many viewers have of videos. The library of titles is estimated as 3,000
begun showing greater acceptance of the tactic. television shows and 2,500 movies.
After the pre-roll, viewers have the option of watch- Powerhouse Amazon Instant Video offers
ing the remaining commercials sprinkled throughout movies and TV shows for $1.99, similar to Netflix
the program, as is the practice on broadcast televi- and iTunes. Its special deal is that members of Ama-
sion, or see all the advertising at once in one very zon Prime (a subscription service offering free two-
long commercial break. Initially, the number of com- day shipping for books and merchandise) receive
mercials within programs was a fraction of those unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of
carried by over-the-air stations, which attracted 5,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost.
many viewers to Hulu, but as advertisers got more Amazon Prime runs just $79 per year, which is less
comfortable with online video advertising, the com- expensive than paying $7.99 to Netflix or Hulu Plus
mercial breaks became longer and longer. for 12 months. Despite its later start, experts predict
As this chapter goes to press, Hulu is for sale. that Amazon will eventually surpass giant Netflix,
Netflix was not a bidder, but other interested com- despite the latter service having become the largest
panies include Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com, Micro- single source of internet traffic in North America by
soft and DirecTV. Hulu has no subscribers, per se, May 2011.2 And it might not take Amazon very
but it reaches over 30 million unique visitors each long to do that, but no subscriber count is presently
month. available.
134 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

Facebook, Google+ and other social media offer original videos, but the crop of competitors is so
videos, too, but their presence on comScore’s ratings young that predictions are hard to make (see 4.5).
lists is secondary to their primary mission of getting Even YouTube (best known for free user-generated
users to chat (and play games). Facebook is being content) now offers an online rental service for a
used by Hulu to engage viewers by letting them small number of Hollywood films.
post Facebook messages to friends while watching A service that caters to cell phone users,
from the Hulu website. For example, a viewer on MobiTV, offers its ten million subscribers more
Hulu can make a comment during a video that than 25 channels of streamed live television that
appears on Facebook noting the exact running time show up as large as the phone screen. These include
within the show that the post was written. Facebook programs from the broadcast networks and such
has 600 million unique monthly visitors worldwide, cable nets such MSNBC, CNBC, Discovery and the
although Hulu is not available in every country. Learning Channel, along with originals from several
web-only networks. For $9.99 per month (with no
extra charge for cellular airtime), MobiTV offers its
Upstarts (Big and Small Ones) service via all major cell carriers. Not to be outdone,
Another mega-giant has joined the game: Wal-Mart Sprint TV and Verizon Wireless’ VCAST both offer
started its own online video service called Vudu their own mobile TV and music plans. Tablet-size
to compete with Netflix, but it uses the pay- portable devices like the iPad are making mobile
per-download model. Vudu charges $1.99 per viewing even more popular. What is clear is that
episode for network shows, also putting it into lots of companies can see big dollar signs in the
competition with iTunes. Some of the series pres- download and streaming video business.
ently offered by Vudu include Glee, Modern Family,
Weeds and Bones. Vudu did 750,000 movie transac-
tions in the last quarter of 2010, well behind Apple Original Content Suppliers
iTunes but even with Amazon. Overshadowing most of the online world is the mar-
On the smaller side, it’s not clear what other ser- vel of YouTube. Now a subsidiary of Google, it has
vices might try to capture viewers of specific genres, in been by far the most popular streaming site. Tens of
effect, stealing them from Netflix and Hulu Plus. millions of users upload and share videos among
Crackle is an upstart provider of television shows (it groups of people or openly for everyone online.
has a handful of Seinfeld episodes) and somewhat- Most of its content is user-generated content (UGC)
recent movies, and touts its free slate of programs, along with some copyrighted materials uploaded by
but it’s too soon to know if Crackle will be able to users (see 4.4). It is usually accessed via computers,
gain sufficient advertising support to compete. but some material is available for television screens
Crackle has about 3 million unique monthly users. and some smart phones. About 500 million unique
Instead of a grab bag of programs, some web visitors worldwide watch YouTube each month.
programmers choose a particular genre, such as YouTube soon proliferated into dozens of You-
humor, and focus on accumulating programs in Tube channels (similar to TV channels) and has
that genre. For example, you might have tried The become web-based video-on-demand: what people
CollegeHumor Network or Funnyordie, which carry want and when they want it, in almost real time.
original videos made especially for online viewing. People upload movie clips, TV clips and music
AOL Media Network (which delivers a variety of videos, as well as amateur videos and video blogging
online videos to AOL subscribers, reaching 42 mil- and watch without needing to pay for any of it or
lion users each month), Vevo (which specializes in even register (except for “mature” material so as to
online music videos, reaching 60 million unique show they are old enough). As of 2011, YouTube
monthly users), and Megavideo (which imitates reported that it was serving more than three billion
YouTube) are other minor contenders offering videos a day, a staggering amount. Interestingly,
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 135

4.4 The YouTube Phenomenon

I n 2007 Viacom started an uproar by demanding that

more than 100,000 video clips, originally produced by
MTV, Comedy Central or Nickelodeon, be removed from
channel, and Time Warner touts YouTube as a great outlet
for its music videos. The big entertainment companies
don’t hate YouTube; they just would like to control it. This
the YouTube site. The same month the BBC demanded that is very lucrative action. Indeed, most of the material they
100,000 clips from its own shows be removed. In both demanded be removed is back on—just with official
cases, YouTube leapt to comply. Meanwhile, the Japanese sanction.
Society for Rights of Authors, Composers, and Publishers YouTube is without doubt one of the great success
demanded that thousands of its producers’ videos be stories of the web. It has exhibited immense flexibility by
removed, and NBC and CBS both filed complaints about adding new channels, special groupings of videos, and
their material appearing. Amusingly, Iran banned the site even special categories (such as for comedians and
as “culturally undermining.” The U.S. government also got amateur producers). The NHL even agreed to provide
in the act when it objected to rebuttals of the “public ser- brief highlights of hockey games to the online service. In
vice” announcements they were uploading. After discover- fact, many YouTube producers and entertainers have
ing fight and gang attack videos on YouTube, ITV in the UK developed their own followings, becoming stars in their
claimed it was encouraging violence and bullying. own right with their works featured on late-night
Of course, these attack videos have since become broadcast television shows. Although critics once
big hits on news services, which shake their collective claimed that YouTube would find it impossibly expensive
heads in disgust even as they run the cuts for the hun- to maintain the required bandwidth and storage capac-
dredth time. Given such complaints, you might think that ity, they have suddenly grown quiet. The public has
the existing media would keep its distance from this web welcomed the ability to participate in this one area of
upstart. You might also assume YouTube was on the video freedom, and revenue from advertisers provides
verge of failure. You would be entirely wrong in both sufficient support.
cases. While there are certainly many competitors who would
YouTube was founded in 2005 by three former PayPal like to see it fail, it was probably already too late after its
employees using $3.5 million dollars in venture funding. In first two years of operation. The public embraced this new
2006, YouTube was named Time magazine’s Invention of outlet with amazing speed. Even as Brazilian model
the Year and sold to Google for $1.65 billion. World- Daniela Cicarelli was demanding YouTube be shut down
wide, the public, to whom the service is free, consumes until all copies of an unauthorized video (of her having sex
more than 2 billion videos a day. Members of the public with her boyfriend on a Spanish beach) be removed, the
can upload whatever they want so long as it meets the video had already spread through hundreds of other web-
15-minute time limit (although there are special categories sites. While YouTube makes no provision for downloading,
without time constraints, but which require high-quality, the needed software can be found in a few minutes of
original production). surfing the web.
By making it free, YouTube succeeded in avoiding the As Sean McManus, president of CBS News and
problems that had plagued Napster. While it hasn’t ruled Sports, noted: “Our inclination now is, the more exposure
on the web as such, the Supreme Court has traditionally we get from clips … the better it is for CBS News and the
said members of the public can do whatever they want CBS television network; so in retrospect we probably
with materials sent into their homes or which they have should have embraced the exposure, and embraced the
purchased, so long as no money changes hands. You- attention it was bringing CBS, instead of being parochial
Tube gets its revenue from super-imposed ads and from an and saying ‘let’s pull it down’.”3
innovation: Commercial customers can also upload
videos, but for a price. Even as Viacom was demanding William J. Adams, Ph.D.
removal, it was buying in. NBC negotiated its own Kansas State University
136 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

about three-quarters of the material comes from out- (known for long-form videos), Flickr (known for
side the United States, as does much of the viewing. photos but stores videos, too), Viddler (for brand-
But even more overwhelming is the fact that ing), yfrog (for Twitter), to mention a few. The
150 million people view some of those videos every resources of Google make it difficult for anyone to
month. compete directly with YouTube for sheer size and
Reaching into the once-sacrosanct sports world, dominance in the arena of original content, but the
to mixed horror and delight, YouTube has also same was said of MySpace before its popularity was
begun to free streaming of live cricket matches and eclipsed by Facebook.
then NBA and NHL games. Currently, it is sup- Regardless where it appears, user-generated
ported by advertising, but YouTube may develop a content is unique, and it competes for the attention
pay-per-month subscription service as Hulu did with of audiences who might otherwise watch other
Hulu Plus. Currently, YouTube lets members “sub- forms of television. At its most basic, users sit at
scribe for free” to one another’s channels. their keyboards and talk or perform for their web-
Dailymotion is a French-owned competitor to enabled cameras. In an effort to entertain or inform
YouTube, with 93 million unique monthly visitors. viewers, they might also shoot digital video in other
It is the world’s second largest video site. Dailymo- places and later upload it to sites like YouTube. A
tion is more likely to include mature-themed videos, more elaborate effort is called a mashup, defined as
but otherwise is quite similar to YouTube. a new video edited out of other videos from multiple
Blip.tv is also similar to YouTube, but emphasizes (too often copyrighted) sources. To date, many
web program series rather than standalone videos. video mashups have been parodies, sometimes
Sometimes referred to as a “Hulu for original web accompanied by elaborate music mashups. Occa-
series,” Blip.tv provides more tools for creating and sionally, as a gimmick, a network and an advertiser
promoting content than YouTube, and offers a way will encourage ordinary users to create content for
for small-scale providers to make money from each distribution on mainstream channels, such as the
viewing (sharing a portion of the revenue with homemade Doritos commercials that appear in
Blip.tv, of course). Blip.tv has begun to shift its focus each year’s Super Bowl telecast.
toward helping 32 million monthly visitors locate the
most interesting and professional-produced content
among its 50,000 video series. Some of its independent Professional Web Videos
producers invest over $1 million in the series they pro- Beyond user-generated video and viral communica-
duce, although that figure pales in comparison to the tion, an explosion of professionally produced con-
$1 million per episode of many broadcast series. tent appears daily on an equally impressive number
Vimeo is more artistic than YouTube and posi- of broadband video channels. YouTube itself has
tions itself as a “respectful community of creative peo- begun to attract professional producers after its
ple who are passionate about sharing the videos they acquisition of Next New Networks, by launching
make.” Like YouTube, it is free to use, but the 3 mil- YouTube Next. As mentioned, blip.tv and Vimeo
lion people who upload their content are encouraged also offer vast amounts of video from professional
to buy a premium service (Vimeo Plus) for $59.95 per independent producers, who exist somewhere
year, which entitles them to no intrusive “banner” between the two extremes of commercial producers
advertising, ten times the storage, faster uploads and and silly amateurs.
other privileges. About 20 million unique monthly The wide availability and frequent viewing of
visitors view its videos. By intent, Vimeo contrasts short online videos has led to the phrase clip cul-
markedly with the sometimes tawdry or amateuristic ture, which refers to the presumption that viewers
tendencies of many YouTube videos. have acquired shorter attention spans. If a person is
YouTube has some other minor competitors: only interested in the highlights or the most impor-
Justin.tv (popular with viewers age 13 to 18, Veoh tant moment, then clips on the internet easily meet
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 137

