March 2005 News

Cablevision Systems said Tuesday it has ended discussions with Voom HD, formed by Cablevision founder Charles Dolan, without reaching a definitive agreement regarding the acquisition of Cablevision's satellite broadcasting business not included in the previously announced sale to EchoStar.

Cablevision said the previously announced letter of intent between Cablevision and Voom HD to pursue such a transaction expired Tuesday and that as a result, Cablevision will close down the Voom business. The Voom satellite service posted a $450 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2004, the company said last week.

Comedy Central had its best month ever in February, averaging 601,000 viewers for the full day.

The performance was powered by "Blue Collar Comedy Tour Rides Again," the network's second-highest-rated program in its history, and by "The Daily Show," whose ratings have continued to climb after the presidential election.

Comedy Central's ratings are up 27 percent from February 2004.

TNT and TBS announced the development of several new series Tuesday, including a limited series for TNT based on a short story collection by Stephen King.

TNT's new series are "Confessions," a drama about a hit man from executive producer Paul Haggis ("Million Dollar Baby"); "Grace," about a female police officer given an opportunity to change her life, from Nancy Miller ("CSI: Miami"); "The Midnight Club," another police drama, scripted by author "James Patterson ("Along Came a Spider"); "Smoke & Mirrors," a drama set in the world of advertising from writer-producer Lindsay Sturman ("Joan of Arcadia") and executive producers Greer Shephard and Michael Robin ("Nip/Tuck"); "Talk to Me," a hostage negotiator drama from executive producer Dean Devlin ("Independence Day"); and "Nightmares and Dreamscapes," a limited series based on the Stephen King collection and executive-produced by Bill Haber ("Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow").

Sister network TBS also announced some projects, including "Sketch Off" (working title), which presents sketch comedy groups from around the country and is produced by Whoopi Goldberg's One Ho Productions; "Loser Leaves Town," a greenlit reality series in which two feuding neighbors participate in a series of competitions, by executive producer Bruce Nash ("Outback Jack"); and "Daisy Does America," a comedy series staring British comic Daisy Donovan and executive produced by Courteney Cox and David Arquette's Coquette Productions.

Twentieth Television has named Michel James Bryant, Harris Faulkner and Tina Malave correspondents of its newsmagazine strip "A Current Affair." Peter Brennan, creator and executive producer the show, made the announcement Monday. "Affair" is scheduled to launch March 21 on selected Fox Network owned-and-operated stations.

Mr. Bryant will be based in "Affair's" West Coast bureau, while Ms. Faulkner and Ms. Malave will be based in the show's East Coast bureau.

Mr. Bryant joins "A Current Affair" from "Extra," where he served as the program's legal expert and consumer reporter. A practicing attorney, Mr. Bryant won an Emmy Award in 2002 for the syndicated news feature "The Legal Edge."

Most recently Ms. Faulkner was the principal weeknight anchor for the ABC affiliate KSTP-TV in Minneapolis, where she won multiple awards, including a 2003 Emmy for covering the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone. She has also worked as an anchor for WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Mo., and WNCT-TV in Greenville, N.C.

Ms. Malave formerly hosted the NBC reality program "Next Action Star." She also hosted "Extreme Close Up With …" and "FYE!" for E! Entertainment as well as the Independent Film Channel's "Ifilm at IFC," Court TV's "Fake Out," WE: Women's Entertainment's "Savvy" and SíTV's "The Rub."

Leading lawmakers in the Senate and the House on Tuesday endorsed proposals to extend the government's indecency prohibitions to cable and satellite.

As it stands, the Federal Communications Commission's prohibitions on off-color programming apply only to broadcast radio and TV, not cable and satellite. But at a National Association of Broadcasters-sponsored seminar in Washington, Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, and Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, both said cable and satellite should be subject to the same programming restrictions that broadcasters face.

"In this country, there has to be some standards of indecency," said Sen. Stevens, chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Added Rep. Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, "I think [broadcasters and satellite and cable operators] ought to play to, to the extent it's possible, the same rules."

Cable TV representatives have long contended that extending indecency prohibitions to cable would violate the industry's First Amendment rights, in part because subscribers willingly invite cable and other pay services into their homes.

"I disagree violently" with the cable industry's constitutional analysis, Sen. Stevens said. "We might as well get it on the table. If that's the issue they want to take on, we'll take them on, and we'll let the Supreme Court decide."

Said Rep. Barton, in subsequent remarks to reporters, said, "I'm very supportive of what the senator says."

Brian Dietz, VP of communications for the NCTA, responded in a press release: "We believe any regulation of cable content raises serious First Amendment objections and will oppose efforts to impose regulation on cable programming. As the U.S. Supreme Court has found, the subscription nature of cable service, and the ability of cable customers to block unwanted programming through the use of tools offered by local cable systems, strongly differentiate cable from broadcasting, which is distributed free and unfiltered over the air."

FX and CBS have acquired television rights to the film "Coach Carter" from Paramount Television Distribution. The movie has earned $65 million at the box office since it was released in January. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

FX will be able to air the Samuel L. Jackson film in September 2007, but CBS will receive a window in March 2008, and is expected to run the film at a time compatible with its coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.

Charter Communications today said its fourth-quarter net loss rose to $340 million from $58 million a year ago. The company lost 83,000 basic video subscribers during the period.

The company also said that co-Chief Financial Officer Derek Chang will resign effective April 15.

Charter, the nation's third-largest cable operator, has been roiled by management turnover, including the departure of CEO Carl Vogel, who resigned in January. For the full year, Charter, controlled by Paul Allen, said it lost $2.158 billion on a pro forma basis, compared with $445 million a year ago.

Fox won the week ended Feb. 27 in the adults 18 to 49 demo with its music reality series "American Idol" propelling it to a win over ABC's Sunday night "77th Annual Academy Awards" Sunday. Fox also wrested No. 1 in total viewers from CBS.

The Oscars ceremony scored a 15.1 in adults 18 to 49 and 42.14 million viewers, No. 1 in both categories. Fox's Tuesday edition of "American Idol" came in second in the demo with an 11.5, followed by the Wednesday "Idol" (11.3), a special Monday "Idol" (9.9) and CBS's "CSI" (9.8).

In total viewers, Tuesday's "Idol" had 28.25 million viewers, followed by CBS's "CSI" (28.11 million), ABC's Oscars pre-show (27.71 million) and the Wednesday edition of "Idol" (26.66 million).

Fox won the week in adults 18 to 49 with a 5.1, followed by ABC (5.0), CBS and NBC (both 3.6), The WB (1.5) and UPN (1.3).

ABC won the week in total viewers with 14.00 million, followed by Fox (12.07 million), CBS (11.80 million), NBC (10.15 million), The WB (3.54 million) and UPN (3.25 million).

