NBC to cutback programming hours

[The Voice of Reason]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28116385/

Memo to Jeff Zucker:

Maybe if NBC stopped trying to revive old TV shows ( Knight Rider, The Bionic Woman) and come up with programs that adults would enjoy instead of these stupid reality shows, maybe NBC might regain first place like it did in the 1980s.

All the networks are guilty of trying to shove mediocre programs down our throats, and the result is fewer people are watching TV. You think these programming genius' would get the hint by now. :

 

[bpatrick]

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

 

[kenglish]

Boy! With all those extra hours to fill with local newscasts, will Vinten start making a camera pedestal with a built-in urinal? ;D

 

[PTBoardOp94]

"Can we continue to program 22 hours of prime-time? Three of our competitors don't. Can we afford to program seven nights a week? One of our competitors doesn't," Zucker said. "All of these questions have to be on the table. And we are actively looking at all of those questions."

Which competitors are these? FOX, My, and CW?

I know CBS programs 3 hours Mon-Sat and 4 on Sunday. I'm pretty sure ABC does the same.

 

[Mark Giardina]

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

NBC would be deluged with snail mail and perhaps even pickets by blue-hairs if they ever decided to eliminate soap operas.

Besides what would local affiliates put in place of soap operas? God forbid if they run informercials. That would add to the already decline of TV viewership.

Of course NBC could always switch over to MSNBC and run news for most of the broadcast day.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

CBS has already hinted about scrapping the CBS Evening News. All 3 early evening newscasts must go. There is no need for them anymore. You can get your news anytime. You don't need them and their ratings prove that. Local stations must become just that.

There is no need to have a network affiliation anymore. NBC could easily become a cable/satellite/internet only service and wouldn't lose a viewer. In fact, it may gain viewers and lose the regulatory problems.

 

[rch66]

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

NBC would be deluged with snail mail and perhaps even pickets by blue-hairs if they ever decided to eliminate soap operas.

Besides what would local affiliates put in place of soap operas? God forbid if they run informercials. That would add to the already decline of TV viewership.

Of course NBC could always switch over to MSNBC and run news for most of the broadcast day.

Some affiliates already have started airing informercials during the weekday afternoon, including NBC O&O WCAU 10.

I don't think it'd be easy to switch to MSNBC. Cable companies would balk - Cablevision already has cable exclusivity of MSNBC in the New York/North Jersey market, and Fios can't carry it. If NBC did that (MSNBC programming run and offered to the local affiliates), cable companies could then insist to drop the cable MSNBC feed, or air it only in digital - meaning less HH, stating "why should we pay for this, and give prime location to, if its programming is already airing on local stations", and NBC would lose that one 70 Million HH cable channel slot that they earned, and so hard tried to get cable to carry in the first place. It's fine balancing act in the end.

What NBC should do is try to help out its primary soap DOOL. Perhaps get more guest stars with recurring roles on it. I mean if Courteney Cox who used to make $1 M / episode from Friends is making much less at whatever role she is doing now and does it, there are many has been actors/actresses that can guest star on something lower than what they did in the past. Atleast that will pump some new life and attention into some soaps. I've noticed on certain soaps, like GH, rather than having a scene with two relatively new characters, they'll have scenes with a familiar character and maybe a new one - this way a viewer who hasn't tuned in a while, will be able to recognize and maybe follow some of whats going on, based on the familiar character.

 

[oldvnewschool]

I see it for what it is, a cost cutting procedure.

NBC will do this to save money as long as the current TV schedules are in place.

Unless CSI, Desperate Housewives, House end their runs in 2011 or so, NBC will be this way for a while.

FOX isn't setting the world on fire so far; in fact NBC has performed better than them.

The World Series was a joke this year, and House isn't no.1 in it's timeslot thanks to some boring storylines in my opinion.

The only reason they will get out of it is beacause American Idol comes back one month from now.

I also feel that Cable TV is making more headways than I thought.

One wonders what would happen if the "legacy" networks give up their newscasts and daytime soap operas.

I'm certain affliates may find some room during that time, but not much.

My feeling about Leno is this, he will return to The Tonight Show if Conan bombs.

Believe me, the Leno deal is about the smartest decision that the peacock has made all year long.

