‘A DIFFICULT DECISION’ : ABC’S MURPHY DEFENDS ‘20/20’ SHIFT

ABC doesn’t think “20/20” will have ratings trouble in its new Friday slot next fall, but if it does the network will “protect it in some proper way,” the head of Capital Cities/ABC said here Wednesday.

Board Chairman Thomas S. Murphy, obviously seeking to quell unrest within ABC News over the shift of the show from Thursday, also defended the axing of the division’s low-rated “Our World” after one season.

“Our World,” which also aired Thursday night, was an “an experiment,” he said. To stay competitive, ABC decided to again try entertainment fare against “Our World’s” main rival, NBC’s hit “The Cosby Show,” Murphy said.

His comments and those of Capital Cities/ABC President Daniel B. Burke came in a closed-circuit question-and-answer session for ABC employees. The hour session, moderated by “Good Morning America” host Charles Gibson, was part of a series of closed-circuit meetings routinely held for ABC employees.

Among other things, Burke said, ABC’s “major personnel reductions”--made in two waves in as many years--are “behind us.” But he did not rule out more cuts as part of continuing efforts to make ABC more efficient.

Asked about the possibility of “job-sharing” by employees as a way to avoid more pink slips, Burke said that he’d never “been in an environment where job-sharing was a way of life,” but that “it’s an interesting idea and we’ll look into it.”

In responding to questions on “20/20,” Murphy did not elaborate on how ABC would “protect” the veteran new-magazine show, which he called “an appointment show,” meaning that its fans set aside time for it each week.

Smiling when one ABC caller denounced the show’s shift as “a bummer,” Murphy said it was “a difficult decision” to move the program to Fridays, but that he thinks it will regain its audience there after an initial slight decline in ratings.

However, Burke later conceded that “it’s entirely possible that the decision on ‘20/20’ is incorrect. Nobody will know for a while.” And, he said, the outraged caller was not alone: “Some of the affiliates have called in and agreed with her,” Burke acknowledged. “They (also) think it is a mistake.”

Neither executive referred to a recent memo of ABC News President Roone Arledge, which blamed the shift on “those seeking a way out of a historic entertainment failure”--an allusion to the fact that the network last season was third in prime-time ratings for the third straight year.

During the session Burke and Murphy also fielded questions on matters ranging from paternal leave to smoking policies, Murphy said that:

--Despite constant speculation, “we have no intention of selling the (ABC) network” that Capital Cities acquired just over a year ago.

--While Cap Cities/ABC Inc. turned a profit last year, ABC-TV lost $70 million “in cold cash” and is going “to lose close to that this year.”