that demand. Internet technology has led to a rise Ubiquity

in a kind of promotion that goes beyond word-
Regardless of how videos are generated by users (or
of-mouth advertising. Viewers who forward to
what website distributes them), they have become
other users interesting videos or segments of infor-
ubiquitous. One reason is the ease with which they
mation about programs or sites are indulging in a
can be shared. Videos can be uploaded to a site such
form of active publicity called viral communication.
as YouTube, where an embedded code can be
Viral video refers to images or programs that often
inserted into a Facebook wall, a news aggregator, a
get shared this way—for example, when the latest hit
blog, a personal webpage, a Twitter tweet or even
on YouTube is forwarded to thousands of “friends”.
old-fashioned email. The ease with which computer
If a video becomes sufficiently popular, websites
users can click a button to play a show would have
like mashable.com declare the clip a meme (referring
seemed a miracle just a few years ago. For viewers
to internet-spread ideas that attract intense notori-
battling boredom, it is easier to find something
ety). For example, fooling someone into watching a
entertaining on the web than on regular television.
video that purports to be interesting but is really
Even watching regular television is an invitation to
1980s singer Rick Astley performing a music video
see YouTube videos, as the manufacturers of big-screen
became so popular at one time that it was labeled
receivers integrate the web into their screens. A remote
the “rickrolling” meme. Top-trending topics on
control with a YouTube jump-button is likely to attract
Twitter are also candidates for becoming internet
an audience for popular videos on almost any topic,
memes.
even clips from 50-year-old television shows. Viewers
Local stations have also gotten into the act by
with older receivers can still watch YouTube through a
streaming live content during their newscasts. Live-
TiVo DVR, Apple TV box or Roku box. Roku sells for
stream is a tool for anyone wanting to launch a web
as little as $59.99 and delivers Netflix, Hulu Plus and
television channel for free. Some broadcast stations
Amazon Instant Video to any TV set in a web-
(e.g., WSPA in Spartanburg, SC) use Livestream dur-
connected household with Wi-Fi internet.
ing live newscasts to show behind-the-scenes mate-
The chart in 4.5 provides a snapshot of video
rial during breaks. Other stations use Livestream to
online in May 2011. It lists ten online video suppliers
upload news clips.

4.5 Reports on Online Video Use*

Source Unique Viewers Viewing Sessions Minutes per Viewer

YouTube and other Google sites 147,158,000 2,173,422,000 311.2

VEVO 60,369,000 360,205,000 105.1
Yahoo! Sites 55,482,000 272,255,000 39.1
Facebook.com 48,189,000 176,076,000 19.3
Viacom Digital 46,535,000 241,026,000 74.2
Microsoft Sites 46,502,000 251,799,000 42.8
AOL, Inc. 42,271,000 246,592,000 45.7
Turner Digital 35,185,000 126,760,000 36.3
NBC Universal 30,622,000 67,251,000 21.1
Hulu 28,543,000 195,897,000 217.8
TOTAL FOR ALL SOURCES 176,337,000 5,662,369,000 951.3
*comScore Video Metrix
138 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

and the time viewers spend on each of them. The read about and interact with their favorites, but as
chart also shows how many viewers used video in you know, they can discuss and compare and inter-
that month, how many sessions were streamed to act with “friends” and strangers.
them, and the average time they watched at least Facebook is, of course, the largest such social
for one month; this data changes fast. network, with something like 600 million active
users worldwide. It accounts for nearly 10 percent
of all referred video streams, second only to Google,
Enhanced Viewing which accounts for more than half. Owned primarily
by Mark Zuckerberg, along with other partners (but
Enhancements come in many types, and new ones planning to go public soon), Facebook makes its
are invented almost daily. Anything that expands revenue largely from banner ads provided by Micro-
or prolongs or enriches the regular television view- soft and from Facebook credits (used to purchase
ing experience is called an enhancement. First, there items in games and other virtual applications). Like
are references and links to websites. In addition to websites, Facebook groups have been created by sta-
links in program webcasts, virtually all TV stations tions, channels and viewers to enhance viewing
have streaming versions of their newscasts featured experiences among friends, family and acquain-
prominently on their web pages. Even the big guys tances, and in effect, solidify and expand fans’ rela-
(NBC, FOX) have created synchronized interactive tionship to specific programs (thus making them
links between their evening news broadcast and var- excellent vehicles for advertising). To create or access
ious websites. Moreover, nearly every sports event Facebook pages, users must be 13 years old (suppos-
has an enhanced online viewing feature, with a edly) and register, although many younger children
logo in the screen’s corner to remind viewers that just lie. More than 40 percent of Americans have
they can access game statistics or enter contests Facebook pages, and about 140 million Americans
online. Even syndicated game shows offer play- access the social network monthly.
at-home online enhancements. Experimenting in 2011, Warner Brothers joined
Another kind of enhancement consists of backs- with Facebook to invite members to download the
tories and side stories and interviews that expand on movie The Dark Knight (for 30 Facebook Credits,
what appears on regular television. This kind of or $3). Mature media companies are eager to protect
enrichment both lengthens and deepens the fans’ their core business by following their users onto the
experience of a program and its stars, or so the internet in order to stay close to their current and
makers hope. While some of this material appears potential customers. Expect many more such joint
in magazines, most of it now resides online on station efforts.
and program websites. But viewers can also use social The second-largest such social site,
media to connect with other viewers without help MySpace.com, encourages its users to post videos
from stations or channels. And the clear-winner (vlogs, which are video versions of blogs) that can be
among online enhancements formats is social net- watched for information and entertainment value.
working via online communities in which participants But MySpace.com was sold in 2011 for $30 million,
engage in computer-mediated communication. a fraction of the $580 million that Rupert Murdoch’s
News Corporation paid for MySpace.com in 2006,
so the future of this social site has dimmed consider-
Social Networks ably. One exception may be musicians, who prefer
Social networks provide an extraordinary kind of MySpace over Facebook for posting videos and
program enhancement. Sometimes accompanied by audio files.
widgets (downloadable software programs that fea- Another widely-known enhancement is Twitter,
ture media content), these sites provide the opportu- a hip form of social media that allows users to fol-
nity to interact, much like games. Not only can fans low people (most of whom they don’t know
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 139

personally, unlike Facebook friends). To “follow” is and apps have begun to link viewers by letting them
to agree to have someone’s tweets (posted messages) create social media profiles in which they can com-
included into your own personalized Twitter stream ment on television programs.
(analogous to a Facebook wall), so you only see
comments you want to read, from those people
you follow. People follow tweets in attempts to Other TV Apps
learn information, watch trends, monitor breaking One of the simplest of these apps is called tv Chatter,
news or engage in conversations with strangers which retrieves comments about programs directly
who share an interest. Not everyone who loves Twit- from Twitter. A similar app is yap.TV, which uses
ter bothers to tweet, although many users choose to a program schedule grid of programs currently
share. If users of Twitter “overshare” details in their showing that then leads to an unedited Twitter
messages, their followers can choose to unfollow stream of comments based upon the selected pro-
them. Following and unfollowing on Twitter is gram. The difference between the two apps is that
much more casual and tentative than friending and the latter lets subscribers create their own “yaps”
unfriending on Facebook. to compete with the “tweets” on Twitter. Yaps are
Twitter has actually changed the way many public or can be contained in a “private party”
people watch television in a big way—especially dur- group chat area.
ing special events like the Super Bowl or the Acad- NBC Live is the most elaborate app, offering
emy Awards. A person who is watching alone can three benefits for viewers. First, it provides a way
feel connected by reading (and sometimes contribut- to watch streaming versions of the most popular
ing to) a stream of tweets (Twitter messages of 140 shows on NBC. Second, it encourages viewers to
characters or fewer, also known as micro-blogs) log in (either on the web or iPad) to interact with
about the program. Watching “with” others alters additional content (trivia, polls, cast commentary
the viewing experience by giving it more importance and fun facts about the show being viewed). Third,
and making it more pleasant and interesting, and NBC Live offers a hosted social media forum, where
salience generally affects memory (an aspect that viewers engage other fans of a particular program
has not been lost on advertisers or programmers). (and occasionally insiders from that show). NBC
Using tweets, broadcast stations and national Live is clearly a promotional tactic to attract and
networks are able to entice followers with informa- maintain viewers to NBC programs.
tion about the normal televised content. Creating a Miso and Tunerfish are “check in” sites, where
buzz about a live event and creating a stream of viewers tell what they are watching right now, simi-
human interest is no less riveting for some viewers lar to how they might share their present location
than the links social media created among rioting on geo-location sites and apps like Foursquare,
Cairo citizens during the 2011 uprising against Pres- Gowalla, Facebook Places and Google Latitude.
ident Mubarak. Miso provides badges as a reward for checking-in,
Many more people belong to Facebook than an idea borrowed from Foursquare. Subscribers to
Twitter, but tweeting to strangers about television Miso can also “follow” television shows, similar to
is easier when your friends don’t happen to share the way Twitter users follow other people. Tunerfish
your taste in programming. The focus of tweeting is a phone app started by Comcast (who has very
is thus on the program or channel rather than friend- deep pockets) that is much like Twitter in the way
ship. Bridging this divide is the introduction of social it provides trending topics and a stream of users
media tools to share what you are watching with answering the question “What are you watching
any online community. It is too soon to know if now?” Users can choose either “everyone” or “my
viewers will really want to share what they are friends” for finding out what others are watching.
watching in the same way they seem to enjoy sharing Philo and Starling are phone apps similar to Miso,
what they are doing or thinking, but several websites but neither worked on the iPad we tested.
140 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

GetGlue is an app that focuses on media enter- in “one size fits all” fashion (per market), web-based
tainment. Its creator calls it a window into the “taste television puts the user much more in control of the
graph” of entertainment. GetGlue organizes itself flow of information. Web-based television typically
around a user’s answer to “I am currently …” with provides on screen access to very detailed websites
the choices watching a show, listening to music, like www.imdb.com, a searchable compendium of
reading a book, watching a movie, playing a game, information on television and movies. Of course,
thinking about a topic, chatting about a celebrity, there’s always Wikipedia, but focused apps are
and drinking wine. Users check-in to various usually more up-to-date on current programs and
media, receiving virtual stickers (which can be movies.
redeemed for actual stickers). Viewers can see a These enhancement apps are a tool for pro-
comment stream and assign ratings (of the thumb grammers (and fans) to make viewing more enjoy-
up or down variety), with or without comments. able. The future of such specialized social media is
Does that appeal to you? Stickers, really? unclear, but the proliferation of cell phones and
IntoNow (owned by Yahoo, another elephant in Wi-Fi tablets makes apps a tempting distraction for
the room) is a phone app for television viewers and television viewers. Viewers are more likely to watch
provides a “popular” button for finding out what programs live than on a DVR when comments to
others are watching (and commenting upon or friends or followers are concurrent with viewing.
assigning a rating to the content). Like the Tunerfish Live viewing (and commenting) also leads to less
app, IntoNow lets users see what friends or “every- skipping of commercials. On the other hand, tablet
one” is watching. and phone apps can serve as handy time-filler when
Television Without Pity (TWOP) is a website advertising messages appear in live shows.
and cell phone app that encourages viewers to com-
ment upon or create synopses of popular programs.
tvChaser is an app that functions as an alphabetical Video Games and Virtual Worlds
search engine for television programs, providing
much shorter synopses than those found on Video gaming is the third major type of online pro-
TWOP. Which of these will still be around by gramming. How old would you guess most video
2015 is anyone’s guess. Place your bets! game players are? What often comes first to mind
are teenage boys wielding joy sticks in Worlds of
War and the like or families jumping around playing
Online Program Guides Wii. But contrary to stereotypes about video game
In the 1990s the venerable TV Guide magazine created players, more than half the people playing online
an online web service. Along with such companies as games are aged between 30 and 59, and they play
www.zap2it.com, such guides supply detailed tracking everything from mahjong to Sudoku, word games
of half-hour by half-hour broadcast and multichannel and solitaire. Moreover, such games appeal to men
offerings for all the larger U.S. markets. In addition to and women almost equally, and they increasingly
websites like theirs, there are dozens of apps for televi- play them at home on their laptops while watching
sion that furnish program guides. Zap2It has released regular television.
an app called What’s On that takes the place of news- Zynga has successfully launched such wildly-
paper or the paper magazine form of TV Guide listings. popular Facebook games as CityVille, FarmVille
It also includes times and locations for movies in local and Mafia Wars that rely on a player’s friends, fam-
theaters. Not to be outdone, TV Guide came up with its ily and acquaintances to attain rewards in the games
own app for the iPhone and iPad, with local listings (see 4.6). Facebook also acquired another iconic
plus news about television. computer game, Civ World, adding to its luster as
Unlike printed program guides and their online the center for adult gaming. Facebook estimates
counterparts, which are designed by the publishers nearly 300 million members play social games,
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 141

