Networks Set to Drop the ‘Repeat’ Tag

Convinced the word “repeat” acts as a sort of scarecrow that helps chase away potential viewers, the broadcast networks have decided they would rather let people figure out for themselves whether they have seen an episode of a program before.

Reflecting a rare act of cooperation, the six networks have broken with decades of tradition and jointly agreed to stop labeling their reruns as such. In defense of the move, they cite changes in the television landscape and viewing patterns they say make the practice passe.

Executives at ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox have chafed at the fact cable networks do not flag second, third and fourth airings of programs as repeats. Nor do cable channels or local TV stations identify years-old syndicated plays of network series--from A&E;’s daily telecasts of “Law & Order” to FX’s “The X-Files” and “NYPD Blue”--with an “R” in TV listings.

In addition, NBC officials were recently irked to see the USA network’s telecast of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” labeled as a “series debut” in TV Guide, even though the episode had premiered on NBC two weeks earlier.

Foremost, broadcasters maintain with the average viewer now receiving nearly 60 channels it’s wrong to assume people have seen an episode of even their favorite show. In fact, research indicates that people who characterize themselves as regular viewers of a series generally catch only about a third of the episodes on the first pass.

“What this is really about is trying to reflect a change in this medium and the way viewers watch it,” said Alan Wurtzel, NBC’s president of research and media development. “Essentially, [labeling shows reruns] is serving as an artificial barrier to viewing, because people think they’ve seen all the episodes when they actually haven’t.”

Network officials conceded that it’s not in anyone’s interest to annoy the audience, but they don’t anticipate a public outcry given that people can quickly determine if they’ve seen a show or not.

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Despite the policy shift by the networks, there’s some question whether the change will have any effect on what information reaches viewers. Tribune Media Services--which supplies TV listings to more than 400 newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times--said the organization would continue to identify and label as reruns programs that have aired previously, using its own database.

“As far as I’m concerned, it’s going to be business as usual for us,” said Bernard Zovistoski, managing editor of Tribune’s TV listings.

A representative for CBS acknowledged that the networks couldn’t compel listing services to remove the “R” label, but that the cooperative effort reflects an escalation of lobbying efforts to level the playing field with cable. The networks hope to plead their case directly to listing organizations in the coming weeks.

The networks have clearly struggled with what to do about reruns in recent years. While broadcasters face a strong economic incentive to air them, viewers with dozens of leisure-time options can easily find alternatives if a favorite show is a repeat. NBC has been most aggressive in trying to make what’s old seem new, coming up with the “It’s New to You” ad campaign during the summer, which suggests episodes are fresh to viewers who haven’t seen them.

Generally, networks order between 22 and 26 episodes per year of popular series, a function of both cost and time constraints. Because programmers usually need to squirrel away a dozen of those episodes for the rating sweeps in November, February and May, anywhere from 10 to 14 reruns are mixed in over the course of the official TV season that extends from September through May. Those repeats often pop up in December, March and April.

The issue of what qualifies as a rerun has also become more complicated. Fox, for example, is billing “Ally”--its half-hour, edited-down version of “Ally McBeal”--as “new episodes,” which some rival executives contend is misleading to viewers. A Fox spokesman said the show is technically new because “Ally” occasionally contains unseen footage as well as a different tone and pace than the original version.