Ten prepares for Hollywood emergency
13Dec07

Source: Miriam Steffens, Sydney Morning Herald

                        

TV
VIEWERS may be in for even more reality shows and local programs next
year as the local networks prepare to fill holes caused by the
screenplay writers’ strike in Hollywood which is crippling production
of US blockbusters like House and Desperate Housewives.

"It’s a cloud on the horizon," Ten Network’s executive chairman,
Nick Falloon, told shareholders at the broadcaster’s annual meeting
yesterday.

If the strike keeps going, "it has the potential to limit – not only
for us, but for all networks – the supply of new US product into the
new year."

Ten got a full briefing on the situation from its US studio
partners, 20th Century Fox and CBS Paramount, last week, TV boss Grant
Blackley said after the meeting.

"They’re looking at a speedy resolution but unfortunately we can’t see that at this point," he said.

            
       

Negotiations between the Hollywood studios and the striking writers
collapsed last Friday, putting next year’s US soap and drama season in
jeopardy.

The writers walked out in early November, demanding a bigger share
from the sales through digital media, such as internet broadcasts.

Ten has put high hopes on new US shows like Women’s Murder Club and on season returns of House and Californication to back up its schedule of local talent contests and reality shows like So You Think You Can Dance Australia and Big Brother.

So far, the network has only received 10 to 12 of the usual 22 episodes that US shows run for.

Mr Blackley said that as the strike continued, the channel would
have to look for "alternative content" such as repeats and draw on the
"expandable franchise" of its major local productions.

Its rivals face the same dilemma. Channel Nine is betting on US programs and cop shows like CSI
to help it revive its ratings. The Seven Network entered a new content
deal yesterday with Hollywood studio NBC, the creator of Heroes, worth up to $50 million. But with its top 10 programs in 2007 having been local productions, it may not be hit as hard.

Despite the uncertainty in the US, Mr Falloon said Ten was confident
of beating last year’s TV earnings in 2007-08. Its pre-tax earnings
rose 14 per cent to $122.5 million in the first quarter, which
traditionally accounts for more than 40 per cent of annual profits.

The company expects to raise its share of the TV advertising market
in the December half from last year’s 30.3 per cent, and forecast
industry-wide ad sales growth of 4 to 5 per cent for the next calendar
year.

Ten faced shareholders with a reduced seven-member board yesterday,
after CanWest ended its quest to sell the company earlier this year and
converted its economic stake into a 56 per cent shareholding. CanWest
president, Leonard Asper, said: "The [review] process is gone, and we
have no plans to revisit it."

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