CBS, NBC Deals Accelerate Shift In TV Landscape

SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Brooks Barnes brooks.barnes@wsj.com and Peter Grant peter.grant@wsj.com]
Two big TV networks, CBS and NBC, struck deals with cable and satellite providers allowing their viewers to watch popular shows anytime they want, the latest sign of how quickly technology is upending viewing habits and reshaping the industry's longtime model. The deals mark a profound change of heart for the broadcast television industry, which from its earliest days has built its schedule around the evening hours known as prime time. Executives have long resisted efforts by cable operators to offer so-called on-demand viewing of popular TV shows, worrying that it could cannibalize their existing businesses by eroding their ability to sell advertising for programs and reap lucrative profit by selling reruns. But technology is forcing their hand. The Internet has encouraged widespread piracy of media content. Traditional prime-time viewing, in which viewers schedule their evening hours around showcase programs, is under siege from technologies like digital-video recorders, or DVRs, which allow users to save shows and watch them at their convenience -- and without commercials. Thus, for TV executives the latest agreements are less about making money than they are about trying to maintain some control over their content, by offering people the chance to watch shows through an unconventional route. They hope that this will eventually lead to a substantial new revenue stream. Hollywood has gotten a clear view of the challenges in the rapidly shifting landscape by watching the music industry grapple with Internet piracy.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113140185186190419.html?mod=todays_us_page_one
(requires subscription)

* Near-Instant Pay Reruns Set for Shows on NBC and CBS
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/08/business/media/08demand.html?pagewanted=all
(requires registration)

* Comcast Cuts VOD Deal For Four CBS Shows
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/recent_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001435328

* NBC says safeguards needed for wider programing
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=internetNews&storyID=2005-11-07T193148Z_01_KNE770277_RTRUKOC_0_US-MEDIA-NBCUNIVERSAL-PIRACY....

* Tailored, ad-free TV gains ground
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/money/20051108/2b_nbc_directv08.art.htm

* New From TV Networks: Prime Time on Demand
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fi-ondemand8nov08,1,3290973.story?coll=la-headlines-frontpage