Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff on Ratings, Revenues and Fiscal Austerity at NBC

Ed Martin Live from the Television Critics Association Tour in Beverly HillsBeverly Hills CA Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff the new cochairmen of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios yesterday made clear that they are going to embrace the past and move aggressively into the future as they set about the task of revitalizing their networkAppearing at the Television Critics Association Tour to discuss their strategies for the 200708 season and beyond Silverman and Graboff revealed that since taking the reins of NBC in midJune they have arranged for former NBC superstar Jerry Seinfeld to appear as a guest on the season premiere of 30 Rock put into development a new onehour comedy from veteran producer Norman Lear added the currently controversial Grey39s Anatomy alumnus Isaiah Washington to the cast of the freshman drama Bionic Woman cast Uri Geller and Criss Angel in an interactive reality series titled Phenomenon that is based on a hit show in Israel where it is known as The Successor and determined with Donald Trump that the next edition of The Apprentice will feature celebrities from the worlds of sports and entertainment competing for Trump39s approval According to Silverman those celebrity contestants could include Rosie O39Donnell in the unlikely event that she accepts an authorized invitation from her nemesis to appear on the show And just to make things really lively Silverman and Graboff who are clearly wasting no time in putting their stamp on the network also decided to make several changes to the schedule NBC unveiled at its upfront presentation in May The new comedydrama Chuck will move from Tuesday at 9 to Monday at 8 pm NBC39s summer hit The Singing Bee will remain on Tuesday at 930 coming out of a 90minute The Biggest Loser On Friday Friday Night Lights which had been scheduled for 10 pm will switch time periods with Las Vegas and be seen at 9 Can all these changes keep NBC out of fourth place next season quotWe39d love to be the first place network in the 1849 demo because you capture the most advertising dollars that wayquot Graboff said quotThat39s a revenue view But you need to look at things more than just from the amount of advertising dollars you bring in You need to look at your business on your bottomline margin That can be from advertising revenue but also from revenue you may get online in the foreign marketplace in the domestic marketplace for shows that you own or making the right kind of deals for shows that you don39t own so that you can make money on them by just showing them on the air quotWhen we were the No 1 network in 1849 we commanded a premium because of our upscale profile and we39d like to get that backquot Graboff continued quotBut being profitable and maintaining the future profitability of the business is also a very high priority for usquot quotThe conversation is shiftingquot Silverman added noting that NBC this summer has risen from fourth to second place in its target demo quotThe difference between fourth and first is 2 of a ratings pointquot he said quotWhen you analyze it in the context of where numbers one to four are it39s even smaller So you realize the value of just saying 1 2 3 or 4 is lessenedquot On the subject of profitability Silverman noted that quotone of the great thingsquot about the critically praised but low rated Friday Night Lights is that it is produced quotefficientlyquot The network he said is quotlooking at fiscally responsible ways to deliver ratings If you have a show that39s a breakout hit you can obviously invest some more cash into it If you have a lowrated show that you believe in creatively then you need to focus on driving more eyeballs to it through marketing through partnerships through strategic alliances But you also need to figure out how that show can continue to survive at a lower ratings basis That requires some fiscal austerity Part of the reason Friday Night Lights came back is it39s a very efficient show to produce It is less expensive than Heroes for example quotThis isn39t a new philosophy for NBCquot the legacyminded Silverman asserted quotThis is the philosophy that led to Hill Street Blues This is the philosophy that led to Seinfeld This is a philosophy that has served NBC well for years so it will absolutely continue under Marc39s and my watchquot With the move of Chuck to Monday at 8 pm and My Name is Earl and 30 Rock filling the 89 pm hour on Thursday it would seem that NBC is moving away from the controversial plan it announced last fall to run only inexpensive reality shows in that time period throughout the week But Graboff maintains it was quotsomewhat of a misconceptionquot that reality at 8 pm was going to be a quotblanket rulequot Rather it is once again all about economics quotThe idea was to have a better portfolio approach to our programming where we39d have less expensive shows generally in the 8 o39clock hour where the advertising dollars were not as availablequot Graboff said Asked about the risks of scheduling three fantasy or sciencefiction shows on Monday Silverman said that the quotcharacter elementsquot and the quotemotional connectionsquot within Chuck Heroes and Journeyman are quoteven more profound than the fantastical elementsquot He thinks Sunday night football will be a great platform to drive viewers to the new Monday lineup

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Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff on Ratings, Revenues and Fiscal Austerity at NBC

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Ben Silverman and Marc Graboff on Ratings, Revenues and Fiscal Austerity at NBC

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