Bob Pisano will resign his post as Screen Actors Guild CEO and will be replaced by Greg Hessinger, national executive director of the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, sources said Tuesday.

An SAG spokesperson said the guild will not confirm or deny the shakeup until after a board of directors meeting this Sunday. The board reportedly must vote on Mr. Hessinger's appointment.

"SAG has scheduled a meeting of its board this week to discuss issues related to its executive leadership," the spokesperson said. "But we will not comment on any future changes until the board has a chance to discuss and vote on those issues."

Mr. Pisano also serves as national executive director of SAG.

ABC's "All My Children" snagged 18 of the Daytime Emmy nominations announced Wednesday, making it the early frontrunner for the awards, which will be handed out May 20 at New York's Radio City Music Hall in a ceremony to be aired live on CBS.

Garnering 13 nominations each were ABC's "General Hospital," CBS's "Guiding Light" and PBS's "Sesame Street." CBS's "The Young and the Restless" snagged 12 nominations. CBS's "As the World Turns" received 11 nominations.

Also nominated 11 times each to lead the talk show pack were syndicated sophomore "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and ABC's "The View," which is in its eighth season.

Also racking up multiple nominations: ABC's "One Life to Live" (nine); syndicated veteran "Jeopardy!" CBS's "The Price Is Right" and PBS's "Reading Rainbow" (six each); and the Disney Channel-ABC cartoon "Kim Possible" and syndicated veteran "Live With Regis and Kelly" (five each).

Wednesday also brought good news for Martha Stewart, who will be released Sunday after a five-month prison term and begin working with reality producer Mark Burnett on an "Apprentice" spinoff and a new daytime show. Her canceled syndicated show, "Martha Stewart Living," which was dropped by stations after she was charged with lying during a federal investigation into stock transactions, earned three nominations: for direction, the show as a whole and Ms. Stewart's hosting.

Daytime powerhouses "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Dr. Phil" earned four and three nominations, respectively.

This year's Lifetime Achievement Award will be given to talk show host and game show creator Merv Griffin. The late TV chef Julia Child also will be remembered.

A complete list of nominations can be found at www.emmyonline.tv.

Fox's "American Idol" was the highest-rated show Tuesday in the adults 18 to 49 demo, easily beating both the two-hour premiere of the seventh installment of CBS's "The Amazing Race" and the series finale of ABC's long-running police drama "NYPD Blue."

"Idol" scored an 11.0 preliminary national rating in the demo, according to Nielsen Media Research. Coming in second for the night in the demo was "Idol" lead-out "House," which scored a 6.2. "Blue" was third for the night with a 5.2, followed by "Race," which scored a 4.9.

"Blue," which won its 10 p.m. (ET) time period, scored its largest audience in more than three years (16.0 million viewers) and its top rating in the demo in more than two years. Compared with its average this season (9.8 million viewers and 3.3 in adults 18 to 49), "Blue" was up by 63 percent in viewers and by 58 percent in the demo.

"Race" was down 2 percent in the demo from the premiere of the sixth installment (4.9 versus 5.0).

Fox took the night in adults 18 to 49 with an 8.6, followed by CBS (4.3), ABC (4.1), NBC (3.1), The WB (2.0) and UPN (1.3).

Noreen O'Loughlin, former executive VP and general manager of AMC Networks, said Wednesday she has joined Sullivan & Co. to head a new marketing practice specializing in television and electronic media.

Ms. O'Loughlin is one of 14 executives who left AMC in the wake of an investigation into accounting improprieties in 2003. She declined to discuss her departure from AMC other than to say "it was a very unfortunate situation."

Ms. O'Loughlin said it is unlikely that she will pitch AMC to become a Sullivan client. "I know a lot of people who left AMC," she said. "I'll talk to them."

Turner Network Television said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Charter Communications to provide customers with the high-definition feed of TNT.

The HDTV service will launch at different times in different markets.

Alan Grossbard and Pamela Fryman have signed a production and consulting deal with E! Networks for their Scrambled Eggs Productions banner, the network announced Wednesday. Ms. Fryman has directed episodes of "Frasier" and "Friends"; Mr. Grossbard has produced sitcoms for Sony International Television and Telemundo.

The duo will serve as executives in charge of production for several E! and Style Network pilots and series in development, including the upcoming "Beauty Insider."

"I am personally thrilled that my great friends Pam and Alan have agreed to work with E!" said Ted Harbert, president and CEO of E! Networks. "Their wealth of experience in television is unmatched in the industry. Pam and Alan will be a terrific asset to E! Networks as we aggressively expand our production activities for both E! and Style."

Tribune Entertainment Co. has renewed its game show strip "Family Feud" for the 2005-06 season in 162 markets across the country, comprising 92 percent of the United States. The announcement was made March 3 by Steve Mulderrig, executive VP of domestic and cable sales, Tribune Entertainment.

Groups with stations signing up for the seventh season of the show's most recent installment include Fox, Viacom, Tribune, Weigel, Sunbeam, Cox, LIN, Clear Channel and Sinclair Broadcasting Group. The show is on a cash-plus-barter basis with a 5½ minutes/national and 1½ minutes/local split.

NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution has sold its upcoming daytime strip with Martha Stewart in more than 85 percent of the country for its fall 2005 debut. The announcement was made Thursday by Barry Wallach, president of NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution, and Heidi Diamond, president of television for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

The strip has been cleared in all top 20 TV markets and in 47 of the nation's top 50 markets. New clearances include NBC affiliates KPRC-TV in Houston, WOAI-TV in San Antonio and WMC-TV in Memphis, Tenn.

The Martha Stewart project will appear on stations in groups that include Hearst-Argyle, Gannett, Scripps-Howard, Albritton, Post-Newsweek, Belo, Freedom, CBS, Young, Clear Channel, Meredith and Milwaukee Journal.

The hour-long strip will include a studio audience. Ms. Stewart is scheduled to be released from prison by the end of this weekend and will be placed under house arrest for five months. She is also expected to be able to work part-time during her house arrest.

Mark Burnett, producer of NBC's "The Apprentice" and CBS's "Survivor," will executive produce the new show along with Ms. Stewart.

Ms. Stewart is also slated to star in a new prime-time version of "The Apprentice," taking over for Donald Trump.

Driven by "American Idol" and the Super Bowl, Fox easily won the February 2005 sweeps period, scoring a 6.5 rating in the adults 18 to 49 demographic and 15.57 million total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Fox was up 55 percent in the demo over last February and up 60 percent in total viewers. ABC was second for sweeps in the demo with a 4.1, up 14 percent from last year.

CBS was third in adults 18 to 49 with a 3.8, followed by NBC (3.6), The WB and UPN (both 1.4).

