Vol. 127 No. 27 66th Year 1997 A Cahne Bud Pax Station to Create No.7. No.3 on List of yil Groups Plans Next Network Hollywood Turnov is Toll on Prime Tim Subscriber Losses Mount at TCI Karmázin Says ash: is For Closers ******{*********ALL FOR ADC lilililili mlllIiiiililinlilnillnhllilnillnl 8C075134 AUG98 EEGB 2182 JOH`l C JOHNSON KTIn-T! 979 NEPTUNE BLVC BILLIIGE, MT 59105-2125 www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com 11''S ALREADY BOUGHT BY NEW YORK WNYW LOS ANGELES KTTV CHICAGO WGN DALLAS KTXA 1111111111111111 1111111 DREW CAREY SHOW Available Fall '99 WARNER BROS. Inc. DOMESTIC TELEVISION Mohawk Productois DISTRIBUTION in association with A Time Warner Entertainment comprai. Warner Bros. Te a iision C1947 wane Rm. All Rat. Rewmut www.americanradiohistory.com DREW OR FALSE? THE ONLY 9:30 SHOW TO IMPROVE ON ITS LEAD -IN THIS DECADE IS NOW READY FOR PRIME ACCESS... www.americanradiohistory.com http: //www.broadcastingcable.com &lust Reading from Fmtlack June 30, 1997 1 TOP OF THE WEEK / 4 Musical chairs TV networks spent last week getting rid of the old to make way for the new. Big changes took place in the executive suites at ABC, Fox, UPN and CBS. / 4 TCI faces sinking sub numbers, but profits are up Tele- Communications Inc.'s flurry of deals to hand off systems to other operators isn't the only way the company is shrinking its subscriber hase. When the second quarter closes this week, the MSO will once again have suffered sharp internal losses in basic and pay cable customers. But its cost -cutting is boosting profits. / 8 Potential partners eye PCS venture European telecommunications compa- and France Telecom are buying out the three cable Stu Bloomberg nies Deutsche Telekom considering was named chair- partners in the Sprint PCS joint venture, a sign that a long- awaited partnership restructur- man of ABC ing is gathering steam. / 10 Entertainment. / 6 No spectrum fees in budget bills Broadcasters dodged spectrum fees last week as the balanced budget package passed in the House and the Senate. The threat is not completely dispensed, however. / 14 Ralph Everett's Ratings deal in limbo Broadcasters' demands for legislative assurances from lawmakers and advo- quest for the FCC cacy groups last week stalled an expected deal on TV ratings. Before they sign off on a modified ratings chairmanship want a a three -year moratorium on TV ratings legislation. 14 has picked up system, broadcasters guarantee of / momentum. 18 Supreme Court rejects CDA With the Supreme Court's decisive rejection of Congress's attempt to regulate Internet content, 'Net critics scramble to find a way to make cyberspace safe for kids. / 16 CABLE / 66 CBS commissions sales force Thomson out at TC/ Leo Hindery continues to re- In an effort at motivation, sales reps in shape TCI top management, as Bob Thomson of TCI's me- the CBS -owned television sales force, dia relations team departed last week. More are likely to fol- who now earn about 75% of their com- low, observers say. / 66 pensation from salary, will work on Magness will straight commission starting July 1. 48 / contested Sharon PolyGram will try `Total Recall' Magness, widow of TCI PolyGram Television has acquired the Chris Spencer will host 'vibe.' /49 founder Bob Magness, has U.S. distribution rights to Alliance Corn- filed a lawsuit contesting munications' production of Total Recall: The Series. Poly - her late husband's will, Gram Television President Bob Sanitsky says the series will which left her $35 million. Fox /Liberty will be bidding against rival Star Trek and other sci -fi hits. / 48 The bulk of the estate was ESPN for sports rights. / 68 ABC will roll out children's radio nationally left to two sons from Magness's first marriage. / 66 ABC Radio Networks last week touted listenership surveys TECHNOLOGY /75 for Radio Disney that show audience response on a par with two similarly targeted ABC networks. / 65 KGO-TV taps Tek for news conversion KGO -TV, the ABC O &O in San Francisco, has chosen Tektronix to COVER STORY replace its entire news production system with a disk -based Bud Paxson adjusts architecture in a deal worth almost $5 million. / 76 his sights Lowell "Bud" Pixson has already built the n.ltioi's seventh over -the -air Peacock in the Web NBC will become the first tclev sion network. But Pax- major broadcast network to get serious about interactive son I )oks to change his programing this fall when it builds interactive elements ' nfcMall" to a different into prime time and weekend content. / 79 kind of network. / 42 Cove.