TV Ads Behind Enemy Lines

A commercial aired during NBC’s World Series telecasts last week in which a repairman torments viewers by unplugging their power in the midst of an enthralling program.

“It’s not TV,” the announcer intones. “It’s HBO.”

Home Box Office also pays to tout itself in episodes of hit prime-time shows such as NBC’s “Seinfeld,” whose audience of more than 30 million people each week exceeds by a substantial margin the number of homes that currently subscribe to the pay channel.

Such ads seemingly reflect a schizophrenic bent on the part of the major networks, who don’t like being reminded about how many viewers they keep losing but apparently remain willing to let their air time be used as a promotional vehicle for channels that help whittle away at their audience.

Even some network executives contend the approach is shortsighted, handing competitors the sword with which to skewer them.

Sources say there was recently second-guessing at CBS, for example, after the network ran a spot for a Whitney Houston concert on HBO, just as NBC delivered World Series viewers to the pay channel--moves that seem particularly ironic after both networks publicly grumbled about the promotional value the Emmy Awards provided HBO, which claimed numerous honors for its movies and specials.

“It doesn’t make a lot of sense to tell people to turn off your network,” said one network source.

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Indeed, few restaurateurs would embrace the idea of telling patrons to try the joint next door, especially when customers already seem to be flocking elsewhere. Like most aspects of the TV business these days, however, the rules keep changing and becoming more complex.

While the networks once labored under the notion of retaining viewers around the clock, they now operate in a different environment with shifting priorities, in part because broadcasters also own cable channels.

NBC still won’t run ads from ABC, CBS or Fox (a policy all the networks share), but the network will plug CNBC and MSNBC, which it owns; in fact, during last week’s games, NBC told baseball viewers they could find more extensive postgame coverage on CNBC.

Such practices are particularly nettlesome to a network’s affiliated TV stations, who don’t have a financial stake in those cable outlets but have come to grudgingly accept that the huge companies running television have interests extending beyond a single network.

“That’s the shape of the new world,” said Douglas Adams, general manager of the NBC station in Dallas, and chairman of the network’s affiliates board. While Adams said stations have become more accustomed to such practices, he added, “there’s a difference between tolerating it and liking it.”

The world of sports has thus far presented the most natural opportunities for such tie-ins, with ABC and Fox owning cable sports channels ESPN and Fox Sports West, respectively. A college football fan watching ABC on Saturday afternoons will be apprised of games to watch later that day on ESPN, and vice versa.

Fox has been no less aggressive in linking its network with sister cable channels. Beyond the programming link, the sports channels even share music and graphics similar to the network to help connect them in the minds of viewers.

“You can create familiar ground in cable from what you see on the network,” noted Fox network President Larry Jacobson.

“Broadcasting and cable are starting to converge,” he continued. “A lot of that [stems from] the ownership and integration of these major companies. Another side of it is [Disney-owned] ABC looking like ‘Hercules’ month when [the studio is] launching another movie.” (Disney ran related specials before the animated movie’s premiere on both ABC and the Disney Channel.)

While such corporate synergy appears unavoidable, there is still debate surrounding its scope, as well as the selling of commercial time to channels in which a network doesn’t have a financial stake.

Most executives were reluctant (and in some instances embarrassed) to explain their policy. NBC limits competitors to image-oriented commercials only, while CBS will televise ads for HBO programs--such as its recent Garth Brooks special--so long as they don’t provide a specific day and date.

Despite allowing HBO to buy time, CBS won’t run ads for more widely available cable networks that sell advertising, such as CNN or the USA network. A network source acknowledged that stance may be reevaluated in light of CBS’ planned acquisition of the Nashville Network and Country Music Television. ABC’s guidelines say the network will run pay cable or pay-per-view ads as long as the only time reference is to “Consult your local paper listing time and station.” The network does reserve the right to reject or restrict commercials featuring talent associated with competing broadcast networks.

Local TV stations worry that viewers won’t be able to differentiate between the network and its affiliated cable channels, diluting their broadcast franchise. Fox’s FX, for example, promotes itself as “Fox gone cable” and plays reruns of the network’s top-rated show, “The X-Files,” each weeknight.

Similarly, NBC News talent such as Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric and Brian Williams appear on MSNBC, and CBS News personalities turn up on the network’s fledgling Eye on People cable channel. Stations howled last year when NBC began mentioning CNBC as a postgame baseball alternative. The network compromised this year, informing viewers they could watch postgame coverage or their local news.

Some programmers also draw a distinction between narrow, niche-oriented cable programs--which presents a relatively small ratings threat--and general-entertainment networks.

“The fact of the matter is, you’re dealing with a very specific audience--a small group of people who want to watch the locker room,” said one network executive regarding postgame baseball.

Senior television officials say the networks need to articulate a clear long-term strategy regarding cross-channel advertising--one that will serve their interests without confusing the audience.

“At some point, someone’s got to draw the line and say the kind of [cross-promotion] we have can only go so far,” Fox’s Jacobson said.

Cable channels also have grown more sensitive about aiding competitors. While CNN cross-promotes with sister Time Warner entertainment networks TNT and TBS, a spokesman said the news channel generally won’t run advertising from fledgling all-news rivals MSNBC or Fox News Channel.

Even feature films, long accepted by all TV outlets, have been caught in the cross-fire. In a rare move, Disney rejected placing ads for Fox’s upcoming animated film “Anastasia” during ABC’s “The Wonderful World of Disney,” maintaining that the studio didn’t want to create confusion as to the movie’s auspices.

Still, advertising and promotion, like a weed, often finds ways to break through: This Saturday, ABC will televise the Anastasia Professional Figure Skating Championships--a three-hour prime-time event, sponsored by Fox on behalf of the movie.