It's amazing...we just get renewed for year 4 and 8 days into that renewal
people are asking us if we're dead...we've been declared dead more often
than Lazarus.
No, it's not a particular problem. The situation is that PTEN is no
longer a real entity anymore; we're now a syndicated series now that the
network has gone south. Many groups were nominally held together by that
thread; once the contractual thread was removed, there's going to be some
reshuffling of stations. It's an everyday part of the business. In some
other cases, because WB held off as long as it did on a decision, due to
the PTEN situation, a few places have filled their slots.
The problem with the nets is that if you see 6 messages about how a
station is opting out of the show, the perception is of 6 places where it
happened, when it's just the one. This exact same thing happened this
time last season. There's always a case of musical chairs around this
time of the year.
WB is lining up stations to replace those which have opted out. Bear in
mind that UPN stations and FOX stations have obligations to those networks
which preclude their responsibility to this one show; if UPN wants another
night on their schedule, it has to come from somewhere. It happens all
the time.
Once the dust settles, I'd say all or nearly all of the areas in question
will have alternate stations available for the show.
jms |
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