Broadcast networks wilt in summer (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

Variety ^ | June 26, 2009 | RICK KISSELL and MICHAEL SCHNEIDER

[abb]

Viewers tuned in en masse last week to see the marriage behind "Jon & Kate Plus 8" break down on camera.

Here's what they didn't bother to watch last week: the equally stunning collapse of the once-mighty broadcast networks.

While cablers glow in the summer heat of TLC's "Jon & Kate," as well as USA's "Royal Pains," HBO's "True Blood," ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" and plenty more, over at the broadcast networks ... well, viewers have been treated to a dumping ground of repeats, first-run episodes of canceled shows and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here."

Sorry, celebs, no one's there to hear your cries.

"It seems like the summer of 'let's just throw anything on the air," ' one TV exec says of the broadcasters. "And they don't seem to have the time or are making the effort to promote new shows."

It's not gonna get any better, either. No big events like the Olympics will be around this year to bail the broadcasters out. And if the somewhat soft season premiere of NBC's "America's Got Talent" is any indication, even summer reality staples won't be the salve the networks need.

Through the first four weeks of summer, the Big Four were down 9% in total viewers, 15% in adults 18-49 and an even steeper 18% in adults 18-34, according to Nielsen.

The week of June 15-21 was particularly brutal to the nets, as big-ratings events like the NBA Finals had drawn to a close and no new programming made much noise. ABC was hit particularly hard: It wound up with its lowest weekly average on record -- a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49, which put it in sixth place behind even USA Network and Univision (which is believed to be another first).

CBS is managing to weather the storm better than the others, and was up year-to-year among total viewers, while Fox, ABC and NBC slipped by 20% or more. The Eye isn't burning up the charts, but as the owner of the most consistent year-round sked, and shows that repeat pretty well, it's benefiting in the summer even without much original fare.

On the flip side, cable is riding high, accounting for five out of the week's top 20 programs -- compared with just two in the same frame last year.

At USA, hot new "Royal Pains" and returnee "Burn Notice" have beat out scripted repeats on ABC, NBC and CBS in their Thursday night slots.

The cabler is also solid on Sundays with dramas "In Plain Sight" and "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." And even its Monday night "WWE Raw" showcase has cracked the overall primetime top 10.

Over at ABC Family, the second season launch of "American Teenager" gave the net a record audience last week. "The Closer" continues to perform well for TNT, while that channel's Jada Pinkett Smith medical drama "Hawthorne" has fared reasonably well in its first two outings. And "True Blood" is up from its first-season performance, making paybox HBO more of a summer player than last year.

Even unscripted cable is performing strong: Bravo's "Real Housewives of New Jersey" was powerful, while Discovery's "Deadliest Catch" tied for No. 1 in its slot recently.

Then there's that "Jon & Kate" phenomenon.

TLC posted the biggest primetime audience in its history last Monday, as "Jon & Kate Plus 8" averaged a whopping 10.6 million viewers -- making it the most-watched episode of an unscripted cable series ever. The heavily hyped episode, in which Jon and Kate Gosselin confirmed they had filed for divorce, also gave the net its best-ever adults 18-49 and 18-34 numbers.

The networks aren't entirely in the dumps: Fox has been helped a touch by "So You Think You Can Dance," which posted the top two slots among the 18-49 crowd -- but the net's week-long win was still a measly 1.7 in the demo, barely above second-place CBS, while NBC tied with USA and Univision for third place. (At netlet CW isn't even on anyone's radar in the summer, falling below 1 million viewers for the first time.)

It's the same old story of collapse and erosion every summer, and yet the networks seem to be at a loss to do anything about it.

Part of it is beyond their control: Cable has loaded up the summer with strong, original scripted fare. And DVR usage is cutting into ratings on summer broadcast repeats, which are performing worse than ever -- including procedurals, which used to still at least pop a decent number in reruns.

But the networks aren't doing themselves any favors by airing so many repeats. About the only encores working for the broadcasters right now are comedies: CBS' Monday sked, and Fox's Sunday night animated entries.

And if that's not primetime poison, this is: The nets also plopped a lot of "summer burnoff" on their skeds, airing original episodes of shows that viewers had already rejected ("Kings," "Pushing Daisies," "The Chopping Block," "Surviving Suburbia"). If they already shunned them in strong timeslots, what makes the nets think auds will search them out when transferred to low-profile Friday and Saturday slots in the summer?

Low-cost international acquisitions like "The Listener" and "Diamonds" may be giving the nets some original programming, but it's not the kind of fare that is going to make any noise for the nets.

The broadcasters still have a few rounds of ammunition left: "Big Brother" at CBS and "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" at ABC. But both of those aging franchises aren't exactly the kind of fresh blood they need, or the kind of shows that are now exciting viewers over on cable.

