Is ABC Really the Most Mismanaged Major TV Network Today

[TMC]

Entertainment

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- ABC needs to pull a desperate housewife out of its fall schedule.

In 2004, after suffering a drop in upfront ad sales thanks to an overdependence on game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," ABC greenlit "Lost" and "Desperate Housewives," which fueled its resurgence. This fall, ABC's hoping for a similar jolt. The network has grown reliant on a group of aging stalwarts and that has ad buyers concerned.

ABC can't afford to lose any viewers of its aging 'Grey's Anatomy.' How bad has it gotten? Even ratings-challenged NBC, no longer so far behind ABC in terms of performance, has been taking potshots. For the 2009-2010 prime-time broadcast season, ABC saw its average viewership come in third, behind CBS and Fox, according to Nielsen. More crucial, perhaps, is its viewership in the demographic coveted by advertisers -- people between the ages of 18 and 49. ABC nabbed an average of 2.692 million viewers, Nielsen said, while NBC, boosted by its broadcasts of the Winter Olympics, captured an average of 2.686 million viewers between 18 and 49 -- not too far apart.

Couple that with ABC's recent spate of executive turnover -- ABC news chief David Westin has indicated he will leave by the end of 2010, and the network has parted ways with both Stephen McPherson, the man who devised its new fall schedule, and Michael Benson, one of the executives who was supposed to market its new shows to the masses -- and it will be a year of rebuilding.

"Their tentpole shows are indeed aging," said Don Seaman, VP-director of communications analysis at Havas media-buying firm MPG. He suggests the "younger" shows that have potential will need strong sampling to gain a foothold among younger viewers. "Otherwise you might be looking at a longer reclamation project for the Alphabet network," he said.

Producing better-watched programming is crucial to ABC's success. ABC has seen its upfront sales decline in recent years, according to recent estimates from Fitch Ratings. The Disney net once marched in lockstep with the arguably more stable CBS, securing about $2.5 billion in ad commitments for the 2008-2009 TV season. This year, ABC was only able to notch around $2.2 billion, according to Fitch, after falling to $2.1 billion in 2009. Meantime, lesser-ranked NBC and better-rated Fox increased their smaller totals year over year.

This comes after ABC, like all the other broadcast networks, saw overall ad revenue drop in recession-plagued 2009 by 2.1%, to about $5.06 billion from $5.17 billion, according to Kantar Media. (ABC's decline was less than that experienced by any other broadcast rival that year.)

News

Westin may be confident, but he’s dead wrong. The news division has been decimated since he arrived during the ides of March.

I worked at the ABC News in the Washington, D.C., bureau when Westin was hand-picked by parent company Disney President Robert Iger (who’s now Disney CEO.)

Even now, I remember the shock and disappointment among the journalists that a lawyer—Westin—would be running their beloved news division.

He moved from D.C. to Manhattan when he got the ABC News job and quickly fell into an elitist, out-of-touch, mainstream media mindset. He fired the conservative Bill Kristol (who moved to Fox News) and promoted liberal journalists—Diane Sawyer, George Stephanopoulos, Fareed Zakaria and, most recently, Christiane Amanpour.

Westin was not a news man. But, as time went on, Westin’s bigger problem was that he wasn’t a businessman. His management style was to only act out of fear for his own position. He also seemingly did Iger’s bidding without pushing back. He was risk averse.

However, Westin’s biggest weakness was that he lacked the entrepreneurial spirit to launch innovative and creative ventures.

ABC Didn’t Adapt

The old three-network broadcast TV industry changed with the development of cable TV and the Internet.

Journalists like to think themselves above the fray of the business side of their industry. But media is a business like any other. When existing revenue streams are drying up (TV shows lose viewers) and there is no new revenue streams (new programs, cable outlets, digital media), then expenses have to be cut.

The networks that have succeeded during this period did so by doing two things: creating new programs that appeal to viewers and develop a cable network outlet. ABC News, under Westin’s failed leadership, did neither.

Furthermore, while all media has suffered in the recession, ABC News in particular was hit hard because it was trying to manage lower ad revenue with no new revenue streams to shore up the loss.

