Posted 6:39 PM by Blah blah

TV Networks Showing Less Reruns (Television)

TV economics is changing: Reruns get bad reception (USA Today): "In recent years, the network rerun has been slowly fading from the nation's TV screens.

This summer, more than ever, viewers will be able to click through at least 20 fresh series on the networks, from ABC following Roseanne as she cooks up a new show to the drama of Fox's Keen Eddie, about a New York City detective in London.

Truth is, not only do viewers hate reruns — some of television's top dramas lose more than half their audience in repeats — but the networks just can't afford to lose those viewers anymore:

• Cable has gained at networks' expense. For the first time, cable's combined audience outstripped the broadcast networks' last season, although cable has yet to catch up in prime time. The damage is particularly intense in the summer months: Nielsen figures show that while overall TV viewership declined only 8% to 10% last summer, the major networks lost 30% of their viewers and cable gained, says Steve Sternberg of media-buying firm Magna Global USA.

• Among the broadcast networks themselves, intense competition has left them less tolerant of the smaller audiences repeats increasingly deliver. Networks need a large base of viewers to successfully promote and launch their crucial fall lineups.

• Competition for viewers' attention, particularly the younger viewers advertisers seek, also has heated up with newer forms of entertainment, from video games and the Internet to DVDs — which, oddly enough, have become a new way to market reruns, as "collector's edition" box sets.

• And the recent boom in reality shows has demonstrated that the shows can win back those younger viewers from cable, making them ideal summer strategic weapons.

That's why this TV summer, which officially began last week with the end of the traditional September-to-May season, prompted an even earlier kickoff to what's shaping up as the largest concentration of original programming yet on the major networks."