The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 63

13 Central Florida Business December 23-29, 1996 By Rene Stutzman COMPANIES IN "HUNT i r- iff mm mm OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Michelle Hunt, vice president of media relations at Paramount Television Group, part of Viacom, would not comment She did say that its broadcast group has "been in a period of activity." fh rjemi inch any of the compan- nn i i les reported 10 De bidding for WCPX- SOME MEPIA GIA NTS Channel 6 are a part of our Sunbeam TV It everyday lives. They produce USA Today, Newsweek and Melrose Place. Most are media conglomerates with broadcast and publishing properties. The list also is dominated by companies with media properties in Florida. Officials of First Media Television L.P., the company that owns WCPX, would not identify the bidders.

But brokers, consultants, broadcasters and the bidders themselves provided information about who is likely in the hunt. The leading prospects: E.W. Scripps It owns nine TV stations, including ones in Tampa and West Palm Beach. It also owns 16 daily newspapers, including dailies in Stuart and Vero Beach. Jim Hart, president of the company's broadcast group, did not return phone calls.

Gannett publisher of USA Today: It owns 16 TV stations, including one in Jacksonville and one acquired this summer in Tampa. It also owns 92 daily newspapers, including those in Brevard County, Fort Myers and Pensacola. The company would not comment Post-Newsweek Stations a sub- owns two TV stations, including Miami's WSVN-Channel 7. Owner Edmund Anson confirmed last week that his company is pursuing WCPX He would not say how much he had bid. Other companies that also may be bidding: AH.

Belo The Dallas company owns seven TV stations and five daily newspapers. James Moroney III, head of the company's broadcast group, would not comment Fox Television Stations The company owns 22 TV stations, including one in Tampa that it agreed to buy in July. Fox is within a single percentage point of the federal ownership cap owning stations that reach 35 percent of the U.S. population. Fox would have to unload a station if it were to buy WCPX Among the shows on Fox TV is Melrose Place, Notably absent from the bidding is CBS, a company many industry insiders had identified as the most likely buyer.

"We have not participated in the negotiations for the station at all," said Peter Lund, president of CBS's broadcast group. "I don't know who's going to buy it" sidiary of The Washington Post Co. and publisher of Newsweek: It owns TV stations in Miami and Jacksonville. President William Ryan did not return phone calls. Meredith the owner of WOFL-Channel 35 and six other stations, including WOGX-Channel 51 in Ocala-Gaines-ville.

The company would not comment on reports that it has bid for all three First Media stations. If Meredith does buy the group, federal law against owning more than one station in a market would require it to swap or sell either WCPX or WOFL That may be about to change, though. The Federal Communications Commission is studying the prohibition. If it makes a change, the most likely scenario would be a rule allowing a company to own one TV station broadcasting on the VHF radio spectrum Channels 2 through 13 and one in the UHF range, Channel 14 or higher. The company also owns several magazines.

Viacom It acquired a Tampa station in August and one in Miami last year. It owns 1 1 TV stations. T-. 'I. Kba ri' 7 r5 i WCPX WCPX-Channel 6, a perennial No.

3 in local a massive overhaul in an attempt to boost station appears to have made a break-t month. Its newscasts at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and wed hcsiST gains. I loie's a look at ids fix tings periods for setting ad rates the No-1 May sweeps. TtlYillS TO GET WITH THE PROGRAM By Jim Abbott OF THE SENTINEL STAFF I or a television station, programming de- "3k cisions translate into ratings and ad vertising revenue.

i Nov. '94 Nov. '95 Nov. '98 5.5 5.0 6.7 7.7 TZ 8.0 8.0 8.0 9.3 May '94 May'S5 May '95 7.6 4.8 7.3 67 6.7 6.9 6.5 7.8 -Hi- -fin Miimw i I jrmtil ig point in the 1995-96 TV season represents jeholds. Each point in tie 1995-96 season households.

Each ratings point in the son represents 9,834 households. Channel 35, WFTV-Channel 9 and Nielsen Media Research WARNER BROS. Kit and miss. Rosie O'DonneU (above) has succeeded for WCPX where Ricki Lake failed. In fall 1995, Spectorsky shuffled the weekday schedule to toy to attract viewers to its expanded 90 minutes of local news.

Changes included the evacuation of MASH at 5:30 p.m. and the addition of young-skewing talk shows with Tempestt Bledsoe and Ricki Lake at 3 and 4 p.m., respectively. The talk shows didn't work, Spectorsky said. "In retrospect that was the year that Ricki's popularity decreased significantly," he said. This season, WCPX found a more successful afternoon formula, with The Rosie O'DonneU, Show and Star Trek: The Next Generation at 3 and 4 p.m., respectively.

Rosie's household ratings are up 114 percent from Tempestt; Next Generation increased Ricki Lake's numbers by 88 percent Next fall, Spectorsky expects a significant ratings increase in the 7 p.m. hour, when the station begins airing syndicated Prosier reruns. In the November sweeps, the station placed fourth in that time period which is programmed by local affiliates rather than the networks with Inside Edition and Hard Copy. WCPX won a bidding war for the rights to air Prosier and Friends starting in 1998. But insiders say it will be difficult for the station to profit because it paid too much for the shows.

Spectorsky counters that Frasier doesn't cost considerably more than Seinfeld and Home Improvement, syndicated shows now beating WCPX in Central Florida ratings. "If those shows work for other stations, why wouldn't Frasier work for us?" he said. "The cost of other shows might be cheaper, but if people don't watch them, they're not successful. You have to spend the money to make the money." Beyond news, Brooke Spectorsky's mark on programming at WCPX-Channel 6 extends from afternoon talk to prime-time series areas in which his judgment often differed from his predecessor, Mike Schweitzer. Within months of taking over as general manager in October 1994, Spectorsky responded to a viewer and network outcry by more closely following the CBS schedule.

The station went from pre-empting 75 to 85 hours of network fare a year to roughly 25 to 30 hours. One of his first changes: WCPX moved the critically acclaimed but low-rated Picket Fences back to its prime-time slot It had been airing after the late news on Fridays so syndicated shows Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine local ratings powerhouses could air in prime time. "It was a great irritant to CBS because they don't like their prime-time programs interrupted on a regular basis," Spectorsky said. "We had to make a very difficult decision in cooperating with CBS, but it Picket Fences continued to be one of the lowest-rated programs on the station." Star Trek: The Next Generation, meanwhile, remains a WCPX staple on weekday afternoons and Saturday evenings. The original Star Trek airs after the late news on Saturday nights.

It has been in the afternoons that Spectorsky has seen his greatest gains and goofs. rates viewership numbers were up. "We're on our way to turning it around. A lot of things are in place," Spectorsky said. And competitors agree the station's newscasts are better.

But Randall Jeffery, managing director of Media Venture Partners in Orlando, a broadcasting merger and acquisition firm, warned that a single good month doesn't mean the corner has been turned. "If you string together two and three books, and you show an erosion in the audience of your two competitors, then I think you've got something," he said. The next audience measurement comes in February. By then. First Media is expected to have an agreement with a buyer.

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