Cable networks are the most profitable part of news divisions, but ABC did not utilize that model. Without the cable counterpart, ABC News is dependent on the dwindling viewers of broadcast news.

Westin could have boosted profits by creating new programming or adapting to the changing media landscape. Instead, he dealt with dwindling profits by cuttings costs related to news gathering—closing bureaus and cutting staff.

During the past two years especially, Westin made drastic staff cuts which affected ABC morale. By late April, Westin closed every domestic bureau (except Washington, D.C.), fired half of the correspondents and cut the staff by about 400 people.

He emailed the staff after the massive cuts that “from this base, we are positioned to grow and to do even greater work than we have in the past.”

Again, he was wrong.

Roone Arledge’s Success

Roone Arledge was one of the greatest minds in broadcast history. His talent was in creating dynamic news shows around stars such as Peter Jennings, David Brinkley, Barbara Walters, Ted Koppel and Diane Sawyer.

Arledge created programming to meet the audience demands. Magazine shows, derided by critics as being undignified for a news division, were the most profitable divisions at ABC News. He wasn't elitist and met the public demand with shows such as “20/20” and “Prime Time Live.”

The late night news program “Nightline” evolved out of a nightly report on the Iran hostage crisis that was getting good ratings.

Arledge recognized the space for competition to NBC's “Meet the Press” so he decided to create his own Sunday public affairs show. He hired David Brinkley, who was languishing at NBC, and made him the anchor of the antiquated “Issues and Answers” show. “This Week with David Brinkley” quickly became the Sunday morning standard both in ratings and revenue.

Westin inherited the Arledge legacy and proceeded to squander it.

He never created a new show. He shuttered the once-profitable news magazine shows. He refused to move into the profitable cable TV business.

From a management standpoint, Westin was weak and afraid of Arledge's stars, who used their shows to promote themselves, instead of the network.

“World News Tonight with Peter Jennings” was the No. 1 evening newscast for years. Westin, however, never pushed Jennings to groom his replacement. So when Jennings died, the network scrambled for months to determine the replacement. (Compare this model to NBC which kept a content Brian Williams in the wings ready to jump in the anchor chair when Tom Brokaw retired.)

Westin finally came up with the cockamamie plan of putting Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff rotating between the anchor desk and on-site reporting. The choice of Vargas and Woodruff was made because Westin assumed that younger viewers like watching younger anchors. His assumption was incorrect.

Even though the co-anchor concept was prematurely broken up after Woodruff's brain injury in Iraq, the ratings had been going down and continued to do so until Vargas was shown the door.

Charlie Gibson, who had waited patiently his entire career to land the evening news anchor chair, seemed tired and unmotivated in the slot. He never took on a leadership role in the New York bureau so “World News Tonight” limped along for another couple years.

Despite the economic recession and dwindling profits at ABC, Westin gave Diane Sawyer $16 million to anchor after Gibson. Sawyer's star power has not changed the direction of the sinking ship and the broadcast is still behind Brian Williams on NBC.

Westin gave Sawyer the evening anchor chair at her demand, but the decision was short-sighted. She left an open seat at “Good Morning America” which Westin filled with George Stephanopoulos. The musical chairs continued and Stephanopoulos’ anchor chair at "This Week" was filled with CNN's foreign affairs correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

Stephanopoulos was well regarded in the Sunday show slot, but with the switch, ratings have fallen for both “Good Morning America” and “This Week” and critics have panned both shows. Amanpour is so miscast as anchor of a political Sunday show that even ABC staff find the show unwatchable and embarrassing.

Westin attempted—but failed—to partner ABC with CNN and Bloomberg to bring in much-needed revenue. Instead, he should have spent his time creating new shows with audience appeal and new concepts to adapt to a changed media landscape.

Once the number one news source for Americans, ABC News is now limping to its inevitable end: getting sold to anyone willing to take on the mess left by David Westin.

Sports

Nearing the four-year anniversary of being rebranded ESPN on ABC, ABC has lost the rights to many marquee sporting events over the past decade -- often to ESPN.