4.6 Zynga

S ince 2007, Zynga has been enormously successful at

creating lifestyle games to which a broad segment of
users (typically people not ordinarily attracted to video
sale of virtual goods that players desire to advance in the
game. Zynga’s games follow the so-called freemium
model, a combination of free and premium playing.
games) often become addicted. Known as "the Google of The more players play, the deeper they get into the
games" to some observers, Zynga has built its fame on games. Taking a day off, for example, hurts a player’s
popular games like FarmVille, CityVille and FrontierVille. points. It’s not unusual for ordinary people who would
Although each game has stand-alone browser-based ver- never play video games to get drawn into the game,
sions, most players participate with their friends via Face- somewhat like an addiction. So a FarmVille player might
book. By June 2011, Zynga had 270 million monthly get up early before going to work because their corn crop
active users. CityVille has 20 million daily players. must be harvested before it withers. Manual harvesting
Most of the games rely on social media friends to takes longer than using a tractor, so the player feels the
assemble a community of game players who help each need to acquire farm machinery. Then, to operate the trac-
other achieve ordinary goals, like harvesting crops or tor, the players choose to either convert game points to buy
feeding animals or constructing buildings. The objects in gasoline or pay real money online (Zynga hopes) for game
these games are virtual goods that convert to points or vir- coins to purchase fuel. Playing the game is more mindful
tual money, with which players can purchase virtual items. than passively watching television, although people often
Success in these games depends on effort, but players can engage in both activities simultaneously.
also buy virtual goods from Zynga to advance further CityVille is Zynga’s most popular game, offering players
toward game rewards or sometimes avoid penalties. For the opportunity to build a virtual city, acquire energy points,
example, virtual farmers can resurrect crops that died by and advance through experience levels. Zynga claims 61
paying roughly $2 in real cash to Zynga, which sells game million monthly users of CityVille. Players (often friends on
"coins" (or Facebook Credits) in $10 or $20 bundles. Real- Facebook) visit one another’s cities and perform work in a
world poker tournament players recognized this tactic as a reciprocal fashion. Friends can give gifts to other friends
"re-buy" that allows a bankrupt player a second chance to who play, just as they did in FarmVille. Thus, social media
play on. It is probably no coincidence that Zynga’s very first acquaintances who may have nothing to say to their friends
social media game was Zynga Poker. each day can still share some kind of message to help the
Thanks to enchanting graphics and time-based partici- other in the game (e.g., "Mary has sent you a Zoning Per-
pation, Zynga captures players’ attention with virtual mit" or "Can you send me an I-beam?"). Beyond the indi-
activities that are fun to play with their friends at no cost— vidual accomplishments rewarded in the game, players
but then offers those same players additional benefits for a make friendly connections with people they know. If cities
price. Zynga profits not from the free games but through the and credits can be virtual, why not build virtual friendships?

buying virtual goods like food and fuel to advance of the two versions and advertising opportunities
in the game. Slightly over half of all Facebook in both media. Jeopardy, for example, exists in
users log in specifically to play social games daily syndicated television, online in several forms
because of the real-time rules that foster addiction to and in a box as a board game.
playing. Then there are the heavy game players. They log
Traditional media networks have tried to pro- in on ordinary web-connected computers to play
mote their offline programs during online gaming massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) with
but have not met with much success thus far. What hundreds or thousands of online friends and stran-
works better is to develop a television game show gers. Youngsters (no less addicted than those parents
with an online game counterpart that is itself a pro- who play CityVille) play online games like Runescape
motional tool, fostering back-and-forth promotion and the wildly popular World of Warcraft (in several
142 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

versions). Monthly subscriptions are required for games. Thus, the game controllers are easier to use,
most of these games. Time spent playing typically dis- the graphics are better, and connections have less
places time spent viewing television, but teens some- “lag time” (because dedicated chips distribute the
times do both, as do some adults. flow of information). Voice chat is also better imple-
Programmers and users classify the content of mented on game consoles than on computers. Game
online and console games under the following five consoles also have advanced motion controls, such
categories: role-playing (RP), first-person shooter as Kinect for the Xbox 360.
(FPS), real-time strategy (RTS), turn-based strategy Still another online game format consists of
(TBS) and simulations (SIMs). Each game requires virtual worlds. These are computer-based simulated
a downloaded program through which the player environments intended for users to inhabit and inter-
logs onto a network of users (or, in the base act with via avatars. Defined as the web user’s repre-
browser-based games, a “thin client” program oper- sentations of his or her individual self, avatars occur
ates the game). Some examples are described briefly in three forms: three-dimensional models, two-
in 4.7, and you can probably think of more! dimensional icons or text constructs. Very shortly
Even standalone game consoles like Xbox 360 after such sites first appeared, big commercial interests
and Playstation 3 have moved from solo to multi- latched onto the branding and profit opportunities.
player games. With built-in Wi-Fi devices, these con- For younger children, Viacom’s Neopets has been
soles let players enjoy MMOGs like Call of Duty (I, especially successful. Nickelodeon’s Nicktropolis.com
II, III, IV…), Halo, and that all-time parents’ hor- targets children’s desire to play games, watch videos,
ror, Grand Theft Auto in all its permutations. The design personalized 3-D areas, and interact with other
chief advantage of playing games on a game console kids in real time—and also targets parents’ desire for a
is that such devices were designed specifically for “safe” online environment.

4.7 MMOGs

T he most popular MMORPGs (where RPG stands for

role-playing game) are Runescape, Final Fantasy and
Tibia. Players spend hours in a fantasy world where items
persistent world hosted by the company that designs the
content and charges fees.
MMOTBS (turn-based strategy) games are regulated by
are collected and exchanged for tools or power, and bat- the tick on an online clock. Between the ticks, hundreds of
tles are fought. Websites such as http://usfine.com have players share the same field of conquest, where moves are
also sprung up to help players move forward in the game, made asynchronously and then locked in every 30 seconds
for a price. or so, allowing players with slower (or intermittent) internet
MMOFPS games (first-person shooter) require the player connections to simulate synchronous playing. UltraCorps
to become a warrior, and the competitions are shown and Darkwind are trendy examples.
through a first-person field of view. Among the most popular SIMs (simulations) are a category of multiplayer games
games are Combat Arms, AssaultCube and CrossFire. that includes poker, sports, auto racing and alternative
MMOFPS players are usually awarded points for experi- worlds. Gamblers compete for play money (sometimes real,
ence. Nexon is a major supplier of these games, and it when the law allows) at such game sites as Pokerstars and
makes money through monthly subscriptions and merchan- Full Tilt Poker. Sports fans play a variety of games (one
dise sales. example is Baseball Mogul Online) which are similar to
Beyond Protocol and Battleswarm are examples of fantasy league competitions. Kart Racer is an example of
MMORTS (real-time strategy) games, which fall into two an online racing game quite similar to MMORPGs, except
respective categories: sci-fi and fantasy. Players typically that the role-playing is limited to driving very fast. Players of
get to be a king or a general in command of others. Large games like The Sims Online create their own alternate
numbers of players can compete in these games set in a worlds.
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 143

Middle-school children are attracted to such content-on-demand world, fewer people spend the
semi-educational sites as Gaiaonline.com on which same time enjoying the same program that other peo-
they use anime-type avatars (cartoons, manga) to ple are watching. Yet, many viewers continue to
interact in real time and earn rewards that “buy” expect that someone else will assemble offerings into
virtual toys. Such sites earn their revenue from the a schedule, or at least a highly simplified menu.
purchases of clothing, hair clips, posters, stickers, Although it is safe to define online program-
games and so on. Such virtual-world models are ming as media content available through a computer
moving into regular classrooms for more direct aca- screen, tablet or speaker that displaces or substan-
demic learning. For the adult population, the most tially supplements the use of noncomputer media
popular virtual world site is SecondLife.com, a content, it is only possible to sketch out some seg-
three-dimensional UGC where participants buy and ments, not boundaries. Indeed, some handheld
trade virtual land and virtual dollars (using more devices allow the screen to be wirelessly shared
spooky avatars). Gaiaonline and SecondLife peaked with a larger screen in a group setting (such as
in popularity about 2009, but both still have large through Apple’s AirPlay). While online content
numbers of users. includes live and taped shows, described previously
as streamed or video content, it can encompass vir-
tual events, including chat rooms and group event
A Conceptual Framework simulations such as those just discussed (Gaia, Sec-
ondLife). Online programming particularly includes
When an innovation comes along that fundamentally but is not limited to web pages that promote pro-
changes the way people view the world, the term dis- gramming delivered over conventional channels,
continuous change is used. At first glance, the use of but does not include, for the purposes of this book,
online technology to distribute radio and television the archived sound bites and video clips found on
programming appears merely an extension of broad- journalism sites, which we set aside.
casting—another way to receive the content—as with Conceptually, online programming compares with
cable and satellite. The key difference, however, has other programming as shown in Table 4.8. While the
been the degree of interactivity between the user and list of differences is not exhaustive, it is nevertheless
the programmer, a factor which created a sea change helpful for framing the relative position of online distri-
from the past. The seemingly infinite number of bution. Although these distinctions may seem periph-
choices is another important difference: By 2012, eral to how programming is strategically scheduled,
there were more than 800 million internet hosts these conceptual differences are crucial for program-
(which are comparable to channels).4 Another mers’ understanding of why new media are fundamen-
change is that the formerly dominant media are tally unlike more traditional media.
now forced to compete with such unconventional The central uniqueness of the online world is its
forms of electronic entertainment as digital photo interactivity. Applications that are interactive
albums, visual encyclopedias, vlogs, virtual worlds account for an ever-growing slice of spending on
and amateur podcasts. the media. In the near term, we expect that cell
Other chapters in this book have been structured phones, tablets, portable media players or some
around strategies for selecting, scheduling and pro- new multichannel television platform will better
moting programs plus evaluating audience response. realize the full potential of new media systems.
The “a la carte” nature of program offerings on the
internet, however, has transformed many of the pro-
grammer’s tasks. Instead of schedules of limited Geography
choices, the online audience has an abundant menu of Because they are distributed by middlemen—the
near-limitless choices. Every listener and every viewer broadcast stations and cable systems—ordinary
can construct his or her own media landscape. In this over-the-air radio and television signals are limited
144 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