The four lowest-rated networks for the sweeps all lost audience in the demo compared with last year, but NBC saw the most precipitous drop, down 25 percent from February 2004.

Author and television host Martha Stewart was released from federal prison early Friday morning, completing her five-month sentence for obstructing justice.

Ms. Stewart, the founder of Martha Stewart Omnimedia, took a private jet from Greenbriar Valley Airport in West Virginia to Westchester County Airport in New York, within driving distance from her Connecticut estate.

Ms. Stewart did not speak to reporters, but issued a statement on her Web site.

"The experience of the last five months in Alderson, W. Va., has been life-altering and life-affirming," she said in the statement. "Someday, I hope to have the chance to talk more about all that has happened, the extraordinary people I have met here and all that I have learned."

Ms. Stewart, whose company operates a magazine and licenses dozens of products carrying the Martha Stewart name, is scheduled to begin shooting a new version of the NBC reality series "The Apprentice" in May. A new syndicated daytime strip starring Ms. Stewart from NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution for fall 2005 already has been cleared in 85 percent of the country.

Ms. Stewart will be under house arrest for the next five months, which requires her to wear an electronic ankle monitor. Ms. Stewart will be able to leave her home for up to 48 hours a week to work.

"Right now, as you can imagine, I am thrilled to be returning to my more familiar life," she continued in her statement. "My heart is filled with joy at the prospect of the warm embraces of my family, friends and colleagues. Certainly, there is no place like home."

Fox has picked up a second season of its medical mystery drama "House." The show, which stars Hugh Laurie as mercurial physician, premiered to modest numbers and generally good reviews in November, but has gained ratings traction as a lead-out to "American Idol."

During the February sweeps ratings period, "House" was no. 1 in its Tuesday 9 p.m. (ET) time period among adults 18 to 49, adults 18 to 34, teens and total viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

"House" is produced by Heel and Toe Films and Bad Hat Harry Productions in association with NBC Universal Television Studio. The series was created by David Shore. Mr. Shore, Paul Attanasio, Katie Jacobs and Bryan Singer are executive producers.

News Corp. raised its bid Thursday for the shares it doesn't already own in Fox Entertainment Group by 7.4 percent to $6.2 billion.

Under terms of the new offer, Fox class A common stock holders will receive 2.04 shares of News Corp. class A stock. The previous offer gave Fox shareholders 1.9 News Corp. shares.

The higher bid followed discussions with a special committee of the Fox board of directors, News Corp. said. The company said it has been informed that the special committee will recommend that Fox shareholders accept the new offer.

NFL Network will be carried on the basic tier by Adelphia Communications' system in Buffalo, N.Y., beginning March 7, the network said Friday. NFL Network replaces Empire Sports Network throughout Adelphia's upstate New York footprint.

Buffalo, with about 500,000 Adelphia subscribers, is the first market in which the NFL Network will be available to all cable homes.

Discovery Times Channel said Friday that it has ordered seven additional episodes of "Off To War," a documentary series following soldiers in war zones and their families at home.

The first three episodes of "Off To War" aired in 2004. The program is produced by Downtown Community TV Center.

The House telecommunications subcommittee has scheduled a hearing for March 10 on "preparing customers for the end of the digital television transition."

No witness list was available.

NBC confirmed Friday that it is moving forward with a reality series that will take contestants on a global journey to solve a complicated puzzle.

The show, "Treasure Hunters," does not have an air date but could be ready as soon as the end of the summer.

"Treasure Hunters" will be executive produced by Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, who are coming off the success of Bravo's big winter reality hit, "Project Runway."

By Amy Helmes

Special to TelevisionWeek

Joining the work force fresh out of college, Michael Teicher had one goal: "I wanted a job in sports," said the executive VP of media sales at Warner Bros.

He succeeded in finding one-as an account executive for Major League Baseball Productions, which led to a job at Turner Sports. Mr. Teicher said he found that sports marketing intrigued him as much as anything happening on the field. "I realized at a young age that advertising's impact on the success or failure of our marketing partners was critical, and it's something I enjoyed right away."

While at Turner, Mr. Teicher helped create Turner Marketing Solutions Group. "I decided that rather than be typecast as a 'sports guy,' I should do something completely different. This ostensibly gave me a marketing MBA on the job."

Next, he spent a year at ReplayTV as senior VP of advertising sales. "It gave me a sneak peak at how new technology is going to impact the future of the ad business," he said.

At Warner Bros., Mr. Teicher is blessed with a portfolio of programs that represent successful brands and personalities, from "Friends" and "ER" to "Access Hollywood" and "The Ellen DeGeneres Show."

One major theme of Mr. Teicher's philosophy is to stay on top of marketplace trends. "It might be the most fun part of the job," he said, "particularly when you're out in front of something and you set the trend."

That's what he's hoping to do with Warner Bros.' new offerings for 2005, including "Smallville" and "Sex and the City." "Bringing 'Sex and the City' into syndication is almost like selling a first-run sitcom, given the fact that less than 33 percent of the U.S. population has HBO," he said. "What it did for HBO and what it's currently doing for Turner gives us reason to believe this will be a true sitcom standout."

Great expectations also precede the new first-run talk show hosted by "America's Next Top Model" creator/executive producer Tyra Banks. "I so profoundly believe in this show," said Mr. Teicher, who said he hopes these additional programs will open up younger-skewing categories with which to build the business.

Tim Spengler, executive VP and director of national broadcast for Initiative Media, said he appreciates the effort his colleague makes to understand the customer. "Michael approaches our clients' businesses from a marketer's perspective," he said. "He thinks about their needs in a bigger-picture way, which often goes beyond selling spots."

Just the Facts

Title: Executive VP, media sales, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution

How long in current position: Three years

Year of birth: 1964

Place of birth: Suffern, N.Y.

Who knew? Mr. Teicher says he was hired because his passion for the New York Yankees rivals that of his boss, Dick Robertson. "I think that put me over the top," he said.

By Jennie L. Phipps

Special to TelevisionWeek

Syndication used to be the red-haired stepchild of television advertising. Think wrestling and reruns.

Today, that perception is rapidly becoming a relic of the past. To begin with, 70 percent of syndicated programming is first-run, according to the Syndicated Network Television Association. These first-run shows are first-class audience draws.

At the end of December, a Harris Interactive poll identified Oprah Winfrey, Phil McGraw, Ellen DeGeneres and Regis Philbin among Americans' 10 favorite TV personalities. Ms. Winfrey has topped the list for five of the past seven years.

Ray Romano, whose "Everybody Loves Raymond" is now in its last season on CBS and is also an off-network syndicated hit, was also among the 10 best-loved personalities. Syndicated runs of "Raymond" drew an average 6.8 Nielsen rating over the past eight months among all U.S. viewers, making it a top-five hit among all syndicated programs.

