Warner Bros. Sweetens the Deal for ‘Access Hollywood’ Time Slot

Underscoring the creative desperation that has crept into the television business, Warner Bros. and NBC are employing a novel, cut-rate approach to convince television stations to shift “Access Hollywood” into better time slots.

The pitch to stations, in a nutshell, goes as follows: Schedule the entertainment news show between 7 and 8 p.m.--the prime-time-adjacent real estate that program distributors covet--and pay half whatever similarly formatted rival “Entertainment Tonight” garners in that particular city.

Warner Bros.--which distributes “Access,” the TV magazine hosted by Pat O’Brien and Nancy O’Dell--said thus far, 13 stations have agreed to relocate the show into the key hour prior to prime time. Those time-period upgrades--with “Access” replacing “Inside Edition,” “Real TV,” reruns of “Home Improvement” and, in one market, “Entertainment Tonight”--will gradually occur over the next few years.

In Indianapolis and Orlando, Fla., for example, “Access Hollywood” will move from 1:30 a.m.--when the percentage of people watching TV is at its nadir--to 7 p.m. The distributor is extending the unique offer--which includes promising to funnel 80% of the fee it does receive back into promotion for the show--to TV stations in all 141 cities where the program currently airs.

“This is an irresistible deal,” stated Dick Robertson, president of Warner Bros.’ syndication division.

The Warner Bros. plan is designed to capitalize on the financial troubles plaguing TV stations, which, facing competition from cable and other alternatives, have seen their audience and profit margins steadily decline. The idea, then, is to provide station owners equal or better ratings at a significantly reduced cost, in exchange for a time slot that helps the distributor sell commercial time at a much higher price.

Produced by NBC, “Access” already runs at 7:30 p.m. in Los Angeles and nine other cities where it plays on NBC-owned stations. At present, however, the program can boast such positioning in only 25 markets overall--one reason its national rating is lower than “Entertainment Tonight,” which is scheduled during that hour in most cities.

Warner Bros. is building its sales proposal around the fact that in those cities where “Access” does play at 7 or 7:30 p.m., the program generally draws bigger audiences than “ET.”

Locally, for example, “Access Hollywood” regularly surpasses the audience for “ET” on KCBS-TV, a station that lags behind its network-owned competitors. In the May sweeps results, “Access” doubled “ET’s” rating in Los Angeles, based on Nielsen Media Research data.