Television Industry Finances

In the current world of network television, even being No. 1 means having to try harder--and, especially, having to pay more. Just ask ratings champ NBC. NBC's Peacock has ruled the prime-time roost the past two seasons but now faces the chore of paying a lot more than chicken feed for the programs that put it on top.

Much has been written about how movies have become the dominion of big-budget action and science-fiction fare--in part because stories short on dialogue and long on thrills play especially well overseas. Often overlooked, however, is how television has paralleled this trend, with executives saying the viability of one-hour drama series now depends to a significant degree on their appeal abroad--where action and sci-fi often travel better than softer, character-driven programs.

When Columbia Pictures paid Jim Carrey $20 million to star in the movie "Cable Guy," the other studios howled that the figure would prompt a crazed escalation in production costs. Television appears to be undergoing a similar wave of largess as new projects are being considered for next season, causing network executives to worry that the spending spree will not only upset prime-time's economic structure but also prevent fresh ideas from getting on the air.

MCA Inc. became the latest Hollywood studio to cash in on the exploding German television market with the announcement of two agreements to sell movies and TV shows that could generate revenues of more than $2.5 billion over the next 10 years for the company. With new digital technologies vastly expanding its television channels, Germany has become a grand bazaar for studios eager to sell long-term packages of TV and movie rights. Germany is shaping up to be Europe's largest importer of U.S.

In January of 1984, a month before it would televise the Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, ABC agreed to pay $309 million for rights to the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary, Canada. The deal, made in Lausanne, Switzerland, left a sour taste in the mouths of Roone Arledge and other ABC executives. They believed they had been had.

Howard Stringer, CBS Broadcast Group president, sought Thursday to defuse reports running through the television industry that he is angry and intends to punish the Fox network for luring away CBS' professional football franchise. Rather, his harsh comments at an affiliates meeting in Carlsbad Monday were intended to be a motivational speech, he told a meeting of TV critics in Pasadena.

Rupert Murdoch's Star TV, the media mogul's big gamble in pan-Asian satellite broadcasting, appears to be off to a promising start despite recent cutbacks, management turmoil and censorship problems in some countries. Last summer, Murdoch bought a 64% stake in Star TV for $545 million. The acquisition gave his global News Corp. an opening in the world's fastest-growing TV market, which encompasses more than 2.5 billion people.

As it approaches the midpoint in its fiscal year, KCET-TV Channel 28 says its budget projection is essentially on target, despite a drop in December on-air pledge revenue for the third year in a row. During a 15-day drive that ended Wednesday, Los Angeles' largest public-television station brought in $814,590 in pledges from 12,856 subscribers--contrasted with $836,788 from 16,327 subscribers a year ago.

A think-tank report on the future of public television says the non-commercial network will be more important than ever in the coming 500-channel universe and calls for increased funding from the federal government and other sources.

Worlds are colliding. The worlds of theater and television, that is. There have been near-misses before, theater translated to the small tube, and sitcom-flavored scripts presented in theaters. The current innovation, which opened Friday at Hollywood's newest 99-seat plan venue, the Egyptian Arena Theatre, is called "Cheap Talk."