Cable's latest targets:Broadcast's fall hits

Better watch out...better not cry....better start sellin' I'm tellin' ya why..........Philip Jay LeNoble, Ph.D. Publisher

TVNewsCheck & Media Life

By Toni Fitzgerald
Oct 26, 2011

Cable Networks are pitting their top shows against the Big Four's top series


For years cable networks showed their strongest shows during the summer, when they faced minimal broadcast competition. It was their time to shine, and shine they did.

Now cable is challenging broadcast in that time of year when the Big Four networks long monopolized viewers' attention, the fall.

The best example of that is AMC's "The Walking Dead," the second-year zombie drama that is drawing such strong ratings opposite strong broadcast competition that it was renewed for season three yesterday.

"Dead" was the No. 1 scripted show on both broadcast and cable Sunday at 9 p.m., averaging 4.5 million adults 18-49, according to Nielsen, some 800,000 more than ABC's timeslot competitor "Desperate Housewives" and 2 million more than CBS's "The Good Wife."

"Dead" is on pace to set a record for most-watched non-sports original basic cable show ever in 18-49s, despite airing opposite one of broadcast's highest-rated programs, NBC's "Sunday Night Football."

And AMC isn't the only one airing its premier content in the fall. MTV's "Jersey Shore" was the No. 1 non-sports show at 10 p.m. last week among 18-49s, beating broadcast competition like "The Mentalist" and "Private Practice."

MTV could have scheduled the show's fourth season to air entirely during the summer, but instead it started "Shore" in August, a month before the broadcasters rolled out their fall schedules, and faced off against broadcast's new season for five weeks.

Showtime premiered its most anticipated new show of the year, "Homeland," in September, when its No. 1 drama, "Dexter," also returned.

Starz chose last week to debut "Boss," its highest-profile new show to date because of series star Kelsey Grammer.

And TNT is kicking off its first-ever series of original movies next month during the highly competitive November sweeps.

There are risks for cable networks in airing their top shows in the fall. They can get lost amidst the broadcast hype, or see ratings fall opposite tougher competition.

But the upside is that the broadcast networks have trained viewers to expect new shows in the fall, and cable markets its new shows so aggressively that those viewers can't escape the hype.

Plus airing highly rated shows opposite broadcast in the fall helps cable prove to advertisers that it is a viable option year round and not just in the summer months.