4.8 Strengths and Weaknesses of Media Delivery Systems

System Reach Limited by Revenue Streams Bandwidth Interactivity

Broadcast Geography 1. Advertising High One-way

Cable/Satellite Channel capacity 2. Ads, plus subscriptions High Mostly one-way
Online Bandwidth 3. Ads, subs, plus merchandise Medium Two-way

by geography. Back in the mid-twentieth century, shown in Table 4.8 have offsetting benefits and
networks were developed to link together stations drawbacks. The key distinction between broadcast-
and cable systems to create national services. In the ing and multichannel distribution has been the num-
1980s and 1990s, multichannel media (cable and ber of revenue streams: Over-the-air radio and TV
satellite) became collections of networks, limited by stations rely almost entirely on advertising, whereas
shelf space to about 600 digitally compressed chan- cable/satellite services have dual income from adver-
nels (see Chapter 9). tising and subscriptions. Although the broadcast
Online, in contrast, is free of inherent geogra- industry has only a single revenue stream to date
phy and fixed channel capacity, but somewhat lim- (NBC has taken the first baby steps toward a second
ited by the size of the pipe (bandwidth) through stream from cable operators), the “free” element of
which programming must flow. Bundled fiber broadcasting allows nearly complete audience pene-
cables, however, are now replacing old-style coaxial tration: 98 percent of U.S. homes receive broadcast
cable and telephone lines, thereby increasing band- radio and TV stations, meaning nearly all 300 mil-
width. And internet cable modems and DSL have lion Americans can see and hear them.
pushed delivery speeds to 5 megabits per second Thus, broadcast advertising is more efficient for
(mbps), with speeds up to 8 mbps for additional reaching enormous numbers of people than cable or
monthly fees. The theoretical limit of DSL remains internet advertising, which means that broadcasters
10 mbps, but cable is easily three times as much. can charge more for the time in which commercials
Moreover, for larger cities, Comcast developed 50 air. Online programming, however, has a third rev-
mbps speeds and achieved 100 mbps over fiber con- enue stream from merchandising because its technol-
nections, leaving DSL far behind. (Clearly, if you are ogy allows point-and-click purchasing of items
a gamer 100 mbps is to die for!) When internet related to media content. Once, such products and
access comes through such connections, very high- services could be sold only in the commercial breaks
quality video and audio are possible. Nonetheless, within TV shows. Now, companies like Zynga profit
to match HD television quality, distributors must immensely by selling virtual goods (for which there
provide many megabits per second over shared is no manufacturing cost) to people playing online
access lines. It is a rule of science that faster speeds games. And Facebook and YouTube and dozens of
produce better video and audio quality. others look to get into the virtual goods game.
The ability to attract subscribers to internet pro-
gramming has been negatively affected by the “free”
Economics nature of the internet because, at the start, most con-
The very essence of programming strategy is linked tent was reused broadcast material or a sorry sort of
to how revenue flows from consumer to program amateurism (UGC) lacking the production quality
producer, with the distributor (qua programmer) as that viewers were used to. Nowadays, those who
middleman. All three forms of media programming supply high-quality programs made-for-online must
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 145

charge (like cable) and compete with those that seem systems, and very little FCC regulation applies to
free because they are advertiser-supported (in partic- online. Moreover, at present, the distinction between
ular, broadcasters—and the pirate services that distribution and content is tenuous. Because there are
share their content with everyone for free). Web very few distributors, content really is king. There are
users have become willing to pay because they see no bricks and mortar as with stations, cables and satel-
the value and convenience of streaming video. lites. Very few barriers exist to consumption immedi-
Convincing advertisers to evolve away from the ately after the creation step, and the size of staff
long-established system of cost-per-thousand and required to maintain a website is much smaller than
gross ratings points has been a challenge for the for broadcast stations or cable operations.
online world. On the positive side, unlike conven- Most crucial to this book about media program-
tional television’s delivery of spot messages to an mers, the job of the online programmer has uniquely
unknown audience, broadband video delivers a tar- become the job of librarian. Mostly, a programmer
geted message to actual users. By 2010, online video keeps track of things—the “things” being UGC
accounted for just 10 percent of all advertising dol- videos submissions, updates to games, subscribers
lars. Yet, the number of people who consume online and members, players, special offers—and maybe
video continues to grow (see 4.5), and that great size advertisers (unless someone else handles them). Selec-
looks appealing to many with something to sell, so tion and evaluation remain valid functions, but the
expect change there. importance of scheduling is greatly diminished
In traditional broadcasting, programs that because everything is potentially available all the
under-deliver (have fewer than the predicted and thus time. Daily promotion tends to be supplanted by
paid-for number of viewers) necessitate the giving up research to find out who to promote to. The key job
of precious airtime in future programs for “make- is helping users find what they want (before their
good” commercials. In the online system, content patience runs out). Whether listeners and viewers pre-
providers cannot so readily hedge potential audience fer to create their own media landscapes or choose
size. As a result, the traditional advertiser-supported among packaged ones remains to be seen, but the
model is slowly transforming into a “pay-per-viewer” online world is not a particularly friendly place to
model for advertisers. However, internet media ana- middlemen … except for the very Big Guys.
lysts and executives correctly predicted that demand In the online world, the focus is on content
for subscription video services would eclipse the pay- aggregators like YouTube and Netflix. The actual
per-use model for consumers because of greater con- content providers—the people who produce short
venience and predictability. By 2011, cord-cutters videos—either opt to place their “shows” on aggre-
had generally traded the option of $10 per premium gator sites or to remain off-portal on independent
channel for lower cost channels hosted by Netflix or websites. However, website programmers must rely
Hulu Plus. HBO and others have begun to shift their on the search engines—such as Google and Bing—in
economic model, to avoid sharing the fate (demise) of order to be located by most users. Programmers
established media giants like Blockbuster. must decide whether to offer their content via
By now it is abundantly clear that audiences prefer major sites or to go it alone, hoping to be found
pre-roll advertising and commercial interruptions to by the search engines. In the days of text-only search
paying for short clips of video. On the other hand, engines, this was a difficult decision, but video
the success of subscription services like Netflix and search has been integrated into all the major search
Hulu Plus suggests that viewers will pay for video sub- engines, making it difficult not to be found. On the
scriptions, especially in the case of movies and games. other hand, the numbers of entries turned up by
Despite broadcast and cable’s continuing impor- Google and others sometimes run into the hundreds
tance, there are some highly positive features to being of thousands, and being buried on such long lists
an online program supplier. No licenses and franchises brings few hits. The solution for players with deep
are required, unlike for broadcast stations and cable pockets has been to purchase placement at the start
146 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

of a related search as a form of advertising. in Chapter 1 might lead to the conclusion that select-
Google.com and others charge advertisers for favor- ing online programs is different from selecting in the
able placement during online searches. old media environment—but there are, however,
For those who have broadband, the choice enough similarities that programmers can make the
between free and subscription internet content par- transition from a time-bound broadcast world to an
allels that of broadcast and cable TV. Nowadays, a la carte online world.
the best content comes at a premium, but
advertiser-supported free content is still pretty
good. Those who decide to pay extra for content— Daypart Compatibility
that is, beyond the considerable monthly expense for The utility of dayparting as a strategic theme was
high-speed access (which has other benefits such as considerably weakened for broadcasters with the
fast email and instant messaging)—can save money advent of themed cable channels in the 1980s
by subscribing to a content provider aggregator that and 1990s (for example, CNN, Game Show Chan-
packages several services. nel, Cartoon Network). However, the true goal of
But an authentication model is popping up that dayparting is to target sizeable groups of people,
provides protection for the existing MVPDs. What it and the use of a time segment is only one means to
means is that real (authentic) subscribers to a cable the goal. Online programmers who select pro-
or satellite service will be favored online users of grams for a given website certainly can match
television programs. Authentication makes hot their content to a compatible audience. For exam-
online content available to cable and satellite sub- ple, ESPN Motion and other sports sites take
scribers but not (or not now) to non-subscribers. advantage of knowing what fans like to see and
Having a vested interest in forestalling cable discon- delivering it to them.
nects because of all the cable networks its parent In the earliest days of streaming video, the dis-
corporation owns, FOX was the first broadcast net- tribution of materials was a novelty, so targeting
work to adopt the practice on Hulu, but others will was minimal. Streaming was done because it was
soon follow suit. Only real (authentic) subscribers to possible, not because there was any market demand.
a cable or satellite service will get to see FOX series For example, downloading programs from main-
immediately on Hulu, whereas non-authentic users stream television took so long they would rarely
will have to wait eight days to see repeats (or warrant most users’ effort because it was easier just
maybe forever, if this protective approach takes to watch TV.
off—and it is expected to, although Google might But despite the fact that teens and college stu-
keep an open system). If the authentication model dents account for a big chunk of the online video
becomes widespread, the chances of people drop- audience, the average age of U.S. viewers is an
ping their MVPD subscriptions become considerably ancient 39 or so. Over and over, data compiled by
lessened. For the avid online user, getting to see epi- such online research companies as Nielsen//NetRat-
sodes many days later isn’t as appealing as seeing ings, comScore and Quantcast show that web surfers
last night’s episodes today. At a minimum, authenti- over 35 years old make up anywhere from half to
cation practices are expected to slow down cord- two-thirds of YouTube’s audience.5 Nowadays, the
cutting. typical online user is no different from the typical
television viewer. Thus, the strategies used by the
cable theme channels will find new homes online,
Strategic Considerations with the key difference being the user’s ability to
select from a list of options (online menu), as in dig-
If program strategists are middlemen, and the inter- ital cable. The programmer, as always, must con-
net has no middle, then what is the role of program struct an online menu that is compatible with the
strategy? Considering the strategic themes outlined desired visitor to the website.
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 147

Habit Formation daily visits. Some games, such as Farkle on Facebook,

punish players with fewer bonus awards if they miss a
Freed from time constraints, the web can show any-
single day. Employers complain that employees play
thing, anytime. Programmers must count on first-time
games too much on the job, but such is the addiction
visitors being so impressed with their sites’ contents
to daily play when virtual animals must be virtually fed
they will find it rewarding and may even bookmark it
and virtual crops wither without virtual water.
(save the site’s address). Social bookmarking sites like
Diigo, Delicious and Google Bookmarks facilitate the
sharing of bookmarks with one’s friends. Present Audience Flow
studies of website repertoire already note that users When it comes to the notion of audience flow, most
have a limited number of favorite sites (so much so online sites follow the cable television model for spe-
that the idea of “web surfing” has become outdated cialized theme channels. As stressed in Chapters 1
except as a way to find specialized information). and 2, the main strategy is to invite audience flow
Entrance portals like YouTube and Hulu function in and discourage flow out. On the other hand,
like networks, connecting groups of content (in con- much as multichannel programmers promote other
trast to outlets like local broadcast stations). A main channels, online programmers can cross-promote
screen menu presents different categories of content content by including new offerings (other programs)
(called links) that are sorted by interest area: news, on the same screen page as those containing estab-
sports, weather, travel, shopping, movies and so on. lished programs (or other content). For such branded
Portals do not hold the power they once did because content providers as Cartoon Network and ESPN,
people have become accustomed to searching via cross-promoting among cable channels, online video
Google, Yahoo!, Bing and similar search engines. games and pay-per-view videos is effective. The audi-
The job of habit formation becomes making a ence can be encouraged to watch the scheduled cable
favorable first impression and having the most user- content as usual but is given the option to sample
friendly appearance and content—to the extent that other forms of branded entertainment (or informa-
that users think of certain sites as “the best weather tion) without tuning away from the brand. The inter-
radar site” or “the best online auction site,” an evalua- net and on-demand digital services strive to give loyal
tion that may also appeal to the “programmers” of users alternate ways to remain with a program brand.
search engines and get them top listing. Nonetheless, Because surfing (the online world’s answer to
paid search placement is increasingly the deciding factor. grazing) is less common nowadays than in the begin-
With paid placement, the search engine grants preferen- ning, new services need a developed programming
tial positioning to the client who pays them for the favor. strategy, beyond promotional support, to attract an
Another financial scheme is for the video aggre- audience. The spinoff approach and the tie-in
gators to share revenue with the creators of short approaches used by broadcasters can work well for
videos, especially when short roll-in advertisements online content providers. For example, Angry Birds
precede the videos. In the case of YouTube (the was first developed as a game for mobile phones but
aggregator), Google (the search engine) maintained later was spun off into television programs, both as
the upper hand by acquiring it (YouTube) for an animated show and as a live-action version.
$1.65 billion (which may sound like a lot of
money until one recalls that Yahoo! paid $5.7 bil-
lion for Mark Cuban’s broadcast.com website in the
Conservation of Program Resources
late 1990s during the dot-com heyday). Just as broadcast and cable programmers recycle
Habit formation is carefully considered by the pro- material to optimize its value, online programmers
ducers of interactive games. It is not a coincidence that put as much material onto their online menus as
one website is called www.addictinggames.com; the possible. Unlike time-bound broadcast and cable
best video games encourage long play and reward programmers, the online content providers are not
148 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