Just recently, ABC has lost the British Open to ESPN (after a half-century covering the event) and most of NASCAR's Chase for the Cup (the network will air one race, with ESPN carrying the rest). The network would have been completely shut out of the NBA's Eastern Conference Final as well, had the series not been moved up due to a short second round.

Of course, those are small potatoes compared to the network's biggest loss. Starting next year, ESPN will televise the entire Bowl Championship Series -- including the Rose Bowl (on ABC since 1989) and the National Championship Game. ABC will be left with just one bowl game (the Outback Bowl in 2011), only five years after airing as many as three on one day.

The network's dwindling sports line-up resulted in frustration from its affiliates earlier this year, which ESPN responded to with a weekly, two-hour block of studio programming. The block, ESPN Sports Saturday, has not been particularly successful in the ratings (excluding weeks when it had a strong lead-in), although the affiliates appeared at the outset to be pleased by the move.

ESPN has repeatedly touted ABC's lineup. In February, ESPN/ABC President George Bodenheimer told Sports Media Watch as much: "We still have an extremely strong line-up -- Indy 500, NBA Finals, Little League World Series, college football Saturday night -- we still have an extremely strong line-up on ABC, and I expect that to continue."

However, that line-up does not appear very strong compared to its competitors, CBS (NFL, NCAA Tournament, The Masters), NBC (NFL, Olympics every two years) and FOX (NFL, World Series, Daytona 500), or even cable nets TNT and TBS (NBA Conference Finals, MLB LCS and NCAA Tournament).

ESPN on ABC also pales in comparison to ESPN itself, which in addition to the Bowl Championship Series also has the rights to Monday Night Football, regular season and postseason NBA, regular season Major League Baseball and much more.

Overall, 2010 has been a very good year for ABC -- mainly because the network has actually aired marquee sporting events. The BCS, the NBA Finals and the World Cup have made ESPN on ABC as relevant as its ever been -- the aforementioned Texas/Alabama National Championship Game and Celtics/Lakers Game 7 were the two most-viewed events on ABC since the ESPN on ABC rebranding.

However, with the BCS moving to ESPN and the World Cup gone for another four years, that success will surely diminish next year.

[benjamoon]

Careful posting this on abc.com junior! haha

I can't really judge the news and sports divisions with any grounds as I don't follow that closely enough but ABC's fall has been deeply disappointing. No show except Better With You is showing any life. My Generation and The Whole Truth are already cancelled. Detroit 1-8-7 is a FANTASTIC show but not really doing much in the ratings and No Ordinary Family can't stop dropping. It's right up there with The Event for most disappointing results from a highly anticipated show.

Couple that with Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy aging (though Grey's is still a force). And Private Practice and Brothers & Sisters are underachievers that can't perform well without a lead-in. Some would argue that is true for Castle too though I disagree.

They do have some bright spots - Dancing with the Stars is as powerful as ever, The Middle is gaining strength and Modern Family is as strong as ever. Cougar Town continues to bleed its lead-in like crazy.

Their scheduling leaves a lot to be desired. They always were the network that made bold moves (last year's Comedy Wednesday which turned out to be a highly successful move, 2007's all-new drama Wednesday that was doing well before the Writer's Strike messed it up). But now they just let shows languish in the same slots while shows keep trying and failing in the Weds 10pm and Thurs 8pm slots. Not to mention that they completely botched No Ordinary Family's slot as everyone knew it would get buried on Tues at 8pm.

ABC had one of the most brilliant seasons in recent memory in 2004-2005 when they launched Lost, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and Dancing with the Stars and they followed that up with edgy and interesting new shows that were sometimes successful and sometimes not (ex: Dirty Sexy Money, Pushing Daisies, Modern Family but their development just seemed to be lacking this season.

They still are ok because their veteran hits still have enough life. But it seems to me like they're moving in the wrong direction while CBS and even NBC, as pathetic as it is right now, are moving in the right direction. I'll be curious to see what their development slate looks like next year.

[clj2]

Thanks for sharing those articles.

