Writers Strike: Day XX - Greedy Writers Blackmail: NBC Refunds Advertisers as ratings plunge
Doctor Zhivago
NBC refunds advertisers as ratings plunge
Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:36pm GMT
NEW YORK (Media Week) - Fourth-ranked broadcaster NBC has quietly
begun reimbursing advertisers an average of $500,000 each for failing
to reach guaranteed ratings levels, the first time a network has taken
such a step in years, media buyers said.
Networks usually offer make-goods -- free advertising slots -- in the
event of such shortfalls. But NBC has none to give. In fact, no
broadcast network has much ad inventory left between now and year's
end -- except for, perhaps, a handful of units the week between
Christmas and New Year's, and that doesn't do much for advertisers
chasing holiday shoppers.
CBS, ABC and Fox also are doling out make-goods, primarily for the
first quarter. They have blamed softness on a new ratings formula, but
media agencies disagree. None of the networks would comment.
The networks' problems emerged even before the Writers Guild of
America went on strike November 5. The networks had enough first-run
shows to get them through November, and repeats and replacement
programming will not begin in earnest until January -- when their
problems will likely start to worsen.
Among the Big Four networks, NBC has the most serious ad shortfall, as
its primetime ratings are down most dramatically. Meanwhile, none of
its new series this season have caught on with viewers. Compounding
buyers' angst about NBC is the network's plan to schedule more reality
shows, including "Celebrity Apprentice" and "American Gladiators."
"We're trying to understand NBC's recent moves," Starcom Entertainment
exec vp Laura Caraccioli-Davis said. "We are concerned that it might
be thinking about adopting a programming strategy like some of its
sister cable networks. 'American Gladiators' and even some of the
shows they have in development, like 'Knight Rider,' are remakes being
dusted off rather than coming up with new creations.
"NBC used to be the upscale, quality network," she added. "We have
come to expect quality, iconic programming. Maybe they are searching
for the reality hit they don't have, their own 'American Idol.' But
too much reality just doesn't play well with advertisers."
NBC program planning president Vince Manze countered that the network
will air more scripted shows in the first quarter than it did a year
earlier, so the perception that NBC is moving more heavily into
reality is wrong.
"We will have about 85 hours of original, scripted, first-run
programming in the first quarter," Manze said, citing the return of
dramas "Law & Order," "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (which previously
aired on NBC's sister cable net USA Network) and "Medium."
In February, NBC will premiere midseason drama "Lipstick Jungle." It
also has first-run episodes of "Law & Order: SVU," "ER," "Chuck,"
"Friday Night Lights," "Las Vegas," "Scrubs" and "My Name Is Earl" yet
to air.
Magna Global audience analysis exec vp Steve Sternberg said he saw no
problem with NBC airing a reality block on a low-rated night like
Saturday or even during the week if the production values were high or
if it replaced other reality programming. However, "if it replaces
midweek scripted hours, it could have a negative impact" on ratings
and audience quality, he said.
Reality programs featuring high production values, including Fox's
"American Idol," CBS' "Survivor" and "Amazing Race" and ABC's "Dancing
With the Stars" and "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," draw sizable
audiences each week.
Still, one network executive charged that audiences for those shows
are "borrowed" viewers. "A majority of those viewers come in for that
show and then leave," the executive said.
Added MediaVest senior vp group director Ed Gentner: "No one
(advertiser or agency) wants to see too much reality programming on
TV. But broadcast television has changed, and reality is part of
today's landscape."
the david that is not Letterman
Let me enlighten you, All the writers want is 2.5%(that two and a half
percent) of the money made on DVDs and internet revenue on the shows
they worked on.. Thats all,Period! about 10,000 members of the
writers guild don't make enough to pay for medical insurance. Have a
good day!
DG
Doctor Zhivago
LOL. Think of all that money they are losing now to get that 2.5%.
I'm sure that the highest paid writers, just like the highest paid
actors don't give a shit about you little people. How does it feel
being used by your union as sacrificial sheeple for the top dogs?
Go write yourself a happy ending because you'll get the shaft.
the david that is not Letterman
>
> - Show quoted text -
what do the 10,000 lose? they get nothing before the strike so they
dont lose anything BY striking. and they are the one that will decide
on accepting the contract. If you hate the strike,dont blame the
writers, All the alliance has to say is yes,and the strike is over
signed
DG
Paul Bearer
I corrected your post.
Bear in mind these studios sell dvd sets for $50 and the writers
get zip from that.
The writers deserve better.
Doctor Zhivago
It's the writers who are on strike, who are whining like a bitch for
more, more, more. They deserve nothing.