forced to rotate or rerun offerings because nearly young, such as Mafia Wars and Warstorm, but older
everything is continuously available. (Some audiences are typically sought for wide appeal games
MMOGs are exceptions because they have exact like FishVille and Café World.
start and stop times for all participants, but others Online content is not immune to being catego-
go on and on until all players lose interest.) rized as broadcasting or narrowcasting, even though
One consideration influences some providers to the term webcasting encompasses both. Like cable
limit the availability of their material: Many pro- programmers, most online programmers have a
grammers believe that perceived scarcity makes con- choice between two tactics: to narrowcast unique
tent appear more valuable to the public. For content (such as sports highlights or games) or to
example, Disney carefully limits accessibility to its broadcast mainstream content (weather, news, com-
old classic films on videocassette and DVD to merce). Eventually, it is likely that subscriptions
make them seem more special when they briefly models will proliferate on the web, and evolve into
become available in stores. If online content becomes some kind of “basic” and “premium” content.
too common or too readily available, the perceived Those who toil in the programming business should
worth of the contents (as compared with premium take heart that, regardless of the technology and dis-
materials) may be diminished. One reason why cable tribution, content remains the most important factor
viewers spend so much of their time watching HBO in influencing users. Whether broad or narrow,
is because they pay extra for it, and the extra use broadcast, cable or online, programs have to have
justifies the cost. The lessons for website program distinctive appeal that meets some consumers’
services seeking subscription fees are to keep content needs and wants.
original and promote the content as “special.”
Just as with a hit TV program, a winning video
gaming franchise can be developed into new versions. Specific Approaches
Call of Duty was an original first-person shooter
game set in WWII that recycled popular concepts Experts know little about what strategies work and
into Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3 and Call of do not work in this new medium, just as “experts”
Duty: World at War. The program’s distributor Acti- were ignorant during television’s inception or
vision chose the Vietnam Conflict as the setting for radio’s early days. Many honestly thought radio
Call of Duty: Black Ops (selling $650 million in the would be used for education! In the present day,
first five days on the market) and then the brought the repurposing television and radio content has become
game series into present-day battles with the Modern an automatic process for news directors and station
Warfare Series: Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, managers. Many television stations now offer access
Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3. Game to their recent news broadcasts via web page. It has
players can buy new games or add-ons to existing become a competitive necessity. Oddly enough, the
games (such as Call of Duty: United Offensive). Acti- most-watched local news videos are produced by
vision also created games for consoles and hand-held newspapers, not broadcast stations. Whether the
games under the Call of Duty brand: Finest Hour, Big strategy of repurposing applies equally well to all
Red One, Roads to Victory, World at War: Final content and all situations is an open question, but
Fronts, Modern Warfare: Mobilized, World at War: we’ll certainly find out as new television seasons
Zombies 1 and 2 and The War Collection. emerge.

Breadth of Appeal Selecting Content

A game like CityVille has a very wide appeal (over Shelly Palmer has described a media world of linear
60 million active monthly players by 2011), attract- (scheduling in real time) and nonlinear (on demand
ing all age groups. Other games by Zynga target the with viewer control) television, where the value of
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 149

content is best realized where that content is best Scheduling Content

viewed.6 For linear viewing (plain old broadcast and
So, how do the most popular online sites for TV
cable television), he designates emergent content,
shows list them so you can pick something to watch?
meaning news, sports and live events. For nonlinear
What’s interesting about the answer to this question
viewing (internet TV), he suggests evergreen content,
is that the design, once created, is automatic. The
meaning sitcoms, movies, dramatic hours and docu-
programmer has to decide how to present the
mentaries. The third type of content he calls dispos-
options, but no one has to manually update the sug-
able content, meaning talk shows, service shows
gestions. The computer is programmed to learn the
(whose subjects have been rendered irrelevant
subscriber’s habits and make suggestions accord-
because of technology) and infomercials. Disposable
ingly. Each content aggregator has a different set
content is suited to either linear or nonlinear viewing.
of strategies, so we will take a look at some
Games have the best online growth potential.
examples:
Games, contests, gambling and other kinds of online
competition have become the “next big thing” in Netflix: This service uses six highly-customized cat-
terms of interactive program content. Because they egories, different for each subscriber. Similar to
are free online and the brand names are known to the way Amazon makes book suggestions, Net-
parents, Disney and Toon games have gained enor- flix offers its first category as “Top 10 [sugges-
mous popularity with children as spinoffs, and many tions] for [name of specific user].” The text
others are available for teens and adults. Some reads: “We create this list based on your recent
rental and watching history, ratings, queue
efforts have been made to distribute computer
adds, and taste preference settings. We try to
games for a fee over the internet, a successful strat- present a regularly updated selection of titles
egy for capturing the person who has tried the free chosen specifically for you—older titles that you
version and become hooked. The most popular may have missed and new releases.”
strategy to date, however, is selling virtual goods
The second Netflix category is “TV Shows” and is
to game players, which has made Zynga a $10 bil- based on popular interest. The third category is
lion company. Can I sell you some virtual corn seed by genre, called “Custom category” [based on
or a virtual parking place or maybe a virtual lottery recent selections], then additional genres (e.g.,
ticket? “Children & Family Movies”). The fourth cat-
Running mini-lottery programs online has con- egory is “New Movies to watch instantly” and
siderable (but unrealized) potential for the major followed by the fifth category, “Rate what
media companies because the public is familiar you’ve seen to discover suggestions for you”
with reports of lottery numbers and talk about win- (which is not really a category, but it appears as
ners as elements of television content, and the vari- a fifth choice). The final category is “Local
ous kinds of media could be tied together. However, Favorites for [your city]” which targets sub-
scribers by their location. Above these catego-
the FCC would almost certainly frown on close ties
ries on the Netflix screen is a little menu bar
between any real gambling and media businesses. with the following tabs: Genres (20 choices),
The commission has regulations in place that specify New Arrivals, Starz Play, Instantly to your TV,
that any contesting that is lottery-like can only be and Suggestions For You.
incidental to the main programming service.
Hulu: The free version of Hulu arranges its options
Whether this subsidiary requirement applies to the in three categories—“Recent Episodes,” “Pop-
internet is unknown. It is clear that the unregulated ular Clips” and “Featured Content”—arranged
online world could run lotteries more readily than in columns. Logging off or on does not affect
any other medium could. In the United States, online the options displayed. Near the bottom of
poker sites were shut down in early 2011, while the the screen, Hulu shows three additional
same poker sites operate freely in many other coun- categories—“Popular Shows,” “Popular
tries, making future uncertain. Movies” and “More to Explore.” Hulu Plus
150 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

(the monthly subscription version of Hulu) uses activities—both of which are effort-full, not
a different layout of category options, but with effortless entertainment. As converged media
the same absence of custom suggestions: have arrived, web programming must consider
“Browse TV,” “Most Popular Alphabetical”— users’ personal goals, and target those users
with numerous screens of choices, with check- who want either relatively passive or active
box filters for “Currently on air,” “Captions,” content.
“HD” and choice of TV only, Movies only or Tiering is one scheduling strategy that successfully
both—“Recently Added” and “Coming Soon.” made the transition from the analog to digital
Does all this suggest to you that the assumption TV and then to the online world. It is likely that
that people freely move around and choose consumers will purchase more higher-tiered
whatever they like on the internet is kind of a programming more often than not, just as cable
fiction? There seems to be a lot of guidance here and satellite subscribers purchase premium
from the online services, just as there is in con- multichannel programming (see Chapter 9).
ventional broadcast and cable television. Indeed, much of premium programming from
Other Scheduling Strategies: Cross-referencing is the HBO, Showtime and Encore has moved to
primary strategy for displaying content as a random-access schedules in homes with digital
substitute for “scheduling” it. YouTube, for set-top boxes and DVRs, and such program
example, cross-references its clips so that the services will move smoothly online as new home
viewer sees suggestions related to the video just technologies spread. HBO2Go is a web app that
viewed. If the viewer watches a video featuring delivers HBO content directly to portable
a particular politician, then all other videos media.
featuring the same official will appear as
choices. Sometimes general themes (humor or
news) will trigger a menu of choices. Content Promoting Content
providers have control over these suggestions
and can choose to suggest videos for its paying The practice of online program promotion is still
video clients, which is somewhat akin to a paid very young, but it is already clear that content pro-
search placement. viders need to promote their products and services
As discussed earlier, dayparting is a minor consid- using a mix of mass marketing and an abundance of
eration for online channels because the choices online spot messages (the equivalent of “on- air” in
for users are so plentiful, more like cable and broadcasting and cable) and on-screen invitations
satellite services. Radio and television stations (comparable to print ads). The traditional media’s
normally have one channel, so it makes sense to interest in all things internet also provides many
target the one demographic group most likely to opportunities for publicity (unpaid promotion).
be watching at a particular time of the day or One avenue for the promotion of videos is the
day of the week—by age, gender or lifestyle. viral nature of the internet. Most online video sites
Online programs exist in nearly limitless cyber- encourage viewers to “share this video with a
space—where shelf space is endless and digital
friend” or to “leave a comment” (which creates
media can be ordered without regard to time or
more involvement and increases the chance that an
space. Similarly, flow is not very controllable
for online programmers; users are as likely to ordinary video will rise to the status of viral video).
travel horizontally as vertically, or even jump to Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are
distant sites, although sites try to keep them- good tools for the web programmer.
selves appealing and guide flow to other spots Wikis are sometimes associated with hit televi-
within the site. sions shows (FOX’s American Idol, CBS’s Survivor).
At the same time, storytelling seems to be an inher- A wiki is a website that allows internet visitors them-
ently linear process, unfolding over time. Efforts selves to easily add, remove or otherwise edit and
to create innovative multiple paths for stories change available content, typically without the
tend to evolve either into games or educational need for registration. In the case of FOX’s Glee,
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 151