- photo by John Lopinot/ Changing Hands 54 Datebook 95 In Brief 100 Black Star Classified 82 Editorials 102 Network Ratings 53 Closed Circuit 18 Fates & Fortunes...98 Washington Watch..28 Broadcasting & Cable June 30 1997 3 www.americanradiohistory.com Broadcasting & Cable Churn up, shares down in L.A. I uunover among programers cited by some as disruptive to long -term strategies By Lynette Rice boss, issued this state- HOLLYWOOD ment last week: "Since my first years in televi- Six percent fewer sion, I'd heard incredi- households tuned ble things about Stu and in broadcast tele- his skills as a creative vision last season? executive, so it's a priv- If you're a network ilege to finally get to executive that's easy collaborate with him. enough to rationalize: And selfishly, I'm also distinctive programing looking forward to hav- was out, copycat pro- ing someone alongside graming was in. There me in the hot seat." was too little strategy For the creative com- and too much mudsling- munity, it was a mind - ing. And forget about blowing turn of events. trying to present a uni- "I've known Stu for fied front against cable. about 12 years, and I've One reason seldom spent maybe a total of 12 voiced is instability at the minutes with Jamie," helm, despite the fact that says one producer who has executive turnover at the net- a show on the ABC schedule works has become as com- next season. "Who do I monplace as their reliance on call ?" in -house production. Person- Yet the revolving door at nel changes in programing ABC was in motion before can often mean a change in last season, especially for strategy for prime time, not to those involved in freshman mention a whole new set of Fox's 'Party of Five'-which debuted in 1994 to slow growth until It series that now sit on the ideas about what makes a hit pay dirt last season -survived two network presidents, Sandy cutting room floor. Grushow (I) and John Matoian (c), and is into its third, Peter Roth. good show. When the producers of "Never in history has there been such a when ABC President Bob Iger Relativity. for instance, were pitching revolving door of executives," says announced that Entertainment President the drama to ABC, the meeting includ- Jamie Kellner, CEO of The WB- which, Jamie Tarses -whom he and other Dis- ed Harbert, Bloomberg, Shepherd, and unlike its network competitors, has ney executives recently defended as Steve Tao -the last two of whom were enjoyed some stability in its top slots. needing no help -was about to get a drama executives. Since then, every "And people scratch their heads and new supervisor: Stu Bloomberg. one of those executives has a new title wonder why the shares are going down. A 19 -year veteran of the network, or new responsibilities elsewhere. Tars - There's no stability. Nobody's there long Bloomberg was named chairman of es ultimately embraced the series, enough to get their stride going." ABC Entertainment -a post vacated in which nevertheless died because of low "It genuinely takes two years to fig- January by network veteran Ted Harbert ratings and a dismal Saturday night slot. ure out any business," says Peter (see box, page 6). Bloomberg also rep- "[Executive turnover] is most rele- Chernin, president of News Corp., resented the ninth executive change in vant to shows on the bubble, shows that which owns the Fox network. "There's prime time series development at ABC if they were embraced might have a always a learning curve, which comes in the past 12 months, starting with chance to succeed but [otherwise] will with huge cost ramifications. A new Tarses' hire, through some early in- surely fail," says one studio head. person will want to throw out the old house promotions and the addition of Bloomberg isn't buying the instabil- stuff, overspending to make their mark number-two Rob Dwek and extending ity theory or a causal connection with on the market.... Senior corporate man- to the departure of programing execu- what's right or wrong with prime time agement can be accused of shortsight- tives Kim Fleury, Mike Rosenfeld and, programing. edness. But on the flip side, there's a most recently, Greer Shepherd. "I think all it speaks to is that this is a time when change is appropriate." Tarses, who has indicated a willing- tough job and ABC is just recognizing ABC would say that time came for ness to stick around despite having what it takes to get this done," the number -three network last week, been one of the last to learn of her new Bloomberg told BROADCASTING & June 301997 Broadcasting & Cable www.americanradiohistory.com www.americanradiohistory.com 'Top of the Week CABLE. "If we can take advantage of the creative muscle the network has, that's Networks play musical chairs what were going to do." HOLLYWOOD -Throwing out the old to make way for the new applies And some bubble shows can survive not only to the fall schedules but also to the executive suites of the in spite of changes at the top.