May 16, 2006 NBC Looks Beyond TV for a Prime-Time Revival By STUART ELLIOTT NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/16/business/media/16adco.html?pagewanted=print NBC, eager to improve its ratings and advertising sales, is counting on digital media as much as television for a comeback in the 2006-7 season. In a two-hour presentation yesterday to advertisers and agencies at Radio City Music Hall, executives at NBC, which is finishing fourth again in ratings for the 2005-6 season, emphasized the breadth and depth of their digital offerings as they talked up the prospects of their new dramas and sitcoms. The NBC presentation kicked off what is called the upfront week, when the big broadcasters offer previews of their prime-time lineups ahead of the fall season. "No longer is content just for the television screen," said Jeff Zucker, chief executive at the NBC Universal Television Group, part of the NBC Universal unit of General Electric. "We have put a ton of thought and a ton of effort into the digital world," Mr. Zucker told a theater filled with marketers and advertising agency employees and executives. "We want to be your digital partner." Analysts are calling this upfront week a watershed because the broadcast networks are significantly expanding their presence in the new media, whether through Webisodes, video downloads, podcasts or mini- series created for cellphones. Commercial time is being sold for much of the additional content, which Mr. Zucker acknowledged by telling the agencies and advertisers, "We want to make it easy for you to solve your needs using our content." So lengthy was the list of new-media opportunities described "we have more than 100 ideas, ready to go," Mr. Zucker said that some members of the audience grew restive, wondering when Kevin Reilly, president at NBC Entertainment, would return to discuss the prime-time schedule. These are some of the initiatives outlined by Mr. Zucker, all intended to complement the new and returning series on the schedule: ¶A broadband comedy channel (dotcomedy.com), offering computer users archives of shows like "Leave It to Beaver" and a chance to create their own content to podcasts. The Web site will also help promote sitcoms like "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" as well as "Saturday Night Live" and NBC's late-night lineup. ¶A broadband preview channel (nbcfirstlook.com), where episodes of new series will make their debuts before they arrive on NBC. ¶Thirty Webisodes of the returning sitcom "The Office" that will appear beginning in the summer on the NBC Web site (nbc.com). ¶An online contest, also on nbc.com, for viewers of the returning drama "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," who can study clues about the murder in each episode before the episode appears on TV. The contest prize will be "determined by whoever would like to sponsor it," Mr. Zucker said, drawing laughter. ¶An animated digital comic book based on characters and plot lines from "Heroes," a drama series being scheduled for 9 p.m. Mondays. "Heroes," featuring young actors like Ali Larter and Milo Ventimiglia, is one of six dramas that NBC will add to its prime-time lineup for 2006-7. The others are "The Black Donnellys," "Friday Night Lights," "Kidnapped," "Raines" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip." The dramas will be "the cornerstones of the new fall schedule," Mr. Reilly said. For two decades, NBC was known for its sitcoms like "Cheers," "Frasier" and "Friends." But the recent precipitous decline in ratings and ad sales is leading the network to try Plan B, the dramatic genre. NBC tried a smaller-scale version of the strategy for 2005-6, but those dramas failed to catch on. The new dramas "are much better than what they've had," said Shari Anne Brill, a vice president and programming director at Carat USA in New York, a media agency that is part of the Carat unit of the Aegis Group. She singled out "Friday Night Lights," based on the book and movie of the same name, with Kyle Chandler ("Homefront," "Early Edition") as a high school football coach in a Texas town. NBC is adding four sitcoms: "Andy Barker, P.I.," "The Singles Table," "30 Rock" and "20 Good Years." The similarity in subject matter between "Studio 60" and "30 Rock" both are about a TV series strongly evocative of NBC's own "Saturday Night Live" made for some good-natured ribbing. "Every year, an idea comes along that is so unique, NBC has only two of them," said Alec Baldwin, a cast member of "30 Rock." ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _____________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list medianews@twiar.org To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
