A cloudy picture for local TV Area station managers expect retailers to cut advertising spending
By CHRIS CHURCHILL, Business writer First published in print: Wednesday, November 19, 2008
COLONIE — Happy New Year? Not in the television business.
General managers of three Capital Region stations, echoing statements from across their industry, agreed Tuesday that 2009 will be a down — if not grim — year for TV revenue.
The sagging economy is the major reason, with retailers expected to cut the advertising spending on which stations depend.
"We're looking at budgets that are a little bit scary when we look at 2009," Steve Baboulis, general manager at WNYT Ch. 13, the NBC affiliate in Albany, said during a discussion sponsored by the local chapter of American Women in Radio and Television.
From the perspective of a television executive like Baboulis — or Robert Furlong of WRGB Ch. 6 or Bill Sally of WXXA Ch. 23, the other GMs on the panel — the recession is coming at a particularly poor time.
After all, television stations and other so-called traditional media are already dealing with a period of change both startling and unsettling.
The habits of media consumers are shifting, with more and more folks turning to the Internet for both news and entertainment — leading some observers to wonder whether television as we know it will survive.
Why, after all, should a Capital Region viewer watch a sitcom like The Office on a local affiliate when the program is available (with fewer commercials) on Web sites like NBC.com or Hulu.com?
"We used to be appointment television," Furlong said. "That's now reversed. It's 'I want it when I want it.' "
Furlong said "huts and puts" — TV-industry speak for "households using television" and "people using television" — are down dramatically across the industry.
Grim picture, no?
But the GMs reminded their lunchtime audience at The Century House in Latham that television and other traditional media still have tremendous assets — including mass audiences and the power to promote their own Web sites.
And the increasing personnel and resources devoted to those Web sites — every Capital Region television news outlet has one — are evidence the industry is evolving.
After all, television stations and other so-called traditional media are already dealing with a period of change both startling and unsettling.
The habits of media consumers are shifting, with more and more folks turning to the Internet for both news and entertainment — leading some observers to wonder whether television as we know it will survive.
Why, after all, should a Capital Region viewer watch a sitcom like The Office on a local affiliate when the program is available (with fewer commercials) on Web sites like NBC.com or Hulu.com?
"We used to be appointment television," Furlong said. "That's now reversed. It's 'I want it when I want it.' "
watch the dog and pony show that will be fired up soon....politico sides to 'bailout' media.......help help help us......the consumer is winning........ which ever party jumps on this wagon will surely be the devil......media control, media $$$, media votes etc etc......maybe Paris Hilton or Mr.Heffner would like to weigh in......or how about those reality shows.......
THIS IS THE WORLD OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB..........there will be a power struggle.......it will be called transparency...RealID....immigration...trade sanctions....etc etc.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
If local tv stations don't get on the bandwagon, curb growth/spending/productions, they will be devoured by the internet. This world is an "on demand" world - we want it, and we want it now. So, you make it home for the news after a long day of work, but you miss the first 15 minutes. By 11pm, you're too tired to stay awake - you lose, no news. All 3 locals need to get on the wagon, go to internet productions, WITH commercials if necessary, in a way that links to the sponsor so they get credit. It can be done - it just isn't happening.
wrgb/wnyt and wten all need to wake up - this is 2008 - the internet is here, and it's in nearly every house, in some form or another.
Internet is "on demand" - broadcast media is not.
By the way - Ms. Patrick - it's the same for newspapers ... except the TimesUnion is doing it right - the Gazette ISNT.
A lot of businesses are already cutting ads in the Gazette, believe me.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Local media may not survive as we now know it...but, I think it will drive communities toward themselves,,,into small groups---like churches used to do...
sure----we can get ALL kinds of news globally in the internet....but nitty-gritty local yokel stuff is hard to come by......time for new wine skins for the new wine.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
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