I totally agree with you, benjamoon....very well said; I've felt that way about ABC for a while. They seem to be the most popular network on this site, which I find rather surprising. Personally, I think CBS and FOX are much better. ABC is just blah to me.
To be honest, except for DWTS and 1-8-7 now, I rarely watch them now...I don't find them much better than NBC. I don't watch a whole lot of network TV though.

I rarely watch ABC News (GMA is good), but their coverage isn't that great to me, none of the networks' news divisions impress me though... maybe because I'm used to cable.

[AKA]

I can't remember the last time I was a regular viewer of a primetime ABC series. Probably Life on Mars during the 2008-2009 season.

The only thing I currently watch on the network is Jimmy Kimmel Live.

[Pavan]

TMC is just ticked that ABC Sports is with ESPN. I don't understand why he keeps bringing that up. ABC and ESPN are part of the same parent company. What is the difference? Cable is the future of sports. One day you'll see the Super Bowl on cable, and it will be ESPN.

All of these articles are from before the start of the season (and mostly opinion just like your comments benjamoon and Chris). And if you noticed with actual ratings data, ABC is still #2 in HH/viewers and 18-49 for the season so far behind CBS. NBC has nothing but Sunday Night Football and they are still fourth and it will get worse after January. There are no Winter Olympics to boost them this year. So who is in worse shape? NBC hasn't developed ANY hits either this fall.

As far as news goes ABC News and NBC News are still tops and go back and forth in the ratings. ABC usually wins the primetime battle over any big news events. CBS News is no where near these two. So who is in worse shape in news?

Sports wise, the networks who have the NFL will always win. It's by far the most popular sport in terms of TV ratings. The NBA Finals (on ABC) did better than the World Series (on Fox) this year.

And benjamoon, if this is abc.com junior then why do we post scheduling scoops for other networks? I have posted many times exclusive schedules updates for nets like CBS. And you keep bringing up the Brothers & Sisters and Private Practice thing. Do you not understand they are still among the top shows at 10pm? Private Practice just did a 3.9 last week, tying the best showing of the season for a scripted drama at 10. 10pm is not easy anymore and tough to crack a 3 these days with DVR. ABC has three solid shows (same amount as CBS!) at 10pm that have averaged a 2.7 or better this season: Castle, Private, and Brothers. NBC has nothing over a 2 (Chase? Parenthood? LOLA? Apprentice?). Not sure how you think NBC is moving in the right direction. Their only show that does over a 3 is The Office (and they are saved at the end of the week by SNF). ABC has a ton and so does CBS.

[clj2]

Originally Posted by Pavan

As far as news goes ABC News and NBC News are still tops and go back and forth in the ratings. ABC usually wins the primetime battle over any big news events. CBS News is no where near these two. So who is in worse shape in news?

I'm not a huge viewer of network TV news (I will watch one of the morning shows if somebody I like will be on them), but The Early Show and CBS Evening News aren't impressive at all. CBS does not have a good news division at all...IMO, GMA is the best morning program, but ABC's nightly newscast isn't great to me. The only thing NBC wins in my book is Nightly News. Today is decent.

[icecream]

Originally Posted by Pavan

Cable is the future of sports. One day you'll see the Super Bowl on cable, and it will be ESPN.

That would be a bad idea. Countless Super Bowl parties are held at places without cable, lots of churches have them. The biggest sporting event of the year shouldn't be taken away from the broadcast networks, it wouldn't be fair to all the NFL fans who just get local channels plus it wouldn't get the monster ratings it currently does.

[benjamoon]

Originally Posted by Pavan

And benjamoon, if this is abc.com junior then why do we post scheduling scoops for other networks? I have posted many times exclusive schedules updates for nets like CBS. And you keep bringing up the Brothers & Sisters and Private Practice thing. Do you not understand they are still among the top shows at 10pm? Private Practice just did a 3.9 last week, tying the best showing of the season for a scripted drama at 10. 10pm is not easy anymore and tough to crack a 3 these days with DVR. ABC has three solid shows (same amount as CBS!) at 10pm that have averaged a 2.7 or better this season: Castle, Private, and Brothers. NBC has nothing over a 2 (Chase? Parenthood? LOLA? Apprentice?). Not sure how you think NBC is moving in the right direction. Their only show that does over a 3 is The Office (and they are saved at the end of the week by SNF). ABC has a ton and so does CBS.

