Post by George WK Newman on Oct 7, 2009 21:56:56 GMT -5
During upfront week key station owners, managers, and network executives and board members were given an update on the status of affiliate relations and sign-ups.
Number of Stations
There are currently 101 network affiliates. We expect to sign up between 50-100 more over the next year, including at least 50 more in the next 3 months.
Major Markets (top 100)
The top 100 DMA's make up over 80% of the TV households in America. On top of that they are the stations most likely to be carried by cable providers or be reached and picked-up by smaller neighboring DMA's. A network that has a station affiliate in each of the top 100 markets would likely (depending on the strength of the affiliates) reach betwen 80-90% of US TV households.
Currently Liberty Television has station affiliate agreements in 90 of the top 100. The biggest concern not only from a reach point of view but also an image and news point of view is our lack of an affiliate agreement in Washington, DC (the 9th biggest DMA).
Other top 100 DMA's without affiliates yet are;
#31 - Kansas City MO
#44 - Albuquerque NM
#49 - Austin TX
#52 - Providence-Bedford RI
#62 - Ft. Myers FL
#63 - Lexington KY
#68 - Tucson AZ
#84 - Shreveport LA
#87 - Brownsville TX
The affiliate relations team has exhausted its options in these markets for the time being and are resigned to entering January without affiliates in these markets.
The exception is Washington which we continue to work aggressively.
Our focus will now shift to adding small market affiliates. In some ways these are more difficult to find then big markets due to limited stations and many network options.
The release of our upfront, demonstrated sales of advertising, and the proliferation of new digital subchannels should help us sign up more affiliates. Our ratings will also be a big factor in displacing syndicated services such as MyTV, ThisTV, and RetroTelevision from stations.
Household Reach
We currently estimate that with our affiliate and cable carry agreemetns in place already that we will reach around 75% of US TV households.
Major networks usually manage to reach over 99%, while smaller networks often struggle to reach between 92%-95%.
Our goal remains to reach 85% of US TV households by our premiere in January, and to reach over 90% by May.
Weak Affiliates
We recognize that many of our affiliates are secondary in nature, on digital subchannels. However, that may end up working in our favour with the primary channel providing free advertising. On the other hand there are certain affiliates that have been designated as weak, and may not be a long term solution.
2 of our 19 stations in the top 20 DMA's are considered "weak".
9 other stations are considered weak. However this can be due to pending sales which put future affiliation at risk.
Number of Stations
There are currently 101 network affiliates. We expect to sign up between 50-100 more over the next year, including at least 50 more in the next 3 months.
Major Markets (top 100)
The top 100 DMA's make up over 80% of the TV households in America. On top of that they are the stations most likely to be carried by cable providers or be reached and picked-up by smaller neighboring DMA's. A network that has a station affiliate in each of the top 100 markets would likely (depending on the strength of the affiliates) reach betwen 80-90% of US TV households.
Currently Liberty Television has station affiliate agreements in 90 of the top 100. The biggest concern not only from a reach point of view but also an image and news point of view is our lack of an affiliate agreement in Washington, DC (the 9th biggest DMA).
Other top 100 DMA's without affiliates yet are;
#31 - Kansas City MO
#44 - Albuquerque NM
#49 - Austin TX
#52 - Providence-Bedford RI
#62 - Ft. Myers FL
#63 - Lexington KY
#68 - Tucson AZ
#84 - Shreveport LA
#87 - Brownsville TX
The affiliate relations team has exhausted its options in these markets for the time being and are resigned to entering January without affiliates in these markets.
The exception is Washington which we continue to work aggressively.
Our focus will now shift to adding small market affiliates. In some ways these are more difficult to find then big markets due to limited stations and many network options.
The release of our upfront, demonstrated sales of advertising, and the proliferation of new digital subchannels should help us sign up more affiliates. Our ratings will also be a big factor in displacing syndicated services such as MyTV, ThisTV, and RetroTelevision from stations.
Household Reach
We currently estimate that with our affiliate and cable carry agreemetns in place already that we will reach around 75% of US TV households.
Major networks usually manage to reach over 99%, while smaller networks often struggle to reach between 92%-95%.
Our goal remains to reach 85% of US TV households by our premiere in January, and to reach over 90% by May.
Weak Affiliates
We recognize that many of our affiliates are secondary in nature, on digital subchannels. However, that may end up working in our favour with the primary channel providing free advertising. On the other hand there are certain affiliates that have been designated as weak, and may not be a long term solution.
2 of our 19 stations in the top 20 DMA's are considered "weak".
9 other stations are considered weak. However this can be due to pending sales which put future affiliation at risk.