of ,Television CABLE TNT marshals long -form program forces / 18 RADIO PC's: Radio's newest receiver/27 TELEVISION o/-Q rro o vnot The big get bigger /29 ADVERTISING Lifetime cozies up to advertisers / 42 í Vol. 123 No.12 62nd.Year 1993 $2.95 .r ...TRIB NE'S Á`Cahners Publicatioh DOWDLE c 1993, United States Satellite Broadcasting, Inc HBO arid Cinemax are registered tradomorki of Time L.P. Movie and FLIX sac16k0`+ Warner Entertainment Company, Showtime,The Channel, are ?r marks of Showtime Networks Inc. MTV: Music Television, Nickelodeon /Nick At Nita, end' :.. VH -1 /Video Hits One are registered trademarks of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom " International Inc. - DAWN OF A NEWAGE. SHOWTIME When USSB begins Direct Broadcast HBO Service in March of CINEMAX 1994, every U.S. home will have direct THE MOVIE CHANNEL access to an FLIX unprecedented array of programming including MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION these premiere VH -1 /VIDEO HITS ONE entertainment networks. Keep tuned to DBS NICKELODEON/ and watch the dawn NICK AT NITE of a new age in television. United States Satellite Broadcasting, Inc. 3415 University Ave., St. Paul, MN 55114 612- 642-4580 BSS Fast Ttack MUST READING FROM BROADCASTING & CABLE CABLE USER FEE CONSIDERED The FCC is considering charging cable a user fee of up to $30 million a year to cover the cost of regulation. Snaps NCTA's James Mooney: "It sounds like a good use for the money broadcasters derive from retransmission consent." / 6 L.A. -based Times Mirror Co. is on the verge of selling its four network affiliates to Argyle Communications, industry sources say. / 7 Networks News executives were riled last week by the meeting between ABC's slow to join rush to multiplex./ 10 Roone Arledge and GE's Jack Welch on how beleaguered NBC News can right its course. "It's a clear-cut conflict of interest," fumed one network official. / 7 `NIGHTLINE' CLEARANCES COURTED ABC will offer affiliates seven 30-second spots a week-five in "Nightline" and one each in "20/20" and "Prime Time Live "-to boost "Nightline "'s live clearances, now at about 60%. The network will also delay the start of the show to give affiliates an extra five minutes of lucrative local news time. / 12 FIN -SYN COMPROMISE A Koppel's forays into field help boost 'Nightline' numbers, position it for POSSIBILITY upcoming late -night scramble. / 12 A "fin- but- no -syn" scheme, which would allow the networks a finan- cial stake in their programs but preclude syndication rights, is gaining currency at the FCC and elsewhere. A final vote by the commission is due April 1, and the compromise seems to be the only viable plan on tap. / 14 TURNER INVESTS FOR THE LONG FORM Aspiring to quality over quantity, TNT will increase budgets for its upcoming movie projects from an average of $2.7 million per film to around $5 million. The network's higherbrow roster will include "A Life in the Theater," starring Jack Lemmon and Matthew Broderick in a production of David Mamet's play, and "Zelda," starring Natasha Richardson in the title role of the wife On the Cover of F. Scott Fitzgerald. / 18 James C. Dowdle's Tribune Broadcasting Empire now comprises WORLD AFRICAN NETWORK READIES FOR LAUNCH seven TV's, two AM's A premium service offering theatrical films, made -for's, TV and two FM's, plus series, documentaries and concerts geared to an African Tribune Entertainment American audience is scheduled to launch in 1994. The World and Grant /Tribune African Network, headed by Unity Broadcasting's Eugene Productions. That's only Jackson, will carry a retail price of $9.95 monthly. / 20 the beginning, as this week's cover story CBS will pick up the syndicated "Beakman's World" for Saturday morn- details. / 15 ings next fall. /21 "Two years ago, a lot of people questioned whether DBS was even going to make it. Now the question is, how big is it going to get ?" -Jim Dowdle, Tribune Broadcasting / 15 4 Mar22 1993 Broadcasting & Cable Ad /Marketing 41 Fates & Fortunes 60 Radio 27 Business 32 Fifth Estater 59 Ratings Week 26 Changing Hands 33 For the Record 54 Special Report 29 Closed Circuit 63 In Brief 64 Top of the Week 6 Datebook 53 Monday Memo 58 Washington 36 Editorials 66 Programing 15 Washington Watch ....40 MARCH 22, 1993 Jeff Zucker, doing double duty as executive producer of both "NBC Nightly News" and "Today" for the past two months, will return to the morning show exclusively. / 22 USSB SIGNS JC PENNEY FOR BILLING United States Satellite Broadcasting fitted another piece into its DBS puzzle last week by signing JC Penney Business Services to handle customer ser- vice and billing. / 24 Court TV is mobilizing a citizens' army