When TV Guide rounded up its end-of-the year report on television's biggest events of 2004, two of the top three came from syndicated programming: Ms. Winfrey's Pontiac giveaway and Ken Jennings' winning streak on "Jeopardy!"

In terms of plain numbers, audiences for syndicated shows are growing. In 2004, these longtime favor-ites all had double-digit increases in number of viewers over the previous year, according to Nielsen Media Research:

By Amy Helmes

Special to TelevisionWeek

It was hardly déjà vu for Clark Morehouse in December 2000, when he returned to Tribune Entertainment as senior VP of advertiser sales, a post he first held from 1984 until 1993.

When he originally left to run media sales at Warner Bros. and later the Channel One network, the economy was booming. But in kicking off his second stint at Tribune Mr. Morehouse faced a new set of challenges.

"The ad business in general was on a steady decline, but after Sept. 11, the business climate became pretty desperate for a while," he said.

Happily for Mr. Morehouse, Tribune offers a list of programs that advertisers have embraced, including two rare action-hour success stories, "Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda" and "Mu-tant X"; niche shows such as "Famous Homes & Hideaways" and "Animal Rescue"; and two of the company's biggest moneymakers, "Family Feud" and the DIC kids block.

This fall, the company will add "South Park" to its roster. "It's going to be a wonderful way to attract money across a number of different product categories," Mr. Morehouse said. "['South Park'] is a brand that people understand."

Now if only media planners could better grasp the syndication business, Mr. Morehouse would be one happy ad sales exec. "It's sad how the misconceptions of our business [regarding issues such as integration lead time and buying schedules] tend to keep us out of the planning process for a lot of categories," he said.

That's where, Mr. Morehouse said, membership in the Syndicated Network Television Association can offer substantial reinforcement. By helping to educate planners about the many benefits of syndication, Mr. Morehouse said, he hopes to garner new business with companies in the pharmaceutical, automotive and cellular categories.

"Even though consolidation has reduced the number of companies that are in it, we're still a business that has great off-net programming that delivers high ratings and robust coverage," he said.

Larry Blasius, executive VP and director of negotiations at media services firm Magna Global, has negotiated deals with Mr. Morehouse for the past two decades. He described his colleague's approach to business as straightforward and to the point. "There's not a lot of time wasted with Clark," he said. "You can sort of cut to the chase."

Certainly, Mr. Morehouse's tell-it-like-it-is approach is apparent when he's singing the praises of syndicated television. "The advertisers who support us would be a hell of a lot worse off without a syndication option," he said. "That's the bottom line."

Just the Facts

Title: Senior VP, advertiser sales, Tribune Entertainment

How long in current position: Four years

Year of birth: 1951

Place of birth: Camden, N.J.

Who knew? Mr. Morehouse calls himself the "Kevin Bacon of the syndication business," joking that he has six degrees of separation from just about anyone in the industry.

By Lee Alan Hill

Special toTelevisionWeek

Steven Hirsch, president of King World Media Sales, is so high on the syndication business that his sales rap can turn the form's perceived limitations into advantages.

"If you say it's a disadvantage that there are few syndicated shows in prime time, I'll point out that the networks don't program in prime access and early fringe. We're how you reach people during those time periods," Mr. Hirsch said.

"In fact, I'd say that the major drawback to syndication is a perception drawback [because of] the longevity of our shows. How do you create excitement for shows that have been on the air for years-often more than 20 or 30-shows that are true franchises?"

Mr. Hirsch has the enviable satisfaction of handling ad sales for the three top-rated shows in syndication, according to Nielsen Media Research-"Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy!" and "The Oprah Winfrey Show"-and six of the top 10. But his good fortune makes him no less active in the SNTA.

"We believe our voices have been drowned out by the large publicity machines of the networks and cable," he said. "We need the SNTA to be the place where the sole job is to talk to advertisers and planners, to get advertisers and agencies focused on our success. It's a universe that is being missed when the media looks at television."

Roger King, CEO of CBS Enterprises and King World Productions, is obviously happy with Mr. Hirsch's enthusiasm for the cause. "Steve has represented each of our shows with passion and integrity [and] has justifiably earned a reputation as the finest barter salesman in the industry," Mr. King said.

The two men have been connected since 1984, when Mr. Hirsch co-founded with Rich Levy Camelot Entertainment Sales, which later evolved into King World Media Sales. Before that Mr. Hirsch was at TeleRep, where he was one of the early advocates of the barter business and helped to launch syndication franchise show "Entertainment Tonight" and other programs.

Mr. Hirsch said he insists his staff members at King World have "a complete knowledge of the product" and that they work closely with buyers to analyze the marketplace. "The buyer knows exactly where the spots are running, and the buyer gets the show. They're not put into a block of time, as with cable," he said.

"Syndication is where you can reach people on a yearly basis," Mr. Hirsch said. "We deliver new programs when the networks are down, such as during summer reruns. And we do it with marquee shows."

Just the Facts

Title: President, King World Media Sales

How long in current position: Co-founded Camelot Media Sales, King World Media Sales' predecessor, in 1984 and became its president in 1987

Year of birth: 1949

Place of birth: New York (raised in New Rochelle, N.Y.)

Who knew? Mr. Hirsch was one of the first males to matriculate at Vassar College after that institution went co-ed in 1969.

Once buttoned-down Court TV is taking a racier tack as it promotes its new show "Impossible Heists."

A print and outdoor campaign running in New York, where, not coincidentally, a lot of media buyers and planners live, uses headlines like "It's not the size of the tool … it's how you use it," "Well hung" and "She'd rather be tied up than tied down."

If the campaign sounds a bit like something cheeky upstart music channel Fuse might have run, it's no coincidence. Court TV's new general manger, Marc Juris, and Mary Corigliano, its new senior VP of marketing, recently segued to Court from Fuse.

Mr. Juris said it's not the kind of ad Fuse would have run, "Because the people are not young enough in this ad," calling the Court TV push "a very different kind of campaign."

"It's sophisticated and adult," he said. "But then again, I think it is designed to capture what we think is sexy and hot about this show."

"Impossible Heists," launching March 15, is a "new kind of reality show," said Mr. Juris, who dubs it "expert reality." The show features teams of experts with special skills, such as rappelling or locksmithing, and sees whether they can recreate real-life burglaries.

The opening show recreates the theft of a $10 million painting from an estate in England. The estate had lions patrolling the ground, and the Court TV show has real lions as well.

Each show features a mini-documentary about the original real-life crime. At the end of each show, a forensics team studies the "crime scene" for clues the competing teams left behind. At the end of the show's five-episode run, the team that does best wins a $100,000 prize.

