Get ready for TLC’s third act.
   The Discovery-owned network best known for home improvement show “Trading Spaces” is in a well-documented ratings freefall as it heads into the upfront ad-selling season. 
   But while taking a reactive rather than preemptive measure to stem ratings declines, TLC scores points with media buyers for launching an overhaul, most significantly with new programmers who plan to retain the network’s “life unscripted” tagline while branching out to non-home-improvement shows that tell more emotional stories than those currently on the air.
   Among TLC’s new management team is David Abraham, who on Monday becomes the network’s new executive vice president and general manager. Abraham, a former ad agency guy, had been running Discovery Networks in Britain since 2001. He replaces Roger Marmet, who resigned in January.
   TLC also tapped into Discovery Channel to hire Sean Gallagher, the network’s new vice president of development. Gallagher says TLC has spent eight months getting viewer feedback about the types of shows they want to see.
   Viewers apparently want to see programs with emotional storylines, perhaps not unlike ABC’s tearjerker “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.” In that show, former “Trading Spaces” carpenter Ty Pennington takes a down-on-its-luck family and redesigns their home.
   “When I looked at [TLC] there wasn’t a lot of emotion on the air, although I think at one time there was,” says Gallagher.
   “And all that fits under life unscripted, which from a development standpoint opens an opportunity for us to be not one thing but [to] have a lot of different genres."


The network's identity
    The one-time Learning Channel was re-branded TLC in 2000 and has ever since rolled out reality-type shows like “What Not to Wear” and “Clean Sweep.”
   But the network’s ratings suffered because it heavily relied on one show – “Trading Spaces” – only to see that program’s ratings tumble. TLC’s fall is similar to ABC’s problems earlier this decade when it faltered after loading its schedule with “Who Wants to be a Millionaire.”
   Gallagher says while TLC’s schedule is being reworked with programs targeting men and women, with an emphasis on women, its identity as a network with unscripted shows will remain intact.

The network's target audience
   The network targets adults 25-54 with a female skew during the day and strives for a 60-40 female-male split in primetime, according to Gallagher.
   But the network also does well in other demographics, notably the 18-49 demo many advertisers target. TLC’s viewers have a median age of 41 years.

The network's ratings
    TLC’s ratings in the past several months point to a network that hadn’t counted on “Trading Spaces” to lose steam, even though Gallagher estimates the show spawned nearly three dozen imitators. TLC failed to line up new shows that could take its place, and it’s still suffering because of that.
    In the third week of March, TLC’s primetime audience was down 36 percent from the same time a year ago. Its audience was down 34 percent in the 25-54 demo and 43 percent among women in that age group.
   “There are only a few reality programs out there that can sustain themselves, and there are other ones that don’t have longevity like [ABC’s] ‘Bachelor,’ which may have been the case with ‘Trading Spaces,’” says Tom Weeks, entertainment director at Starcom Worldwide. “I think viewers got tired of such programming but they also started to go to other networks for similar fare.”

The network's competitive set
    TLC tries to reach adults 25-54 with unscripted programs, meaning it’s competing with many other networks doing the same thing.
   But TLC also recognizes its core viewers are women. As a result, the network competes with female-targeted networks like Lifetime, Hallmark, and SoapNet, which have lineups heavy on scripted programs, and HGTV and Food Network, which go after these viewers with unscripted shows.

What’s new for 2005/06
   With TLC’s ratings tumbling and new programmers installed, this is the beginning of the network’s third act, the first two acts being its 20 years as the Learning Channel and, until recently, its “Trading Spaces” phase.
   Perhaps the most talked about change is an overhauled “Trading Spaces.” The show’s new season kicks off in April. Paige Davis, the show’s former host, is gone and won’t be replaced. Instead, “Trading” will focus more on homeowners and the designers charged with redesigning rooms.
   But TLC also has several other shows and specials in the works.
   Among them is “Sheer Dallas,” which TLC calls a docu-soap. The show centers on rich Texans. “Million Dollar Agents” follows Miami real estate brokers who cater to wealthy people.
   Upcoming specials include “Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp” with The Who’s Roger Daltrey. And the limited series “Operation Homecoming” follows soldiers coming back from the Iraq war.

The network's upfront outlook
   TLC will undoubtedly get tired of explaining why its ratings have crashed while also trying to convince media buyers that it’s about to reverse that trend. That’s the situation facing Abraham and Gallagher unless the revamped “Trading Spaces” or one of TLC’s new shows takes off this spring.

The final prognosis
    On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent: 2.
    Bouncing back from a steep audience decline is never easy. ABC can attest to that as its rebounding ratings with “Desperate Housewives” come nearly three years after it sank into last place among the Big Four networks.
   Media buyers say TLC is taking appropriate steps to reverse ratings declines with a management shakeup. But most also say networks on the mend need at least a couple of seasons to recover. Moreover, both Abraham and Gallagher are new to the network, so neither has had time to make their marks on TLC’s lineup.