European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse I of for it a -.""r7i t7i� i fro in a Fox Rushing out . Movie other networks Dodge it by Bill Carter new York times the television movie Mill is already geared up to produce the first docudrama base Don the , Simpson Case. Fox Hopes to have the film on the air by summer s s no Surprise what is More sur prising is that Only one such made for television movie is planned. Abc lbs and Abc have so far refused what executives in los Angeles described As ceaseless pitches from producers or other versions of the Simpson Case. Could this mean that the networks love affair with lurid violent ripped from the tabloids television movies has cooled definitely so says one network Abc has declared itself out of the business of what Ted Harbert the president of Abc entertainment described As families killing families movies. And lbs executives said they were backing away As Well cutting Back their True crime movies to Only about 5 of the network s 40 or so movies for the com ing season. Abc although a Little More reluctant to walk away from such movies which often score heavily in the ratings has nonetheless told producers it wants fewer of them. That leaves Fox. And As witnessed by its eagerness to dive headlong into the Simpson swamp even be fore Simpson the football Star actor and broadcaster has been tried in the killings of his forme Avic Nicole Brown Simpson and her Friend Ronald Gold Man Fox appears ready to take up the Mantle of v Leader in tabloid television filmmaking. In addition to the Simpson film for which actors have not yet been cast Fox has announced its intention to commission movies portraying Madonna Sonny and Cher and Mia Farrow and the men in her life. Executives from other networks said Fox is also considering similar unauthorized biographies of Roseanne Arnold and Michael Jackson. Executives from Abc lbs and Abc said in inter views Over the last month that they Felt a certain revulsion about doing a movie based on the still churn ing details of the Simpson Case. We be been in that business before and it just in t Worth the mess Harbert said. You have All the issues raised by All this he added i mean this Man is not guilty yet. Then you bring in the whole other matter of is it right is it fair and to us the answer quickly be comes Fox is making no apologies for the less than olympian subject matter of its movies. Sandy Gru show the president of Fox entertainment defended the Simpson movie at a news conference in do s an Geles calling it an Opportunity to communicate something to the Fox audience that we believe they re interested in right \ speaking More generally Grushow said candid ,.we All got tired of doing 5 shares with a 5 share represents just 5 percent of the people watching television at a Given moment there is More to the other networks avoidance of the Simpson Case than High moral principle. The real events Are already receiving such Complete Wall to Wall coverage that executives Are asking what could a movie possibly add you re already seeing a live miniseries happen on to said Lirida Dekoven senior vice president of movies for Abc. That s How Harbert Felt about the Nancy Kerrigan Tonya Harding dust up he said. The Story of the two figure skaters was made into a quickie movie for Abc but Harbert said he could t Sec the Point for Abc i went out and bought Nancy s rights he re called. I read the script. It was nicely done. But there was nothing in there. We d seen it . Simpson charged with the june killings of his sex wife and her Friend has been the Star of summer to. Can surfs against a wave of newsy channels by Elizabeth Kolbert new York times can the Cable Channel that altered the nature of television news is finding it Tough to compete by the very rules i helped successful has the Cable news net work been in changing the television news culture that the broadcast networks which used to hold Back footage of International events for their own evening newscasts now offer these images to their affiliates throughout the Day. Rival Cable channels trying to emulate can s accomplishments now offer round the clock coverage of local news entertainment news and courtroom news. Confronted with a persistent ratings slump can has in recent months been trying out new strategies to win viewers like shuffling anchors and introducing More scheduled programs along the lines of its durable interview show Larry King live but both analysts and competitors say the 24-hour-a-Day news Channel is facing a classic Media Industry dilemma too much change and it risks losing its identity too Little and that identity might not be Worth saving. It s a Hobson s Choice said a Westin senior vice president for programming at time Warner. Their corporate Persona is we re Here when news . If they toss that identity Over the Side i think that s a very serious on the other hand he added the Sarne video of the same event that used to be available Only on can is now Avail Able everywhere. Problem problem can s ratings dropped by. Roughly a Quarter in the first part of the year. In the first Quarter before . Simpson came along to give the Channel a lift can s average prime time audience had fallen to about 500,000 households according to Nielsen Media research Down from about 693,000 during the comparable period last year. " then in april and May the Channel s average audience in any Given 24-hour period fell to roughly. 250,000 households the lowest level since 1982, when can began to receive ratings. The Simpson Case which began in mid june helped can end the second Quarter with prime time ratings that were unchanged from the Quarter a year earlier. For july can even posted a ratings gain for one half hour on july 6, in fact during Simpson s much watched preliminary hearing can attracted More than 5.5 million viewers. But can s ratings almost certainly would have been even higher during the hearing were it not for the fact that the broadcast networks were also show ing it live. With the slump in ratings can s profits have also suffered. For the first Quarter operating profits for Turner broadcasting system s news division which includes can can International and headline news dropped 7.5 percent to $49 million from the period a year earlier. For the second Quarter operating profits were essentially Flat at $55 million. For a Premium can advertisers can have their commercials run during periods of hot news. Dur ing slow news periods when the Channel does not at tract the audience it has promised can like the broadcast networks must compensate advertisers with extra ads known As to be sure can is still a lucrative venture especially by the standards of television news divisions which often lose Money. Any one of the broadcast networks would love to have can s Cash flow for their news operations said Larry Gerbrandt senior vice president at Paul Kagan associates a Media re search firm. Last year Turner s news division reported operating income of $212 million on Revenue of $599 Mil lion. This year Gerbrandt predicts that the Channel will see a modest increase in profits. Growing Rev Enue from can International is expected to account for much of that increase. Still the management of can is clearly concerned. In april Tom Johnson the Channel s presi Dent sent a memo to staff members urging them to put the hard news Energy Back into the two months later he named two top executives senior vice president Lou Dobbs and executive vice president Bob Furnad to head up the develop men t of new programs. Although the two men Are not talking about their plans one new show has already been introduced sports talk show at 1 . Not named calling All sports and another began this past week a weekday Call in show with a live audience titled talk Back live. " can which was dubbed the Chicken Noodle net work during its Low budget beginnings in 1980, came of age a decade later with its coverage of the persian Gulf War. Like George Bush though can never really managed to consolidate its Gulf War Success and its ratings still Rise and fall precipitately with world events. Page 8 sunday August 28, 1994
