For More Coverage of Playoffs, Just Click the Remote

If you tune in the NBA basketball playoffs tonight on NBC, you’ll hear studio host Bob Costas promoting a post-game show--one being presented on NBC-owned cable network CNBC.

There was a time when networks were loath to even mention competing services (remember Johnny Carson saying a guest’s show aired “on another network”?), much less invite viewers to watch a program on another channel, as NBC has done in trumpeting CNBC’s coverage during its first three NBA Finals telecasts.

The trend is likely to expand. In today’s rapidly changing television environment, most major broadcasters own separate cable channels and appear increasingly willing to promote them, while employing those channels in turn to tout the network. Though these cable services attract a relatively small audience, some local broadcasters fear they contribute to chipping away at network ratings.

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Recent examples of cross-pollination between the networks and cable can be found across the dial. In addition to CNBC, NBC recently started running commercials for MSNBC, its start-up news venture with computer giant Microsoft.

ABC was at the forefront of this process even before its acquisition by the Walt Disney Co. The network (which owns a majority interest in ESPN and ESPN2 as well as stakes in the Lifetime and A&E; networks) already makes available pay-per-view telecasts of college football games as an alternative to locally televised games. As with NBC’s post-game show, that venture is advertised during ABC’s football telecasts.

At its recent affiliates meeting, ABC said it’s developing four new cable channels and announced plans to air a Saturday morning children’s program this fall with the cross-promotional title of “The Disney Channel Presents Flash Forward,” which will subsequently run on the Disney Channel. ABC also recently televised the family drama “Second Noah” on the Disney service, trying to get viewers to sample the show, after doing the same a year ago with MTV in an effort to save “My So-Called Life.”

The other networks will doubtless move to try to catch up. CBS’ new parent, Westinghouse, runs the Nashville Network and has additional cable channels on the drawing board, while Fox owns the fX cable network.

“This business has changed, and the world has to accept that it’s changed,” said Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC West Coast. “If you’re somebody who abhors change, this is the wrong business to be in right now.”

Even so, some network affiliated stations aren’t thrilled about these developments. As a rule, NBC stations don’t welcome telling viewers they can jump to another channel after the NBA telecast ends, preferring that they stick around for local programming. In Los Angeles, for example, the NBC-owned station, KNBC-TV Channel 4, is running its own post-game show hosted by Fred Roggin after the championship series.

In the same vein, ABC affiliates were upset when the network flirted with repeating its popular daytime soaps overnight on a cable service, potentially cutting into the audience that tapes those shows and views them later. Stations also object to marquee network talent like Jane Pauley and Tom Brokaw appearing on other outlets through all-news channels or non-network programs.

“Exclusivity is a big issue now,” said an executive at a major station group.

According to ABC, the audience for pay-per-view college football has been incremental, without cutting into network ratings. Looking ahead, David Downs, senior vice president of programming for ABC Sports, noted that there will likely be increased tie-ins along those lines, not only between ABC Sports and ESPN (which have been consolidated under the same management team) but also the Disney Channel and ABC children’s programs.

“There will be cross promotion that will be logical,” Downs said. “In many ways it is inevitable, and the question is how we can do it in a way that is not detrimental to our affiliates.”

NBC acknowledged that a few affiliates have complained about the CNBC promos that have run so far, largely because little mention was made initially that local news and “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” would follow on NBC stations in the Eastern and Central time zones. Ohlmeyer said the network would be more sensitive to those concerns in the future.

CNBC delivered record ratings on Friday with its post-game show, more than doubling its usual audience; however, that’s still an extremely small group by network standards--roughly a 1.5 rating in the 57% of households that receive the cable network. “This is not something that’s going to threaten our local news,” Ohlmeyer said.

Sporting events provide the most natural arena for such efforts, since it’s assumed many fans simply tune out after the game.

Yet the networks and cable occasionally cooperate in prime time as well, at times sharing programs that air on more than one channel. CBS and the USA Network both carried “Silk Stalkings,” while Fox briefly televised “Dream On” while that show still played on HBO.

One of ABC’s new series for next season, “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch,” was ordered based on a 90-minute movie that has already played on Showtime. A revival of “The Outer Limits” also airs on Showtime, followed by a run on local stations.

The irony is that as new services splinter the prime-time audience, industry officials say the networks will increasingly turn to such deals seeking to underwrite the cost of original programming.

In Ohlmeyer’s view, the fact that NBC can serve a segment of the audience on CNBC while still providing news and entertainment to the bulk of its viewers over the network is a positive development.

“The reality is this is really good for the viewer,” he said. “[We’re] providing services that give the viewers choice.”