TV: More Bang for More Bucks

TV: MORE BANG FOR THE BUCKS
[SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, AUTHOR: Meg James]
This fall's freshman class of prime-time network shows is shaping up to be the most expensive ever. A full season of a television drama now costs as much to make as the average feature film. More than half of the 14 drama pilots produced this fall for the major networks — CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox — cost $6 million or more. That's up 50% from just two years ago. The price tag for a full season is more than $62 million on average, a jump from about $45 million in 2004. The big budgets could be a boon for viewers, considering the level of creativity, talent and special effects this money can buy. Storytelling devices once reserved for the cinema have come en masse to the small screen. Unfortunately for the TV industry, however, viewers this fall have given a warmer embrace to familiar shows such as "CSI: New York," "ER" and "Dancing With the Stars" than to costly newcomers such as NBC's "Kidnapped" and ABC's "Six Degrees." That makes executives nervous. The networks are not paying the program suppliers much more than in previous years for the rights to air these shows. Advertising dollars that underwrite the networks' costs for these programs are slowing, not growing. And new media outlets, such as Internet downloads, may not pay big dividends for years to come.
http://www.latimes.com/business/printedition/la-fi-falltv2oct02,1,7533592.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-business
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