Word: showing
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...this has helped depress the numbers that networks live by. A decade ago, the benchmark of prime-time success was a Nielsen rating of 20. (The rating refers to the percentage of total TV homes that are tuned in to a particular show. The "share" refers to the percentage of homes watching TV that are tuned to that show.) In the 1980-81 season, 28 network series achieved a 20 rating or better; last season only nine did. For many weeks last summer, not a single network show cracked the 20-rating level...
...Summer Olympics on NBC drew an average prime-time rating of 17.9, well under the 21.2 promised to advertisers -- and a Bob Beamon long jump away from the 23.2 drawn by ABC for the Summer Games in 1984. NBC, which paid $300 million for the TV rights, will show an unexpected loss because of the compensation time it must give advertisers...
Instead, the networks are looking for ways to expand their revenue base. In many cases, that means joining the competition. ABC owns 80% of ESPN, as well as smaller pieces of the Lifetime and Arts & Entertainment cable services. The network is also producing shows for cable, such as a documentary series on the Cold War, The Eagle and the Bear, done in collaboration with A&E. NBC is launching a 24-hour business-news channel for cable early next year, and has formed a home-video partnership with Columbia Pictures. Only Tisch at CBS has held back from such diversification...
...erosion, network TV is still the most pervasive mass medium in the country and a powerful tool for advertisers. "I think we've got a long way to go before the house of cards collapses," says Larry Gerbrandt of Paul Kagan Associates. "On any given night, with any given show, they have the ability to attract a predominant share of the TV audience." Alan Gottesman, media analyst at Paine Webber, asserts, "The next thing you will hear will be the turning of the worm. There is an operating cycle of about two years in this business. Each network has gone...
PUNCHLINE. An inspired Tom Hanks, our reigning master of desperate expediency, steals the show from a coolly expert Sally Field in writer-director David ^ Seltzer's foray into the world of stand-up, knock-down comedy...