Celebs jam docket for Court TV

Court TV tapped fortuitously into the zeitgeist in 1995 as the public obsessed over O.J. Simpson’s criminal trial and ratings soared.

Once Simpson’s trial ended, though, with nothing else of that magnitude to follow, the channel’s easy ride got bumpier.

Now, celebrity trials are back in the news, but it’s not the old Court TV anymore. It’s “Court TV: The Investigation Channel,” reflecting a more entertainment-oriented strategy the network adopted because big trials didn’t come along often enough to sustain it.

So as a flood of high-profile trials approaches -- those of former NBA player Jayson Williams, Robert Blake, Martha Stewart, Kobe Bryant, newly minted celebrity Scott Peterson, and the biggest of all, Michael Jackson -- Court TV last week threw a New York City party for the premiere tonight of its original movie on the decidedly nonglitzy topic of political asylum, “Chasing Freedom.”

In the coming weeks and months, the network will perform a delicate balancing act, and not just with overlapping courtroom dates. Throughout daytime hours, it will juggle coverage of the various high-profile trials. In addition, the network’s star Jackson-watcher, reporter and anchor, Diane Dimond, will be a frequent commentator on NBC’s “Today.”

Court TV won’t be alone in covering these trials. Attention is devoted to the latest high-profile trials from the major broadcast networks down to specialty cable networks. It’s evident in the fleets of satellite trucks: outside the New York courthouse where Stewart was arraigned, all but engulfing the Eagle County, Colo., courthouse any time Bryant has appeared, and augmented with an armada of foreign reporters Friday for Jackson’s appearance in Santa Maria, Calif.

But Court TV officials hope the daytime trial-watchers will also stick around for prime time and still tune in after the trials are over. In the past five years, Court TV has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in original prime-time series, such as “Psychic Detective,” in which psychics solve crimes, and “House of Clues,” in which amateur sleuths use household items to create a profile of regular homeowners, along with reruns of the likes of “NYPD Blue.”

“In the past, there’s been this niche audience of avid court watchers,” Dimond said. “They’re all very wise and very astute. But now all these trials open us up to a whole new audience and can bring millions of eyes to the network. It’s the rebirth of Court TV. We have the potential to be a real powerhouse.”

The new prime time strategy has already been showing progress, as the network finished the year with an average of 838,000 viewers nightly, up 14% and its highest average since its founding in 1991. By comparison, the top cable network for the year, TNT, drew an average 2.3 million viewers nightly. Court TV’s growth for the year outpaced the 6% increase in subscribers; the channel now reaches about 79 million households.

That compares with about 20 million homes during the Simpson days, said Art Bell, Court TV’s president and chief operating officer. “Whatever we do now has a higher impact,” he said, adding that this is “Court TV’s moment in the sun.” Bell pointed to the channel’s roster of well-known reporters and anchors, such as Dimond and frequent “Larry King Live” guest Nancy Grace, as well as to how the channel has perfected “the art of covering trials.”

The coming slew of high-profile trials isn’t in conflict with the new brand the channel has been cultivating, Bell insisted, noting that the question to be answered in all the trials is “exactly what happened? That fits neatly under the umbrella of investigation.” Some prime-time shows, such as “Court TV Investigates,” will easily adapt to discussion of the daytime trials, although there will be prime-time specials as events warrant.

Court TV will have plenty of competition on the trial scene, with three cable news channels all eagerly following the developments already. CNBC’s business viewers have an interest in Stewart, who is charged with obstruction of justice and securities fraud; ESPN’s viewers have an interest in Williams and Bryant. But Court TV has a full daytime schedule in which to air trial coverage from those courtrooms that will allow cameras, executives said, and its anchors and reporters will likely appear on other networks to discuss the trials, giving the channel free publicity.

“I say with confidence that while the others are excellent at what they do ... we are the experts on trials and the legal process, so I don’t see them as competition,” said Marlene Dann, Court TV’s senior vice president of daytime programming.

While some of the trials are likely to overlap, not all are open to cameras. If two trials with camera access do happen at the same time, Court TV is counting on different time zones to help in the juggling act. So far, Williams’ New Jersey trial -- he is accused of recklessly handling the shotgun that killed limousine driver Costas Christofi in 2002 at Williams’ home -- will be open to cameras, while Stewart’s won’t because it is in federal court. Access to other trials is pending, although many are unlikely to be open, in which case Court TV will use reporters and anchors discussing the cases from outside the courthouses.

There’s also the possibility that some cases will settle before trial, Dann said, so the network has continued to look for back-up trials across the country.

Once Jackson’s case gets fully underway, much of the attention will be on Dimond, host of the network’s “Hollywood at Large” weekly series as well as an anchor of daytime trial coverage.

Dimond broke the story that Jackson’s Neverland Ranch was being raided and that child molestation charges were going to be filed against him. Court TV also credits her with being the first to report the child molestation allegations against Jackson in 1993. The scoops have given her celebrity status among legal reporters and helped her get signed as an analyst on the Jackson case for NBC’s “Today.”

Although Dimond has received attention from her colleagues and media outlets, the Jackson camp has given her an icy reception. Defense attorney Mark Geragos doesn’t return her calls, she said, and the Jackson family, including brother Jermaine Jackson, hasn’t responded to her requests for interviews.

When Dimond was first reporting on the Jackson case 10 years ago, she was working for “Hard Copy,” a news magazine show that was accused of taking a tabloid approach toward news and celebrities. “It’s not like the major networks didn’t have the same interest in the same topics,” she said. “It’s just that they thought they could do it better than ‘Hard Copy.’ It was a glorious but unpopular place to be. I felt like I had the weight of ‘Hard Copy’ around my neck. Now everybody is doing this kind of journalism. ’60 Minutes.’ Diane Sawyer.”

Her frenzied schedule last week included covering the summit meeting of Jackson advisors at the Beverly Hills Hotel, attending a pro-Jackson press conference given by family members, banking interviews for future use, making new contacts and covering the entertainer’s arraignment in Santa Maria. “It’s been really nutty,” she said. “I tend to go into overdrive anyway. I’m only sleeping about four hours a night, which is about normal. A lot of things around the house are not getting done. I didn’t send out Christmas cards. But this is the kind of journalism I like to do.”

Dimond said her value to Court TV and to NBC is to provide perspective: “I’m a historian. I’m not just reporting the story.”

Similarly for Court TV, it’s not just one story. The trials will presumably attract a large audience, Bell said, and “if this is one way to get the audience in the door, then there’s a huge opportunity for us. They’ll see that it’s not their father’s Court TV.”