September 5, 2005
WB Network Moves to Attract an Older Audience
By RICHARD SIKLOS
NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/05/business/media/05warner.html?pagewanted=print
With a roster of new television programs beginning on Sept. 13, the WB
Network will be sending an emphatic but unspoken message to viewers: this
is not your teenage daughter's WB.
One new program features Don Johnson, now 55, in a legal drama about a
teenage law whiz, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer; another has Mr. Johnson's
ex-wife, Melanie Griffith, in a new situation comedy.
These 1980's stalwarts join returning shows featuring adult stars like
Treat Williams, Reba McEntire and Fran Drescher. While the network
continues to have its share of youth-oriented shows, from "One Tree Hill"
to "Smallville," it is moving a long way from the "tween" fare - like
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Dawson's Creek" and "Felicity" - that put the
10-year-old network on the map in the late 90's.
And, as if to underline the point, WB recently dropped the vintage Warner
Brothers cartoon character Michigan J. Frog as its mascot.
"A month from now, when many of our shows will have premiered, there's
going to be a bit of a shift perceived by the viewer," said Garth Ancier,
the network's chairman. "What you need to see is sprouts coming out of the
ground."
The shift is part of an effort to revitalize the WB after a two-year slump
in which the company failed to deliver a breakout hit. But it also comes
amid mounting pressure on the network's corporate parent, Time Warner, and
particularly Time Warner's 22.5 percent partner, the Tribune Company, which
owns 19 WB affiliate stations. Those include the network's anchor markets
in the Chicago, Los Angeles and New York metropolitan areas, where Tribune
owns newspapers.
In the broadcast season that ended in May, the WB attracted an average of
3.4 million viewers in prime time, according to Nielsen Media Research -
300,000 fewer than the year before, and 1.4 million fewer than it attracted
in 1998-99, its best season.
While the WB is a small piece of a big puzzle for its owners, a lot is
riding on how Mr. Johnson and his colleagues fare this season. Time Warner
and Tribune took the unusual step of renewing the WB's affiliate agreement
with Tribune for only the current season, instead of the common multiyear
deal. Both sides say that they are strongly committed to continuing the
relationship, but were hung up on how to parse payments for new media
outlets like video-on-demand and the Internet.
As a rule, independently owned TV stations whose prime-time programming is
provided through their affiliations with national networks command higher
advertising rates. Still, the WB, Barry Lucas, an analyst with Gabelli &
Company, says, "has not necessarily been a great business model" for the
Tribune stations lately. An affiliate of Gabelli owns shares in Tribune,
and Mr. Lucas has a buy rating on the stock. Still, he says, "The softness
at the WB is certainly somewhat disconcerting."
Time Warner has recently come under fire from activist investors for a
stagnant stock price. And while the WB Network is a small part of the
$40-billion-a-year giant, it stands out as one of its few money-losing
operations. The company does not break out the network's results, but
analysts estimate that it lost $650 million to $750 million in 2004 and
will have a similar loss this year.
Time Warner executives say those losses are more than offset by the
strategic value of the WB to the highly lucrative Warner Brothers
television production business, which sells more programs to all six big
networks than any other studio. The Warner Brothers studio will have 33
series on prime-time TV this fall, 10 of them on the WB Network.
Bruce Rosenblum, executive vice president of the Warner Brothers Television
Group, said in an interview that programs on the network sell particularly
well as DVD's and in syndication - "a more successful after-market than the
ratings on the WB might otherwise suggest."
Steven Sternberg, executive vice president at Magna Global Media Research,
said that if just one of the network's new dramatic shows gained traction,
the WB "should be in good shape." But he questioned its growing reliance on
Warner material.
"Coincidentally or not," Mr. Sternberg said, "the hits stopped flowing at
roughly the same time that virtually all of its new shows started coming
from its parent company."
