(Subscriber Report) Ed Martin Live from TCA: The Recession Hits Journalists and Networks Alike

Signs of the deepening recession are everywhere at the summer 2009 Television Critics Association tour which began yesterdayMany longtime members aren39t here because they have lost their newspaper jobs during the last few months Others are missing because although they are still employed the TCA trip has been cut from their budgets Among the former several are here only because they have generated enough freelance income to cover the expense of the tour Among the latter some have chosen to foot the bill out of their own pockets so as not to miss this allimportant eventYou are receiving this email as a corporate subscriber to Jack Myers Media Business Report Redistribution in any form except among approved individuals within your company is prohibitedTight budgets have impacted the networks as well Once upon a time cable networks lobbied to be included in the four days devoted to cable at the July tour Some had to angrily wait in line sometimes for a year or two for TCA space to open up Indeed it wasn39t so long ago that the cable networks expressed interest in adding a fifth day to their portion of the tour to make room for everybodyBut this tour is a different story Cable has shrunk from four days to three and onehalf The morning of opening day was so light amp8211 a onehour open breakfast from 910 a session with the archive director from the Academy of Television Arts ampamp Sciences Foundation from 1011 amp8211 that it felt like a half day which would bring the total cable time to three daysTo be fair to CTAM which organizes the cable portion of the tour the first half of opening day has become an undesirable time for networks to offer TCA presentations That39s because more TCA members than ever fly to Los Angeles on the opening day of the tour rather than the day before simply to cut one night from their hotel bills So they don39t arrive until early afternoon many of them weary from their long tripsSome of the cable shrinkage is due to the integration of cable networks into the broadcast days For example NBC Universal39s cable networks are now slotted into NBC39s day and FX includes several panels during the Fox portion of the tour In other cases it is apparently due to budget restraints Showtime isn39t presenting anything at all though its executives and some of its stars will attend CBS39 evening party next Monday ABC Family and SOAPnet both introducing new series this summer will have no presence during TCA although executives and talent from both may attend an ABC cocktail party here later next week Lifetime will have a onehour breakfast with talent from two upcoming series but no press conferences HBO will have its usual threehour block of presentations one afternoon but will forgo its traditional evening party in favor of a screening and light supper here at the hotelGiven the great summer that most cable networks are having one might think they would have much to promote to the nation39s print and online press But that is simply not the case for many of themMeanwhile the networks that are participating are offering a fine mix of talent Turner networks yesterday brought out Joy Behar to talk about her upcoming primetime talk show on HLN and George Lopez to take questions about his new latenight talk show which he likens to Arsenio Hall39s popculture hit back in the Eighties AMC had a cocktail party last night featuring the stars of its hit dramas Mad Men and Breaking Bad In the days ahead TV Land will offer Joan Rivers on behalf of her new series How39d You Get So Rich Matt Damon and Marisa Tomei will be here to discuss the upcoming History Channel special The People Speak National Geographic Channel will offer a diverse array of talent including actor Paul Walker Fast and the Furious when it previews several shows and its second annual Expedition Week Starz will make a big push for the second season of Crash with Dennis Hopper and Eric Roberts and its upcoming series Spartacus Blood and Sand starring Lucy Lawless BBC America is bringing in many of its stars most notably David Tennant of Doctor Who Science Channel will present Whoopi Goldberg to talk about her new series Head Games which she created Food Network will host a party at a nearby mansion with some of its talent The other Scripps Networks have no presence at the tourAll problems aside TCA is still very viable and valuable to press and networks alike For example Fox Reality Channel yesterday did a very good job getting critics and journalists interested in Househusbands of Hollywood a series they otherwise would have likely ignored Isn39t that the point of it all

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(Subscriber Report) Ed Martin Live from TCA: The Recession Hits Journalists and Networks Alike

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