"It's pushing the boundary of The Investigation Channel [Court TV's prime-time persona] in that this is really about experts figuring out how to do the same thing, and then having a group of experts come in and investigate," Mr. Juris said. "So at the end, it pays off back to The Investigation Channel."

The show is designed to attract a young audience, in the 18 to 49 demographic range, but "also, we think our existing audience will be entertained by the real-life aspect," Mr. Juris said.



'Of Ice and Men'

The show is being programmed as Court TV's tentpole event for March. In the nine days leading up to the premiere, the network will run specially selected episodes of its show "Masterminds" that feature jewel robberies. The theme will be "Of Ice and Men."

AOL Netscape has bought the presenting sponsor position for "Heists," said Charlie Collier, executive VP of ad sales at Court TV. In addition to advertising on the show and in-show graphics, Netscape will be mentioned in on-air and off-air promotions for the show.

The show will also be promoted through a wireless contest that offers a $10,000 prize to viewers who crack a code via text messaging. "It's a really fun way to get our audience involved," Ms. Corigliano said.

Court TV will also hold a safecracking event March 14 at New York's Time Warner Center (Time Warner is part owner of Court TV). The person who decodes the safe will win $25,000. Other prizes being offered include iPods, movie tickets and Court TV premiums.

Court TV will run spots for the show on networks including FX, USA, ESPN, ESPN2, Spike, E!, TNT, NBC and CBS, plus regional spots on Comcast, local cable in the top 15 markets, local broadcast in New York, Los Angeles and Detroit, and "The Today Show" in New York.

"Because we were designing this as a New York outdoor media campaign, we wanted to be bold, imaginative, entertaining be-cause we felt that if the ads weren't entertaining, you would not reach the conclusion that the show was entertaining," Mr. Juris said. "And we thought there was an opportunity with this particular show to be what we like to call respectfully irreverent and have a little fun, be sophisticated, have a little bit of a wink, but to say this is a new kind of show on Court TV."

He said that New York is a very "noisy" media city. "We wanted people to stop, look, take notice."

The print ads will run in Entertainment Weekly, Time Out in New York and Chicago, The New York Times and the New York Post.

By Lee Alan Hill

Special to TelevisionWeek

As chairman of the SNTA for the past two years, Howard Levy has been one of syndication's biggest boosters. "You get really involved in the programs you sell for," he said, citing one reason he's so passionate when pitching his product. "I go down to the set of 'Live With Regis and Kelly' at least once a month. I'm there and feel part of it."

Mr. Levy's tenure in syndication dates back well beyond his 15 years with Buena Vista Television, where he now serves as executive VP of ad sales. He credits his first boss, TeleRep founder Al Masini, with molding his own sales philosophy.

"Al Masini was someone who changed television," Mr. Levy said. "He was behind the creation of 'Star Search' and 'Entertainment Tonight,' and [he created] a new way of looking at first-run."

Janice Marinelli, president of Buena Vista Television, who also worked with Mr. Masini at Tele-Rep, lauded Mr. Levy for his "ability to build relationships and expertise in communicating the value of syndicated programming."

"Howard has done much to advance this division's bottom line and the multibillion-dollar syndicated advertising marketplace," Ms. Marinelli said.

Mr. Levy pointed to audience reaction to a Pontiac promotion running on "Live With Regis and Kelly" as evidence of syndication's reach. "More than 2 million people have responded by postcard or gone on the [Internet] to enter," he said. "Count those people and it is the equivalent to a 2.0 rating-and that's just people who have responded. Again, compare that to cable and its average of a .4 rating per show."

A graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, Mr. Levy oversees advertising sales and promotions for shows ranging from "Regis and Kelly" to the weekday version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" to "The Tony Danza Show," which was just picked up for its second season with 80 percent market reach and better time periods in key cities such as Los Angeles.

For next season, he is focused on off-network sales of "My Wife and Kids" and "Alias." The latter will first go to a window on cable's TNT. Mr. Levy said he has no problems with such off-network cable windows.

"Syndication still comes through when you have a popular show. 'CSI' went to cable and then syndication, and it's getting a 6.0 rating in syndication," he said. "That's our strength. We have good programs and we have the wide audience."

Just the Facts

Title: Executive VP, ad sales, Buena Vista Television, and chairman, SNTA

How long in current position: Since 2000

Year of birth: 1956

Place of birth: Pittsburgh

Who knew? Mr. Levy recently leg-pressed 1,000 pounds to win a $100 bet.

By Wayne Karrfalt

Special to TelevisionWeek

NBC Universal's Executive VP of Media Sales Chris Kager said he tells his team that making a successful pitch is all about understanding advertisers' needs and matching them with the company's products.

To do that, Mr. Kager and his staff have been working closely with program producers to come up with innovative ways to help advertisers promote their brands.

"It could be something as simple as product placement that gets them over the hump," Mr. Kager said. "It could be branded entertainment within shows, which is very enticing. Or it could be straight media value. It's sort of all those things rolled up."

"The positive that we have is that the executive producers of our shows get it too," said Tim Miller, who works under Mr. Kager as VP of media sales for NBC Universal Domestic Television. "It's their input that says this is what we understand and what we can do. It's more of a believable pitch coming from the whole company."

Mr. Kager has overseen the task of merging the operations of two of the largest U.S. syndication distributors-Universal and MGM/NBC-while preparing for the busy sales season. Mr. Miller said his boss succeeded in that "herculean" undertaking by trusting his team and exerting a calming influence.

At the same time, Mr. Kager always sees room for improvement and called the SNTA a vehicle toward that end. For example, he said he feels syndicators in general could do a better job convincing segments like automotive and telecommunications to spend more of their war chests on syndicated programming.

Not every advertiser understands that thanks to technology, long lead times are no longer necessary for buying syndicated spots or that it's a national delivery system that is free of costly integration fees, Mr. Kager said.

Mr. Kager said he and his team plan to stress positives to media planners at this week's SNTA conference in New York.

Every year advertisers complain about how erratic and unpredictable broadcast's prime-time lineup has become, but Mr. Kager said that's not so with syndicated shows. Ninety percent of shows in syndication have a proven track record, he said.

"The networks' broadcasts in prime time have a tendency to change very dramatically as the season goes on," he said. "Our ratings are very consistent. Our shows are very consistent and they come back year after year. That's a very big benefit we bring to the advertising community."

Just the Facts

Title: Executive VP, media sales, NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution

How long in current position: One year

Year of birth: 1951

Place of birth: Queens, N.Y.

Who knew? Mr. Kager said he's one of the worst golfers ever to head a sales division.

World Wrestling Entertainment has found some tag-team partners to distribute its subscriber video-on-demand service, WWE 24/7.

