The television network game of competing for talent has heated up again. This week the latest round involves ABC’s attempts to get CBS’s David Letterman.
However, these negotiations have riled up long-time ABC talent. ABC said it will bump Ted Koppel’s news show, “Nightline” — which currently holds the 11:35 p.m. slot — in order to woo Letterman and the “Late Show.” People, including Koppel, are angry ABC would even consider bumping the 22-year-old news show for the entertainment-driven “Late Show.”
In an op-ed piece to the New York Times Tuesday, Koppel said when his show was first created it was never expected to compete with Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.” Koppel was told to be successful he just had to “come in a respectable third.” He also expressed concern that one ABC executive told the New York Times “‘Nightline’ isn’t relevant anymore.” Another executive cited the expansion of all-news cable channels such as CNN, which thoroughly cover the news of day — “Nightline”‘s specialty — to the show losing its relevance.
Koppel opposes, saying the public needs a more “thoughtful analysis of national and foreign policy” in times like these when the country doesn’t know when the next attack may be or what our American troops are doing.
ABC argues it needs Letterman’s “Late Show” to boost the number of 18- to 49-year-olds who watch during the late night hour. While both Koppel and Letterman attract about four million viewers, the “Late Show” has 30 percent more viewers ages 18 to 49 and about 50 percent more viewers 35 or younger than ABC’s “Nightline” and Bill Maher’s “Politically Incorrect” (which is also being taken off the air). ABC knows if they can increase the number of younger viewers, more advertisers will want to buy time in the late-night slot.
This isn’t the first time ABC has changed its schedule to get younger viewers. In May 2001 ABC upset Barbara Walters when her news show “20/20” was moved from its longtime Friday night slot to Wednesday night by the newer, entertainment show “Once and Again.” Despite “20/20” having an overall larger audience than “Once and Again” (11.4 million to 8.5 million); “Once and Again” attracts more people ages 18 to 49 (5.3 million to 4.7 million) — the demographic advertisers love.
The decline of news shows for all the networks is alarming to some as huge media companies take over and cut news-oriented shows in favor of more profitable entertainment- oriented shows. According to the New York Times, ABC’s entertainment division is planning to produce a reality series about the U.S. military in Afghanistan, despite objections from the news side that say it could hamper their efforts to gain better access to cover the war.
According to the networks, more and more young people just do not want to watch the news anymore — in today’s fast-paced world viewers need to be captivated to keep them from flipping the channel — something the longer news shows aren’t doing. It is the older, less profitable, generation who is keeping up-to-date on the latest news. But that’s not what the advertisers want — and recent network decisions, such as ABC’s, reflect that.
Katie Harbath ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in Journalism and Political Science. She is the managing editor of the Herald.
