Posted on 07/23/2002 10:27:05 AM PDT by Temple Owl
CNBCBUSINESS TUESDAY o July 23, 2002
AJC.Com
Rukeyser puts public broadcasting in uncomfortable position
Matt Kempner - Staff
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Public broadcasting has come down with an ailment it apparently can't shake: Rukeyser's revenge.
But public broadcasting officials don't look like they have much choice other than to accept their fate. Louis Rukeyser will not go away.
The man considered a founding father of business news on TV has improved Friday night ratings on CNBC, to which he jumped this year after being dumped from a program he hosted for more than three decades on public broadcasting. Meanwhile, a remake of his old show hasn't attracted as many viewers as it did when Rukeyser was spinning puns.
The staid world of business news on public broadcasting morphed into sizzling soap opera earlier this year when Maryland Public Television had a nasty split with Rukeyser. Ratings had been eroding for several public broadcasting shows, including Rukeyser's.
Before he left, Rukeyser appeared on his nationally distributed show, "Wall Street Week with Louis Rukeyser," and complained about his ouster.
It turns out that wasn't the end of it.
Maryland Public Broadcasting launched a new show without Rukeyser last month called "Wall Street Week With Fortune," hosted by Fortune magazine editorial director Geoff Colvin and former Fox News Channel correspondent Karen Gibbs.
But the show faces lots of business news rivals, including one Rukeyser launched on CNBC in the spring. In many markets the CNBC show airs at the same time as his old public broadcasting show. His deal with the cable business network also allows his new show to be made available to public broadcasting stations, which can re-air it virtually for free on weekends after CNBC's Friday night airings.
PBS officials didn't like the idea and asked their affiliates not to pick up the new Rukeyser show.
"It was felt this in some way would dilute the PBS brand to have a program that could be seen readily on cable also be seen on PBS," PBS spokesman Harry Forbes said. "Philosophically that was not a good thing in an already crowded TV market."
But almost half of all U.S. public broadcasting stations haven't heeded the advice. At last count, 158 stations were re-airing the Rukeyser show from CNBC. Most of those also have joined more than 150 other PBS stations that air "Wall Street Week With Fortune."
"Wall Street Week With Fortune" has yet to sign up companies to nationally underwrite the program beyond this year, although a spokesman said negotiations are under way. Rukeyser brought to CNBC three of the four companies that underwrote his old show.
CNBC says its audience is up 150 percent with Rukeyser's program compared with a news show that aired in the same time slot before he arrived. "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" attracts an average of about 400,000 viewers on CNBC. (Full ratings results are not yet available for rebroadcasts of his new show on public broadcasting stations.)
His CNBC audience is far smaller than what his old show got on public broadcasting, where last season it was seen in about 1.37 million homes each Friday night. But cable programs typically get far fewer viewers.
Meanwhile, early results aren't great for Rukeyser's old show, "Wall Street Week With Fortune."
In its first three weekly shows, its audience in 51 major markets was about a third smaller than what it was when Rukeyser was on the show.
Maryland Public Broadcasting spokesman Jeff Hankin says executives are happy with the new show. "A show like this doesn't start out with a huge audience," he said. "We are looking for growth over time."
All of which puts public broadcasting in an uncomfortable position. Rukeyser fans called PBS affiliates around the nation asking them to carry the white-haired host's new show. Affiliates worried that if they didn't air the Rukeyser show they might lose the support of corporations that locally underwrite the program.
"It's contrary to PBS's original advice, but it is really looking as though both programs can co-exist comfortably," PBS' Forbes said.
Rukeyser himself is playing it cool. Asked about the depressed ratings of "Wall Street Week With Fortune," he said, "I think very few people thought it was going to be able to replace our show. I don't think anybody is surprised."
But he said he's "looking forward, not back."
"I honestly have no concern with what they are doing back at Maryland Public Television," he said. "I lost interest when they ambushed me."
Is there room in the market for both shows?
"I'll let the market decide," Rukeyser said.
I certainly hope that PBS and its affiliates can work this out as civilly as possible. It is always unseemly for fairies to have spats in public.
You're not supposed to ask questions like that in the first place ;)
You're right of course. With the explosion of cable outlets - A&E, CNBC, Discovery Channel, TLC, National Geographic Channel, Nickelodeon, just to name a few - there's virtually nothing on PBS any more that can't be found elsewhere. The argument that PBS brings things to people that they wouldn't see otherwise is just ridiculous these days.
. . . but then, the cable channels have pretty low viewership compared to the (ugh!) broadcast channels . . .Hard for me to believe, as I sometimes forget that broadcast TV bands even exist.
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!
I honestly think PBS could compete in the open market, and I think that the people running it think so to. The only reason they don't is that to do so would be to give up free money, and that's against their religion.
Great idea, Louis, my boy -- and one you know you're bound to win. Maryland Public Radio is obviously made up of a bunch of idiots.
I'd expect that in part that's because broadcast is the lowest common denominator. All you need is a pair of rabbit ears and you can get something OTA. And I think that cable splits its viewers across a much wider range of channels than broadcast tends to.
Hard for me to believe, as I sometimes forget that broadcast TV bands even exist.
You and me both. You know what? I haven't really seen network TV for a couple of years now. Brain-dead sitcoms, trashy "reality" shows, whatever - I missed it all. I may be the only person in the country who's never seen an episode of "Survivor" ;)
And I don't miss it a bit - DSS satellite was definitely the way to go.
I don't think there's a thing on PBS that couldn't find a happy, self-supporting existence on cable. And if not, if nobody will watch the stuff to the point where it supports itself, it should die...
You've got the wrong cable system ;)
Of course, PBS does have a niche market. Fairies, especially left-wing fairies. If you want to watch a documentary like 'Angry Black Lesbians in Heat:A Marxist Perspective' the only station that will show it is PBS.
Oh, how I wish that were true...
LOL!
Yes, that's an important point. I think that the only reason Fox News is the only non-communist news channel, and doesn't absorb a 50% market share, is the simple fact that
journalism as such is inherently anticonservative.liberal thinking says that "the children are the future."conservatism is about what works on a multigenerational time scale. Posterity is the future, and posterity's requirements can only be envisioned with reference to history, culture, and tradition.
American tradition emphasizes freedom of individuals to innovate, and complementary caution as to governmental innovation.journalism is about yesterday and today. Its time-frame is consonant with liberalism and incompatible with conservatism.Indeed, liberalism might be defined as "whatever journalism's propaganda machine will help you sell." It is after all moot whether journalists are or affect to be independent of liberal politicians if liberal politicians decline to be independent of journalism's message ju jour.
"We" don't! "They" do! For some reason, that I have not be able to figure out, "They" control the purse strings.
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