Syndie Insider
By Staff -- Broadcasting & Cable, 8/18/2003
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DIC Is There for The Kids
DIC Entertainment Corp. Sept. 1 is launching its block of kids' programs with advertisers such as Hasbro, McDonald's, Kellogg, Mars, Nestlé, Chuck E. Cheese's and Bandai on board. The programmer is also providing a Spanish-language feed of its programs for stations' second-audio-program channels.
DIC has cleared its three-hour kids' programming blocks on 450 TV stations and, in some cases, on more than one TV station in a market.
With three separate blocks available, Fox, The WB and UPN affiliates get their own exclusive kids' programming in a cost-effective manner. National advertisers get more than 100% clearance on DIC programs because the same national advertisements run in all three blocks, even though the programs in the blocks are different. DIC's shows also help stations meet their FCC requirements for educational children's programming.
A Pleasant Break for Syndie
A relatively nice spell amid the bad summer weather that has been plaguing the East Coast gave syndication a case of the summer blahs, making ratings generally stagnant in the week-ending Aug. 3. Still, talk shows managed to see some gains. Of the top dozen talk shows, eight were up, two were down and two were unchanged from the prior week.
Universal's Crossing Over with John Edward, which may have seen this coming, had the largest rating increase among talkers, jumping 20% to a 1.2 rating. King World's Oprah had the biggest decline in the group, losing 10% to 5.3. In second place, King World's rookie Dr. Phil was up 2% to 4.3. Universal's Maury took third for the sixth time in the past seven weeks with a 3.6, unchanged from the prior week. Right behind was Buena Vista's Live with Regis & Kelly up 3% to 3.5. Universal's The Jerry Springer Show gained 7% to 2.9, followed by Paramount's Montel Williams up 4% to 2.5. Warner Bros.' Jenny Jones in its final weeks picked up 5% to 2.1. Sony's Ricki Lake slipped 6% to 1.7. NBC Enterprises' rookie The John Walsh Show rebounded from last week's slide with a 17% surge to 1.4. Martha Stewart Living cooked up an 8% increase to 1.3, while Twentieth's Good Day Live was flat at 1.0.