If the networks are aware of the thumping they're receiving, they're not showing it. Despite the fact that several cable shows are in the top 10, and that USA has even reached parity in primetime with the broadcasters, they refuse to admit it. The nets continue to send out press releases claiming victory in a timeslot where they're actually in second, or even third, place because of cable.

In other words, if they're not careful, the broadcasters could wind up just like "Jon & Kate" -- divorced from reality.

[abb]

If you watch old shows from the 50s and 60s, you’ll see they were about 51 or 52 minutes long. I sometimes watch the old “Maverick” reruns on the western channel. Now, programs are about 42 minutes. And there was a big fight the other day over the new season of “Mad Men.” They wanted to shorten it to 39 minutes to cram more ads in. The compromise was to let it run over the hour mark instead of ending it on the hour. That is to say rather than 18 minutes of commercials, it will have about 21 minutes.

The concept of “appointment viewing” was enforceable because not a whole lot else was on. Now with the internet, that habit is forever broken.

[rockrr]

It’s interesting that the article neglected to mention the single largest reason for the dip in viewership - the DTV switch. By and large cable TV viewers were unaffected by the switch, but OTA (Over The Air) viewers of locally broadcast signals were hit - some hit hard.

Analog isn’t digital and the two technologies have different presentations in their communities. Analog is a bandwidth hog, but you can still view a tolerable 15% signal-strength analog reception (if you don’t mind a little snow) whereas anything less than ~60% digital signal and your picture freezes or disappears altogether.

Although both types of signal are “line of sight”, analog is (was) much more tolerant of topological events (like hills and trees). That means the old analog signal could travel up to four times the distance before degrading to the point of unsuitability.

The bottom line is that for huge numbers of OTA viewers, their TV’s went dark, and for the poor among us, will stay dark.

[Poser]

Burn Notice
Saving Grace
Formula 1 qualifying
Red Sox baseball

I’d watch womens tennis but they grunt and shriek so annoyingly that I can’t stand it.

[abb]

The Big Four’s numbers have been declining for the past several years. And you are correct, there are a significant number of viewers that quit altogether when OTA broadcast went digital.

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/278505-FCC_Finds_More_Analog_Signal_Loss_Than_Initially_Predicted.php
FCC Finds More Analog Signal Loss Than Initially Predicted
355 stations now losing more than 2% of their former analog audience

[abb]

Mad Men is my only ‘must see’ program. And even then I DVR it and watch it later.

[wally_bert]

It took a little for me to accept Fi.

[abb]

http://www.miamiherald.com/business/story/1116595.html
A nonprofit newspaper in San Juan could be part of new trend

[ConservativeMind]

That tells me the Big Three networks have a reason to help get rid of illegals in the US.

[PrincessB]

It isn’t just the poor. I have a couple of friends who didn’t upgrade or get new TV’s and they are solidly middle class. One of them doubts she will get the TV fixed. She and her husband are having such a good time without the TV, she doesn’t want it back. They’ve been married about 25 years and she feels like it’s a second honeymoon.

[Richard Kimball]

Not to rain on anyone's parade, but the networks own all the cable channels. All the demise of over the air broadcasting does is create a cartel of Time-Warner, Direct TV, GrandeCom and a few others who depend on subscription fees as opposed to advertising.

This means ratings don't count, unless enough people cancel cable or satellite broadcasts. TVLand got into primetime cable running Andy Griffith, the Munsters, Leave it to Beaver, My Three Sons, the Donna Reed Show, and countless other classic shows. Now, they run She's Got the Look, Roseanne and Fresh Prince. Their ratings have dropped dramatically, and they respond with an Annie Hall, "well la-de-da." Why? Cause they don't care as long as the subscription money pours in, and it will pour in as long as the gay/lesbian connection that runs most of the entertainment industry keeps funneling money to their lovers, knowing it doesn't matter what people watch as long as they pay the subscription fees.

[rockrr]

You’re right of course. I made a lame attempt at a joke (”Disaster: Women, children, and the poor hardest hit!”).

Over the years I put up with mediocre TV because I never took it too seriously and, as often as not, would only have the TV on for background noise.

I’m finding that I can live without it at all quite nicely thank you! (Not sure that I could say the same of the Internet however!)

[DeFault User]

I sometimes for fun count the number of commercials in a break.

Get thee a DVR! It's more fun to guess how many times you have to press the "Skip" button for the commercial breaks. You'll have no problem watching an hour show in 40 minutes. I'll have to admit stopping the process occasionally for a new Apple ad. ;O)

[abb]

http://www.cleveland.com/schultz/index.ssf/2009/06/tighter_copyright_law_could_sa.html
Tighter copyright law could save newspapers: Connie Schultz

http://www.buzzmachine.com/2009/06/28/first-kill-the-lawyers-before-they-kill-the-news/#comments
First, kill the lawyers – before they kill the news

[catnipman]

Yep, the only way to watch TV sanely is via pre-recording with a TIVO/DVD/PVR.

I’ve about worn out the 30-second skip forward button on mine :)