UPN may now grow into long pants

UPN may now
grow into long pants

FCC ruling is a breath of life. What will it become?

By Kevin Downey

   It's been a given that either UPN or the WB network would disappear. The question was always which of the six-year-old networks would go first.
    Late last week, the odds of survival turned suddenly in UPN's favor when the Federal Communications Commission decided to allow Viacom to own both CBS and UPN.
    The big question is: what will become of this new, revitalized UPN, now that it appears to be free of the noose?
    While the details are not in place, and CBS at least is not talking, early signs are that UPN will get enormous leverage as a sister network to CBS under the Viacom umbrella.
   Expect joint ad sales and packages across both networks. We can also expect to see programming deals between the two, with UPN getting access to shows on CBS.
   It could not come at a better time. The network continues to lose money, its audience has fallen 4.5 percent this year, and its cornerstone Thursday night with "WWF Smackdown" has taken a 19 percent tumble against "Survivor" on CBS.
    Behind those disappointments was the looming presence of Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corp., owner of the Fox network, bought eight of UPN’s affiliates in a deal with Chris-Craft last August. Murdoch has been quiet about his plans for the UPN affiliates but dismantling the network had loomed as a strong possibility.
    "UPN’s future was looking very shaky," says Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University.
    "If this hadn’t come along, I wouldn’t have bet the farm that it would still be on the air in three years."
    Deana Myers, an analyst at Paul Kagan Associates, says: "I don’t think it’s likely it could have lasted too much longer.
    "I think only one of UPN or the WB will last in the long run, at least based on their current business model. This gives UPN more of a chance."
    While it's still unclear what type of synergy will develop between CBS and UPN under Viacom, which also owns cable networks like MTV and Nickelodeon, the FCC ruling clearly opens the possibility for cross promotion and program sharing.
    The partnership of the two networks, for example, could serve to bring CBS a younger audience and UPN a broader audience than its current programming, which skews toward younger men and ethnic audiences.
    "Everything they are doing now is pushing people to Viacom properties," says Allen Banks, executive media director at Saatchi & Saatchi. "I congratulate them for doing it. They have the resources to do it and would be crazy not to."
    John Rash, senior vice president and director of broadcast negotiations at Campbell Mithun, agrees.
    "The two networks clearly have a distinct programming strategy. But the flow of information and the potential for programs to be brought to CBS and given to UPN and vice versa does exist.
   "It ultimately has more effect on Viacom. They are assembling a cradle-to-grave media portfolio that they can take to advertisers."
   The FCC voted three-to-one to amend its ruling that prevented the major networks from merging or acquiring either UPN or the WB. Under the FCC’s previous rules, Viacom had until May 5, or one year after acquiring CBS, to divest UPN.
    In his decision to amend the ownership rule, FCC chairman Michael Powell, who is known to favor deregulation, said that it would be unlikely that UPN could survive as a viable network without remaining in the Viacom fold.
    One concern was the loss of a network that largely targets underserved ethnic audiences.
    It’s unclear whether Viacom has committed to maintaining UPN’s ethnic programming, which includes shows like "Moesha" and "Girlfriends," but most media analysts think UPN will more or less continue to target niche audiences.
    "With the increased diversification of America encapsulated in the latest census, it’s a viable programming strategy and one of the justification points of the FCC ruling," says Rash. "So, it’s unlikely anytime soon that UPN will jettison any of that programming."
    Still, UPN’s close affiliation with CBS should benefit it by giving it access to higher profile programming. The network’s biggest hits are "Smackdown" and "Star Trek: Voyager." This, however, is the last season for "Voyager," and UPN has had little success with other programs.
    The XFL on UPN, for instance, ranks as the lowest viewed program on the broadcast networks and UPN's new reality show, "Chains of Love," debuted to a weak 2.95 million viewers last week. In the February sweeps, UPN’s ratings were down dramatically for five of six nights it has programmed.
   Perhaps in a sign of Viacom’s commitment to building UPN up, the company acquired "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" from the WB last week. The show is credited with much of that network’s success in the past few years.
   UPN has ordered two years' worth of new episodes of "Buffy" after a protracted battle between the WB and the producer of "Buffy," 20^th Century Fox Television, over the cost of the show.
   The WB had been paying $1 million per episode and offered $1.8 million to keep it. UPN will pay $2.3 million per episode and is said to be a contender to steal the WB’s "Angel," a spinoff of "Buffy."

-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.

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