Bill Kawalec
"Doctor Zhivago" <Zhi...@zed.nul> wrote in message
news:7m8gm3p6smduuap5r...@4ax.com...
maybe, but neither do I...
Doctor Zhivago
good.
jgro...@hotmail.com
The constant promo "bugs" for these shows during Leno are annoying. A
true sign of corporate despairation.
>
> NBC program planning president Vince Manze countered that the network
> will air more scripted shows in the first quarter than it did a year
> earlier, so the perception that NBC is moving more heavily into
> reality is wrong.
Hollywood has run out of script ideas, I'm waiting for episodes of the
Rockford Files to be brought back...JG
tooh...@aol.com
I wonder if this will spur more tv series dvd set sales? I know I was
shopping in Target and bought one cause of all the shit re-runs so I'd
catch up on series I've never bothered to keep up with.
jgro...@hotmail.com
>
> I wonder if this will spur more tv series dvd set sales? I know I was
> shopping in Target and bought one cause of all the shit re-runs so I'd
> catch up on series I've never bothered to keep up with.
Could be that every idea has been done. How many more CSIs, Law &
Orders can they dream up ?
youk...@there.yep
treatment to another Republican. Breathlessly gushing like a little
girl, he agreed with Huckabee by exclaiming "Yes" "uh-huh" "right"
What a fucking tool...
How much do Republicans pay this piece of shit to suck their dick?
Mark S
They don't have to pay him a dime.
rst
It's no secret Jay is a conservative. So what would you expect? Who
cares.
The ratings on all of these late night shows are MINISCULE. So I
would not worry about anyone pulling in more votes for appearing on
any of these shows. This is not the 70's, when there were only 13
channels and no one had videotape.
nos...@sbcglobal.invalid.net
NBC pays him through the nose. The dick sucking he does for nothing.
youk...@there.yep
3finger
youk...@there.yep wrote:
Huckabee's set to be on Letterman's show this coming week. Dave's no Tim
Russert, but he tends not to be as much of a pushover as some other
hosts either. Just ask Bill O'Reilly about that.
Tim Howard
Yet Leno insists that he is not a conservative and has implied that he
is not a Republican. Hard to believe.
Bill Kawalec
"Tim Howard" <tim.h...@suddenlink.net> wrote in message
news:4781a2af$0$19858$bbae...@news.suddenlink.net...
who really gives a rat's ass?
pay...@bitch.org
The only Republican cocksucker who smirks more than Dumbya is Leno.
Bill Kawalec
.
news:PdOdnUOmMr4DVhza...@comcast.com...
Ummm, let me guess: someone that continually posts, and
closely monitors other's, to an internationally distributed
usenet newsgroup dedicated to and named for the individual
for whom it's named?
Bill Kawalec
.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, acts &
quacks like a duck ... what you've probably got
there is yet another canard (meant in more ways
than one).
Tim Howard
a limited vocabulary?
hallo...@dagirls.nul
Timmy is looking for a rat's ass to lick, of course it's Republican.
Bill Kawalec
The first are reasonable and happy, the last are foolish and unhappy; those
between are unhappy and reasonable.
258. Unusquisque sibi Deum fingit.[37]
Disgust
259. Ordinary people have the power of not thinking of that about which they
do not wish to think. "Do not meditate on the passages about the Messiah,
said the Jew to his son. Thus our people often act. Thus are false religions
preserved, and even the true one, in regard to many persons.
But there are some who have not the power of thus preventing thought, and
who think so much the more as they are forbidden. These undo false religions
and even the true one, if they do not find solid arguments.
260. They hide themselves in the press and call numbers to their rescue.
Tumult.
Authority.--So far from making it a rule to believe a thing because you have
heard it, you ought to believe nothing without putting yourself into the
position as if you had never heard it.
It is your own assent to yourself, and the constant voice of your own
reason, and not of others, that should make you believe.
Belief is so important! A hundred contradictions might be true. If antiquity
were the rule of belief, men of ancient time would then be without rule. If
general consent, if men had perished?
False humanity, pride.
Lift the curtain. You try in vain; if you must either believe, or deny, or
doubt. Shall we then have no rule? We judge that animals do well what they
do. Is there no rule whereby to judge men?
To deny, to believe, and to doubt well, are to a man what the race is to a
horse.
Punishment of those who sin, error.
261. Those who do not love the truth take as a pretext that it is disputed,
and that a multitude deny it. And so their error arises only from this, that
they do not love either truth or charity. Thus they are without excuse.
262. Superstition and lust. Scruples, evil desires. Evil fear; fear, not
such as comes from a belief in God, but such as comes from a doubt whether
He