DVRs Give More Shows a Lifeline

The digital video recorder was supposed to lay waste to network television. Instead the playback device is offering some shows a lifeline — so much so that network programmers now factor in ratings a full week after a show’s scheduled appearance.

That process could change the calculations made as network executives gather in Los Angeles in the next few weeks where, surrounded by spreadsheets, flow charts and piles of research data, they will decide the fates of shows on the ratings bubble like “Lie to Me” and “The Chicago Code” on Fox, “Brothers and Sisters” and “V” on ABC, “$#*! My Dad Says” and “The Defenders” on CBS, and “Chuck” and “Law & Order: LA” on NBC. Currently, networks are paid by advertisers only for how many viewers watch the commercials in their shows over the first three days after a show is broadcast — a model known as “commercial plus three” (C3) ratings. But networks are monitoring how shows do over a full week after they are broadcast to gauge the depth of audience interest and loyalty. And, though they are not pressing the issue, they would eventually like to persuade advertisers to take more notice, as well. “Absolutely it matters,” said David F. Poltrack, the chief research officer for CBS, about the “live plus seven days” ratings.