Net Heads
TV execs look to the future... and try not to panic

TV is dead!

With media companies cutting deals to distribute shows over broadband Internet services, video-on-demand cable and even iPods, who needs crummy commercials and the tyranny of program schedules?

TV rules!

Shows like Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, My Name Is Earl, Prison Break and others are making television more buzzworthy than it has been in years. "The communal experience of broadcast television is alive and well," pronounced ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson at Tuesday's semiannual Newsmaker Breakfast sponsored by the International Radio & Television Society.

Anderson Cooper, fresh from taking over the 10 pm newscast on CNN, moderated the panel, which gathers the entertainment presidents of all the networks to discuss the trends of the moment. And it was Cooper, TV critics' favorite postmodern newsman, who presented the entertainment presidents with the notion that watching TV on TV sets will soon be sooo yesterday. The execs countered that it's a tad premature to predict such things. "We're about four minutes into this whole thing," NBC's Kevin Reilly said of the new technologies that include on-demand replays of network shows just after they've aired.

But it would be foolish not to prepare for a big shift. "We have to follow the viewers," said CBS' Nina Tassler. "People's habits are changing — whether they watch television, where they watch, how they watch. We have to be proactive." Not to mention ready to pick up any new revenue that can help pay the rising production costs of shows, added WB's David Janollari. He later told the Biz that potential DVD sales and other revenue-generating opportunities besides regular network broadcasts could be determining factors in what kinds of shows get on the air in the future.

While the technology may be changing, UPN's Dawn Ostroff concurred with McPherson that the shared experience of watching and talking about TV shows is thriving, and that won't change any time soon. "To go to work and talk about what was on the air last night — I think the basic television experience will be a very important part of people's lives," she said.

Cooper noted that talking about the previous night's Lost around the watercooler has gotten tougher since TiVo users who haven't yet watched the episode tend to shut down the conversation. But Fox's Peter Liguori says even that counts as TV-related chatter.

"They are probably seeing more TV because of [TiVo]," he said.

The network heads were working up a pretty good head of steam on this subject until midway through the event, when about a dozen members of the Writers Guild of America walked into the Waldorf-Astoria ballroom to protest the health, pension and overtime benefits offered to reality-show writers. Yes, they do have writers.

"Reality shows are among the most profitable television programming on your networks and sister cable channels," said their distributed handout. "Reality storytellers create these programs, yet we are treated as second-class citizens in the television industry."

Before exiting, one WGA member shouted to the stage: "Anderson, The Mole was a lot of work for me!" digging at Cooper's pre-CNN stint as a reality host. Ouch.

Apparently hotel security at the Waldorf isn't as tight for the network entertainment presidents as it is when President Bush comes to New York. But things calmed down before we could see any WGA protesters wrestled to the ground.