Future of ABC ' s `Millionaire': Multiple Choices, Astronomical Stakes
By Joe Flint
11/26/1999
The Wall Street Journal
Page B1
(Copyright (c) 1999, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
Here's the million-dollar question for ABC and parent Walt Disney Co.: If you have
a show that all by itself is on the verge of handing the network its first No. 1 ranking
in five years, how do you keep a good thing going?
Final answer? They don't know.
"We're sitting in the hot seat across from Regis trying to figure this one out," says
ABC Entertainment Television Group Co-Chairman Stu Bloomberg, referring to
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and the game show's host, Regis Philbin.
The quandary over "Millionaire," which ended its fall run this week, spotlights the
new complexity of the network TV business. Disney, whose Buena Vista Television
produces the show, could make a fortune by selling it to stations around the country
as a daily syndicated game show. Or it could keep the show exclusively on ABC,
which badly needs a big hit to boost its ratings.
The stakes are huge. With 30-second ads selling for as much as $350,000,
"Millionaire" pulls in enough money with one of these spots to cover the entire cost
of producing a single episode (excluding prize money).
The syndicated route would be the most lucrative one for Disney. "The money
generated in syndication -- and the potential longevity there -- is a lot greater than
any of the concepts for keeping the show on the network," says Bill Carroll, vice
president of programming for TV consultants Katz Television Group, a unit of AMFM Inc.'s Katz Communications subsidiary.
But there are pitfalls in the syndication approach. For starters, the ABC-owned
stations have long-term deals to run "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy" in the key
"prime access" hour before prime time, which is where Disney would want
"Millionaire" to play. Thus, a syndicated run of "Millionaire" would likely land on a
rival network's outlets and end up boosting a competitor rather than ABC.
Because "Millionaire" is the first big in-house success since Disney bought ABC in
1996, all eyes are on the network's Mr. Bloomberg and his partner, ABC
Entertainment Television Group Co-Chairman Lloyd Braun.
"There are many viewpoints weighing in," Mr. Bloomberg acknowledges. "This is a
decision we'll all be making."
While the show is a ratings giant, averaging 23.8 million viewers this month, there
has been no real trickle-down effect elsewhere on the network's schedule. For
example, Sunday's hour of "Millionaire" drew 26.1 million viewers, but only 11.1
million stuck around to watch "Snoops," the ailing detective drama from David E.
Kelley.
"It hasn't had any spillover effect," says Steve Sternberg, senior vice president at TN
Media, a unit of True North Communications Inc. "People tune in for `Millionaire'
and then tune out."
Mr. Sternberg and other analysts question whether viewers will continue to tune in if
"Millionaire" becomes a regular show. The danger for ABC is that if the series were
to become a permanent fixture, the buzz could fade and viewers could get bored.
"It won't do as well for ABC if it becomes a weekly or nightly series," predicts Mr.
Sternberg. "A lot of its success has to do with the fact that it has that special-event
luster that would be lost if it became a regular series."
So far, though, it seems that the more exposure the show gets, the better it performs.
This past Monday's episode, the 16th this month, drew the show's biggest audience.
Also, by running "Millionaire" in sweeps periods, the network, at least in theory, can
show more original programming in other months from series that have been
bumped off the schedule by the game show.
Michael Davies, the executive producer and creative force behind "Millionaire,"
says he has "no doubt that the show could work once a week." As for what happens
to it now, Mr. Davies says he hopes the next move isn't "based on money."
Part of the problem with deciding the show's fate, Mr. Davies adds, is that the
television business was not prepared for the success of the show. " `Millionaire'
throws out the assumption that network television couldn't make a big broad primetime show," he says.
Messrs. Bloomberg and Braun, while still undecided as to the next move, make clear
that their priority is to serve ABC first. Says Mr. Braun: "The trick is maximizing
`Millionaire's' value to the network without burning it out over the short term."
Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.