Cox Communications, the nation's fourth-largest cable operator, RCN and regional operators Blue Ridge communications, Sunflower Broadband, Massillon Cable TV and SELCO have agreed to carry the service.

WWE 24/7 will be priced at about $6 to $8 per month. Revenue sharing for SVOD is likely to be similar to pay-per-view, with a 50-50 to 60-40 split.

Operators like the product because it bolsters their on-demand platform, said Pete Clifford, VP of affiliate sales. Also, "They see the benefit of recurring revenue," he said.

"This new offering will make the customer's on-demand experience even more robust, and since it's only available via digital cable, it helps solidify Cox as the best choice for entertainment services in our markets," Bob Wilson, senior VP of programming for Cox Communications said in a statement.

WWE plans to put its marketing muscle behind the launch and will cross-promote it with big events, such as WrestleMania 21 in April. Customers who order the pay-per-view telecast of WrestleMania will be offered discounts on WWE 24/7, Mr. Clifford said.

He added that wresting fans are already juiced about the service. WWE last year had a soft launch of WWE 24/7 with Blue Ridge. Without much marketing support, hundreds of customers signed up and viewed much of the content available. Subscribers went online to tell other fans about the service, Mr. Clifford said, and WWE soon received requests from fans looking to buy the shows available on SVOD.

WWE 24/7 uses the company's archive of 75,000-plus hours of not only wrestling programming from its own library but also footage bought from World Championship Wrestling, Ex-treme Championship Wrest-ling and the American Wrestling Association.

Mr. Clifford said the WWE needed to establish relationships with cable operators to sell in the SVOD service. Though the WWE's shows are among the highest rated on cable, and its pay-per-view events are top sellers, they'd had few direct dealings with operators.

He said operators like the product, but that writing contracts for an emerging technology such as VOD proved to be more time-consuming than expected.

Cox will roll out WWE 24/7 to several of its leading systems. RCN will offer the service in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco.

By Lee Alan Hill

Special to TelevisionWeek

Marc Hirsch, president of Paramount Advertiser Services, said he's frustrated that the success of syndication seems to attract less publicity than that of cable.

"I saw a big story saying how the National Geographic Network had four new programs," he said, working himself up over the perceived slight. "Who cares? Who watches the National Geographic Network?

"Syndication gives you a larger audience, sometimes a market reach greater than a broadcast network. Our off-network shows are proven successes. Otherwise, we wouldn't have enough episodes to sell them. Our first-run shows have often been on for 10, 20 or more years. They're TV icons."

Mr. Hirsch has been with Paramount for more than 20 years, joining in 1983 as division manager for barter sales. Unlike many of his colleagues, he can claim a prior life selling cable to advertisers. He began his sales career at the Cable Health Network, which later evolved into Lifetime.

One of his major accomplishments at Paramount was overseeing sales for the launch of the UPN Network in 1995. He's a former chairman of the board for the Syndicated Network Television Association, which he calls "the organization designed to get the word out that we have the goods."

"Marc is whip-smart and is usually thinking two steps ahead of everyone else," said Joel Berman, president of Paramount Worldwide Television Distribution. "He's a great strategist, and he's a very creative problem-solver as well."

"We try to maximize the value of our programs and build and maintain strong relationships," Mr. Hirsch said of his sales philosophy. "I never want to walk away saying, 'I got you.' I'd rather finish and say both sides are satisfied."

Mr. Hirsch and Paramount took off-network sales of "Star Trek: Enterprise" to the National Association of Television Program Executives this year. In addition, he is finishing up selling the second season of "The Insider" and continuing with perennials such as "Entertainment Tonight." The latter has been on the air for 24 seasons, making Mr. Hirsch's point that syndication can mean longevity rarely known in any other form of TV.

"I don't see a [TV] model where the need for syndication will go away," Mr. Hirsch said. "Nor do I see a model where anyone is capable of delivering the reach of syndication.

"Cable has become the likable sibling who gets all of the fanciest gifts. I admit they have had a much better publicity machine, but we think we have the real story."

Just the Facts

Title: President, Paramount Advertiser Services

How long in current position: Since 1989

Year of birth: 1944

Place of birth: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Who knew? Mr. Hirsch's self-described passion for fine wines has led him to publish an annual wine newsletter.

By Wayne Karrfalt

Special to TelevisionWeek

Twentieth Television will have its hands full at this year's Syndicated Network Television Association conference, introducing media buyers to three new syndicated shows and two new off-net launches, said Bob Cesa, the company's executive VP of advertising sales.

A robust slate has become the norm at Twentieth. Its affiliated Fox station group, with only 15 prime-time hours of network programming, has a lot of holes to fill. The syndicator has come to rely on the annual SNTA confab as a place to sell ads for these shows and to as explore new frontiers with advertisers.

In an industry not unfamiliar with executive turnover, Mr. Cesa is a fixture-he has been head of Twentieth Television's ad sales division since its inception in 1990. His affability and empowering management style have instilled his sales team with the same loyalty he has shown the company.

Mr. Cesa's decision last year to give up his cable programming sales responsibilities to concentrate only on ad sales for syndication and DirecTV further underlined his commitment to his team. "It was just too much," he said. "I am really much happier doing just ad sales, because you're calling on a whole different set of buyers, with different timetables than program sales.

"Also, the opportunity to work on DirecTV sounded very exciting at the time and has turned out to be even more fulfilling than I thought."

Interactive advertising components, such as the point-and-click informational menus and targeted spot delivery on the satellite platform, have the Twentieth sales division buzzing coming into SNTA. Mr. Cesa said he and Senior VP and General Advertising Sales Manager David Barrington took a trip to London last July to "look under the hood" of what BSkyB has been able to offer its ad clients so far in the United Kingdom. The company is previewing these features to clients in the United States, with plans to start rolling them out later this year.

"Now when my salespeople go to speak to planners at agencies or clients or associate media directors, they're not just talking about syndication and cable programming-they're also talking about DirecTV and all the advanced services they can sell," Mr. Cesa said.

The conference is also helpful in reconnecting with longtime clients, which his team knows not to neglect.

"Bob's father was in the garment business-he had an overcoat factory in Manhattan that he worked at for years," Mr. Barrington said. "Their key was repeat business, and that's what he emphasizes here. The best client is the client you have on board, so make sure you take care of him."

Just the Facts

Title: Executive VP, advertising sales, Twentieth Television

How long in current position: Since 1990

Year of birth: 1950

Place of birth: New York

Who knew? Mr. Cesa is a true technophile, often one of the first to pick up newly marketed gadgets.

By Lee Hall

Special to TelevisionWeek

These are the salad days for the people who do research for the Syndicated Network Television Association.

