Fast Track
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/17/2006 7:00:00 PM
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Items:
Olbermann Seeks Big Raise MNT Rethinks Program Strategy ABC Cancels Two New Shows Granite Settles With Syndicators GM Named for New Sports-Film Fest Correction |
Items:
Olbermann Seeks Big Raise
MNT Rethinks Program Strategy
ABC Cancels Two New Shows
Granite Settles With Syndicators
GM Named for New Sports-Film Fest
Correction
Olbermann Seeks Big Raise
MSNBC up against NBCU budget cuts
By J. Max Robins
Keith Olbermann and MSNBC are knocking heads over a new contract. The controversial host of Countdown With Keith Olbermann is said to be seeking “north of $4 million” a year, according to an industry source, to re-up on his pact that comes due in April. That would represent roughly a four-fold increase over his current deal, believed to be in the $1 million-per-year range.
Olbermann is looking for such a big pay raise because Countdown has been on fire, playing a big part in the current audience uptick at the network. In the key 25-54 demo, its ratings are up 25% year-to-date and an astounding 75% so far in the fourth quarter.
But MSNBC brass may have their hands tied on how much they can pony up for Olbermann. MSNBC parent NBC Universal has mandated $750 million worth of budget cuts across all divisions, and this is hardly a politic time to hand out a gargantuan raise. Meanwhile, CNN may have interest.
Still, Olbermann likely wants to stay put. He has been given an incredible amount of creative freedom in this, his second tour of duty at the network. Famously, he left MSNBC at the end of 1998 after clashing with management over being pushed to endlessly cover the Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky imbroglio.
An MSNBC spokesman acknowledged that talks were under way but declined to provide details. Both Olbermann and his agent Jean Sage declined comment.
MNT Rethinks Program Strategy
News Corp. is considering changing its all-telenovela strategy for MyNetworkTV (MNT), with exploratory talks under way to add cheaply produced games, talk and reality shows to the mix, according to people familiar with the discussions.
“We have lots of meetings,” says a spokeswoman, declining to elaborate.
MNT would need to add more inexpensive programming to retain its current station-friendly economic model, which offers nine minutes of local ad time and five minutes of national.
Although there is believed to be no timetable for adding the shows, the talks come after MNT’s second batch of 13-week telenovela-inspired primetime soaps, which debuted Dec. 6, attracted lower ratings than the first low-rated pair.
Wicked, Wicked Games started out with a 0.8 rating/1 share in the overnight markets its first three days and slipped to a 0.7/1 from Monday-Wednesday of week two. Watch Over Me launched at a 0.7/1 and dropped to 0.6/1.
The initial series, Desire and Fashion House, had averaged a 0.4/1 and 0.5/1, respectively, among the primary demo of adults 18-49 in their September debut weeks—and hovered around that level for the remainder of their 13-week run. In comparison, Wicked and Watch each garnered a 0.3/1 in their premiere week.
MNT had been counting on a ratings rise this month, when the major networks go into rerun fare around the holidays.
When News Corp. announced the formation of MNT last February, it had put alternative fare into the development pipeline as a backup.
But that plan was later scrapped, with Fox Television Stations CEO Jack Abernethy saying in July that cable channels like Lifetime didn’t abandon women just because their initial programming got off to a slow start. This fall, however, he was quoted as saying that MNT “obviously can’t stay at these levels forever.”
MNT debuted in September, just as the major networks rolled out a slew of expensive and critically acclaimed serialized dramas, many of which have faltered because viewers did not have the time to commit to them.
Executives thought the new telenovela-inspired programming form, which is popular around the world but had never been tried on U.S. TV, would be immune from the rules that apply to traditional year-round programs, whose viewing patterns are traditionally established in the first 10 weeks of the season.
When MNT was announced, News Corp. President/COO Peter Chernin said it “can be profitable from day one.” But union deals quickly doubled programming costs to more than $1 million per week for each series, even with new production techniques and economies of scale. Meanwhile, some national sponsors wanted to see other types of programming before making advertising commitments.—Jim Benson
ABC Cancels Two New Shows
ABC’s Day Break experienced some déjà vu of its own on Friday, reliving the same day that William Shatner just had.
The serialized drama was pulled in a day of housecleaning at the network, following disastrous ratings for its final airing Wednesday.
All of its episodes will appear on ABC.com, with the TV series replaced by various comedy reruns for the time being.
Earlier Friday, ABC had yanked Shatner’s Show Me the Money, also for low ratings, and replaced it with America’s Funniest Home Videos.
The game show averaged just a 1.6 rating/5 share in the adult 18-49 demo airing Wednesday night at 8, hitting a new series low and falling 16% from its previous airing.
ABC had announced earlier this month it would pick up six additional episodes of the Endemol USA show and move it to Tuesdays at 8 beginning Jan. 2.
Day Break was set to conclude Dec. 27. It debuted Nov. 15 with a two-hour episode at a 3.6/9 in adults 18-49, then steadily declined to a 1.4/4 last Wednesday.—Jim Benson/Ben Grossman
Granite Settles With Syndicators
Granite Broadcasting last week was working to finalize agreements with program syndicators after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Granite, which will continue to operate with current management, attributed the filing to the unraveling of a deal for the sale of its San Francisco and Detroit WB affiliates after the netlet’s merger into The CW. But syndicators say its troubles began years earlier.
“They’re blaming this on The CW,” says a high-ranking syndication executive. “That’s horse manure. This is a situation that is the result of a nine-year history of running these stations into the ground. These stations were on the market for years.”
Program-payment issues with Warner Bros. had been resolved shortly before the filing, and discussions were under way with Twentieth Television, according to Granite spokeswoman Sandy Novotnya. None of the parties would comment on the terms.
Syndicators privately say the filing is encouraging, because it cleans up Granite’s balance sheet and gives them another potential customer.
Distributors believe Granite, which owns 11 stations, made a huge mistake when it paid top dollar to move into big markets San Francisco and Detroit. It suffered in acquiring top-flight programming, always standing third in line behind other stations in both markets.
The company has been trying to stave off bankruptcy protection for months as it worked to pay the interest on its debt, including one payment on $400 million-plus due Dec. 1. Granite decided instead to roll the payments into the restructuring.
Granite tried to sell independent KBWB San Francisco and MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD Detroit (formerly WDWB) last year for $180 million to pay down the debt. But AM Media, a unit of Washington-based private-equity firm Acon Investments, pulled out after The WB’s demise. Granite was unable to get the new CW affiliation in either market.
In May, Granite reached a deal to sell the stations to DS Audible. It intended to use part of the payment for its purchase of WBNG Binghamton/Elmira, N.Y., and the remainder for its June interest payment.
But Granite pulled out in July when DS Audible failed to close. It secured a short-term $70 million bridge loan, which required a restructuring plan by the end of August, to meet its obligations and provide working capital.
—Jim Benson/John Eggerton
GM Named for New Sports-Film Fest
Bruce Perlmutter has been named general manager of the new Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, slated to debut next year. The former producer for both MSNBC and CNN, begins his new role immediately.
He has headed up shows for talent including Connie Chung, Greta Van Susteren and Deborah Norville. He was most recently consulting on various broadband projects and pitching and producing TV pilots.—Ben Grossman
Correction
WPMI Mobile, Ala., (Market Eye, 12/11) runs NBC Weather Plus on its digital subchannel as well as on its Website
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