 

[kenglish]

For several years now, I've been predicting that local stations will simply maintain a loose affiliation with their former "networks"....

For instance, I see ex-NBC "affiliates" broadcasting several DTV subchannels, like a "WeatherPlus", a "SportsPlus", a "Local NewsPlus", and a "World and National NewsPlus", all using a model similar to what NBC did for "WeatherPlus"....NBC/Universal supplying the hardware and the basic programming for each subchannel. Stations would insert their own local materials and spots, and NBC Universal would get it's on-line programming and DVD stuff promoted to the local audiences.

All the things we used to watch for entertainment value, like the prime time shows, sports, concerts, etc would be available on-line or via DVD or other purchase venue. Even the soaps would be delivered overnight to your computer or server, via a yearly subscription.

TV stations will simply carry what I call "IINRV" or "Immediate Interest, No Recurring Value"....that's the news, sports highlites, weather and whatever, that would be of no value after-the-fact. No value as a re-run, a DVD, or a later download.

 

[4UH8SIMBKAGN]

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

NBC would be deluged with snail mail and perhaps even pickets by blue-hairs if they ever decided to eliminate soap operas.

Besides what would local affiliates put in place of soap operas? God forbid if they run informercials. That would add to the already decline of TV viewership.

Of course NBC could always switch over to MSNBC and run news for most of the broadcast day.

Some affiliates already have started airing informercials during the weekday afternoon, including NBC O&O WCAU 10.

I don't think it'd be easy to switch to MSNBC. Cable companies would balk - Cablevision already has cable exclusivity of MSNBC in the New York/North Jersey market, and Fios can't carry it. If NBC did that (MSNBC programming run and offered to the local affiliates), cable companies could then insist to drop the cable MSNBC feed, or air it only in digital - meaning less HH, stating "why should we pay for this, and give prime location to, if its programming is already airing on local stations", and NBC would lose that one 70 Million HH cable channel slot that they earned, and so hard tried to get cable to carry in the first place. It's fine balancing act in the end.

What NBC should do is try to help out its primary soap DOOL. Perhaps get more guest stars with recurring roles on it. I mean if Courteney Cox who used to make $1 M / episode from Friends is making much less at whatever role she is doing now and does it, there are many has been actors/actresses that can guest star on something lower than what they did in the past. Atleast that will pump some new life and attention into some soaps. I've noticed on certain soaps, like GH, rather than having a scene with two relatively new characters, they'll have scenes with a familiar character and maybe a new one - this way a viewer who hasn't tuned in a while, will be able to recognize and maybe follow some of whats going on, based on the familiar character.

KNBC over the summer aired infomercials at 12 noon right after the 11 AM news. Those cable deals don't last more than a few years before renegotiation. Local stations are already aired, by law, on local cable companies. If the product was moved to the primary station, they'd still have to air it. With the upcoming Obama administration likely to add many new broadcast, cable, satellite, internet and phone regulations, you can bet that cable and satellite providers will be required to carry subchannels.

 

[Chad-Stevens]

I hadn't heard this angle discussed yet but what existing NBC programming may get cut to make way for Jay?

 

[Braves2005]

I hadn't heard this angle discussed yet but what existing NBC programming may get cut to make way for Jay?

Possibly Law And Order and their spinoffs for starters. Then take away Deal Or No Deal since it has become a bigger hit in syndication than on NBC.

How about this for an idea? Have a movie every night of the week at 7:00 PM before Leno comes on at 9:00 PM, then that solves the problem of having regular shows on at 7:00 and 8:00 PM since NBC says it costs too much to program a show nowadays.

 

[rch66]

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

NBC would be deluged with snail mail and perhaps even pickets by blue-hairs if they ever decided to eliminate soap operas.

Besides what would local affiliates put in place of soap operas? God forbid if they run informercials. That would add to the already decline of TV viewership.

Of course NBC could always switch over to MSNBC and run news for most of the broadcast day.

Some affiliates already have started airing informercials during the weekday afternoon, including NBC O&O WCAU 10.

