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Broadcast TV Networks Feeling The Blues

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By WALT BELCHER wbelcher

@tampatrib.com

Published: December 15, 2008

As 2008 comes to a close, dark days loom ahead for the television industry.

The whole country has been in a blue funk for months. Layoffs. Foreclosures. Bankruptcies. Bailouts. The bad news just keeps piling up.

Newspapers have been the hardest-hit of the media so far. Revenue and readership were dwindling before the real estate bust and economic meltdown.

But the broadcast television industry has felt the malaise, too. Ratings are down and advertisers are closing their wallets.

Things are better for the subscriber-subsidized cable networks. Ratings are up. And even with shrinking household budgets, people are still willing to pay for cable.

LOCAL NEWS BLUES: On the local broadcast TV news level, several longtime, high-paid anchors in major markets such as Denver, Chicago, Houston and Boston didn't get contract renewals this year.

That cost-cutting trend is expected to accelerate in 2009. Industry analysts say the day of the seven-figure annual salaries in major markets is over and the six-figure salary is doomed, too.

Although there have been layoffs at TV stations in Tampa and St. Petersburg, the high-profile veterans are still at the anchor desks.

RATINGS SLUMP: In addition to fewer ad dollars, the broadcast networks are facing declining ratings as pointed out last week in a report issued by the head ratings researcher at Turner Networks.

The report was designed to promote the ratings success of TNT series such as "The Closer," but it revealed the dire state of broadcast prime time. Here are some of the findings:

•Overall viewing of television is up. The average couch spud spends 33.4 hours watching TV compared with 32.3 last year.

•In prime time, cable viewing is up 10 percent. But the Big Four broadcasters are down 7 percent. Among adults 18 to 49, cable is up 9 percent and broadcast is off 11 percent.

•This fall, the six network broadcasters have lost 2.6 million total viewers over last year and 2.2 million viewers in the 18- to 49-year-old demographic - an unprecedented drop.

•Only eight of the 66 returning shows have gained viewers, five of them on CBS. Five shows have no change. "Heroes," "Private Practice" and "Prison Break" are among the biggest losers.

• There has been only one new scripted hit, "The Mentalist," on CBS.

• Eleven series have been canceled and another half-dozen are in trouble.

ANOTHER STRIKE: Why are we tuning out the networks now? This season is no better or worse than any other as far as quality and content goes. We get good ones and stinkers every year.

Some say the 100-day writers' strike that derailed the previous season allowed some viewers to discover cable offerings. Others say the real drama of the Obama-McCain presidential race drained all interest in fictional drama. It certainly boosted cable news ratings.

Another theory is that some cable networks are luring viewers with more provocative and edgy series than broadcasters offer.

Or it could it be that the broadcast networks haven't come up with programming that speaks to the country's fear and anger over the economy.

Whatever the reasons for the slump, the industry can't afford another strike. But after months of negotiation, the Screen Actors Guild and the studios are at an impasse over residual payments for movies and TV shows streamed over the Internet. So a strike vote is set for Jan. 2. If the actors walk, we might be looking at Jay Leno at 8, 9 and 10 p.m. weeknights.

TUNE IN TONIGHT

"Drama High: The Making of a High School Musical," 9 p.m., ABC

This two-hour documentary takes us inside a Virginia high school's production of "The Wiz" in 2007 during which 60 kids spent 12 weeks learning to sing, dance, act and get along with each other.

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