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Jan. 25th, 2006 03:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jlhI was thinking about how excited I am that there will be new VM tonight, which reminded me about that WB-UPN merger. (Hence the sifl & olly "I am a media geek" icon rather than the Veronica and Weevil drive off into the sunset icon.)
Honestly? I don't think from a programming perspective that we have too much to worry about. Right now UPN has 6 hours of programming plus wrestling, given all the repeats they run. And WB only has about 8, for the same reason. The CW announcement says they want to program 7 days a week, so that's 15 hours of primetime, given that Sunday starts at 7 and that these stations have a 10pm news program. Right now the two nets together only have 16 hours of programming and half of that is crappy sitcoms like What I Like About You. As CBS CEO Les Moonves pointed out in the announcement, CW has the advantage of having hit shows already on the roster to start out with, and it will be targeting youth, so I can't imagine that too much will change. On the contrary, here in the States it will be better because we won't have two youth shows up against each other, except when Fox is in the mix, and the affiliate listing will probably really improve vs the current UPN list at least. Instead, the combined network will be better able to focus on nipping at Fox's A12-24 heels while Fox is busy trying to beat ABC at the A18-49 game and hoping that NBC takes a long time to recover from the hubris that has landed them in fourth place.
Oh, and Val, remember your rant about all the toons going to cable? CW is projected to have 30 hours of programming, and I have to believe there is some kids early fringe in there someplace. So you may well have animation on Channel 11 in the afternoons once again.
The losers? Well, advertisers in some ways, as now CBS owns half of the consolodated CW (and will likely take over TV sales for it; WB was always a weird fit within Warner Brothers television dominated by older cable like CNN) as well as MTV networks, the majority of youth inventory will be in Les's hot little hands. But in other ways advertisers will be winners: both UPN and WB found it challenging to get affiliates in all 210 US TV markets, a feat Fox achieved by actually building stations where there were none. Other losers will be local affiliates not owned by Paramount (the CBS/Viacom division that started UPN) or Tribune (a separate company that started the WB with Warner Bros and now owns part of CW) who will suddenly find themselves without network prime programming.
In other words, this merger will absolutely not mean that more shows will be cancelled than would ordinarily have been. Hopefully VM is safe, though to be honest I haven't seen the season-to-date ratings or the demo trends or the year-on-year so I'm not swearing to this. That said, VM was mentioned in the press release (I think the only other UPN shows mentioned were the powerhouses of America's Next Top Model and Friday Night Smackdown!), which is a good sign. Let's also hope that the consolodated network will get more visibility and therefore more Emmy nods!
Okay, so now I'm wondering if anyone has written Jeff Zucker/Les Moonves slash, which only confirms that fandom has taken over my brain.
Honestly? I don't think from a programming perspective that we have too much to worry about. Right now UPN has 6 hours of programming plus wrestling, given all the repeats they run. And WB only has about 8, for the same reason. The CW announcement says they want to program 7 days a week, so that's 15 hours of primetime, given that Sunday starts at 7 and that these stations have a 10pm news program. Right now the two nets together only have 16 hours of programming and half of that is crappy sitcoms like What I Like About You. As CBS CEO Les Moonves pointed out in the announcement, CW has the advantage of having hit shows already on the roster to start out with, and it will be targeting youth, so I can't imagine that too much will change. On the contrary, here in the States it will be better because we won't have two youth shows up against each other, except when Fox is in the mix, and the affiliate listing will probably really improve vs the current UPN list at least. Instead, the combined network will be better able to focus on nipping at Fox's A12-24 heels while Fox is busy trying to beat ABC at the A18-49 game and hoping that NBC takes a long time to recover from the hubris that has landed them in fourth place.
Oh, and Val, remember your rant about all the toons going to cable? CW is projected to have 30 hours of programming, and I have to believe there is some kids early fringe in there someplace. So you may well have animation on Channel 11 in the afternoons once again.
The losers? Well, advertisers in some ways, as now CBS owns half of the consolodated CW (and will likely take over TV sales for it; WB was always a weird fit within Warner Brothers television dominated by older cable like CNN) as well as MTV networks, the majority of youth inventory will be in Les's hot little hands. But in other ways advertisers will be winners: both UPN and WB found it challenging to get affiliates in all 210 US TV markets, a feat Fox achieved by actually building stations where there were none. Other losers will be local affiliates not owned by Paramount (the CBS/Viacom division that started UPN) or Tribune (a separate company that started the WB with Warner Bros and now owns part of CW) who will suddenly find themselves without network prime programming.
In other words, this merger will absolutely not mean that more shows will be cancelled than would ordinarily have been. Hopefully VM is safe, though to be honest I haven't seen the season-to-date ratings or the demo trends or the year-on-year so I'm not swearing to this. That said, VM was mentioned in the press release (I think the only other UPN shows mentioned were the powerhouses of America's Next Top Model and Friday Night Smackdown!), which is a good sign. Let's also hope that the consolodated network will get more visibility and therefore more Emmy nods!
Okay, so now I'm wondering if anyone has written Jeff Zucker/Les Moonves slash, which only confirms that fandom has taken over my brain.
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-25 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-26 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-01-26 11:20 am (UTC)What I Like About You
Date: 2006-01-27 03:20 pm (UTC)Re: What I Like About You
Date: 2006-01-28 12:49 am (UTC)Which I'm going to do, sort of. Okay, so What I Like About You isn't the worst sitcom on the nets; I admit I didn't want to slam Eve because she's a friend of a friend. But I do think What I Like About You is pretty crappy. I can't reveal why it was at the top of my mind without giving away personal info; that slam could have been against anything except Chris and maybe Girlfriends which I actually think can be quite clever. I'm sure What I Like About You is compatible to Reba, but you know, Half and Half is compatible with Everybody Loves Chris and that still doesn't make it good. And I wasn't saying that it wouldn't get renewed; all I said was that it is crappy, and I stand by that comment.
Burn in hell? Come on now.
Re: What I Like About You
Date: 2006-01-28 01:00 am (UTC)If anyone owes anyone an apology, it's you - for being rude, and a coward. I don't even care about whatever point you're trying to make, because antagonism and flat-out insanity never make for a decent argument.
Go away and come back when you've had some Ritalin and grown a pair.