[NEWS] Fox ups ante for kids block
Burgundy Ranger
than three times more than NBC's. Also bothersome is the part where
Fox reserves the right for up to 12 pre-emptions a year. I say that if
they don't want to program it, they can't pre-empt it. I'm sure most
of those pre-emptions would be sports-related (baseball, football and
NASCAR).
--------------------
Fox ups ante for kids block to $20 million
By Paula Bernstein
NEW YORK (Variety) - Fox is asking more than $20 million a year for
its four-hour Saturday morning kids block.
That's a huge markup from the $6 million a year Discovery recently
paid to lease out NBC's 2 1/2-hour Saturday morning block.
In addition to the hefty price tag, there's another potential sticking
point: Fox wants the right to preempt programming in the block at
least 12 times a year.
The lucky winner won't be decided for another week, but the bidders
have all put their names in the ring.
Among the entities vying to purchase the Fox Kids block are: a
partnership between cable TV channel Nickelodeon and Canadian kids TV
producer Nelvana, DIC Entertainment, ``Pokemon创 producer 4 Kids
Entertainment, entertainment entrepreneur Philip Anschutz and AOL Time
Warner.
While no front-runner has emerged, Fox parent News Corp. might
hesitate before boosting media rivals such as AOL Time Warner or
Nickelodeon's Viacom owner. AOL Time Warner had been aggressively
pursuing a deal for NBC's Saturday morning kids block.
Fox's Saturday morning ratings have slipped in recent years as the
block lost viewers to Kids WB, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Then,
once News Corp. sold off Fox Family to Disney and returned its
afternoon block of programming to affiliates, Fox -- without a
promotional partner that could help amortize programming costs --
couldn't make the daypart worth its while financially.
It's a stark change from the late 1990s when ''Power Rangers'' helped
Fox rule the broadcast kids audience.
A Fox spokesman declined comment.
Yellow Lightning
"Burgundy Ranger" <burgund...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:cb236862.0201...@posting.google.com...
> From Reuters/Variety. Hard to believe Fox's time block is worth more
> than three times more than NBC's. Also bothersome is the part where
> Fox reserves the right for up to 12 pre-emptions a year. I say that if
> they don't want to program it, they can't pre-empt it. I'm sure most
> of those pre-emptions would be sports-related (baseball, football and
> NASCAR).
I couldn't believe this when I read it this morning.
> The lucky winner won't be decided for another week,
That's what you've been saying for months! Just make up your mind already!
--
Mmmmmm sleepilicous...-Thomas J. Conner
Wild Force Popcorn, coming soon to a store near you. It doesn't pop, it
ROARS!-Jonathan S. Latu
Burgundy Ranger
<Lk2%7.16865$Vz3.1...@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>, Yellow Lightning
sipped some of that holiday egg nog and wrote ....
>
>
>"Burgundy Ranger"
<burgund...@hotmail.com> wrote in
message
>news:cb236862.0201...@posting.google.com...
>> From
Reuters/Variety. Hard to believe Fox's time block is worth more
>> than three
times more than NBC's. Also bothersome is the part where
>> Fox reserves the
right for up to 12 pre-emptions a year. I say that if
>> they don't want to
program it, they can't pre-empt it. I'm sure most
>> of those pre-emptions would
be sports-related (baseball, football and
>> NASCAR).
>
>I couldn't believe this
when I read it this morning.
>
>> The lucky winner won't be decided for another
week,
>
>That's what you've been saying for months! Just make up your mind
already!
I think something might break by the end of next week. This week and
next is the time of the winter press tours where the entertainment media meet
with each of the networks to get the low-down on mid-season plans, replacement
shows, etc.
NBC and PBS had theirs earlier and CBS' was today, where the big
news was the announcement of the premiere date for Survivor 4 -- next
month.
Matt (or anyone) -- do you know when Fox's press tour date is? I'm
coming up empty.
Matt Williamz
>Matt (or anyone) -- do you know when Fox's press tour date is? I'm
>coming up empty.
Hmm... I'm looking all over for this as well(read: the corporate pages for Fox
on the News Corporation website), and there's nothing. However, these press
tours always occur around this time, so I'd expect an announcement next week.
But a few comments on this whole thing: $20 Million?! This chunk of time is
worth *that* much to Fox?! Uhhh... yeah. Maybe they're hurting after that
failed attempt to buy DirecTV. They're really playing hardball, but I didn't
see any mention of programming to adults on Saturday morning. That's good, but
$20 million is still a very high figure. I'm wondering if the ppl who run Fox
are dumber than the monkeys we've dealt with over at FK for a few years now...
Matt Williams...@aol.com
Matt Williamz
The Press Tour is actually an organized thing for all the networks to announce
key developments. Sort of like an E3 for the television industry(E3 is the
video game/pc games trade show). I haven't found Fox's date, but I am working
on it.
What I HAVE found, however, is the date for ABC Family. They go on Saturday.
This could be when we know about PR, although I don't want to get ppl's hopes
up too much. Also, Disney Channel and Toon Disney go on Saturday as well, and
they could tell us how they're going to integreate the Saban libraries into
their programming.
As with everything, stay tuned...
Matt Williams...@aol.com