Vol. 6 No. 42 THE NEWS MAGAZINE OF THE MEDIA November 4. 1996 $2.95 MARKET INDICATORS Others' Eyes AreonUSA National TV: Quiet Available inventory is at a 15-25 percent premi- Failed Viacom/MCA deal may have put the No.4 cable net in playPAGE 4 um. Although there is money in the marke-., CBS and The WB are CHILDREN'S TV out of sale; other nets are juggling inventory What's the to find spots for those with dollars to spend. Trouble With First-quarter options are looking strong and scat- Kids Today? ter may begin early. Surprising tumble Net Cable: Moving in ratings has nets Several million dollars are working in fourth- scrambling to keep quarter scatter, but net- advertisers happy works are filling up. As inventory tightens, PAGE 5 CPMs are up, with increases at 5-7 percent TV STATIONS above upfront rates. Mixing It Up Spot TV: Moribund Politicals are surprising- On Liquor Ads ly slovkl'coming into Election Day, particular- Texas station owner ly in the Northeast. vows to lead D.C. Radio: Slow .fight to air spots Despite Hollywood's PAGE 5 winter -movie kickoffs, most markets remain OUT -OF -HOME sluggish. The Northeast, particularly, continies to Dorna Set disappoint. Political ads, which dry up tomorrow, To Be Flipped Commission would take helped a bit. Rotating sports a more aggressive stanc Magazines: Upbeat signage company There is renewed confi- during a second Clinton dence that automotive to get new owner will stay strong through PAGE 8 Administration '97. European cars, says one mag exec, "are hot 4 5 > as a pistol right now." 4 he's missed three days of work and four issues of Business Week. As professionals and managers, Business Week readers face tremendous demands on their time. Yet, 71% of them find the time to read every issue, every week. And nearly all of them read the magazine within the first three days of its arrival. In return, they get timely news and intelligence that provide real solutions to the challenges they face, plus a handsome return on their most valuable investment-their time. Our 6.7 million readers consider Business Week a must read. That's why many advertisers consider it such an intelligent buy. For information, call Bill Kupper at (212) 512-6945, or e-mail [email protected]. BusinessWeek Beyond news. Intelligence. Sources: 1996 Fall M12.1. Business Week Adjusted Audience; Business Week Estimate for International; 1996 Business Week Subscriber Study. © 1996. by The McGraw-Hill Companies. Inc. A Division of 77e Companies MEDIAWEEK November 4, 1996 http://www.mediaweek.com PAGE 3 Laura K. Jones WU 1 2 1995 AT DEADLINE SportSouth in Atlanta (to be renamed Fox Sports South) and the Animators' Labor Contract Expires Sunshine Network in Florida. The deals will increase the reach of Hollywood's cartoonists were locked in negotiations Friday with FSN from the current 20 million subscribers to 30-35 million. reps from animation studios over terms of a new contract. The previous contract for the 2,000-plus-member Motion Picture The WB Sees 25% Spike in October Screen Cartoonists Local 839 expired last Thursday. The talks October was a good month for The WB. Metered -market affiliates are taking place against a backdrop of increased competition for of the part-time net saw a 25 percent rating increase and a 40 per- hot animators. Where Disney once owned the field, other studios, cent share increase over the previous year. The WB scored an aver- including DreamWorks SKG, Fox, Pixar and Warner Bros., are age 4.5 rating/7 share last month compared to a 3.6/5 for October becoming active in the genre. Salaries, meanwhile, have more '95. The numbers increased despite an added night of program- than doubled in the past several years. A spokesman for the car- ming on Monday. The biggest bump came on Sunday, where the toonists' union would not comment on details of the negotiations. year-to-year rating and share jumped from 2.9/4 to 4.5/7. Netscape Looks to Wall St., Again Pink Slips for 200 New Wonders Netscape Communications Corp. last week filed a INSIDE New World Entertainment has sent notices to plan to raise an additional $96 million as it contin- about 200 non -contract employees that their posi- ues to battle with Microsoft for Internet supremacy. tions will be eliminated as a result of News Corp.'s The offering calls for 5 million shares to be sold at pending acquisition of the company. The layoffs, $47 per share. Three million of those shares are widely believed to be spread out among New coming from four early investors in the company, World's network production, syndication (New all of which bought shares just before Netscape's World/Genesis Distribution) and station divisions, initial public offering in August 1995. The compa- will not