fans can contribute their own explanations and discussed in Chapter 9. For example, motion pictures
interpretations of the storylines; meanwhile, the epi- will someday be released to video on demand imme-
sode creators get feedback and generate excitement diately following their theatrical runs, assuming that
for future shows. Such collaborative processes allow video rentals become less effective in distributing
mainstream content providers to be more closely movies and that studios are willing to take risks.
connected to the eventual audience. A dedicated Mass marketing ads that once said, “Now on VHS
website further serves to promote the program, and DVD,” now say, “Now available on demand.”
whether the show appears online or on the air. Other pay events carried online will require the same
Moreover, interactive media frequently generate kind of promotion currently used by cable operators
email lists and sophisticated demographic databases and DBS satellite companies. Viewers won’t care
of potential audiences for specific services. Nearly all which way a movie comes to them.
websites that offer such content require the user to
sign up for the service, even when it is free. That
user’s email address then becomes available (most Online Measurement
sites ask permission) for updates. Instead of reaching
merely potential users (as radio does with outdoor As outlined in Chapter 5, Nielsen//NetRatings and
advertising), online services reach actual users, past Media Metrix measure the size of online audiences
and present, with their messages. Present users can using two different methods: online panels and
also be encouraged to provide names of others who server-side audits. Both methods report mostly
might be interested in the site, sometimes with a cumes (total unduplicated audience). Measuring
reward for the referral. In this way, online content total reach is a good tactic when a “channel” has
providers can send messages directly to their sub- not yet attracted a substantial audience. As conver-
scriber base, without postage costs (although it gence of the media takes place over the next dozen
may be spam to many people). years, conventional percentages of the estimated total
The standard online medium of banner ads audience (ratings) and percentages of those actually
reaches small targeted groups of online users, but using any service at a time (shares) will prove useful
getting promotional messages out to a wider audi- tools for measuring the kinds of online programming
ence will draw new users. After all, many people that garner a large core of regular users.
can be persuaded to try out something new at least Like the national/local ratings for broadcast,
once, especially if it is free. Such offers usually have cable and radio, internet audience measurement
a time limit, after which fees kick in. Because com- has proven to be dreadfully difficult and complex
puters track when a given household has used up all process. Companies constantly refine the process
free plays (of a program or a game), the service can and constantly test to find new and more accurate
flood the household with “time to subscribe” mes- ways to measure web audiences; the task is daunt-
sages on multiple channels. In consequence, online ing. Nielsen’s Home Technology Report describes
promotion planners should budget money for paid some major complications that make accurate mea-
advertising in other media. Although some adults surement annoyingly difficult. For example, because
still avoid online content, the traditional media of of the multiple interactions that can be happening on
print, radio and television supply enormous poten- a single PC, information collected at the website
tial audiences for online entertainment and informa- level tells little about how content is actually being
tion. Despite the greater efficiency of online consumed. In some cases, PC users may access a
advertising, the reach of older media is important website and then perform other totally unrelated
for building a base of users. It needs to be combined operations while still keeping the original website
with a targeted online approach. online. Such uses may be widespread and varied
Interactive media of several types can follow the but would be considerably different from the kind
promotional guidelines for the cable networks of use taking place when a visitor goes to a site,
152 PART TWO Frameworks for Media Programming

looks at it and, then closes it. Thus, measurements of when Kodak saw the impending doom of its film busi-
“time-spent-viewing” on many web pages may be ness in the 1990s, it dumped film rolls and got into the
misleading. digital photography business.
Who are the users of website content? There In response to the question—Can streaming
were more than 150 million unique video streamers video sites with entertainment actually make
in the United States in 2011. Moreover, viewing is money?—the answer is yes. Revenue is beginning
quite splintered; only one service (NBC.com) had as to flow in many streams: advertising, sponsorships,
many as 5 million unique visitors. Although less transactions and commerce. The pay-per-view
than 15 percent of adults in the United States model works well, as long as others are no longer
watch video online at once a week, men aged 18 to giving away content. As for advertising, it may work
34—that elusive group that advertisers so desire— best when it is personalized—something called one-
account for nearly half of daily viewers of online to-one marketing, where share of customer is more
video. important than share of market. Privacy is also an
According to The Media Audit, the percentage issue, and the number of potential consumers for
of adults who spend at least an hour a day on the any given distribution platform must be large
internet is significantly greater than the percentage enough to justify the extra marketing effort beyond
of adults who spend an hour a day with the print the usual mass media networks. Bandwidth limita-
edition of a daily newspaper (perhaps because most tions of the past are being eliminated. Faster connec-
newpapers have gotten shorter!). Research has tions and better video compression have made the
shown that about a quarter of adults spend seven online platform a practical way to distribute video
or more hours per week on the internet—as much content. The Blu-Ray DVD standard delivers HDTV
as withTV—and heavy use (however defined) has movies on a single disc, but high-definition images
been growing faster among internet users than are finding their way to the internet at a slower rate.
among users of other media. The percentage of afflu- On the other hand, a handheld tablet needs less res-
ent users is also higher for the internet than for other olution than a giant screen several feet away.
media. For evidence of the arrival of online media, Faced with the announcement of big changes in
one need only look at the success of Netflix, which store for old media in a new media world, some
barely registered in people’s minds in 2009 and was people wonder aloud whether people really want
a dominant force just two years later. to interact with their TV sets. One should consider
that the same question was asked about the personal
computer, which was originally designed for doing
What’s Coming Fast such office work as spreadsheets, word processing
and databases. The answer proved to be yes. Will
The most likely strategy for the major film studios, big
people be just as enamored with interactivity from
broadcasters and the other impacted “old” media, is
their TV as from their computer? The answer, again,
adaption to the new environment, probably by buying
seems to be yes.
in. An adaptive strategy has to be viewed from the
Do people want to watch video over the web on
standpoint of the established media and their “old”
their computers? Yes, if the added control and con-
business models. The old way of packaging shows in
venience are there. People want conveniences that
arranged schedules is most unlikely to vanish
make their lives easier. Way back in 2000, Gary Lie-
completely. Many businesses adapt by changing their
berman, analyst for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter,
business model or product, after spreading into related
made the following pithy predictions about the
areas and testing the waters (or in this case, testing the
future of online that have proven accurate.7
revenues). When the telephone industry saturated its
growth potential by the 1980s, it looked to other 1. Once the tools and applications are in place, the
information entities, like cell and cable. In contrast, revenue potential is huge.
 CHAPTER 4 Online Television Strategies 153

2. Watching [home shopping channel] QVC, if control Americans will use will have a tough job.
you have a “buy” button on your remote, will Will a trackball replace the mouse? Will voice-
be hard to resist. recognition do away with the lap keyboard? Will
3. Set-top boxes will not succeed unless they cost my iPhone or iPad replace the remote entirely? Can
$300 or less. the public afford to pay individually for each show?
Will product placement within sitcoms and dramas
4. Obsolescence will become the same problem for
be enough to pay the stars’ salaries? If the economics
set-top boxes that it is now for computers.
are wrong, the old mass audience ways will last
5. Thin applications will be more successful than much longer. If the new media demassify the audi-
fat ones. ence, however, there will be no turning back. You
6. DVRs are like power windows on your car: will live in interesting times.
Once you have them, you can never go back.
7. The first step will be video-on-demand. Notes
8. The “killer application” will be a surprise, likely
dreamed up in a dorm room. 1. Tom, Lowry, “PwC Predicts Pay TV Boost” Variety,
June 14, 2011. www.variety.com/article/VR1118038523.
9. Interactive TV will land in the middle of the PC
2. Mermigas, Diane, “Send in the Cloud: Amazon
and TV experience: You won’t lean back as Trumps Netflix, Others with Savvy Interactivity,”
much as you once did, but you won’t lean for- 25 February 2011, http://www.mediapost.com/
ward as much as you do with your computer. publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=145717.
10. Brand names will continue to be important. 3. Brian, Montopoli, “ACBS to YouTube: Who Loves
You Baby?,” July 17 2006. www.cbsnews.com/blogs/
11. Compatibility is a must. 2006/07/17/publiceye/entry1809404.shtml.
When nearly all of America is finally online, and 4. Internet Systems Consortium, “ISC Domain Survey:
Number of Internet Hosts,” Redwood City, CA (n.d.).
most have high-speed service, then the ubiquity of www.isc.org/index.pl?/ops/ds/host-count-history.php.
the broadcast world will no longer be so wonderful.
5. Louis, Hau, “Old People Like Web Video!,” Forbes,
TV Everywhere will have arrived, if you pay to get November 14 2006. www.forbes.com/2006/ 11/14/
it. Unless you watch or read a lot of science fiction, it youtube-video-demographics-tech-media-cx_lh_1113web
might be hard to imagine that consumers might video.html.
download their favorite shows while channel- 6. Shelly, Palmer. Television Disrupted. Boston: Focal
surfing through thousands of channels or letting a Press, 2006, pp. 77–79.
DVR robot download programs for them while 7. Ken, Kerschbaumer, “For Lieberman, It’s All About
they are away, but such changes seem likely in the Perspective,” Broadcasting & Cable, July 10 2000,
pp. 52–56.
coming years. Whoever designs the kind of remote
This page intentionally left blank
PART

3
Understanding
Key Processes
Part Three Outline
Chapter 5
Program and Audience Research and Ratings 157
Chapter 6
Syndication for Stations, Cable and Online 206

155
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 5
CHAPTER

Program and Audience

Research and Ratings
Douglas A. Ferguson, Timothy P. Meyer, and Susan Tyler Eastman

Chapter Outline
Decision-Making Television Market Reports
for Programmers and Other Programming Aids
The Advent of People Meters Daypart Audiences
The Threat from DVRs Time Period Averages
Program Audiences
Program Testing Syndicated Program Reports
Concept, Pilot, and Episode Testing Computerized Services
Promotion Testing
Radio Reports
Qualitative Audience Research Metro Audience Trends
Focus Groups Demographic Breakouts
Music Research Time-Spent-Listening
Television Quotient Data (TvQs) Turnover

Ratings Services Cable Ratings

Television Services Premium Services
Radio Services Cable Penetration Measures
Online Radio
Online Video Online Research Services
Video Games Web Tracking Services
Social Media Online Ratings Terminology
Specialized Audiences Matching

Ratings Terminology and Ratings Limitations

Measurement Computations Future Challenges
Survey Areas
Ratings/Shares/HUTs Notes
PUTs/PURs
AQH/Cume
Reach and Frequency Analysis

157
158 PART THREE Understanding Key Processes

H ow could those idiots cancel that show? It

was my favorite. Why do they always get
rid of the good stuff and keep all the junk?” Sound
familiar? It should. Most people have, at one time or
(to date, internet companies have used only the third
type):
1. Qualitative and quantitative measures of the
programs themselves
another, heard the news that a favorite television show
has been canceled. The reason? Usually the one given is 2. Qualitative and quantitative measures of audi-
“low ratings,” a way of saying that not enough people ence preferences and reactions
watched the program. Why are the ratings so impor- 3. Quantitative measures of audience size
tant? Why do so many shows fail? Can’t a network Qualitative research tries to explain why people
executive tell whether a show will succeed in the rat- make specific program choices and what they think
ings? In this chapter we look at ratings and other forms about those programs. Quantitative research, in the
of audience research and explain what they are, how form of ratings and surveys, reports what programs
they are used and misused, and why.1 We will examine (and commercials, presumably) people are listening
the industry’s current program research practices to or watching.2
and qualitative audience measurement techniques and Programmers use qualitative information on
then, because of their special position in industry programs to select and improve programs and to
economics, explain and interpret audience ratings. understand audiences’ reactions to program content;
qualitative audience data help explain people’s reac-
Decision-Making tions to programs. Quantitative audience data gen-
erally provide measures of the size and demographic
for Programmers composition of sets of viewers, listeners or subscri-
bers. Of all findings, however, ratings are the major
Media programmers (and all others in the
form of program evaluation, and they have the most
advertising-supported media) are interested in one
influence on the other concerns of this book—pro-
goal: reaching the largest possible salable audience.
gram selection and scheduling—in the United States
Programmers define audiences differently depending
and, indeed, on the television industry worldwide
on particular circumstances, but regardless of defini-
(see 5.1).
tion, determining audience size is paramount. The
Newer on-demand delivery systems have taken
separations between program creation and presenta-
most of the guesswork out of estimating audience
tion and reception by the audience mean that pro-
size, although viewer reactions still require measure-
grammers must always guess who will be there and
ment. Cable systems can collect viewer information
how many there will be; then estimate how predict-
using the converter boxes that deliver the channels.
able and accurate those guesses are.
Mobile devices can track what and how much is
Because networks, stations and other content
viewed by whom, assuming you are not watching a
providers sell commercial time at dollar rates based
program on a borrowed iPad. Broadcasters are
on predicted audiences, it is no surprise that pro-
largely in need of audience estimates based on sur-
gram and audience research is critical for the finan-
vey research with the aid of metered devices.
cial health of the broadcast television, radio, cable,
mobile and online industries. Program and audience
research, usually involving ratings, guides the pro- The Advent of People Meters
cess of selecting and scheduling programs to attract In the late 1980s, a sweeping change occurred in the
the desired audience and provide feedback on pro- national television ratings—the shift by ratings com-
gramming decisions. panies from measuring people’s viewing using dia-
The broadcast and cable industries use many ries and simple passive meters to measuring
research approaches to evaluate programs and audi- viewing using people meters, a much more elabo-
ences, most of which fall into one of three groupings rate, interactive measurement process. People meters
 CHAPTER 5 Program and Audience Research and Ratings 159

