[opendtv] News: NBC Affiliates Split on Jay Leno in Primetime
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: OpenDTV Mail List <opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 10:53:49 -0500
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6622199.html?display=Breaking+News&referral=SUPP&nid=2228
NBC Affiliates Split on Jay Leno in Primetime
Some fear if Leno sinks in primetime, they'll drown with him
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/15/2008
Affiliates seem split down the middle as to what NBC's move of Jay
Leno to the nightly 10 p.m. slot means for their crucial late news
ratings. While station chiefs were pleased to see NBC Universal
President/CEO Jeff Zucker find a way to keep Leno in the family, some
are concerned that the program will never see major ratings, and will
lose substantial viewers toward the end of the hour. If that happens,
their 11 p.m. newscasts will suffer.
"My [immediate] reaction is that no one's saying Leno will be a great
program-everyone's saying how much expense NBC has saved," says Belo
Executive VP Peter Diaz, who oversees four NBC affiliates. "We have a
wait-and-see attitude, but I'm certainly concerned about late news."
The NBC affiliates board met in New York last week, and chairman
Michael Fiorile described the affiliates as "cautiously optimistic"
regarding the primetime overhaul. The primary concern is that last
half-hour dropoff that's already documented on Leno's Tonight Show.
The new show's stickiness isn't their only concern. Some are anxious
that NBC has, in the words of one general manager, put all of its
eggs in one basket with Leno. Unlike a typical program that can be
canned after a few weeks, Leno, according to attendees of the
affiliates meeting, is locked into either a three- or five-year deal.
(NBC would not confirm the length of Leno's contract for the
primetime show.)
"It's not like they'll cancel it if it's not working," says
Post-Newsweek Stations President/CEO Alan Frank. "So they've just
built a box that's very hard to get out of."
Not 'Tonight'!
There was some unanimity that shoehorning a program too similar to
the Tonight Show into an hour would be a disaster. "Jay's got great
ability to draw star power," says WKYC Cleveland President/General
Manager Brooke Spectorsky, "but it can't just be guests dropping by
to promote their book or movie."
When Zucker and NBC Entertainment Co-chair Ben Silverman addressed
the NBC Affiliates Board on Dec. 10 in lower Manhattan, both sides
agreed to the unique arrangement that gives affiliates a say in how
the show is created. A group of affiliate representatives-perhaps two
or three-will work with the network to keep Leno's show a must-see TV
program throughout its hour.
"There'll be a working group to help build the show with the
network," says Fiorile, who's also CEO of Dispatch Broadcast Group.
"We want to make sure the show is structured right so it builds up to
11 p.m. and people aren't going to bed on us."
Many managers at affiliate stations say they learned of the Leno move
just before the rest of the population, though they acknowledge that
affiliate board members were in the loop throughout the process.
Managers also lament trading a varied demographic mix coming out of
the 10 p.m. slot-18-34 females for one program, 25-54 males for
another-for what they see as a static group that watches Leno night
after night.
"The different demos allowed you to promote to the surfers and get
them to sample your brand," says Scripps VP of Sales Brian Lawlor,
who's on the NBC affiliates board. "We're going to have to work
harder at other time periods to recruit people to late news."
Managers voiced concerns that the Leno program would simply never be
a ratings breakout. "I don't know what the plan is for the program,
but I don't think Leno has the potential to drive ratings numbers
like a CSI," says KXAN Austin President/General Manager Eric Lassberg.
Of course, NBC has not come up with a CSI-level hit in some time.
Can Jay Slay the DVR?
Yet affiliates offer plenty of reasons to welcome Jay to prime.
Foremost, they won't be up against him, which would have been the
case had he signed with a rival network. Leno has always maintained
extremely cordial relations with affiliates, and they describe the
comedian as a well-respected workhorse who is seen as exceedingly
advertiser-friendly.
Tom O'Brien, the general manager at NBC-owned WNBC New York, says the
move has lots of upside for stations. "It's 46 weeks of original
programming from the king of late-night," he says. "It's topical, so
hopefully it's less prone to DVRing."
While that topicality might save Leno from the dreaded DVR,
affiliates also hope the time-shifting of rival dramas at 10 will
bring more viewers to NBC for Leno's humorous take on the day's
events. "There's a great deal of upside if the show is handled
right," Spectorsky says. "It's very viable alternative programming."
Station chiefs also like the idea of what they expect to be a
consistent, if unspectacular, number leading into their late news,
which typically represents 25% of a station's news revenue and as
much as 10% of total revenue. "We shouldn't see significant
fluctuations for the late news lead-in," says WHO Des Moines Regional
VP/General Manager Dale Woods. "I don't know if it will be a high
consistent, a medium consistent or a low consistent, but I do believe
the ratings will be consistent."
Affiliates have for years complained about the weak lead-ins from
NBC's underperforming prime. Many, such as WJAR Providence and KING
Seattle, have thrived in local news by employing a fiercely
independent streak that's less reliant on prime. Last week, several
general managers suggested their peers quit second-guessing the suits
at 30 Rock and concentrate on what they can control.
"Stations have to stop worrying about their lead-ins and make sure
they have good standalone product," says KVBC Las Vegas General
Manager Lisa Howfield. "Pretend you've got a zero lead-in-what are
you going to do to get people to watch your programming?"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
You can UNSUBSCRIBE from the OpenDTV list in two ways:
- Using the UNSUBSCRIBE command in your user configuration settings at FreeLists.org
- By sending a message to: opendtv-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word
unsubscribe in the subject line.
Other related posts:
- » [opendtv] News: NBC Affiliates Split on Jay Leno in Primetime - Craig Birkmaier
