Second Act of the Broadcasters

[SOURCE: Financial Times, AUTHOR: John Gapper]
[Commentary] One immutable belief of the media industry is that television networks are in decline as viewers switch to cable channels, skip advertisements with digital video recorders and watch video iPods. But networks are not only refusing to go gently; they are even perking up a bit. Their viewing share has been sinking for a long time but has levelled out. The six networks still get a 47 per cent share of prime-time viewing – hardly death’s door. Advertisers and their agencies, which are irritated about having to pay more to reach fewer viewers, are switching at least some of their dollars to other channels, such as the Internet. The balance of power between seller and buyer is shifting: after several years of sharp increases, rates for network advertising rose only modestly this year. Networks are responding by trying to find new outlets for programmes and taking a share of the revenues. This is not entirely new: they already syndicate programmes to cable after they have been shown on their main channels. Now they are allowing shows to be downloaded on to iPods for $1.99 an episode, or watched as video-on-demand for 50c an episode with ads and $1 without.
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f368ffc4-6cd2-11da-90c2-0000779e2340.html
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