Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 3, 1993 TAG: 9311030103
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: HOLLYWOOD LENGTH: Medium
The network is set to debut in the fall of 1994 with two nights of programming and plans within five years to air more than 11 hours of programming per day. Paramount Communications announced similar plans less than a week ago.
The competition between the two major entertainment companies is expected to be fierce, because executives at both companies think the television marketplace cannot support more than one additional network on top of the four that already exist.
"There is only room for one more network," said Jamie Kellner, the former president of Fox Broadcasting Co., who sold Warner Bros. on the idea of a fifth network and will be its chief executive. "No way is there room for two more."
Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns and operates the largest independent station group in the country, will be the backbone of the new Warner network by aligning its six major-market TV stations with the operation. Warner Bros. said it has affiliation agreements from stations covering 40 percent of the country.
The dueling fifth networks from Warner Bros. and Paramount represent efforts by both studios to secure a valuable outlet for their programming in the coming 500-channel TV household. Increasingly, the studios think they need to control the distribution of programming as well as its production in the highly fragmented viewing environment.
Kellner and other Warner Bros. executives declined to provide any substantive details about the new network, including when it would air or what programs would appear.
But they did say one of its cornerstones would be animation, in which Warner Bros. has a rich history. Eventually, executives said, famous Warner Bros. cartoons such as Bugs Bunny and Looney Toons might be seen only on the WB Network.
Warner Bros. Chief Executive Robert Daly predicted WB Network would break even in its third or fourth year and would be "clearly profitable" in its fifth year. Daly declined to say how much it would cost to start the network, but sources said the seven-year cumulative investment could amount to $2 billion. "We're in it for the long haul," Daly promised.
Daly also said Warner Bros. will draw upon the studio's stable of TV writers and producers to create shows for the new network. Warner Bros. is the largest program supplier in Hollywood, producing hit shows such as "Murphy Brown" and "Full House."
Despite the vast resources behind a Warner Bros. fifth network, many hurdles remain.
For example, in order to reach the minimum 82 percent U.S. television homes necessary to attract national advertisers, Warner Bros. plans to supplement as much as 16 percent of its coverage area by affiliating with local cable TV systems in areas where there is no available broadcast outlet to carry the network's signal.
Warner Bros. plans to rely on local stations, all of them already affiliated with other networks, to negotiate for a second channel on the cable system. The stations will then split any advertising revenues from the venture with the cable operator.
by CNB