Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, August 30, 1993 TAG: 9311250314
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
The studio, owned by media giant Time Warner Inc., is exploring the possibility of a network to compete with CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox Broadcasting Co., said a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The network might be hammered together with both broadcast affiliates and cable systems across the nation, the source said.
A spokesman for Warner said the company had no comment.
Driving Warner is the belief that the existing networks will be shopping for less studio-created programming as the networks produce more of their own shows.
``The players are big,'' industry analyst Larry Gerbrandt with Carmel, Calif.-based Paul Kagen Associates said Thursday.
``More importantly, Warner's the biggest producer of primetime programming in the country. It already is effectively programming a network.''
Time Warner's status as the second-largest cable operator nationwide also figures importantly in the equation of pulling together affiliates, Gerbrandt said.
Warner is far from the first to consider such a network as industry players jockey for position in an expected 500-channel TV world.
In recent months, companies such as Paramount Communications and home shopping channel QVC Networks have discussed similar plans.
Growing cable TV audiences have paved the way for such a cable-broadcast blend, which would be a further erosion of the Big Three broadcast networks' grip on viewers.
Jaime Kellner, the former Fox Broadcasting chairman who helped launch the so-called ``fourth network'' in 1987 in the face of skepticism, is working with Warner Bros. on the proposal, the source said.
Kellner and Warner Bros. executives have met with several station groups, the unidentified source said.
The Los Angeles Times listed Paramount Communications, Chris-Craft Industries and Combined Communications.
The new network could benefit from a clash between Paramount and Fox. Last week Fox dumped its Philadelphia affiliate, which is owned by Paramount, in order to buy its own Philadelphia station.
An angry Paramount is reportedly considering removing three other stations it owns from Fox affiliation and linking them up with the new Warner Bros.' network.
If joined by stations owned by Chris-Craft Industries and its sister company United Television, the new network would already reach a third of the country.
Executives told the Times they're confident they can cover about 70 percent of the nation with their initial station list. They said local cable systems would deliver their network to another 10 percent of the country's televisions.
Other major studios have ventured into network ownership because of the profit potential.
The Fox studio owns Fox Broadcasting, while Paramount and MCA jointly own the cable channel USA Network. Columbia is planning to launch a new, interactive cable TV game channel, while Disney owns KCAL-TV in Los Angeles.
There was no hint what Warner Bros. might call a new network.
Elsewhere on TV
``MISSING PERSONS'': Don't miss this one tonight in its two-hour preview on WSET (Channel 13) at 9 p.m. Simple in concept and engrossing in execution, this drama stars Daniel J. Travanti as the head of the Chicago Police Department's Missing Persons Bureau. A little older, a little crustier than when running the station house on ``Hill Street Blues,'' he presides over a predictably varied and dedicated group of investigators. The show also previews Sept. 9, then settles into its regular Thursday berth Sept. 23.
by CNB