to fight for TV access to state courts. l 25 Spectrum showdown: Brown, Inouye at odds over broadcasters' inclusion in auctions. /36 SOUND IDEA FOR COMPUTERS Calling sound "just another kind of data," an Alexandria -based entrepreneur has launched a radio service available not over the air but via computer. Carl Malamud's first show- "Geek of the Week," consisting of interviews with prominent engineers-will be distributed to a potential audience of two million on the Internet computer network. /27 San Diego will get its first duopoly when Par Broadcasting buys Edens' KKLQ- AM -FM. Capcities/ABC entered the duopoly market last week with its purchase of an Atlanta station from NewCity. / 28 LITTLE MOVEMENT IN TOP 25 With its purchase of WATL(TV) Atlanta, Fox Broadcasting moved up to the No. 5 spot in BROADCASTrn1G 8e CABLE's annual ranking of the top 25 TV groups, based on audience pene- tration. Chris -Craft increased its reach from 11% to 18%. / 29 NETWORK OFFERS AIR-FOR-EQUITY SWAP Capcities /ABC hopes to lure cash -poor companies to its ad inventory by offering a cash - free exchange of airtime for equity. In return for a stake in a company, usually 15 % -25 %, Capcities will provide time on its media properties, including the ABC TV network, its 08e0's, ESPN and ABC Radio. /32 A new report released last week on cable TV predicts that, by the end of the decade, the industry will face direct competition from DBS and tel- cos in 60 million homes passed. / 34 AT ODDS ON SPECTRUM Commerce Secretary Ron Brown has told Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Daniel Inouye that the administration does not want to exempt commercial broad- casters from any future spectrum auctions. Inouye favors the exemption, and says his bill will keep the proviso intact. / 36 'Sim psons' ranked No. 1 among Hispanic households. /41 Former FCC chairman Al Sikes will head up Hearst Corp.'s New Media and Technology Group, created to find ways to combine Hearst's resources with computers, telephones and satellites. l 37 HISPANIC HOMES TUNE TO FOX A Nielsen survey of Hispanic viewers indicates that Fox shows tend to be the favorites in English-speaking Hispanic households. Older -skewing CBS was absent from the top 25. Telemundo and Univision are favored in Spanish -dominant households. / 41 Broadcasting & Cable Mar 22 1993 a The efforts of local news staffers included everything from providing information about storm damage to at least one case, as illustrated, assisting in the rescue of a stranded hiker. Despite hazardous road conditions, some stations dispatched crews to the Great Smoky Mountains in North Carolina and Tennessee to cover the rescue of 117 Michigan students lost during the weekend's fury. TV rallies to cover storm Television station news departments up and down the East Coast rose to the challenge of covering what many are calling the storm of the century over the weekend of March 13 -15 (see page 13). FCC is considering user fees for cable Commission, after urging from White House, is studying how it might charge industry to cover regulatory costs of implementing Cable Act By Harry A. lessell National Cable Television Associa- $129 million. It has reportedly asked tion President James Mooney, unen- Congress for an additional $20 million Cable will not only have to submit thusiastic about the prospect of cable's for 1993 to cope with the cable bur- to regulation, it may have to pay paying for its own regulation, offered den. for it as well. an alternative for funding the cost of The FCC may have the authority to Under pressure from the Clinton ad- cable regulation. "It sounds like a impose user fees. But as a rule, it asks ministration, according to industry and good use for the money broadcasters for congressional approval. A propos- agency sources, the FCC is consider- derive from retransmission consent." al last year to raise $71 million in user ing imposing user fees on cable of up Even before the Cable Act became fees on all media was passed by the to $30 million a year to cover the cost law, the FCC was complaining that it House but died in the Senate. of administering the many new cable lacks the resources to effectively im- The FCC's financial troubles and its regulations spawned by the 1992 Ca- plement and administer the many rules plans for solving them should get a ble Act. mandated by the Cable Act. Last fall, complete airing this Thursday (March Behind the initiative is the Office of it estimated the cost of cable regula- 25) when Acting FCC Chairman Management and Budget, which is tion would fall between $20 million James Quello is scheduled to testify looking to cut costs and raise new and $50 million a year.