5.1 Ratings Research Is Everywhere

D r. Wally Langschmidt was the founder of ratings

research in South Africa. He was the colleague of
such American and European luminaries of early media
and broadcast program planners to evaluate the use of
all media.
One big difference from the American system is that
research as Arthur C. Nielsen, Alfred Politz and George funding of market research in South Africa comes from a
Gallop. Dr. Langschmidt helped create the South African 1 percent levy on each advertisement carried on radio, TV,
Advertising Research Foundation (SAARF). It promotes print, outdoor advertising, and cinema that is paid by the
and monitors the use in South Africa of up-to-date stan- marketers. SAARF is run by a series of industry committees,
dards in such audience measurement tools as people and although the actual research is presently commissioned
meters, diaries, and personal interviews. Dr. Langsch- to Nielsen Media Research, SAARF’s importance to the reli-
midt’s most outstanding contribution, however, was to ability of South Africa’s media research is widely recog-
pioneer the concept of a single data source for all nized, and its contract has been renewed every five years.
media—called the All Media and Products Survey Daan van Vuuren, Ph.D.
(AMPS)—used today by both media and advertisers in Former Director of Audience Research
South Africa. The AMPS survey gives the whole country a SABC, South Africa
common trading currency that is used by both advertisers Reprinted by kind permission of Linda van Vuuren.

consist of a computer and a handheld electronic began measuring viewing on web-enabled television
device with which individuals signal when they are receivers.
viewing. The “black box” computer is located near
the television set, registering (from the handheld
Set-Top Box Measurement
device) each viewer’s presence and all channel selec- A set-top box (STB) measures television viewing by
tions. When first installed, background demographic connecting a counter to the (hated) digital cable box
information (age and sex) on every viewer in the already installed in most homes. This method is
household gets stored in the device’s memory to be expected to become more popular, if not liked, espe-
matched with the viewing information. As audiences cially with small markets where diary-based ratings
develop more mobile habits, viewer information will from Nielsen show wide differences from Rentrak’s
be more user-specific with data stored such portable STB ratings. Even local people meters and passive
viewing devices as iPhones and iPads. meters have been shown to produce measurements
that diverge from STB ratings, thus supporting a
A/P Meters future shift to STB (but the good news for consu-
In 2005 Nielsen introduced further refinements to its mers is that set-top boxes will soon be buried in
measurement devices, counting program viewing up TV sets as they are in DVRs).
to seven days after the original time of showing, to TiVo uses its own DVR box to offer STB mea-
accommodate time-shifting with video recorders. surement and sells the information on replaying
These active/passive (A/P) people meters measure commercials to advertisers. Programmers can glean
audiences with greater accuracy and less reliance useful information about how people pause and
on viewer participation by reading codes embedded rewatch television shows and advertisers can assess
into the programming—rather than by simply the popularity of commercial messages by how often
detecting the channel to which a set is tuned, as is they are skipped (or played a second or third time).
done by the old metering system. At first, these TiVo users probably don’t, however, constitute a
meters measured only national audiences (a particu- representative sample, but the service measures
lar sample), but they soon moved into the larger amount of time watching broadcast, watching
markets for local measurement. In 2011 Nielsen cable, either in recorded mode or live and then on
160 PART THREE Understanding Key Processes

broadband, streaming versus downloads, podcasts distributors and that between advertisers and program
and user generated content, so the service generates distributors. Over 40 percent of homes had DVRs in
some useful data for the industry (even if it makes 2012, but penetration was expected to increase to
consumers wary). nearly all digital households by 2015. All satellite ser-
Actually the term set-top box is becoming a mis- vice subscribers get a DVR, and cable subscribers have
nomer, as fewer people have television receivers that the option of having either simple or high-end DVRs
even resemble a box. Such a device connected to flat- with high-definition service, and all of their benefits.
screen receiver is sometimes called a digital converter Traditionally, the A/P meters counted only the
box, although the terms set-top box and STB are still number of minutes spent viewing a program within
widely used. a few seconds of transmission (now eight seconds to
allow for DVR lag), the definition of “live” viewing.
The valuable overnight ratings, for example, include
The Threat from DVRs only “live” viewing. But Nielsen produces other
An ongoing consideration in the television and adver- important data sets, such as “live plus same day,”
tising industries centers on the adoption of DVRs, such which measures viewing within 24 hours (to include
as TiVo and various digital converters provided by DVR recording and playback), and “live plus seven,”
cable and satellite operators. The DVR is a device which measures programs recorded and watched
that functions like a personal computer in that pro- within a week. In 2007 Nielsen introduced C3 ratings
grams are digitally stored on the machine’s hard which measures average commercial minute ratings
drive. Like computer files, programs can be kept in with three days of DVR playback. The system is a
storage or deleted once storage capacity is reached, compromise between networks (who want credit for
and on some DVRs, programs can be burned to DVR playback) and advertisers (who only want to
disks and saved as DVDs. Although home video pay for viewers who are watching their commercials).
recording of various kinds has been available for Thus, producers, syndicators and advertisers negoti-
many decades, widespread use of DVRs affects two ate with broadcast and cable networks about which
relationships: that between producers and program set of numbers to accept as the standard.

5.2 Tracking Bloggers

N ot all ratings services track television or radio and not

all come from Nielsen or Arbitron. Technorati, a blog
tracking service, tracks about 55 million blogs worldwide,
BuzzMetrics track blogs about specific client products and
services in the U.S. NM Incite (a Nielsen McKinsey com-
pany) collects social media information that builds on
in several languages (English, Korean, French, German, BuzzMetrics. NM Incite helps clients take advantage of the
Italian, Chinese and others), to measure who is talking power of social media.
about which companies and what they are saying. Unlike Nowadays anyone can track topics because the Twitter
ratings, this kind of surveying tracks both the buzz that aids stream of microblog messages (tweets) is indexed “live” by
new products and the negative write-ups that often doom search engines like Google. A programmer can follow
new products. Such a service benefits marketers of pro- comments made during or after a program by searching the
ducts by monitoring online chatter that can supplement or show title or a hashtag (e.g., #dwts for Dancing with the
contradict traditional advertising. In the same way, Ameri- Stars). In addition, Twitter publishes the most-recent “top
can media marketers play close attention to bloggers who trending” topics on its home page. Even the walls of Face-
discuss television programs, and many large companies book are revealed through the youropenbook.org website.
have their own specialists (like commentators) who create Some observers believe the program ratings for a primetime
daily blogs on a variety of topics, some of which are their show can be estimated by the amount of background chatter
own products and services. Brandimetrics and Nielsen generated on social media sites (see also Chapter 4).
 CHAPTER 5 Program and Audience Research and Ratings 161

Another concern is that DVRs may upset the usually tested to gauge their effectiveness and ability
delicate balance that permits the television industry to communicate a program’s most attractive features.
to pay for producing and distributing programs. All
DVRs have the ability to skip over commercials
while playing back a recording. If more and more Concept, Pilot, and Episode Testing
viewers watch more and more television but skip Concept testing involves asking audiences whether
the commercials, the financial infrastructure of the they like the ideas for proposed programs. Producers
television industry becomes seriously threatened. generally conduct this type of test before a program
Advertisers rely on television networks and stations has been offered to a broadcast or cable network.
to deliver audiences for the programs in which their Pilot testing occurs when a network is considering
commercials appear, and advertising revenue pays the purchase of a new series, and audiences are
most of the bill. If the viewing audience for commer- asked to react to the pilot episode. This process is
cials shrinks because of DVR use, then ad revenues described in detail in Chapter 4 (network prime-
will shrink correspondingly. At some point, revenues time programming). Episode testing occurs when a
might be insufficient to pay for program production series is under way. Plot lines, the relative visibility
and delivery. This would require a shift to an alter- of minor and major characters, the appeal of the
native way to pay for television programs—perhaps settings and so on can be tested to gauge audience
a pay-per-program system—that would make televi- preferences.
sion a much less affordable commodity. ASI Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, is one
Even if DVRs eventually change the economics of of the best-known companies conducting program
television, audience measurement will still be needed. tests (and tests of commercials). Traditionally, ASI
Recent research from Nielsen on TV commercial researchers invite people into a testing theater to
viewing by DVR users has softened many advertisers’ watch a television program, a film or a commercial,
concerns about skipping commercials, at least as long asking them to rate it by pushing “positive” and
as fewer than half of all homes have DVRs. “negative” buttons that are attached to their seats.
One response to the threat of DVRs has been to Generally the participants are paid, often in prod-
expand product placement in programs. Now ucts rather than cash, for taking part in the test.
research firms measure the value of product place- Computers monitor individual responses, producing
ments (in daytime and reality shows) and sponsor- a graph of the viewer’s “votes” over time. These
ships and look at the opinions of bloggers as a way data are correlated with demographic and other
to gauge improvements in products and marketing information (psychographics) obtained via question-
(see 5.2). As product placement invades television naires from each participant (see 5.3).
programming, a trend that began many years ago Theater-style testing also takes place at the
in motion pictures, the line between program mea- Television City research center at the MGM Grand
surement and advertising measurement begins to in Las Vegas, an ideal location for assuming a
blur. This chapter, however, focuses on program nationally-diverse group of vacationers. Visitors are
and audience measurement because they are crucial recruited to watch pilots and participate in surveys
to current programming processes and strategies. and focus groups. Five minutes before the screening
begins, viewers are led into one of four studios to
watch the most recent programs from CBS, MTV,
Program Testing Nickelodeon and other Viacom networks (this
television-holdings giant manages the research
The enormous expense of producing television pro- center). A survey following the program lasts about
grams necessitates testing them before and during 15 minutes; such incentives as T-shirts, caps, pins,
the actual production of a show. In addition, promo- key chains and computer software are used to get
tional announcements that advertise programs are participants to fill it out.
162 PART THREE Understanding Key Processes

5.3 ASI Theater Testing

A SI research has been criticized for its unrepresentative

audience samples, yet it remains a major contributor
to network and movie studio program testing in America.
(factors independent of the show’s content have more
influence on ratings), but very few of those that test nega-
tively at ASI later succeed.
ASI provides valuable data because its audiences are Frequently, prime-time series that have slipped in the
consistent from one time to the next. It has established ratings are tested with live audiences to determine which
norms from all its previous testing of programs, films and aspects of the program, if any, can be manipulated to
commercials against which new findings are weighed. improve the popularity of the series. The testing instruments
Given the many programs evaluated during past decades range from simple levers and buttons, such as those used in
and the fact that few programs are really “new” in any ASI theaters, to more controversial methods, such as skin
significant way, comparing how well a new show tests to conductance meters measuring respiration and perspira-
how others like it have tested in the past produces useful tion. Programmers seek aids in understanding the weak-
information. The results are especially noteworthy when a nesses and strengths of a series that is performing below
program produces a negative or low evaluation because expectations. Sometimes the research suggests a change of
the average ASI participant evaluates programs positively. characters or setting that revitalizes a program. (If research
Of course, not all programs that test positively turn out to be results are no help, the cynical programmer usually suggests
even modestly successful when put on a network schedule adding a dog or a child.)

