Letter to the Editor: The Real Upfront Story
The following letter, written by EarthQuake’s Andrew Ettinger, appeared in the May 12, 2004 issue of Media Post.
Real upfront story: From one corporate silo to another
Dear Editor:
As the upfront approaches, I ask why the story of money moving out of broadcast and into cable really matters.
Of course from a planning (Reach/Frequency) perspective this is an important issue. There is no doubt that this presents a host of challenges and issues for the planning community. However, from a financial perspective, why does it really matter? The money is merely shifting from one corporate silo to another. The umbrella media company are largely unaffected from this shift. In fact, the smart ones have begun emphasizing volume, cross-platform deals to capitalize on this situation.
Advertising budgets are flowing from one corporate pocket to another, but they end up in the same wallet. GE owns NBC, Bravo, CNBC, MSNBC, Sci-Fi, Telemundo, Trio and USA. Viacom owns both CBS and UPN as well as BET, Comedy Central, CMT, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, TV Land and VH1. Time Warner owns WB, Cartoon, CNN, Headline News, TBS and TNT. Disney owns ABC, ABC Family, ESPN and Toon Disney. News Corp owns Fox as well as Direct TV, Fox News, Fox Sports Net, FX, Nat Geo and Speed.
This list does not cover the smaller, emerging channels each of the corporations own, or even the other networks in which they hold minority stakes.
I think the heart of the story is how the shifting of cable budgets affects the corporate bottom line, not the inevitable shifting of dollars from broadcast to cable.
Andrew Ettinger, EarthQuake Media, New York