Television Networks

It's the V-chip redux. Just as pressure from politicians and the public forced the TV industry to capitulate in its opposition to a ratings system that would help parents guide their children's viewing habits, it now appears that broadcasters are losing ground in the battle to stave off how much educational programming they must provide for youngsters.

In May, when NBC picked up ABC's "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" for next season, television insiders muttered about an ulterior motive. This week, after NBC raided its rival again to steal away "The Naked Truth," a year-old comedy starring Tea Leoni, pundits began wondering whether the TV networks are turning into the Hatfields and McCoys.

They were handing out "Lehrer and Brokaw in '96" buttons at the National Press Club this week as the network anchors tried to drum up interest in their joint coverage of this summer's political conventions. PBS' Jim Lehrer said that since he began covering such gatherings in 1960, "everyone always predicted they were going to be dull. They were going to be boring. They were going to be irrelevant." But he insisted, "It's important. It matters."

The television networks have reaped more revenue from pre-sold advertising time for next season than ever before, despite their mediocre prime-time results during the just-concluded broadcast year. The networks are finishing the annual ritual known as the upfront market, when they sell advertising time in their new prime-time schedules. With the fledgling UPN and WB Networks included, total prime-time sales are expected to near $6 billion.

ESPN, rumored for more than a year to be planning a 24-hour all-sports news channel, announced Monday plans to launch it Nov. 1. The channel, ESPNEWS, is not to be confused with ESPN3, another proposed project. "We have other plans for ESPN3, but we're not talking about that today," Steve Bornstein, ESPN president, said. Programming and other details about ESPNEWS will be announced this summer, he said.

I know a lot of people will be relieved to hear that the early word on the fall prime-time season is: "It's going to be a safe one." After being assaulted this past season by programming that set new lows for standards of taste and decency, it's a natural reaction. We all needed a break. So, anticipating a brave new Big Brotherly world of V-chips and ratings, the four major networks--ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC--have apparently decided to make nice in prime time.

The news that the major broadcast networks are on the verge of adopting a ratings system like the one used in feature films has left television writers and producers unsettled. Not because program labeling is inherently an anathema, many insist, but because no one is certain where it will lead. "People fear that ratings are the first step toward another kind of censorship," said Carmen Finestra, a creator and executive producer of ABC's popular comedy "Home Improvement."

The nation's four television networks are in talks to establish a rating system, similar to the one used in motion pictures, in an effort to head off the threat of government regulation of programs with violent or sexual content, sources said Wednesday. Top executives from ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox have been meeting in New York and Los Angeles in an attempt to forge an agreement in advance of a White House summit later this month on television violence, the sources said.

CBS, ABC and CNN did not exactly sound the death knell for the struggling presidential campaign of Sen. Bob Dole when they started projecting the early results of Tuesday's Republican primary in Arizona. But they indicated that the early standings meant his bid was in critical condition. Said ABC's "Nightline" host Ted Koppel at the top of Tuesday night's broadcast: "With an embarrassing third-place finish in today's Arizona primary, is Bob Dole losing the battle?"

30-Week TV Ratings Standard Abolished: The presidents of the four broadcast networks' entertainment divisions abolished the traditional 30-week TV season as a standard for the ratings winner. "Together, we are declaring an official end to the obsolete practice of declaring a prime-time winner after the conclusion of the traditional 30-week television season that runs from September to mid-April," they said.