Concept and pilot testing stress general plot As more people watch video online, theater and
lines and main characters, seeking to discover if cable testing may eventually be replaced, although
they are understood and appeal to a variety of peo- both are still going strong.
ple. Ongoing program testing focuses on more subtle
evaluations of the voices, manners, style and interac-
tions of all characters. In fact, different actors and Promotion Testing
plot lines are sometimes used for separate screenings Competition for audiences requires that most pro-
to find out which cast and plot audiences prefer. grammers continually produce effective promotional
Postproduction research can discover a poor pro- materials. Promotional spots advertise particular
gram opening or an audience’s difficulty in under- episodes of a series, special shows, movies, news-
standing the main theme of an episode. casts or unique aspects of a station’s or service’s pro-
Unfortunately, the theater environment can’t gramming (images and identities).3 These promos
reflect at-home viewing conditions and is thus a less can be tested before they are aired to find out
than ideal research method. It does, however, supply whether they communicated what was intended.
detailed data that can be matched to screen actions, Much of the promotional testing being done
adding fodder for programming decisions. In many uses online audience samples. Strategic Media
test markets where insertion equipment is available, Research (SMR), a research and marketing company
researchers send alternate versions of pilot programs that has specialized in radio, began testing TV pro-
(and commercials) to different cable homes and mos online at the turn of the century. Clients include
interview the viewers on their reactions. This necessi- MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Country Music Tele-
tates producing alternate versions of a program, vision and Spike. Some testing firms used to conduct
however—a huge expense not lightly undertaken. tests in shopping centers, intercepting people at ran-
A popular method for program testing is using dom to invite them to view promos in return for
streaming video over the internet to reach test audi- cash or merchandise. Promo evaluation, especially
ences. Online data collection simplifies the research for radio, sometimes includes group and theater test-
process and reduces the chance for error in the data. ing that emphasizes such measures as memorability,
 CHAPTER 5 Program and Audience Research and Ratings 163

credibility and persuasibility. After demographic materials, personalities, and station or system image.
data are gathered, other questions are asked and Using focus groups is one such research method.
associated with participants’ opinions. Promo-copy Radio stations also use call-out research to test their
testing has become a standard practice in the programming, and network television and major-
industry. market stations make use of television quotient data
As multichannel and mobile television entered (TvQs). Qualitative audience research is the most
the on-demand era, promotion testing increased in common phrase used in the industry to refer to all
importance and became even more critical and of these research techniques. (See 5.4 about the begin-
more widely used. Menu-driven program selection nings of qualitative research in the radio days.)
(video-on-demand, or VOD) is more influenced by
on-air promos and guide channels than by schedule-
driven program selection, so media companies real- Focus Groups
ize that promos need to be effective. One method of gathering information from a group
of people is to conduct small group testing. A focus
group is a set of 10 or 12 people involved in a con-
Qualitative Audience Research trolled discussion. A moderator leads a conversation
on a predetermined topic, such as a music format or
In addition to program testing, which applies mostly television newscast, and structures the discussion
to television programs and movies, stations use qual- with a set of questions. Predetermined criteria
itative research to get audience reactions to program guide the recruitment of individuals for participation

5.4 Herta Herzog and Qualitative Radio Research*

H erta Herzog is perhaps best known for her pioneer-

ing “gratifications” research on 1940s radio serial
listeners: “What do we really know about daytime serial
to her, analyzing them to learn what kinds of social and
personal characteristics listeners derived simply from voice
and diction. Later, Herzog developed the “depth interview,”
listeners?” This study, as well as several of her earlier pro- which involved open-ended questions and probes. She used
jects, marked Herzog as a key developer of personal this technique in her gratifications research about radio seri-
interviews as an approach to learning about radio audi- als and quiz shows. The day after the 1938 War of the
ences. Her method was the forerunner of much of today’s Worlds broadcast, she used this method to find out why so
qualitative research into television and the internet. many listeners were frightened. These early interviews were
As a graduate student in Austria, Herzog trained with summarized in a memo to Frank Stanton and became the
Karl Bühler, an experimental psychologist who made several basis for the interview schedule for the larger well-known
contributions to the psychology of thinking. Bühler argued study, “The Invasion from Mars.”
that there were three sources of knowledge about human Just as television was peeking over the horizon, Herzog
psychology: observation of human behavior, observation of
left academia in 1943 to join the McCann-Erickson
the products of human culture and human introspection. By
advertising agency, where she applied her techniques to
asking the proper questions, then, introspection could be
motivation research. She stuck to the qualitative aspects of
obtained from ordinary people. Herzog’s dissertation
radio programs and commercials and developed ideas that
research was an early application of these ideas. She had
others later applied to other media.
six speakers, each different in sex, age, physical type and
occupation, read the same passage over the radio on sub- *Women in Communication: A Biographical Sourcebook, edited
sequent days of the same week. Then, Herzog distributed by Nancy Signorielli. Copyright 1996. Reproduced with
questionnaires in popular stores that shoppers mailed back permission of ABC-CLIO INC. via Copyright Clearance Center.
164 PART THREE Understanding Key Processes

in focus groups. For example, station management number of different focus groups are conducted, the
may want people who listen to country music or sample size will not allow for valid generalizations
women aged 25 to 34. Finding people who fit the to thousands, let alone millions, of people.
predetermined criteria (screening) can be costly, Another major drawback is the selection process.
however, and specifying more qualifications results Focus group participants are not selected using a sta-
in a greater turndown rate, increasing the price for tistically valid random sampling process, by any
screening. Assembling a typical focus group gener- stretch of the imagination. To generalize from a sam-
ally costs between $4,500 and $5,000, including ple to the larger population from which the sample
the fee paid to each participant ($50 is the standard was drawn, random sampling procedures absolutely
fee, although it is sometimes as high as $150 for must be used. In a random sampling process, every
individuals difficult to recruit, such as physicians person in the population has an equal chance of being
and other professionals). selected. A random sampling process greatly increases
Focus group research is especially useful for eli- the chances of the sample’s responses representing
citing reactions to visual material and gaining insight the population from which the sample is drawn.
into subtle responses to televised characters and indi- Even then, there is always a slim chance that the
viduals. These small group discussions can be used to random sample may be nonrepresentative.
develop precise questions for later field surveys of a In addition to not being randomly selected,
large sample of people. For example, researchers focus group participants differ from the general pub-
commonly use focus groups to evaluate whether a lic by their willingness to spend the necessary time
station has enough news programming, whether and to provide the types of information of interest.
music is too soft or loud, how people react to the Researchers can never be sure if those who partici-
newscasters, whether personalities are perceived as pate differ in really important ways from those con-
interesting or friendly and so on. The particular tacted who declined participation. (Would you do it
advantage of focus groups is that videotapes, newspa- if stopped in a mall? Usually takes a couple of hours,
per ads and recordings can be evaluated in the same and the “reward” is often store coupons.)
session, providing immediate feedback while avoid- Other serious limitations that prevent generaliz-
ing confusion in recall after a lapse of time. ing to the larger population include participant
Approximately 200,000 media-related focus responses that are elicited under highly artificial con-
groups are conducted each year. The latest trend is ditions. Normal viewing or listening behavior takes
to use internet-based videoconferencing for focus place in the household setting or at work (or in vehi-
group observers to save travel costs and allow cles in the case of radio), not in the company of nine
more people to observe the groups during the ses- or ten complete strangers whom the participant has
sion. This technique is sometimes used to test new never seen before and will never see again. These
promos and programs. The biggest pitfall of high- conditions also increase the likelihood of groupthink
tech focus groups is that many nonverbal behaviors or contagion of ideas. This means that one person’s
are lost in the mediated setting. Videoconferencing response shapes the subsequent responses of other
technology, while continuing to improve, presents group members and would not likely have occurred
limited information from participating individuals. if each individual were interviewed separately.
In a face-to-face focus group, cameras can record Sometimes a domineering and authoritative individ-
each participant and the moderator during the entire ual may intimidate other participants or pressure
focus group, enabling researchers or clients to study them to go along with a given expressed view, even
group member reactions while another person is if it is not what the others really think.
speaking. There are many important reasons why The specific questions asked, how they are
the data and results obtained from focus groups worded, the order in which they are asked, and how
can’t be generalized to a larger audience. An obvious they are presented verbally to participants also influ-
limitation is the small size of the group. Even when a ence the quantity and quality of responses. Questions
 CHAPTER 5 Program and Audience Research and Ratings 165

may elicit responses that would never have occurred research indicates listeners’ musical tastes at a given
spontaneously to participants outside the focus group moment. If stations perform call-out research fre-
setting. Finally, the quality of the moderator directly quently (and some use it every day), a track record
influences the focus group outcomes. Skilled modera- for each song develops, and based on it the music pro-
tors can make all group members feel comfortable grammer can decide whether to leave the song in the
and believe that their responses are equally valued, station’s rotation or drop it. When tied to the same
especially if participants disagree with what someone songs for some time, it indicates song popularity but
else has said. does not tell the programmer how often a particular
Focus groups have enormous diagnostic value song should be played. That remains the program-
for programmers. “Why” questions are particularly mer’s decision.
well suited to focus groups, as well as any questions Another popular method of testing music is
that require explanations that go beyond basic “yes auditorium research. Programmers invite 75 to 150
or no” answers. And, just as group contagion can people to a location where they jointly listen to and
invalidate some responses, the group setting can suc- rate a variety of songs. Instead of rating just 15 or
cessfully elicit responses that an individual may not 20 hooks, as in telephone research, auditorium tests
have recalled when required to provide answers in involve 200 to 400 hooks. Like call-out research, the
traditional survey or individual interview settings; method tells which songs are liked and disliked at
such responses may be elicited especially when mem- the moment but not how often they should be
bers feel similar to other participants. Focus groups aired (see Chapter 11 on Music Programming).
can also provide an effective means of developing Music testing is expensive. Call-out research
appropriate questions to ask a larger random sample requires an investment in employees to make the
of audience members in future research that uses selections and maybe the calls—as well as invest-
scientifically valid sampling procedures, so they’re ment in computer time to analyze the results. Audi-
useful for learning what we need to learn. torium tests involve recruiting costs and “co-op”
money for participants (usually $20 to $35). Those
stations lacking facilities and personnel for music
Music Research testing can hire commercial firms specializing in
Radio programmers want to know their audiences’ such work. See www.musictec.com/method.html.
opinions of different songs and different types of
music. They need to know which songs are well
liked and which ones no longer have audience Television Quotient Data (TvQs)
approval (which songs are “burned out”). Call-out Many programmers use Marketing Evaluation, Inc.’s
research has been one popular, although controver- proprietary television quotient data (TvQs) to supple-
sial, method for discovering what listeners think ment Nielsen ratings. While Nielsen provides infor-
about music selection. mation on how many people watched a program,
Programmers conduct call-out research by select- TvQs measure the popularity/appeal (likeability)
ing 5- to 15-second “hooks” from well-established and familiarity of TV programs and performers
songs and playing them for respondents over the tele- (from TV, movies, sports and other celebrity venues).
phone. A hook is a brief segment or musical phrase TvQ data have been collected since 1963, relying on a
that captures the song’s essence, frequently its theme panel of household members that since 1980 has
or title. Using computers to place the calls, play the included over 50,000 total households. Eight differ-
music