MediaPost has an item today about job cuts at the same Nielsen facility that had the power outage earlier this week.

If you’d rather not read the entire article:

Summary for the rational: We operate in the same economy as everybody else. Our business is down. We need to cut costs.

Summary for the crazy: Eliminating the jobs of the people who undercount the ratings for your favorite shows, while keeping those who overcount the ratings for shows you despise is a complicated process, but trust us, we’re doing our best.

We don’t see a lot of information on the business models for TV studios (the companies that produce the shows, as opposed to the networks that air them), but today’s article in the LA Times is an interesting look at Fox Television Studios strategy. Note: the broader Fox conglomeration has  other studios that do not employ this strategy, like 20th Century Fox Television. The strategy below is specific to Fox Television Studios:

Fox Television Studio’s strategy, on the other hand, is to co-produce shows with international partners willing to commit to a series right from the start — bypassing the expensive and uncertain pilot process — and sell the completed shows to a U.S. network. A similar model has been used to finance production of independent films before they find a distributor.

Last summer, for example, Fox Television Studios was able to sell 13 episodes each of the dramas “Mental” and “Defying Gravity” to Fox and ABC, respectively, with backing from several international partners.

The advantage to a network is that the fee they would pay for a show is dramatically lower than the $1.5 million to $2 million per episode that has become the industry benchmark.

[...]

So far, Calemzuk’s track record is mixed. Neither “Mental” nor “Defying Gravity” survived past their initial summer run, and no amount of creative financing can transform a show on the bubble into a hit. From a financial standpoint, however, it wasn’t a disaster since both shows were fully protected.

“At worst you come out break-even as opposed to losing $10 million,” he said.

via latimes.com.

There’s something in the article for everyone. For folks who think the current studio model is the way to go, they can point to a lack of hits produced with this strategy. Folks who like Fox Studio’s strategy can point to the lack of losses. Enjoy!

“With all due respect to my friends at the networks, I contend that the network programming is not the main reason that we’re receiving compensation–it’s the local programming.”

-Nexstar Broadcasting Group Chairman/President/CEO Perry Sook via Broadcasting & Cable

Perhaps, but not for me.  I’m completely fine without any of the local content and have been for going on 20 years.  In fact, as a west coaster, I’d pay at least $5 a month extra just to get the east coast feeds of just the nationally broadcasted content.

Read the full story

I was so waist deep in the weekly ratings I’m just getting around to seeing this and it looks to be a couple of hours old already.

Reuters is reporting that  General Electric and Comcast have agreed to have NBCU Chairman Jeff Zucker lead the proposed joint venture between  Comcast and NBCU  without any clauses for him to exit after a specified amount of time (it’s not planned as a temporary move).

While the two companies have hashed out a lot of details they are still negotiating on the structure of the board of directors.

Once GE and Comcast hash everything out, in addition to needing Vivendi’s approval, the deal will need to clear regulatory hurdles.

No surprises here.  Earlier in the week news came out that ABC was looking for a share of the retransmission fees from affiliates.  That train has left the station and whether it’s public yet or not, all the broadcasters are aboard. We’ve been saying for a while now that the biggest revenue growth opportunity for broadcast nets is retransmission fees.

CBS has already signed retransmission deals with many cable and satellite providers and sooner or later will have deals with all of them, which will bring in hundreds of millions for the network.

from Broadcasting & Cable:

Moonves is pressing for non-owned and operated CBS stations to share their retransmission dollars with the network. Both networks and their station partners have been chasing distribution dollars from partners such as cable companies, but around the business there’s been a debate about who should get what share of that money. Moonves said, “As each new affiliate agreement comes up, there will be a sharing of the retransmission fees; it’s in the very early stages. There’s a realization that if they’re [affiliates] getting paid retransmission fees, they’re getting it because of network providing NFL, 60 Minutes and Letterman. We are working with the affiliates right now and most understand the situation and they’re talking to us about how we do this in the best possible way together.”

[A]t least one broadcast network will flunk. Right now, I think the CW is on the edge of the cliff. I know they are going after the young audience, but their shows are not working for the most part. “Melrose Place” is a disaster. “90210″ is the same thing. Both shows are done.

I think CW has a year or two to make it. This could be the final year of the CW if the ratings don’t get better I think that network will drop.

via MediaPost.

I’m not so sure about that prediction. As long as CBS and Warner Brothers develop all the programming on the CW, their overall financial situation, considering the value of those developed show franchises, may be enough to have them continue to fund the CW. As for the CW’s strategic direction, and its current boss, Dawn Ostroff, that’s entirely another matter.

Other predictions from the same interview:

- ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox may decide to go all cable, and then local affiliates will have to scramble to survive.

- The number of television stations will decline

Click to read the rest of the excerpt from the video interview.

Scripps and Cox are forming a new Joint Venture to own and run Travel Channel Media … Cox keeps 35% and Scripps gets 65%.•

via MediaBiz.

The kicking and screaming has begun.  FOX has been pretty outspoken about figuring out how to get better retransmission deals from the cable companies,  and even CBS’ chief Les Moonves has recently been outspoken about getting CBS’ fair share.  Now comes word that ABC is asking for a share of retransmission fees from some affiliates:

Belo Corp. CEO Dunia Shive says that ABC is asking for a share of the station group’s growing pot of retransmission consent dollars in ongoing affiliate renewal negotiations.

Call it reverse compensation or retrans sharing, Shive said during the company’s third-quarter conference call with securities analysts. “It’s really a mechanism for having the affiliates share in the cost of programming.”
Belo operates four ABC affiliates, including its flagship station in Dallas-Fort Worth (DMA 5), WFAA.

read the full story on TVNewsCheck