I don't think it'd be easy to switch to MSNBC. Cable companies would balk - Cablevision already has cable exclusivity of MSNBC in the New York/North Jersey market, and Fios can't carry it. If NBC did that (MSNBC programming run and offered to the local affiliates), cable companies could then insist to drop the cable MSNBC feed, or air it only in digital - meaning less HH, stating "why should we pay for this, and give prime location to, if its programming is already airing on local stations", and NBC would lose that one 70 Million HH cable channel slot that they earned, and so hard tried to get cable to carry in the first place. It's fine balancing act in the end.

What NBC should do is try to help out its primary soap DOOL. Perhaps get more guest stars with recurring roles on it. I mean if Courteney Cox who used to make $1 M / episode from Friends is making much less at whatever role she is doing now and does it, there are many has been actors/actresses that can guest star on something lower than what they did in the past. Atleast that will pump some new life and attention into some soaps. I've noticed on certain soaps, like GH, rather than having a scene with two relatively new characters, they'll have scenes with a familiar character and maybe a new one - this way a viewer who hasn't tuned in a while, will be able to recognize and maybe follow some of whats going on, based on the familiar character.

KNBC over the summer aired infomercials at 12 noon right after the 11 AM news. Those cable deals don't last more than a few years before renegotiation. Local stations are already aired, by law, on local cable companies. If the product was moved to the primary station, they'd still have to air it. With the upcoming Obama administration likely to add many new broadcast, cable, satellite, internet and phone regulations, you can bet that cable and satellite providers will be required to carry subchannels.

The local primary signal can add programming. If stations attempt to put MSNBC on a subchannel, the MSNBC network as a cable channel isn't safeguarded. Cable companies would then view the MSNBC channel as a national feed of an OTA source (e.g. TBN, Univision, Pax/ion), and could insist to put in on digital cable / higher tiered packages (requiring a box), and ask that it be offered for free, meaning possibly less HH reach, and maybe little compensation, in return for that cable network. So, its a gain in one area, but loss in another.

Local stations can elect must-carry or retransmission consent. NBC, the big cheese owning O&Os in the major markets, and most large affiliates which follow in return, do the latter, and they insist for payment for their source and carriage of multiple cable networks, which MSNBC is classified as, as well. Cable companies might see see the duplication (MSNBC carried on a digital subchannel OTA for free, and part-time during the day) and have the option of objecting, but its possible they might not. Anyways, unfortunately I'm sure NBC would still try to milk getting more retransmission payment from the cable provider, even though now NBC seems to offer less and less substantial programming to the viewer, as its pretty much the trend. Increased programming costs, more commercials, more channels to split, but less programming.

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

Next thing that happens: NBC gets out of daytime.
With only "Days Of Our Lives" between the "Today"
show and "Nightly News," and the soap apparently
headed for the scrap heap, expect the affiliates to
have all the time between 11 AM and 6:30 PM.

CBS has already hinted about scrapping the CBS Evening News. All 3 early evening newscasts must go. There is no need for them anymore. You can get your news anytime. You don't need them and their ratings prove that. Local stations must become just that.

Not only that, but local stations have proven they can get footage of ANY news story regardless of where on earth the story happened. Heck, they can even GO LIVE for live direct coverage of an event whenever they want to (Though generally speaking, such practice is currently limited to places where one station has a sister station in the area where the event is).

There is no need to have a network affiliation anymore. NBC could easily become a cable/satellite/internet only service and wouldn't lose a viewer. In fact, it may gain viewers and lose the regulatory problems.

All the OTA networks would benefit from this model now that the cable/satellite networks have pretty much taken over and captivated the American (And dare I say Canadian as well?) TV audience.

As for PBS, it could be split into two three networks which could be aired as digital sub-channels in HD for its affiliates or as seperate cable/satellite networks.

PBS Kids (Basically what Sprout is now)
PBS Educational (An education channel geared towards those seeking higher education)
PBS Entertainment (Basically what Bravo used to be before NBC Universal ruined it)

Thoughts?

Cheers

 

[JeeperOne]

Hi everyone:

I see it for what it is, a cost cutting procedure.

NBC will do this to save money as long as the current TV schedules are in place.

Unless CSI, Desperate Housewives, House end their runs in 2011 or so, NBC will be this way for a while.

Agreed.

