NEW YORK -- When USA Network holds its annual upfront presentation here this evening to pitch advertisers on upcoming programming, the cable channel won't just be spotlighting its new development slate.
Also on display: the triumphant four-year tenure of its president, Bonnie Hammer, who helped USA regain basic cable's top perch.
The channel brought in nearly $700 million in profit last year, an impressive amount even compared with the broadcast networks, including NBC, its corporate sibling, which made about $300 million. USA's success has helped lift Hammer's fortunes as well. On Monday, NBC Universal announced it was expanding her domain by giving her oversight of a new cable studio split off from Universal Media Studios and putting her in charge of "emerging" cable channels such as Chiller and Sleuth.
The only thing surprising about Hammer's new responsibilities is that she didn't get them sooner. Since the television veteran took over USA in 2004, it has shaken off its reputation for stale programming and reinvigorated a graying audience with younger viewers.
By wooing World Wrestling Entertainment back to the channel and promoting the likes of Tony Shalhoub's obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk as part of its "Characters Welcome" brand, USA reclaimed the top spot in prime time on ad-supported cable in 2006 for the first time in six years. Last year, the channel beat its competitors again with a record average of 2.7 million viewers.
So far this quarter, USA's audience is up 7% over the same period last year to nearly 3 million viewers, putting it ahead of the broadcast network the CW for the first time.
"It's probably become the single most important entity within the entire portfolio" of NBC Universal, said Jeff Zucker, the company's chief executive.
At tonight's presentation at a posh Midtown restaurant, USA executives will preview four new series built around the kind of quirky characters that have become the network's calling card.
But that doesn't mean shows like "The Nanny Files," featuring a young nanny-turned-detective, or "Royal Pains," about a concierge doctor in the Hamptons, will make it on the air anytime soon.
Recently launched series such as "Psych" and "Burn Notice" have done so well that USA doesn't have much room on its schedule. The network has yet to even make any pilots out of the five projects it promoted at last year's upfront. Its newest drama, "In Plain Sight," is premiering June 8, more than two years after it was put into development. The only other show scheduled to debut so far in 2008 is this fall's "The Starter Wife," based on the miniseries that aired last summer.