I'm not saying that you don't post updates for other networks, I'm just saying that the ABC bias and promotion permeates through this message board and blog. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing either - it's your site and your perogative. But how can you claim no bias when the ABC thread has 249 replies and the next closest (CBS) has 49?

In response to the 10pm comments - first of all, that Private Practice number was a complete aberration. The next closest demo # this season was a 3.2 and that's on the high end of the average. Anyway, my comment was that ABC has a bunch of shows that can't stand on their own despite being many years old. Private Practice and Brothers and Sisters would probably melt away without the Grey's and Housewives lead-in. Many would argue the same thing with Castle, though I do not agree with that. Meanwhile, ABC keeps launching failing shows in the same bad slots.

CBS on the other hand has shows that are self-sustaining - I highly doubt that their 10pm hits (The Good Wife, Hawaii Five-0, The Mentalist, CSI: Miami would suffer much by being taken away from their lead-in. That's why ABC's 10pm hits are a mirage and why they can't get new hits because they keep these shows in the same timeslots where they have bled from their lead-in for YEARS. CBS on the other hand is the only network with ANY hit of success in new shows this fall (and even they don't have a runaway hit) and it's because they're willing to launch their new shows in good timeslots.

In regards to NBC going in the right direction - don't mistake that for me saying that NBC is in better shape RIGHT NOW than ABC because they are not. But they hit rock bottom last year with the Jay Leno disaster that decimated their lineup. They have a long way to go but I think they are headed in the right direction. ABC is still far above NBC now but I think their scheduling model leaves a lot to be desired and 5 years from now when these aging hits are dead and gone or almost there, ABC will have some trouble if they can't develop some new shows and then actually give them a chance to succeed.

[clj2]

Originally Posted by benjamoon

I'm not saying that you don't post updates for other networks, I'm just saying that the ABC bias and promotion permeates through this message board and blog. And I'm not saying that's a bad thing either - it's your site and your perogative. But how can you claim no bias when the ABC thread has 249 replies and the next closest (CBS) has 49?

SO must get more news/updates from ABC than the other networks or maybe ABC schedules more special events. I've always hated the other networks don't get discussion going like ABC does. The ABC threads always turn out massive at the end of the seasons but CBS, etc don't get much discussion.

[Pavan]

The ABC thread generates more discussion. I can't do anything about that. I don't see any of you posting on the other threads often. I post the schedule updates for all of the networks (and usually no one replies on the other threads lol). ABC usually has more schedule updates this time of the year because they have the MOST holiday specials in late Nov/December. I love that. No other network is close. CBS is a distant second in holiday specials.

As for the blog, I report the news equally on there and weekly ratings. I don't see how that is biased to ABC. Sure, I try to put my opinion or two on there in the ratings, because it is a blog. But I am pretty fair. And as far as a message board is concerned, I post updates here, too, but I am entitled to my opinion just as much as anyone here. I guess you didn't know about our site being mentioned on a Mike & Molly promo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3uO_i5YsA So not sure how we are "biased."

benjamoon, did you forget Private Practice anchored ABC Wednesdays for its first season and a half? It did well, too (until post-strike made it go down). It moved to Thursdays at 10 and solved ABC's post-Grey's problem. It was a needed band-aid. Thursdays at 8pm looked to be solved with FLASHFORWARD starting strong, but I don't think they should have benched it until March after December. Anyway, I think reality will work for them in that slot from Jan-May with all of the scripted options on all the other networks. Winter Wipeout will do well. And if Off the Map could do a 2.7 Wed at 10pm, ABC will be thrilled (and will win the hour). I think it will do that, even though I would have gone with Happy Endings/Cougar Town/Mr. Sunshine from 9:30-11.

