hal@cornell.UUCP (Hal Perkins) (11/17/83)
According to this week's Time, NBC Overnight lost about $10 million
dollars last year, and that's the reason it was canceled. Not
because someone in NBC does or does not like it, or thinks there's a
late night audience, or whatever. It was because NBC lost lots of
money and doesn't think it's worth sticking with the program.
Remember that the American broadcasting industry is a business, and
like all businesses, it aims to make a profit by selling something.
In this case, the broadcasting industry is in business selling
audiences to advertisers. The programming is simply there to hang
on to the audience between commercials. Once you realize this, it
is pretty easy to understand the programming decisions made by the
networks--they really are quite rational according to the given
ground rules.
(I'm not saying that I particularly like this, but that's the way
the industry is structured. Flames should be directed to the U.S.
Congress, which is ultimately responsible for the Communications Act
and other laws regulating broadcasting. There are a few vague lines
that ask the FCC to license stations in "the public interest,
convenience, and necessity", but the basic structure of the industry
is left to the whims of the good old American Free Enterprise system.)
Hal Perkins UUCP: {decvax|vax135|...}!cornell!hal
Cornell Computer Science ARPA: hal@cornell BITNET: hal@crnlcspiet@mcvax.UUCP (Piet Beertema) (11/18/83)
>....Flames should be directed to the U.S. Congress, >which is ultimately responsible for.... What's the Electronic-Flame-Address of U.S. Congress? I've got some for them.... -- Piet Beertema CWI (Center for Math. & Comp. Science), Amsterdam ...{decvax,philabs}!mcvax!piet