Media Predictions 2009: What Won't Happen

[Commentary] Yahoo won't sell, Rupert Murdoch won't go long without buying something, and TV networks won't disappear. A lot of pundits say one or more of the four major TV networks will cease to exist in the next 12 months. One often-mentioned loser: CBS. Huh? CBS's ratings are actually up this year, albeit by a scant 1%, while the other three networks' ratings are down. (Among the 18- to 49-year-old age group that advertisers love, they're all down, and overall the networks have lost some 1 million viewers this year.) Still, there are plenty more folks fleeing newspapers and magazines. Advertisers are sticking with TV networks, even as they flee local TV stations. So why would one of the Big Four have to fold? One won't. Not in 2009, at least.