www broadcastingcable.co MAY 4 he News weekly of ol. 12E $Jo. 19 67tí Yea' 19 *;*********4**{****3-DIGIT 591 hl1lihlnrullll nu 1111181111111111111111111111 BC075184 AUG99 FiEGB JOHN C JCsiNSON 333 KTVq-TV 2b5 WATEETON WR.Y BILLINGS, IT' 54102-7755 www.americanradiohistory.com 24 -hours a day. LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK New York: 212.424.7261. Dallas: 072.458.4600 Los Angeles: 310.556.7528 www.americanradiohistory.com . etime VI iNeÏWOr O t998 Lifetime Entertainment Serviw www.americanradiohistory.com w c f ,1 a 91% of are interestr3eur movie channel to be launched by Lifetime. Ssucr: Keleman Associates. November, lop www.americanradiohistory.com http: //www.broadcastingcable.com Must Reading from °MIA: Fast Pack May 4, 1998 Paxson renders unto TCI Bud Paxson is buying his way back into good graces, agreeing to pay Tele- Communications Inc. up to $27 million to extend car- riage of his start -up Pax Net broadcast network. / 6 CNN Headline News cuts 70 jobs CNN's Headline News is laying off nearly one -quarter of its news production work force. Headline News says automation will reduce staffing demands hut the network has also experienced lower ratings. / 10 Wall CBS cooks in first quarter Street credits Mel Karmazin for CBS's 'Merlin' was NBC's highest -reed mini- impressive first -quarter results. Revenue and profit growth percentages at the owned series for adults 18 -49 since 1984 - TV stations have been in the teens since November of last year. / 14 helping the network tc an easy win in the first week of the May sweeps. / 14 FCC rejects Denver license challenge The FCC last week rejected a Denver group's contention that it should pull four TV licenses because the stations aired too much violence in their local news coverage. / 20 COVER STORY BROA ASTING / 105 Broadcast Parity is Job One Fox keeps the 'Hill' Twenti- TBS Chaim-an Terry McGuirk dis- eth Television kept the most antici- cusses his reservations abort digital, pated off -network series in the fami- cable operators' complaint; and ly, as the 22 Fox owned- and -oper- more. 30 Corer photo by Mar* Hill / ated stations snatched syndication SPECIAL REPORT rights to King of the Hill for some A IooL at the $1.5 million per episode. / 105 hot issues for Take your daughter to 17 8 cable its the ABC shines on Saturday work, Fox style. / 110 industry galher> for the annual ABC's Saturday morning cartoon lineup has been a bright show in Atkmta. / 30 spot in an otherwise dull performance. /105 TECHNOLOGY /118 CABLE / 97 New York 1 buys ASC, Vibrint servers Two CTW, Nick team up in `Suite' deal Children's years alter committing to the DVCPRO format, New York Television Workshop has landed its new children's educa- I News purchases video server systems from ASC Audio tional cable network- Noggin, a 50 -50 joint venture with Video and Vibrint Technologies to migrate its program Nickelodeon, set to debut playback from tape to disk. /118 in January 1999. / 97 Tele / 124 Fox chases Mouse Fox Family Channel will SNL' ready for online? Saturday Night Live debuts online this week, spend $125 million to pro- offering hundreds of skits from a broad- cast history duce 26 original movies, that began in October 1975. / 124 pitting some against Changing Hands... 115 Datebook 139 Fifth Estater 140 ABC's Disney offerings Classified 127 Editorials 146 For the Record 136 on Sunday nights. / 98 Operators In the Trenches' 104 Closed Circuit 16 Fates & Fortunes..141 In Brief 144 Broadcasting & Cable May 4 1998 3 www.americanradiohistory.com Breaking news from 41 Million Source: NIE lean Home Video Index, May '.99E Lniverse Estimate www.americanradiohistory.com MSNBC .. Homes! The people of NBC News are breaking news again with: 41 million households in just 21 months. Guaranteed commitments for 60 million homes NI 40 by the year 2001. Thanks to our affiliates for making MSNBC one of the NBC fastest growing networks on television! www.msnbc.com When You Really Want To Know www.americanradiohistory.com Broadcasting a Cable Paxson renders unto TCI Rln \ cable carriage for Pax Net; WB also cuts 'white -area' deal with TCI. Time Warner By John M. Higgins up front, instead creating 22 land. The default was far from life - cable -only WB "stations" threatening-UBS amended the bank Once a major villain to to be operated by small - agreement in March and is expected to cable operators in the market station owner refinance the loans this week. But must -carry wars, Benedek Broadcasting given Paxson's huge existing debt and Bud Paxson is buying his Corp., which will pay 10%, looming