For Tribune, the WB Network's recent drought has come at a challenging
time. In the last year, it has had to deal with circulation scandals at its
Newsday and Hoy newspapers in the New York area, sluggishness and job
reductions at The Los Angeles Times and a soft television advertising market.
Last week, Newsday announced that it was greatly reducing its presence in
New York City in favor of its core Long Island market, and was eliminating
45 editorial positions. The parent company, whose holdings include 26 TV
stations, has also faced delays in the proposed loosening of
cross-ownership regulations, without which, it says, it could eventually be
forced to divest itself of assets in New York or Los Angeles. Patrick J.
Mullen, the president of Tribune Broadcasting, said he was optimistic that
the company would be allowed to continue to operate its "duopolies."
Although the WB Network's prime-time schedule represents only 17 percent of
Tribune stations' revenue, Mr. Mullen said the affiliation gave those
stations access to exclusive programming and a "halo effect" beyond their
direct financial contribution. "The image of the brand is important," he said.
While Tribune's newspaper business is much larger in terms of revenue,
television has recently accounted for a significant part of the company's
operating income. In the second quarter, ended June 26, operating profit at
the Tribune's television business fell by some 21 percent, to $122 million
from $155.2 million, and revenue from the unit declined 9 percent to $334.5
million. At the company over all, operating income improved 6.1 percent in
the quarter.
Mr. Mullen said that the lack of fresh hits on the WB Network had
contributed to the Tribune stations' decline in results, but noted that
ratings were down only slightly. He said other factors, like the
advertising market generally and the introduction by Nielsen of local
people meters to measure viewers, had also hurt the results. That said, he
welcomed the shifts that have been under way at the WB in the last two
years. "I think it's a very logical and appropriate move," Mr. Mullen said.
"We are a network that is growing up."
The WB is not abandoning its youthful bent so much as trying to broadcast
programs that parents might watch with their children. The thoroughly
seasoned Mr. Johnson, for instance, is paired with the young actor Jay
Baruchel, who recently appeared in "Million Dollar Baby."
Conceptually, the network's signature new show might be "Related," a show
about four adult sisters who range from the late 20's to a college
freshman. And the WB continues to have its share of spookfests in the Buffy
tradition with series like "Charmed" and a new entrant this fall,
"Supernatural."
Mr. Ancier, who became WB's chairman last year, hired the independent
producer David Janollari as his president for entertainment, with a view
toward widening the network's demographic appeal beyond the 12- to
24-year-old female skew it had become known for through the success of
programs like "Felicity." Mr. Ancier, along with the WB's founding
chairman, Jamie Kellner, had helped start the Fox Television Network for
the News Corporation.
Mr. Ancier concluded that the WB Network would fare better by broadening
its reach to 18- to 34-year-olds. The WB had begun doing so through shows
like "Gilmore Girls" and "Seventh Heaven" as well as "One Tree Hill."
But this season, it is punctuating the move with "Related" and "Just
Legal," the program starring Mr. Johnson, demonstrating Mr. Janollari's
intention to bring to the network established producers like Mr.
Bruckheimer and Marta Kauffman, who is producing "Related." The program
featuring Ms. Griffith, "Twins," is being produced by the creators of the
NBCs hit "Will and Grace."
Another major shift this fall is the network's decision to abandon the "WB
Kids" block of cartoon programming on weekday afternoons in favor of
syndicated programs like "E.R." (also a Warner production). Mr. Ancier and
Mr. Mullen said the move made sense because young viewers increasingly
watched cable fare like the Cartoon Network from Time Warner and
Nickelodeon from Viacom. In addition, Federal Communications Commission
regulations prohibit the promotion of that evening's adult fare during the
critical block from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. that was given over to "WB Kids."
If young viewers want WB children's shows, they will still be able to see
them on the network each Saturday. In the meantime, Michigan J. Frog, a
singing amphibian, was presumably returned to the small box he first
emerged from in a 1955 Warner Brothers cartoon.
================================
George Antunes, Political Science Dept
University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204
Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927
antunes at uh dot edu
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