MyNetwork TV a network or not
Bob Cesa, EVP/Advertising Sales Twentieth Television & DIRECTV, spoke to TVBR on Friday about the new News Corp./Fox TV network, "MyNetwork TV," (2/23/06 TVBR #38).
We hear there's a bit of an issue out there as to whether MyNetwork TV is really a network or not.
Care to clarify?
"When something is new, some may not have heard everything the way we wanted it to come out. First of all, it is a network service that we're starting. We going to run in-pattern, just as the WB and UPN networks did, with the same stations. We haven't, certainly, cleared all of the stations. We've got a long way to go, but our launch pad is our 10 stations that reach 25% of the country. Some of the things that set us apart from the traditional network model is that we're going to be more station-friendly, in that we're giving them a lot more avails in primetime than they get from any other network platform. In addition to that, what's making us different is that we're going to run strip programs in primetime, as opposed to a checkerboard. And essentially, it's a better opportunity for the stations because they get to keep all the primetime inventory that they never had before. We think that will tie in great with the local promotion because if you're a local station, a huge amount of the money that you make (at least when I was a local salesman years ago), over 50% of the revenue came from our primetime avails. And they didn't have any, because I worked at WCBS NY. Well, if you turn around and instead of giving them three or four minutes, you're giving them nine, it's in their best interest to promote the network. Because they stand to make the most money and the only way they can do that is to draw an audience. That's why we named it MyNetwork TV-so it will be My News and My Sports on Channel 9, whatever it happens to be. In addition, we're not asking them to vanilla their shoulder programming-we're not asking them to take programs that may not work in their marketplace. And not being critical of what The WB is doing, but running Reba or running ER may not work in a lot of markets. It doesn't complement what they're trying to do. With our platform, we're not trying to program those time periods."
Are you going to participate in the network television upfront?
"Yes, my group is will be selling the programming, the network. We're going to have a huge amount of original programming. We're going to provide more original programming to the television stations as a percent of our primetime lineup than anybody else."
What are you doing about going after other affiliates, other than the UPN 10?
"From the day the announcement was made, we've been talking to television stations from around the country, certainly the former UPN affiliates and the former WB affiliates are the ones we're going to be talking to first."
How about offering more dayparts down the road than prime?
"Right now they're just going to concentrate on primetime. If we're successful and we fell that we have the right programming and the stations feel we can offer them something better than they can produce either locally or buy on a syndicated basis, I'm sure we will look at it. We have a number of backup programs in development. We have a huge development strategy going forward. We have the assets of News Corp., which are television production company, the theatrical division, the sports division, the news division. And then we can draw on our program partners from around the world-BskyB, Star, Sky Italy, etc. We're going to use all of those assets to help us develop programs for the future. And we're going to try something that's a little different. We're going to try strips and see how they work. Strips are very successful in network television. Look at The Today Show, GMA, The Tonight Show, Letterman, their news. The highest rated syndicated shows-Wheel, Jeopardy, ET, Oprah. They've been on the air for years and years as strips, but they've never been tried in primetime because it's too difficult to do if you're used to checkerboarding across your primetime lineup. So we have an opportunity to try something different. We really think the novellas are the way to go because of the success they've had overseas. The acculturated Hispanics, we think, are going to really support these shows."
Good Morning - Gain a personal edge on today's business day. Are you reading this from a forwarded email?
