TV’s New Math: One Show, One Season, Two Channels

Until the mid-1970s, you needed to be home on a certain night and time to watch your favorite TV show. The VCR came along and changed that, though people still had to remember (or learn how) to program the blasted thing.

It’s an understatement to say television has changed, but a relatively new programming wave seems to be washing over the networks with unusual speed: As programming becomes more expensive and channels grow more plentiful, it’s increasingly likely that viewers will have several chances--on various nights and sometimes different channels--to catch a particular show.

The industry buzz word for this is “repurposing,” but it’s really just a fancy way of saying that with the viewing pie being sliced ever thinner, companies are trying to reinvent TV’s economic model by generating a more immediate bang for their buck.

Episodes of two new prime-time series, ABC’s “Once and Again” and NBC’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” are being shown after their network runs on the Lifetime and USA cable networks, respectively. Fox, meanwhile, has slimmed down “Ally McBeal” even further, reediting the show to create a second series, “Ally,” as an inexpensive means of filling half an hour on its Tuesday lineup.

Cable channels have employed such methods for years. Home Box Office already runs its series as many as four times per week, giving “Sex and the City” and “The Sopranos” addicts multiple opportunities to get a fix.

Some TV insiders say it won’t be long before the broadcast networks themselves regularly play the same episode of popular shows twice or more per week--even before the advent of digital television, which will allow networks to create additional channels.

As it is, the WB pays a reduced fee to broadcast old “7th Heaven” episodes on Sundays in addition to its Monday telecasts, and NBC is expected to rerun its popular comedies as a stop-gap measure Tuesdays after canceling “The Mike O’Malley Show.”

The trend doesn’t end with prime-time series either. Both ABC and Sony intend to make such daytime serials as “All My Children” and “General Hospital” available in the evenings via a 24-hour soap opera channel. News is also being recycled, so if you missed “Dateline NBC’s” interview with Donald Trump, it’s almost sure to pop up on MSNBC or CNBC within a few days.

Some within the business wonder if executives are being short-sighted in their rush to exploit programs.

“We’re living in a television world where you want results and revenues right now,” said one studio executive. “I don’t think they’re looking at the future. Everyone’s too scared about losing their jobs.”

ABC clearly upped the ante on repurposing by allowing Lifetime to repeat episodes of “Once and Again” just three days after its initial network exposure, the lone concession being that the drama is shown at 11 p.m., after prime time ends. USA has scheduled “Law & Order” to pop up 13 days after NBC’s run.

Although driven by economic necessity, some think the practice could wind up being good news for viewers--catering to their schedules rather than to those of networks and providing several bites at any one programming apple.

Many TV station operators nevertheless view the idea with trepidation, fearing that making programs available elsewhere undercuts their hold on viewers. Yet after battling with the networks about retaining exclusive rights to carry programs--including rancorous negotiations between ABC and its affiliates--stations increasingly seem resigned to the fact the TV business has been fundamentally altered.

“We’re very protective of our own air,” said Stephen Kimatian, general manager of ABC affiliate WIXT in Syracuse, N.Y. “I would rather ‘Once and Again’ was not up against our 11 o’clock news. . . . But the marketplace is not desirous of that. People seem to want to watch programs when they want to watch. Whether you can change that dynamic is questionable.”

Despite broadcasters’ concerns, network and cable executives insist the data suggest that these ancillary showings don’t undermine network plays but rather help to promote the series.

In addition, though some shows are weakened by overexposure when reruns from their first few seasons begin airing nightly in syndication, “Law & Order” is actually perceived as having benefited from the popularity its early episodes have enjoyed on cable’s A&E; network.

“There are still going to be station managers out there that want it to be 1950,” said Tim Brooks, USA’s senior vice president of research. “There’s such fear of change. . . . [But] when shows are hot, viewers can’t get enough of them, so there’s a clear economic advantage in giving them more of them.”

ABC officials were reluctant to discuss how the strategy is working in terms of “Once and Again,” but ABC Television Network President Patricia Fili-Krushel said in July that networks must explore secondary outlets in order to help defray programming costs.

Thus far, the new “Law & Order” is faring well on NBC and performed respectably in its first USA date. Both that telecast and Lifetime’s “Once and Again” runs have attracted a fraction of the network audience, albeit respectable ratings by cable standards.

Of course, wrangling over what appears where may eventually be rendered moot should technology such as the personal video recorder, or PVR, become widely popular. The PVR records whatever its owner enjoys--from a particular sitcom to an entire genre, such as action movies--and sets up a menu of choices consumers can watch at their leisure.

It’s also worth noting that in the days before home video, independent stations--among them Channel 9 in Los Angeles, then known as KHJ-TV--ran the same “Million Dollar Movie” every night for a week as a cheap form of prime-time programming. Viewers can decide, then, whether the availability of more reruns represents progress or a step backward.