commitments to shift from way back into their good of local ad revenue to the infomercials to cartoons and series like graces-I iteral ly- agree- local systems. Touched by an Angel, securities ana- ing to pay Tele- Communi- Industry executives lysts are looking nervously at a poten- cations Inc. up to $27 mil- familiar with the TCI deal tial $60 million in launch fees to ICI lion to extend carriage of say that Pax Net is paying and other operators. his start -up Pax Net broad- about $6 per subscriber for "1 don't know where he's going to cast network. Paxson on buying each system carrying the get the cash." says one Wall Street cable carriage: 'It's The deal helps to fill out cheaper than buying network on an analog tier to executive. distribution for the Paxson stations.' all of its basic subscribers. But Paxson calls the carriage deal a Communications Inc. Systems putting Pax Net on good bargain. "It's cheaper than buy- chairman's family -oriented network, a digital tier get just $2 per sub. ing stations," he says. "I think this sort scheduled to launch in September. TCI The analog fee is short of the $13.88 of sets the style. Any broadcast net- systems will carry the service in small - per subscriber that Fox News paid work today getting high penetration is town and rural "white areas" where the cable operators two years ago, but in going to have to do a hybrid deal with company has no owned -and -operated line with launch fees paid by networks broadcast and cable." stations or affiliates. The deal could like Animal Planet, HGTV and Car- Paxson wouldn't disclose the size of give Pax Net up to 4.5 million addi- toon Network. the payments to ICI. But he did say tional homes. Paxson's deal is more notable than that the MSO will get avails to resell to The deal is similar in concept to one The WB's because it spotlights Pax local advertisers -more spots per hour that the WB Network cut last week Net's financial strains. in daytime and fewer in prime time. with TCI (and sister Time Warner Inc. In December, Paxson Communica- Pax Net's O &Os and affiliates cur- subsidiary Time Warner Cable) for tions slipped into technical default on a rently cover just 72e% of all TV homes carriage in 22 so- called white markets. $120 million loan package from a bank in the country. The ICI deal, plus a Under that deal, The WB pays nothing group led by Union Rank of Switzer- pending deal with DBS operator PAX NET SNAPSHOT Paxson Communications's new Quinn, Medicine Woman; Diagnosis family programming network Pax ;'Touched by an Murder, Dave's World; I'll Fly Away, Net will launch on broadcast and Angel' is prime Life Goes On; The Father Dowling time's anchor cable Aug. 31. Chairman Lowell program. Mysteries; Christy; Neon Rider; "Bud" Paxson hopes to reach more Promised Land; Eight is Enough; than 80% of U.S. TV households by Head of the Class; Here's Lucy, Alice; launch to beat Fox's launch cover- Love Boat, Highway to Heaven; Bam- age. Only four more months to fill in aby Jones, and Medical Center plus the holes. Here's how things stand. is children's programming by The Walt Disney Co.'s DIC Entertainment. Coverage: Paxson's owned, operat- ed and affiliated network of broadcast stations adds up Personnel: Paxson announced the complete list of exec- to 70 stations reaching 68.2% of U.S. TV homes. Ten of utive personnel on April 16 including general managers those 70 stations are under construction. When on the and sales managers for each of its stations and network air they will constitute 4.3% of the 68.2 %. The coverage sales staff divided into regions. The jobs page on the would jump to nearly 72 %, if low -power stations and Paxson website www.pax.net has been significantly Puerto Rican stations are counted. sized down, but the company still has lower -level hiring Programming Programs to appear regularly on Pax Net are: to do at the stations to fill out its promised 600 new jobs, Touched by an Angel, the network's flagship program; Dr. mostly in sales. -Sara Brown 6 May 4 1998 Broadcasting & Cable www.americanradiohistory.com Programming that Viewers rate A &E a top-ten TV brand for overall quality. With a prime time lineup that's 90 00 original - including one of television's most recognized brands, BIOGRAPHY -A &E is providing programming you'll be proud to give your customers. And we're giving them more television events in '98 - like Tess of the D'urbervilles, July To Die For and the highly anticipated Biography of the Year. Biography The people you thought you knew:" Source: 1998 Epol'erd Survey. 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