[opendtv] News: NEW BLOOD ; THE NETWORKS' FALL SHOWS FACE AN UPHILL BATTLE WITH MIGHTY CABLE
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 07:58:52 -0400
NEW BLOOD ; THE NETWORKS' FALL SHOWS FACE AN UPHILL BATTLE WITH MIGHTY CABLE
September 14, 2004 12:00am
Source: ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.
Rocky Mountain News : The summer is ending, which means the network's
new fall series are taking center stage.
But that stage continues to shrink every September.
Or to put it into another context, cable networks continue their
attempts to upstage the traditional networks.
Cable keeps the heat on year-round, programming series in the summer.
The warm-weather fare has increasingly pulled viewers from ABC, CBS,
NBC, Fox, The WB and UPN and made it more difficult for the six
broadcast networks to generate enthusiasm for the fall.
Collectively, summer ratings on the six networks were 7 percent lower
than they were in 2003. And before NBC's hefty Summer Olympics
viewership raised the figures, the networks were off 38 percent from
the regular-season (September to May) audience, according to A.C.
Nielsen research.
And cable's inroads into the networks' audience don't stop in the
summer months. Basic cable networks' ratings were up 8 percent in the
official September-to-May network season over 2002-03.
Dramas, in particular, have boosted cable viewing, with series like
Monk, Nip/Tuck and Rescue Me garnering sizable audiences. And some
cable series that premiered in spring and summer are going head-
to-head with network programs.
Also, cable is now big into reality television - once the major
province of the networks.
It all boils down to more competition in the fall for the networks
and a steady erosion of their audiences.
Meanwhile, the networks are introducing 32 series, down from 37 in
2003 and 35 two years ago.
But put an asterisk by the 32 figure for this fall. Fox, emulating
cable's around-the-calendar scheduling, has embarked on a 52-week
season (with minimum success). So some "new" shows on Fox actually
premiered in July, which would raise the new-series count past the
mid-30s.
To compete against cable, which has fewer restrictions in the areas
of sex, violence and language, some new network offerings will be
more risque in content.
But that won't automatically draw viewers. Anyone recall NBC's awful
Coupling from last fall? The sex comedy, a rip-off of a British
success, was canceled after five episodes were aired. From one
perspective, the 2004-05 network season will be similar to previous
ones: Fewer than a third of the new offerings will survive for a
sophomore season.
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