Upstarts Hope to Make News of Their Own

The TV industry is braced for high-stakes drama as the broadcast networks take on Ted Turner’s CNN, which for 16 years has been the only major player at the cable news table.

When NBC and Microsoft Corp. flip the switch today on MSNBC, their 24-hour news network and online computer service, the two communications giants will be placing a very large bet on the future of news on cable--$500 million over the next five years, executives there say.

The competition will grow come fall with a Fox entry from media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who is offering cable operators $11 per subscriber to get into the game.

Both NBC and Fox have taken a look at CNN’s balance sheet: $578 million in ad revenue and subscriber fees in 1995 on CNN and CNN Headline News, and another $100 million in CNN International, while spending $300 million in news gathering. The newcomers also believe that cable news fits their global business plans.

The big question: Will the public be interested?

“Viewers aren’t clamoring for more cable news channels,” says Larry Gerbrandt, senior cable analyst for Paul Kagan Associates. “The new players are buying their way in because news is something they own, and they don’t want CNN to have the field to itself forever.

“There’s room for more than one cable network,” he adds, “but the challenge will be to make it more than a zero-sum game.”

NBC News President Andrew Lack, who oversees the MSNBC programming on what formerly was NBC’s America’s Talking cable channel, maintains that he doesn’t have to succeed solely at the expense of CNN.

“I believe we’ll be bringing in new viewers, particularly young people, with our programming and our online connection with Microsoft,” Lack says. “What people don’t realize is that you don’t need huge ratings to succeed in cable news. Ted Turner makes a lot of money with a 0.5 rating.”

Still, the promotional blitz for MSNBC goes after CNN in a pointed way: “The future of cable news, from the people you know.” In contrast to CNN, which has promoted itself as the network that makes the news the star, NBC is using Tom Brokaw, Jane Pauley and other news luminaries to anchor its prime-time schedule, promote the new network and bring viewers in to watch.

Brokaw, Katie Couric, Bryant Gumbel, Bill Moyers and Bob Costas will rotate anchoring”InterNight,” an interview show that will air Monday through Saturday live at 5 p.m., with a repeat at 8 p.m.--starting tonight with Brokaw conducting an hourlong interview with President Clinton. (CNN counters with an hourlong interview with presidential candidate Bob Dole at 6 p.m. on “Larry King Live.”)

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Pauley will anchor “Time and Again,” a nightly walk through the 20th century using NBC News archival footage. And NBC White House correspondent Brian Williams will anchor an hourlong nightly newscast at 6 p.m., “The News With Brian Williams.”

Former ABC News correspondent John Hockenberry will host a nightly show on MSNBC, and the network is adding anchors such as BET’s Ed Gordon, who did the first major TV interview with O.J. Simpson after his acquittal on murder charges, for daytime newscasts.

One of NBC’s competitors wonders how long Brokaw and the other network anchors will continue on MSNBC’s “InterNight.” “They’re basing 98% of their promotion on five of their stars,” says Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes. “It’s a legitimate question to ask how long they’re going to stay with MSNBC.”

Brokaw, who will write a regular column for the online service, has said that he will anchor “InterNight” at least until after the presidential election in November. He hasn’t specified a date beyond that. But as one of the proponents of the joint venture from the beginning, he says he’s “very committed” to MSNBC.

“Tom has told me he wants to be deeply involved in MSNBC, which is a great opportunity to expand NBC News and great cross-promotion for our stars and our network,” Lack said. “If he’s not doing ‘InterNight’ after the election, someone of his caliber will be, and he’ll be doing other projects for the news channel.”

The entrenched CNN--which reaches 60 million viewers in the United States, compared to the22 million that MSNBC says it will have at launch--plans to emphasize its strengths in breaking-news coverage and worldwide news bureaus.

“I’m absolutely dedicated to doing everything it takes to maintain CNN’s leadership,” said Tom Johnson, CNN president.

That could include something CNN has resisted: adding some big-name broadcast talents to combat its challengers. “We may find it necessary,” Johnson said, “to add some highly visible anchors in addition to the ones we already have.”

CNN, Johnson said, is having “serious discussions” with ABC’s Ted Koppel and “Nightline” executive producer Tom Bettag about joining the Atlanta-based network. It seems unlikely that CNN could match Koppel’s multimillion-dollar salary, but less prominent anchors and correspondents also are being talked to and might be wooed by the opportunity for greater prominence and the global reach of CNN.

In the meantime, CNN isn’t standing idle. It recently launched CNNfn, a financial news channel, and is planning a sports news channel in conjunction with Sports Illustrated magazine, plus news services for shopping malls and doctors’ offices. The network is considering adding some new talk shows, including a daily health program. It also has upgraded its World Wide Web site and has hired a new ad agency to help counter the MSNBC promotional blitz, although the campaign isn’t expected to start until fall.

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NBC has run into flak recently from its local broadcast affiliates over some of its plans to cross-promote MSNBC. The stations do not want NBC pointing their viewers to MSNBC to programming airing the same day on the cable networks.

“How many places can we promote the NBC stars before it’s a dilution of what NBC has to offer?” asks Jim Waterbury, an Iowa broadcaster and former chairman of the NBC affiliate board.

Fox, meanwhile, is the wild card in the game. It is building a news division practically from scratch, and Ailes declined to provide details about his plans. He said Fox is spending $100 million to launch the service.

Fox is expected to announce this week that it will kick off the cable news channel in late October and that it has commitments to launch with more than 10 million subscribers, thanks to a partnership with cable system operator Tele-Communications Inc.