FOX isn't setting the world on fire so far; in fact NBC has performed better than them.

The World Series was a joke this year, and House isn't no.1 in it's timeslot thanks to some boring storylines in my opinion.

The only reason they will get out of it is beacause American Idol comes back one month from now.

And 24 also returns next month and, assuming the last year's writer's strike hasn't already killed its popularity with its forced no-show, will also help boost the ratings of FOX.

Also, let's not forget that NBC has the Super Bowl this year. You can bet they're gonna make a big production out of that (Hopefully the game itself will be just as good as last year's, only with a little more scoring ).

I also feel that Cable TV is making more headways than I thought.

Yeah, but compared to satellite, even cable is rapidly becoming dated technology for just about anything except the Internet.

One wonders what would happen if the "legacy" networks give up their newscasts and daytime soap operas.

I'm certain affliates may find some room during that time, but not much.

I see TV reverting back to the Golden Age of the 1950s & 1960s.

Thoughts?

Cheers

 

[Mike Sheridan]

I think we are seeing the death of TV. My viewing has gone way down in the last couple of years. Everytime I find a show I like it gets canned. Must be the generation gap.

Well the good thing is now with DVD's an the internet I really don't need TV all that much. This is from someone who grew up in front of the tube and can tell you the TV stations, their network affiliation and call letters of stations I watched as a kid and haven't seen in 44 years (we moved).

I used to like some of the cable/satellite channels but their quality has gone down as well.

Remember when NBC used to put on great shows "In Color" so that parent company RCA could sell more sets? Those were the days! You won't see me getting an HDTV anytime soon and I'm often on the leading edge of technology.

 

[bpatrick]

There's not much to cancel at 10 EXCEPT
"Law & Order" and its spinoffs ("ER" ends
at the end of this season); the question is,
would NBC move them to 9 and let Dick Wolf
have his 20-year, tying-with-"Gunsmoke" run?

As for "Days Of Our Lives": if NBC cancels it,
don't be surprised to see more judge shows and
infomercials. Some of us have suggested that
CBS cancel "Guiding Light" and pick up "Days,"
since it has the same distributor (Sony Pictures
Television) as "The Young And The Restless."
However, "GL" is safe through 2009, but after that,
who knows?

 

[easttxtv]

According to this message board posting

http://deidrehall.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=5353&highlight=renewed

NBC now gives Days till 2010, with strings attached (including the possibility of another extension). Not sure how well the show will do later on, with the reported firings of 2 of it's major stars, sure won't help with ratings....

 

[imhomerjay]

I think we are seeing the death of TV. My viewing has gone way down in the last couple of years. Everytime I find a show I like it gets canned. Must be the generation gap.

Well the good thing is now with DVD's an the internet I really don't need TV all that much. This is from someone who grew up in front of the tube and can tell you the TV stations, their network affiliation and call letters of stations I watched as a kid and haven't seen in 44 years (we moved).

I used to like some of the cable/satellite channels but their quality has gone down as well.

Remember when NBC used to put on great shows "In Color" so that parent company RCA could sell more sets? Those were the days! You won't see me getting an HDTV anytime soon and I'm often on the leading edge of technology.

We're not witnessing the death of TV (one person's experience does not a national trend make). What we're seeing is the broadcasters struggling to determine how to remain relevant in a narrowcasting world. TV viewing on the whole continues to increase slightly (even when adjusted for a growing population), but people aren't going to tune in--ever--in the same kinds of numbers they once did when three or so channels ruled the universe. When you can get comedy or music or kids shows or history shows or movies etc. around the clock, broadcast TV is on a path to become essentially a glorified version of the general-entertainment cable nets (a la USA...and for NBC, it would probably be a big step up to be as remotely successful as USA at this point).

 

[landtuna]

Yeah, but compared to satellite, even cable is rapidly becoming dated technology for just about anything except the Internet.

I don't understand this statement. In my backyard DTV and digital cable are virtually identical in offerings and price. The major difference being slightly better reliability via sat because the cable operator (Cox) is a textbook customer service joke. In areas where customer service is equal between services then weather-related outages might be the determining factor. Also in my area I can get internet service over the same cable coax whereas I need separate feeds using DTV for TV and cable/DSL for internet.