While broadcasters and their cable counterparts talk up ratings, reach and frequency, the SNTA focuses its paltry (by comparison) research budget on consumer trends and their impact on advertisers.

And this winter, salads are hot.

"It's a big growth area for McDonald's, and when McDonald's succeeds with something, it impacts casual dining and [fast food] restaurants all over," SNTA President Mitch Burg said of the shift toward more healthful fast-food choices.

Welcome to the world of syndication research, where the arcane be-comes relevant. Who knew that viewers of syndicated programs are 26 percent more likely than the general public to buy food labeled "sugar-free"? Or that fans of "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune" trend toward fat-free products at a rate 33 percent higher than the general public?

And who would care that people who watch shows such as "Entertainment Tonight" and "Access Hollywood" are 79 percent more likely than the overall population to dine on tofu and other natural foods?

Media planners care deeply about this kind of stuff, and that's where SNTA is throwing its weight around.

"The research budget of one [broadcast] network alone would dwarf the entire budget of the SNTA," Mr. Burg said. "But when you talk about these things, it's something a media buyer will listen to and it's the way a media planner would think."

And that's the bottom line-getting syndication's story in front of the people who decide where ad dollars are spent.

It appears to be working. Syndication ad revenue grew 17 percent in 2004 to $2.6 billion.

Mr. Burg and his band of guerrilla fighters worked up research reports in seven product categories last year. If they can't match the big networks in terms of data bulk, they figure the targeting approach makes for a good compromise.

Here are a few more tantalizing tidbits from SNTA's data banks:

When the SNTA was in the market for a new president, Chairman Howard Levy knew just what the organization needed: "Somebody who understood the media planning world, who could speak the language planners need to hear, in order to tell the benefits of syndicated programming."

Mr. Levy, executive VP of ad sales for Buena Vista Television, was himself a media planner back in the days when selling shows into syndication was a much simpler business. "Now it's a sophisticated process, and we needed someone who understood it and could tell our stories," he said.

A search firm suggested Mitch Burg, CEO of IDT's media division, who also had been mentioned by people at SNTA and others Mr. Levy knew.

"His pedigree was pretty established by the time we met him," Mr. Levy said. "And he just stood out from everybody else."

Since joining the organization Mr. Burg has displayed "a terrific work ethic," Mr. Levy said. "He's got creative ideas and he understands the whole media business."

Mr. Burg said his first year on the job at the SNTA was a successful one. "We're going out and talking about the total television landscape and how, as the television landscape changes, syndication becomes a more important element," he said. "We've done this primarily by doing face-to-face meetings. We probably did 50 to 60 meetings this year alone with clients and planners."

Mr. Burg said one key to success is for syndicators to keep in mind what's important to clients. He pointed to the issues-clutter, fragmentation, program quality, branded entertainment and integration fees-cited as most important on the Association of National Advertisers TV Web site.

"As we move forward, I think the challenge for us is to continue to address client issues and to listen. Anybody can talk, and I think sometimes it's more important to listen," he said.

This year, Mr. Burg said, he again hopes to get together with the clients and planners the SNTA has selected as targets. "My goal is to go out and meet with as many of them as possible, to help them in addressing their issues and concerns. Then, as we go through the year, we go, 'Yes, we made a difference here; yes, we made a difference there.'"

Mr. Burg started learning the media business at a midsize ad agency, Warwick Walsh & Miller. "It was a great experience for a young kid because the size of the agency allowed me to do lots of different things," Mr. Burg said, "not only planning but buying as well."

After three years he joined the media department of NW Ayer, where he worked on the introduction of AT&T's "Reach Out and Touch Someone" campaign. He also worked on a number of retail accounts, including Burger King, Ponderosa, Boston Chicken, KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut.

In 1992 Ayer became one of the first ad agencies to spin off its media department into an independent company. Mr. Burg held various positions at the new company, The Media Edge, including those of planning director, head of the spot groups and new business chief.

Mr. Burg rose to president of The Media Edge before leaving to head IDT's media division in 2001. While he was there, IDT got into the broadband TV business and started an animation studio, a radio network and a brochure distribution company.

All the while, Mr. Burg missed the advertising side of the business, he said: "That's why I came back."

One former college friend, Fred Dubin, now managing partner and director of entertainment marketing and promotions at Mediaedge:cia, said he remembers Mr. Burg as energetic and creative. "He's caring about the people who work for him, and nurturing," Mr. Dubin said.

He has a sense of humor as well.

"For a company meeting a couple of years ago," Mr. Dubin said, "we were trying to make it interesting, so one of the things we did was create a video. The video was a takeoff on 'The Blair Witch Project.' It was 'The Blair Mitch Project.'

"It was about two planners, two junior people who had to come to see Mitch about the plan they were developing. It was very funny. It goes to the fact that he's got a good sense of self, and he's very comfortable in his skin."

Mr. Burg lives on Long Island, N.Y., and has four children and two grandchildren.

Just the Facts

Title: President, Syndicated Network Television Association

How long in current position: Since January 2004

Year of birth: 1954

Place of birth: Queens, N.Y.

Who knew? With no other takers at the SNTA office, Mr. Burg split all the boxes on a recent Super Bowl pool chart with marketing director Jordan Harris. Mr. Burg lost the pool, but Mr. Harris bought him lunch.

Advertiser involvement in new media platforms is coming in fits and starts, but it's on a trajectory to become widespread in the next several years.

That was the theme of an interactive workshop that media agency Carat hosted last week in its New York offices involving Carat executives, advertising clients, cable programmers, new media research firms and television technologists who are developing applications for the next generation of interactive television.

Commercials in new applications such as video-on-demand, interactive TV and addressable advertising are part of the new wave of ad forms that many advertisers are just beginning to dabble in as TV shuffles closer to a time-shifted, viewer-controlled world.

Forrester Research predicts that in five years, 40 percent of television viewing will be nonlinear.

While new media spending is still a drop in the shot glass compared with the big keg of TV ad money, pockets of ad-supported interactivity are cropping up as cable operators roll out new technology. As the rollouts continue, Carat wants to serve as a matchmaker and bring together participants into its ITV think tank, the Exchange, every few months so the technology companies get the ad models right-that is, with advertiser input from the beginning.

"It is in all of our vested interests that these new TV environments have the advertising point of view in mind and the consumers and not be driven purely by technology and the technologists," Carat Americas CEO David Verklin, who created the Exchange, said.

At the company's March 1 meeting in midtown New York, TelevisionWeek got a behind-the-scenes look at how the ideas are hatched. The meeting occurred just before upfronts get rolling. Several cable programmers plan to include some VOD in their upfront offers this year.

Carat has been working across its divisions, from broadcast to online to new media, on how to allocate advertiser dollars across new platforms. The agency has met with programmers such as Discovery, ESPN and Turner Broadcasting to discuss how to build VOD into larger network buys.

