Posted on 09/14/2006 7:13:10 AM PDT by MindBender26
Couric Furious At CBS Suits. She Claims "They Are Stabbing Me In The Back."
Katie Couric is not a happy camper this morning. The Suits at CBS have sent a strong signal throughout the news department that they have already lost faith in her. Here are the details as reported to me this AM from an old friend at West 57th.
(Here beginnith the First Lesson.)
“Promos” (short for promotional announcements) are advertisements a station or network runs to promote their own programs. A 30 second televised message advertising Veg-O-Matic is called a “spot” (short for spot advertisement.) A 30 second message advertising the CBS Evening News is called a “promo.”
Promos are the lifeblood of an individual high-profile anchor’s ratings. The commercial time committed to promos is directly linked to increased ratings.
If a station or network has faith in a rising star reporter or anchor, they will run a “heavy rotation” of promos for that person. Likewise, if the network suits have little faith in the anchor, that personality will receive few promos.
Why not give everyone plenty of promos? It’s simple; there are only so many minutes available to run promos and spots during a 24 hour period. Every time a network airs a promo, they abandon the revenue that would have been produced by a commercial run during that same time period.
(Here endith the First Lesson)
Well… a new promo schedule has just been circulated at CBS, and Perky’s promo time is WAY down. Both the frequency and desirability of time of airing have been cut drastically. This is a clear sign that the Suits have read the tea leaves and are already abandoning Perky.
Some reduction was expected after her first week but a CBS insider described the cuts as “drastic” and “approaching abandonment.” In her words, “we would give more promo time to a “safe Halloween trick-or-treating” story than Katie is going to get.
Another horribly negative comment is now accepted as fact at CBS: “Sure, some people are going to watch us/her now, but can you imagine anyone having a choice between us and Charlie Gibson on ABC going with us if/when there is another terrorist attack?”
Already some other anchors’ agents are smelling blood in the water. The big guessing game at Black Rock is now, “Which power agent is having lunch with which CBS Suit today.”
P.S. Rather is working overtime on his new satellite- fed dinky cable show. Editors who have seen first drafts of story treatments say it is WAY over the top, sort of a "Howard Beale on LSD reading Rolling Stone straight to camera, with a Texas accent" concept.
More as available.
That's just unfair to poor Katie. Do you still beat your wife too? /s
You don't suppose the decrease in promo time might have something to do with the fact that they're launching the new season this week, do you?
Perhaps Katie can pick up the anchor gig over a NAG radio!
Proving once again that they're slow learners.
He didn't want it, but I watched him.
I liked Schieffer most of the time.
Katie won't be watched, by me though.
Your "war" stories are fascinating, Mind.
I enjoy them.
As for me, I ultimately decided not to pursue journalism despite how much I love it, but hopefully conservatives will enter the field.
They might have even known NOTHING can actually save the evening news broadcast, so give it the old college try and let it die a natural death.
In the meantime, they have gotten SOMETHING for their big bucks, namely lots of buzz and name recognition for the CBS brand.
And they may actually have a shot at the morning show competition now, which, unlike the evening news broadcast, will continue to be a profitable fixture in television for a while.
Genius! Karl Rove is working for CBS?!
News departments are the loss leaders in the network TV business. They were once the foundation and the bedrock of network TV. That's simply not the case anymore.
And besides, I'm not even within the age group these network TV newscasts target. I heard somewhere that the median age of the network TV audience is 55 years of age. Most of those people don't care to learn all about new things like the internet, or haven't bothered to see what else looms on the dial. For all they know, there's still only 3 channels on the dial. They're set in their ways.
Well maybe, but I don't think it will last too long...
Maybe she should pole dance topless whilst reading the news?
Couric Furious At CBS Suits. She Claims "They Are Stabbing Me In The Back."
I haven't watched CBS in many years, don't even know where Couric came from (never saw her anywhere)haven't seen her new show and don't plan to. I am totally disinterested in whether she makes it or not, totally disinterested in CBS ratings and the more money these talking heads make the less likely I am to tune them in.
It reminded me of the corporate drooling over Howard STern.
Same type of falling for the hype, thinking with the "People" magazine side of the brain instead of the "Investor's Business Daily" side.
Gawd, someone HAS to start a blog on Rather's new show. It would be hilarious!
bbbwwwaaaahhhh!!!!
That's right, FR erases my memory every night. I guess that's why I can never remember where my glasses are.
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