Video: The Big Boys' Blues

Challenged by cable, VCRs and an audience eager to zap, the networks face the most troubled fall in their history

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Are chintzy-looking game shows and talk shows in prime time the next step? No, network executives insist. "Our leg up is providing a distinctive service to our affiliates, who more and more are getting their doors knocked on by syndicators," says NBC's Tartikoff. "If you go down in costs, you give up what makes you a distinctive service." Not that distinctive: Geraldo Rivera, whose live specials on Al Capone's vaults and the drug trade have drawn high ratings in syndication, will do an NBC special later this month, Devil Worship: Exposing Satan's Underground.

One place the networks have gone in an effort to alleviate their cost squeeze is Washington. Because of federal regulations, the networks can * produce only a limited number of their own shows and cannot share in the lucrative syndication market (selling the reruns of hit shows to local stations and cable). The networks are lobbying hard to remove such restrictions. Says ABC's Murphy: "The three networks want a level playing field."

The networks are also counterattacking by looking to expand their advertising to magazines, movie theaters, billboards and other media. "We can't depend on promoting next week's shows on this week's, because people are less habitual," says David Poltrack, CBS's senior vice president of planning and research. ABC has started placing commercials on cable. NBC has even put flyers for its shows in boxes of TDK videocassettes.

Meanwhile, a subtle shift is taking place in the networks' traditional programming strategy. While all networks still long for a mass-audience hit like The Cosby Show or Who's the Boss?, they are now more willing to take a chance on shows with a smaller, more targeted audience. ABC's thirtysomething and CBS's Tour of Duty probably would not have survived on network TV ten years ago. Today, when the audience levels needed for prime-time success are lower, both have been renewed. "Tour of Duty gets a 10.8 rating and a 17 share," says Poltrack. "It wouldn't have lasted three weeks in the '70s. But it is considered a good buy ((by advertisers)) because it appeals to young men. The networks have gone from broadcasting to narrowcasting."

Yet it is mostly business as usual at the networks, a dangerous attitude while new technological advances loom on the horizon. An estimated 2.2 million homes get their TV programming via home satellite dishes. That number could grow as dishes come down in size and cost, especially if companies begin programming directly for the home-satellite audience. Satellite distribution could also upset the traditional relationship between networks and their affiliates. Local news operations can get reports via satellite from syndicated services, or directly from sister stations in other cities, rather than depending on the network. Some news executives warn that stations could one day assemble their own national newscasts instead of picking up the CBS Evening News or ABC's World News Tonight. Suppliers of prime-time programming too could someday abandon the network middleman and distribute their wares directly to stations via satellite. So far, however, there is no sign that stations are ready to give up the financial rewards of being a network affiliate for the uncertainty of independence.

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