take effect until mid -January or later- nies selling shares are: Knight-Ridder, Adobe Sys- when the FCC is expected to approve the transfer tems Inc., Tele-Communications Inc. and Hearst. of station licenses to Fox Television Stations Inc. New World, however, is asking some employees to Emmis Expands in St. Louis stay on after the closing date to help with the own- Emmis Broadcasting Corp. last week announced its ership transition. acquisition of WKBQ-FM and -AM and WKKX- NBC's Ohlmeyer: Sunny FM, all serving the St. Louis market, from Zimco on 'Beach' prospects India to Curb CNN, ESPN, MTV Inc., a division of Zimmer Radio Group, for $42.5 17 The Indian government has barred foreign media million. Emmis also owns and operates KSHE-FM companies from doing business in the country and in St. Louis. The acquired stations will be subject to CABLE told some satellite channels operating there that a time -brokerage agreement that will take effect on 28 their activities may be curbed. Among the channels or about Dec. 1. that may be affected by government restrictions are MAGAZINES News Corp.'s STAR TV, Viacom's MTV, Time Hanna -Barbera Gets New 'Toon Boss 36 Warner's CNN and Disney's ESPN. "This is to The top animation executive at Warner Bros. Tele- safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of the coun- vision is expanding her responsibilities to include NEW MEDIA try," an official said. Hanna -Barbera, as Time Warner continues to mesh 42 its company with newly acquired Turner divisions. Addenda:In one of those blink -of -an -eye Jean MacCurdy, president, Warner Bros. TV Ani- THE MEDIA ELITE Conde Nast personnel switches, Deborah Fine has mation and head of Kids WB, takes on 60 TV 48 been moved from Glamour, where she was series and 1,500 classic shorts from Hanna -Barbera associate publisher, to become the new publisher of now on the air on cable and broadcast networks. Bride's. She replaces Roger Antin, who resigned. Fine has worked in ad sales for Family Circle and Vanity Fair. Ann Fox Sports Finds a Home on WBIS+ Zehern was named associate publisher of G/amour...Paramount Fox Sports Net, which launched last Friday, has struck a deal with Network Television has named Scott Vila to the new post of vp, WBIS+, a New York City TV station that will become a super - drama development, and Brett King to vp, current programs. station next year, to carry 25 hours of Fox Sports News program- Vila will oversee creation of new drama series; King will oversee ming per week. FSN also plans to cement affiliation deals with shows such as Almost Perfect, JAG, Viper and The Sentinel. MEDIAWEEK (ISSN 0155-176X) is published 47 times a year. Regular issues are published weekly except the last week of July and the second and fourthweeks of August and the last two weeks of December by ASM Communications, Inc., a subsidiary of BPI Communications Inc., 1515 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036. Subscriptions are $115 oneyear; $195 two years. Canadian subscriptions $260 per year. All other foreign subscriptions are $260 (using air mail). Registered as a newspaper at the British Post Office.Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y. and additional mailing offices. Subscriber Service (1-800) 722-6658. MEDIAWEEK, 1515 Broadway, New York, NY, 10036. Editorial: New York, (212) 536-5336; Los Angeles, (213) 525-2270; Chicago, (312) 464-8525. Sales (212) 536-6528. Classified (1-800-7-ADWEEK). POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MEDIAWEEK, P.O. Box 1976, Danbury, CT 06813-1976. Copyright, 1996 ASM Communications, Inc. PAGE 4 http://www.mediaweek.com November 4, 1996 MEDIAWEEK USA, Now in P Failed deal between Viacom and Seagram has others eyeing the network CABLE TV / By Michael Bfirgi As the lawsuit between Viacom and Top 10 Cable Networks Seagram, the owners of USA Net- All audience figures in 000s works, turned more acrimonious Network Households last week, interested outside parties 1. TBS Superstation 70,500 have begun contacting both compa- nies expressing interest in acquiring 2. CNN 70,494 the flagship USA Network, one of the most 3. ESPN 70,294 widely distributed and highest -rated cable net- 4. USA Network 70,102 works. 5. Discovery Channel 70,044 In the week following the failed accord 6. TNT 69,636 that would have split the Viacom-MCA part- 7. Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite68,704 nership that owns USA Networks (the deal 8. Nashville Network 67,807 would have sent USA to Viacom and the Sci- 9. Family Channel 67,414 Fi Channel plus $1.45 billion to MCA parent 10. ABE 67,350 Seagram), it appeared that news accounts of Source: Nielsen Media Research, November 1996 that proposal had put USA and Sci-Fi in play.