News Corp. Will Launch MyNetworkTV

WITH SEXY STORY LINES, LOW BUDGETS, NEWS CORP WILL LAUNCH MYNETWORKTV
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes@wsj.com]
Every time News Corp. launches a new television business, it turns to programming that entrenched players decry as schlocky and culturally debasing. Then, in many cases, the company starts printing money. On Tuesday, Roger Ailes, chairman of News Corp.'s Fox Television Stations, will flip the switch on MyNetworkTV, a new broadcast network that will feature a novel format for mainstream U.S. television: Super-sexy -- and super-cheap -- prime-time soap operas that air six nights a week for limited runs. It's an over-the-top format borrowed from Spanish-language broadcasters. While story lines on American soaps can drag on for years, Spanish soaps, or telenovelas, deliver immediate gratification. They wrap everything up after 13 weeks, offer a cliffhanger in each episode and culminate with shocking finales that can rack up Super Bowl-size ratings -- just the formula that MyNetwork hopes to duplicate. U.S. viewers may be jolted by the style and content of the two shows MyNetwork is rolling out next week -- "Desire" and "Fashion House." But "Fox has a way of turning unsophisticated, simplistic programming into a success," says Laura Caraccioli-Davis, an executive vice president at ad-buying firm Starcom Entertainment. She adds: "And this is definitely unsophisticated." The hour-long episodes on MyNetwork are taped on a shoestring budget of $200,000 to $500,000 each, and it shows. While far from bare-bones, the sets aren't as lavishly decorated as those seen in traditional network dramas, which cost $2 million to $3 million an episode. Advertisers have seen it, and if they're impressed, it isn't yet showing in MyNetwork's advance ad sales. Media-buying firms estimate that the network has secured under $50 million in advertising commitments for the fall season. In comparison, My Network's closest competitor, the new CW network, lined up about $640 million in advance ad business.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115698811194650185.html?mod=todays_us_marketplace
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* A Network's Drama
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-mynetwork31aug31,1,7766966.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business