At the meeting, led by Carat Digital Executive VP Mitch Oscar, two high-profile technology players presented their visions for advertising in the future: ITV firm GoldPocket Interactive and Tandberg Television, which offers VOD software through its recent acquisition of N2 Broadband.

GoldPocket's business is based on enabling interactivity in TV programming itself-either through two-screen applications, in which a user interacts with a TV show using a computer, or one-screen capability, in which interaction takes place through the remote control. Both are ad-supported.

GoldPocket has some impressive numbers to back up its proposition. On average, a person watches only 20 minutes of an hour-long program and views the ads 40 percent of the time, said Joe Franzetta, senior VP of business development at GoldPocket, citing statistics from Forrester Research. Based on GoldPocket participant data, consumers watched interactive programs twice as long and engaged with interactive ads 85 percent of the time.

As an example, an interactive ad could be a Pringles sponsorship of CBS's "Survivor" in which viewers are asked, "If you could bring one can of Pringles to the island, what would it be?" or, "When did Pringles first hit store shelves?" Mr. Franzetta said during his discussions of what future ad models could look like. Interactivity could even loop viewers back in to content from the previous week, thus encouraging them to continue to tune in.

"What we are talking about is a two-way relationship with a consumer that we have never had before," said Duncan Campbell, VP of business development and client partnerships at GoldPocket.

Some advertisers want more widespread deployment before they sign up. "I think you need some scale," Robert Rose said during the meeting. He's the director of marketing and media at Seiter & Miller Advertising, which uses Carat for its media buying. "I think we'd be less interested in testing and more interested in approaching this from a [direct response] model and saying we are more interested in seeing this on a [big scale]," he said.

He explained that advertisers are a little skittish on new media deals because of the excesses of the dot-com boom era, when advertisers invested without much concrete data. "People like me are not going to assume a big financial risk," he said. Still, he's confident that ITV ads will be the norm in 10 years.



Immediacy Imperative

While there's no "scale" today for ITV, the number of markets with ITV ads is growing. Time Warner Cable, for one, has deployed Navic Networks technology in its Albany, N.Y., system. Navic allows viewers to request more information when an overlay appears during a commercial. Local advertisers State Farm, Upstate Ford, Direct Buy and Vanguard are using ITV ads there and have seen some success, said Jonathan Spaet, VP of national sales, New York, for Time Warner Cable Media Sales. Time Warner plans to introduce the capability to additional systems in the Northeast and Southeast later this year.

What ultimately will make VOD and other new media platforms more attractive to some advertisers is immediacy. Today, VOD content has to be delivered to operators several weeks before air, and the ads stay with the content during the life cycle on the VOD platform, which could be a month or more.

But movie ads, for instance, have at most a six- or seven-day shelf life, and in many cases the ads are being trafficked as few as two to five days before air on broadcast or cable networks, said Jeff Platt, director of advertising and research at New Line Home Entertainment.

Cable operators are testing solutions that allow ads to be swapped in and out of VOD content on a weekly basis. Tandberg Television, for one, is testing with Comcast Spotlight its AdPoint platform that does just that.

When VOD ads can be fresher and replaceable, movie advertisers will place more interactive ads, Mr. Platt said.

Other new ad forms the industry will see in time, according to Raj Amin, VP of content and advertising markets at Tandberg, include showcases, or longer ads; bookends that run immediately before or after content; addressable ads that are targeted for households or neighborhoods; pause ads, in which a message is delivered when content is paused; and telescoping from a short ad to a long ad.

At the upfront, Turner plans to offer some bumpers and 30-second spots in VOD content as part of upfront buys, said Chris Pizzurro, VP of multimedia marketing at Turner, who attended the meeting.

The benefit of VOD advertising is that it's measurable, and advertisers can know actual impressions rather than just a projection from a sample.

While critical mass certainly hasn't been reached, or even defined as it relates to new media, advertisers are better off testing technologies and figuring out what works now on a small scale, said Frank Foster, president of erinMedia, an audience measurement firm that uses set-top box data. "You have to work out the bugs," he said.

The Syndicated Network Television Association expects a big turnout at this week's Syndication Day in New York, and at similar get-togethers scheduled for Chicago and Los Angeles later this month, SNTA President Mitch Burg said.

This will be the third year the SNTA has held its conference in New York, enabling members to communicate with the advertising community "about trends in television-total television-not just looking at ourselves and talking about how syndication can help clients achieve their goals," Mr. Burg said.

This year's conference will aim in particular to reach media planners, who are often influential in deciding whether syndication is an appropriate television vehicle for particular clients and brands. A special session in the afternoon-just before the annual star-studded cocktail party-has been designed to give planners a look at targeting issues.

"Planners think about targeting a little differently," Mr. Burg said. "It's not an age or a demo [they're after]; it's consumer usage groups. A planner's target would be nonloyal users of X category."

Mr. Burg noted that the SNTA has put out research papers on syndicated program viewers' use of categories ranging from health and wellness to holiday shopping and consumer electronics. "We'll share some of those at the conference as well," he said.

He said he's enthusiastic about the performance of syndicated shows and intends to tell that story at this year's conference.

The conference will open with a presentation by Mr. Burg covering an array of areas, including ad clutter, audience fragmentation, programming quality, branded entertainment and product integration. "It's always focused on what clients tell us they're interested in," he said.

Mr. Burg said he's looking forward to discussing syndication's growth. Ad revenues are up 17.3 percent to $8.3 billion so far in the current television season, according to Competitive Media Reports, he said.

After Mr. Burg's morning presentation, individual syndicators will have private meetings with agencies and clients, during which the syndicators will highlight their shows and talk about marketing opportunities.

"We're going to spend a lot more time on our new shows, which are 'My Wife and Kids' and 'Alias,'" said Howard Levy, executive VP of ad sales for Buena Vista Television and chairman of SNTA. "'Alias' couldn't be hotter, and 'My Wife and Kids' is the No. 1 sitcom. It's a great all-family show."

Mr. Levy said he will also highlight some of the marketing deals involving his shows, from the Pontiac van giveaway during "Live With Regis and Kelly" to the new AOL lifeline on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," to a Unilever promotion launch on "The Tony Danza Show."

Such deals are very important to advertisers, Mr. Levy said. "We're looking for people to come in and be partners on specific projects."

In its meetings, Warner Bros. will look to "enlighten our customers, provide information for them they may not have already had so they can make more effective, well thought out media decisions," said Michael Teicher, executive VP of media sales for Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution.

"We'll certainly be spending a lot of time talking about 'Tyra Banks,' 'Sex and the City,' 'Smallville' as well as highlighting some incredible growth stories with our