I think NBC is in worse shape than last year. The 10pm dramas right now are doing worse than Leno from the same time last year. All I heard this summer was how big The Event, Undercovers and even Chase are going to be. I just don't know how NBC is going to be fixed. Everything they try has done terrible. The show that everyone thought would do the worst, Outsourced, is doing the best of the NBC new shows...which is sad.

[comedyfreak]

I watch The Middle, Modern Family, Cougar Town, Dancing With The Stars results show, and No Ordinary Family.

[CommonTater]

We haven't watched a show on ABC in years. We always try new shows in the fall but never like any of the ones on ABC. Mostly we watch CBS and a couple on Fox.

[benjamoon]

Originally Posted by Pavan

The ABC thread generates more discussion. I can't do anything about that. I don't see any of you posting on the other threads often. I post the schedule updates for all of the networks (and usually no one replies on the other threads lol). ABC usually has more schedule updates this time of the year because they have the MOST holiday specials in late Nov/December. I love that. No other network is close. CBS is a distant second in holiday specials.

Well it generates more discussion because you update it much more often - I mean we even get a list of what ads will air when. I realize that you may not get that information from the other networks and that's fine, but it generates more discussion because it's updated much more often

Originally Posted by Pavan

As for the blog, I report the news equally on there and weekly ratings. I don't see how that is biased to ABC. Sure, I try to put my opinion or two on there in the ratings, because it is a blog. But I am pretty fair. And as far as a message board is concerned, I post updates here, too, but I am entitled to my opinion just as much as anyone here. I guess you didn't know about our site being mentioned on a Mike & Molly promo? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C3uO_i5YsA So not sure how we are "biased."

Again, I'm not saying that you don't cover the other networks at all - I'm just saying the ABC tilt is evident.

Most weeks your ratings recap contain lots of ABC pump-ups - encouraging people to watch, commenting on the episode, etc but the other networks get nothing except their ratings/trends. Again, please don't mistake this for me saying it's not fair because I understand that it's your site/blog and you have the right to comment on things however you want. But it IS biased towards ABC for sure.

Originally Posted by Pavan

benjamoon, did you forget Private Practice anchored ABC Wednesdays for its first season and a half? It did well, too (until post-strike made it go down). It moved to Thursdays at 10 and solved ABC's post-Grey's problem. It was a needed band-aid. Thursdays at 8pm looked to be solved with FLASHFORWARD starting strong, but I don't think they should have benched it until March after December. Anyway, I think reality will work for them in that slot from Jan-May with all of the scripted options on all the other networks. Winter Wipeout will do well. And if Off the Map could do a 2.7 Wed at 10pm, ABC will be thrilled (and will win the hour). I think it will do that, even though I would have gone with Happy Endings/Cougar Town/Mr. Sunshine from 9:30-11.

FlashForward did not fail because of the benching (though that did not help). It's last new fall episode got 7.1 million viewers and a 2.1 in the demo and it was consistently downward trend. The hiatus was just the final nail in the coffin. Yes, Private Practice was anchoring Wednesday and the strike is partly to blame for it slipping but there's no way it could go back there and pull those numbers now. It's become as lead-in dependent as Brothers & Sisters. And I'm highly skeptical that Off the Map can deliver an average 2.7. We'll see I guess

Originally Posted by Pavan

I think NBC is in worse shape than last year. The 10pm dramas right now are doing worse than Leno from the same time last year. All I heard this summer was how big The Event, Undercovers and even Chase are going to be. I just don't know how NBC is going to be fixed. Everything they try has done terrible. The show that everyone thought would do the worst, Outsourced, is doing the best of the NBC new shows...which is sad.

Yes the 10pm dramas have been nothing to write home about but NBC has fallen so far into despair it's going to take awhile to climb out. The Event hasn't been the hit NBC hoped for and I'm not sure where you heard that about Undercovers because it was receiving lukewarm buzz from as soon as people started watching the pilot. Same for Chase. They need a lot of work for sure, but I still think they are moving in the right direction even if its incredibly slow. We'll probably have to just agree to disagree on this part of the argument.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by Pavan

TMC is just ticked that ABC Sports is with ESPN. I don't understand why he keeps bringing that up. ABC and ESPN are part of the same parent company. What is the difference? Cable is the future of sports. One day you'll see the Super Bowl on cable, and it will be ESPN.

