The CW & My Network TV

[tw-804]

Originally Posted by jero23

The Vampire Diaries has a future, but it's likely to be on either one of Viacom's teen/young people networks (TeenNick or Nickelodeon) on cable/satellite. Especially since most of the dramas shown on those networks are filmed in Canada anyways.

Like that'll happen...

[jero23]

Originally Posted by WAVY 10

Since when would Nickelodeon...or for that matter, Disney Channel (threw them in considering they have the same demographic, namely the younger sisters of the CW's target audience) take an hour-long series at any point? Nick at Nite doesn't even have hour-long dramas on their block and haven't as far as I can recall.

Just remembered. TeenNick (the former N network) pretty much was 24/7 Degrassi, anyway...

Back on subject, again I don't see that happening.

The reason why TeenNick is Degrassi 24/7 is due to the lack of production of new shows by MTV Networks for the channel. However, if the CW did fold it wouldn't be difficult for them to pick it up and carry the show on since most of the series on the N/TeenNick.

[SterlingNorth]

The CW is going to be with us for the time being... why? It makes more money for the parent companies than it loses as a network.

How the CW Stays Undead

Also interesting from the article is that NBC managed to lose more money last quarter than the CW.

From the Warner Bros. standpoint, [Warner Bros. TV Group President Bruce] Rosenblum says the profit from the shows the company controls on The CW exceeds its share of the losses. Profit and loss on The CW are split 50-50 between Warner Bros. and CBS.

CBS also looks at the venture from a more macro perspective. “In four short years, The CW has proved its ability to develop hit programs for a specific target audience, creating and sustaining profitable program franchises for both parent companies,” [CBS' Senior Advisor to the CEO Nancy] Tellem says. “We established a brand. Every year we had a hit. From a studio standpoint, a content creation standpoint, we built franchises and assets that not only grew on The CW but internationally. To us, it's a win-win.”

CBS officials point out that new franchises launched on The CW—Gossip Girl, the 90210 remake and this year's freshman entry Vampire Diaries—proved profitable their first year out. Typically in the broadcast network paradigm, studios don't recoup their deficit for several years, if they do at all. 90210 currently earns $2 million per episode in foreign revenues, according to sources. Legacy shows carried over from UPN such as America's Next Top Model, and former WB shows such as Smallville, Supernatural and One Tree Hill, continue driving revenue for the parent companies.

Which is why Geriatric Superboy is in what must be its 47th season on television.

[kjohnson]

Wonderful. This is an open excuse for the CW to continue marketing to teenybopper girls who have no money, and ignore the rest of the demographics. Hit programs? That's funny. We must be speaking relative here. The only show that is a bona fide hit is the Vampire Diaries, but it loses to the NBC comedies in viewers.

Life Unexpected is the only well written, well acted show, outside of Supernatural. Gossip Girl was good, but it's trying to do much at the same time, and now it's mediocre, and the ratings show it.

The CW is a lose-lose in the long run. Those show might make money overseas, but they don't domestically (see Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy). To support ad-rates, and in some cases news departments, the station has to have eyeballs. The CW doesn't deliver them adequately, due to the extremely narrow audience focus. NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX make lots of money because they target women (and men, yes, Dawn [Ostroff], men) in 18-49. They have model that works, but would work better if Madison Avenue could catch on to that fact men buy more than cars and beer.

90210 is treading water, Melrose Place is dead (primarily, despite having Heather Locklear, the rest of the cast is worse than you'd find in elementary school pageant).

If it was me, the minute their ratings dropped below Univison's, I would have flipped my stations to Spanish. There's actual dinero to be made.

Hispanics have more potential for revenue than 18-34 white girls. Dawn, Bruce and Nancy don't get it.

[tw-804]

Originally Posted by kjohnson

Wonderful. This is an open excuse for the CW to continue marketing to teenybopper girls who have no money, and ignore the rest of the demographics. Hit programs? That's funny. We must be speaking relative here. The only show that is a bona fide hit is the Vampire Diaries, but it loses to the NBC comedies in viewers.

Life Unexpected is the only well written, well acted show, outside of Supernatural. Gossip Girl was good, but it's trying to do much at the same time, and now it's mediocre, and the ratings show it.

The CW is a lose-lose in the long run. Those show might make money overseas, but they don't domestically (see Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy). To support ad-rates, and in some cases news departments, the station has to have eyeballs. The CW doesn't deliver them adequately, due to the extremely narrow audience focus. NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX make lots of money because they target women (and men, yes, Dawn [Ostroff], men) in 18-49. They have model that works, but would work better if Madison Avenue could catch on to that fact men buy more than cars and beer.

90210 is treading water, Melrose Place is dead (primarily, despite having Heather Locklear, the rest of the cast is worse than you'd find in elementary school pageant).

Don't forget "America's Next Top Model". It's still going strong. A couple months ago, Tyra Banks said that this season of her talk show will be her last. She's focusing on her film production company.

Oh, and Smallville (the show that won't die) needs to end.

[kjohnson]

Proof Dawn Ostroff is a moron only Jeff Zucker could possibly top:

THR: OK, but is there anything that can be done to give [Gossip Girl & 90210] even better ratings next year?
Ostroff: We haven’t gotten into the conversations with the producers about what next year’s shows are going to be. But I do think as more and more people are migrating to their DVR and streaming shows, I think it’s going to be harder and harder to envision our Nielsen numbers going up.

More here: http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/03/04...bers-going-up/
And here: http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/03/qa-th...n-ostroff.html

She keeps singing that only white women between 18-34 are the only people on earth worth targeting. "Target genre" television is wrong way to go forward. Lifetime works because it's targets women with money. Somebody fire this moron. She makes Zucker look like genius, and he's a bonehead.

I really wouldn't want to work at CW station while she's in charge. She'll lead everybody right onto the unemployment line.

[Casey Buck]

According to an article today in Broadcasting and Cable, The CW's primetime lineup is a bad mismatch for Tribune's affiliates.

No wonder why they dropped the network's branding from their stations.

[WAVY 10]

Originally Posted by Casey Buck

According to an article today in Broadcasting and Cable, The CW's primetime lineup is a bad mismatch for Tribune's affiliates.

No wonder why they dropped the network's branding from their stations.

If I was a gambler, I'd bet there would be a complete revolt by Tribune (including a possible Tribune-wide disassociation with CW) in the near future.

If that scenario (which I think would be far-fetched) actually happened, that would probably be the fatal blow for the net-let.

[kjohnson]

Proves this thread's point. The CW doesn't work as a network. Convert the shows to syndication, and there's hope.

18-34 women don't watch TV; Dawn Ostroff hasn't caught on (or doesn't care; not sure which). So when will Tribune make the CW expand it's demo? The stations are being hammered by a horribly uncompetive network.

[SterlingNorth]

Originally Posted by kjohnson

Proves this thread's point. The CW doesn't work as a network. Convert the shows to syndication, and there's hope.

18-34 women don't watch TV; Dawn Ostroff hasn't caught on (or doesn't care; not sure which). So when will Tribune make the CW expand it's demo? The stations are being hammered by a horribly uncompetive network.

...even so, there are too many problems at Tribune right now for even the CW to matter.



Change of subject, THR is reporting that the CW's "The Game" may be given new life -- as a BET show. This could be a happy ending for a show that did not have network support. As with all other problems, this one stems from the CW's inability to program for anyone other than white women 18-34 (and it's not even as good as that as the former WB was).

Though with that note, I again have to wonder why the Trib is only coming out now with complaints of the Sea-Dub's narrow focus when it was as bad a problem as it was on the predecessor Dubya-Bee network.