My local CBS affiliate is skittish and conservative when it comes to anything that the owner feels is too risque. So tonight without warning the “Victoria’s Secret Runway” special was replaced with a Burt Bacharatt special. (There was a crawl across the bottom of the screen saying the show would aim at 2:10am)
So, an affiliate has the power to not show network programming?
An affiliate can delay or cancel shows for any reason, if they object to the network?
How much of this can they do?
Are there any penalties?
If it happens too much, can the network use this as a basis to drop the affiliate?
Can other local affiliates air network programming if the actual affiliate passes?
IIRC, it depends upon the show. Back when Leno was set to take over The Tonight Show, I remember reading an article about the costs to local affiliates. In one market, the NBC affiliate would have loved to have replaced The Tonight Show with something else, but couldn’t because NBC was going to charge too much for not airing the show. FWIW, back in the early 70s, I can remember that the local CBS affiliate for some reason would pre-empt the network programming and replace it with the movie Stowaway to the Moon at least once a year.
I graduated with a degree in Television and Radio.
An affiliate is free to reject network programming at any time. If ABC airs a controversial episode of NYPD Blue and WXYZ in Tuscaloosa feels it will offend them because it portrays three Tucaloosans doing unnatural, perverted things (such as not picking up after their dogs), WXYZ can back out. Of course, ABC is not going to provide alternate programming; WXYZ will have to find someting to air or else face dead airtime. The only recourse the network has is to find another affiliate in the market.
Keep in mind that in most major markets, the stations are O&Os. That means that they are owned and operated by the network and therefore will air the network programming. During the 80s, there were regulations in place limiting the number of O&Os that a network could have; but those limitations were greatly relaxed in the 90s. They may have (and this I don’t know) even been eliminated altogether.
So, to answer your question, the affiliate can refuse to show network programming.
This is not meant to be argumentative, so please don’t take it as such.
I was under the impression that you could only have a certain number of O&O stations–thirteen is the number that comes to mind for some reason. I also thought that these stations couldn’t directly reach more than a certain percentage of people . . . a percentage so small, in fact, that ABC, NBC, ETC couldn’t even own and operate the total number of stations allowed. That is, for example, if ABC owned and operated all thirteen (or whatever the number is) of the stations legally allowed, it would then be reaching a greater percentage of people than allowed by the FCC.
My source of information (or misinformation, if that is the case) is classroom lectures. This info is not in my book and my notes are long gone. Also, television stuff isn’t directly related to my major. Still, it contradicts my beloved mass comm professor when you say the stations in most major markets are owned and operated by the networks. Unless, that is, you’re restricting major markets to a relatively small number.
If I’m totally mistaken–or even just a little mistaken–I’d appreciate it if you or another Doper could correct my knowledge. As I said, although I’ve endured lectures on this subject, this issue isn’t really in my area.
If this is too much of a hijack, we could discuss it elsewhere.
Regarding the OP: as already mentioned in other posts, a local station doesn’t necessarily have to show a network’s show.
Mephisto, you’re not mistaken; that WAS the law, but the law changed. To wit, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 eliminated the numerical limit on O&O stations (which was 12) altogether, and increased the percentage cap to 35% (up from 25%). A company still cannot own two or more television stations in the same market.
Actually, that restriction has been loosened (or at least the FCC has been ordered to examine the 35% cap - with a strong suggestion to drop the cap altogether) - in fact, one company can now own two NETWORKS - this relaxation was pushed by the Viacom/CBS merger, so Viacom now owns CBS and UPN. A Federal Court in February ordered the FCC to re-evaluate the 35% cap - I think that was an action brought by Fox against the FCC, because the 35% rule was preventing it’s buy out of Chris-Craft.
So, in Houston, they used to delay the Late Show (Conan) until very late in the morning, around 3 a.m. CT, if I’m not mistaken. Conan actually found out about it and did some bits pertaining to, “What are people in Houston doing at 3 a.m. besides watching my show, since my ratings suck there.”
So since they’re just delaying the feed instead of removing it altogether, they don’t really need to obtain alternative programming, they just shuffle things around a bit. So there is absolutely no penatly for the local station to do this?
There have been instances of networks switching affiliates when the current affiliate was substituting the network’s programming too often. But that requires that the market has another suitable station available for such a switch. (No affiliation or low ratings network, e.g.) Since few markets have such a situation, the network’s are usually forced to merely grumble at such renegade affiliates.
Sometimes, when a local station doesn’t want to carry a series or sometimes even sporting events, another station is allowed to carry it instead. In my market a few years back when CBS’s Monday lineup was both crappy and low rated (vs. just crappy now), it was pre-empted and another station in the market carried it.
Networks pay affiliates to run their programs. The down side to the affiliates is that they don’t get to sell those commercials. Affiliates can buy their own shows and sell all the commercials, but that often turns out to cost more than it earns.
This was discussed here in St. Louis by a local TV reporter because one affiliate was SO bad, and was pre-empting network programming to boot. She said the contract between that particular affiliate and the network (ABC) allowed it to pre-empt 100 prime-time hours per year without penalty. YMMV. (There may be other clauses that allow pre-emption without penalty for breaking news or the like.)
The situation is different in other parts of the day. Of course many stations choose to air their own or syndicated talk shows in the morning and afternoons, and many stations have a clause in their affiliate contracts that allows them to delay the network’s late night programming.
There’s a dynamic at work here. Obviously a network wants a local affiliate that will air all the programming possible, while the local affiliate wants the flexibility to dump a low-rated or otherwise unwelcome show. If an affiliate chooses not to air a show, the network can offer it to another station in the market, but with the advent of Fox, WB, UPN, Pax and stations that run home shopping programs around the clock, there aren’t that many places left to put a prime time show.