All of these articles are from before the start of the season (and mostly opinion just like your comments benjamoon and Chris). And if you noticed with actual ratings data, ABC is still #2 in HH/viewers and 18-49 for the season so far behind CBS. NBC has nothing but Sunday Night Football and they are still fourth and it will get worse after January. There are no Winter Olympics to boost them this year. So who is in worse shape? NBC hasn't developed ANY hits either this fall.

As far as news goes ABC News and NBC News are still tops and go back and forth in the ratings. ABC usually wins the primetime battle over any big news events. CBS News is no where near these two. So who is in worse shape in news?

Sports wise, the networks who have the NFL will always win. It's by far the most popular sport in terms of TV ratings. The NBA Finals (on ABC) did better than the World Series (on Fox) this year.

And benjamoon, if this is abc.com junior then why do we post scheduling scoops for other networks? I have posted many times exclusive schedules updates for nets like CBS. And you keep bringing up the Brothers & Sisters and Private Practice thing. Do you not understand they are still among the top shows at 10pm? Private Practice just did a 3.9 last week, tying the best showing of the season for a scripted drama at 10. 10pm is not easy anymore and tough to crack a 3 these days with DVR. ABC has three solid shows (same amount as CBS!) at 10pm that have averaged a 2.7 or better this season: Castle, Private, and Brothers. NBC has nothing over a 2 (Chase? Parenthood? LOLA? Apprentice?). Not sure how you think NBC is moving in the right direction. Their only show that does over a 3 is The Office (and they are saved at the end of the week by SNF). ABC has a ton and so does CBS.

I keep bringing it up because ABC Sports used to be the most prestigious sports division in network television (whether it's Wide World of Sports, the Olympics, Monday Night Football to to name a few). Disney proceeded to systematically destroy the network division. ESPN for better or for worse, has become the Wal-Mart of sports television. You're greatly watering down and homogenizing your product by by branding the network sports division after the cable arm. While it makes financial sense to have a lot of big time sporting events on cable (due to the duel revenue stream), ABC and/or Disney at the same time, is still hurting themselves because they can't easily train (without that major platform) audiences to tune into up coming entertainment programming on ABC. Also, it's not very good for the affiliates, which they complained to ABC/ESPN about at the start of this year.

The NBA Finals of course did better in the ratings this year than the World Series due to the benefit of having the Lakers and the Celtics as well as the series going the full seven games. However, you seem to forget that ever since ABC took over the broadcast TV contract from NBC back in 2002-03, two of the Finals that they broadcast were the lowest rated in history (2003 and 2007).

How can you sit here and say that all NBC has is Sunday Night Football when all ABC has are college football (they don't even have the rights to the major bowl games thanks to ESPN) and the NBA (which they frequently air the bare minimum when compared to when NBC or CBS had the rights)?

And please explain why TV by the Numbers has forecast ABC to finish in fourth among the 18-49 demographic for the 2010-11 season:
http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/201...for-fall/62303

[Pavan]

You think ABC is going to finish fourth in 18-49 with NBC having NOTHING after January? Sunday Night Football is the only thing they have in terms of RATINGS in primetime. TVBytheNumbers posted that on Labor Day (and they are only saying for the FALL, NOT for the FULL SEASON). I am sure they thought The Event was going to be BIG. ABC is not going to finish fourth for the season and I am sure TVBytheNumbers doesn't think that either (you didn't read their story right). Heck, NBC even was fourth last year WITH the Winter Olympics. Fox is also way down from last season, but they have the Super Bowl this year that will help them probably finish second behind CBS. IF they didn't, Fox might be third.

As for the sports, you mentioned the Lakers/Celtics boosting the NBA Finals. But the 2003 and 2007 finals didn't have marquee teams, that's why they were low. It depends on the teams. That's why the World Series was low this year compared to whenever the Yankees are in it. NBA is in good shape because the Lakers are more than likely going to make the finals again (they seem better than ever this season), perhaps against the Celtics again or the Heat with LeBron.