Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 9, 1994 TAG: 9401040332
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Lon Wagner Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The changes have been dictated by the networks, but the region's affiliates will watch closely in 1994 as:
The National Football Conference games - read: Washington Redskins - come to Fox affiliates WJPR (Channel 21) and WFXR (Channel 27). "It will probably attract some people to the station who have not watched the station before," says Fox General Manager Stan Marinoff. "It can only help."
CBS affiliate WDBJ (Channel 7) deals with life after pro football, but settles into the 5 p.m. newscast it launched in November to compete with NBC affiliate WSLS (Channel 10), which has had a 5 p.m. broadcast for three years.
Direct satellite television - featuring 18-inch dishes - beams 150 channels down to Earth, providing possible competition for cable TV operators and maybe a future outlet for regional broadcast stations.
In a purely local showdown, executives at WSLS and WDBJ are more than curious to see how the public receives WDBJ's 5 p.m. newscast.
Ratings for the first month - November - saw WDBJ lose out to WSLS at 5 p.m. Bob Lee, WDBJ president, said the first month's ratings were disappointing but indicated WDBJ would "stay the course."
Jim DeSchepper, WSLS general manager, speaking like a football coach who doesn't want to antagonize the opposition before a big game, said most TV programs grow and, "I expect theirs to be the same."
And the 5 p.m. newscasts have a more formidable competitor than each other. "Oprah," newly acquired by ABC affiliate WSET (Channel 13), swamped both broadcasts in November's ratings.
Network affiliates and cable TV operators alike will watch the joint effort of Hubbard Broadcasting and Hughes Communications to line up a slate of "cable" television channels without the cable.
The direct-broadcast satellite, a first in the United States, aims to bring potentially limitless - initially 150-200 channels - programming into American homes through 18-inch satellite dishes.
To the cable industry, direct-broadcast satellite is a potential competitor. But the $700-plus initial cost of the dish, along with a likely $30 monthly fee, may make the service unaffordable to many.
To WDBJ's Lee, direct-broadcast may provide a future outlet for his station, though not in 1994. Lee said WDBJ boasts the most expansive news bureau setup in the state, and he sees a potential to become a "regional station via satellite."
That, of course, is if direct-broadcast gets the customers it needs to turn a profit. In that sense, direct-broadcast television will be just one technology to emerge this year to offer a glimpse into the next century.
Some of those technologies, many people in the industry note, may have to wait years for the American public to be receptive.
"Sometimes I kind of use the sanity check," says Cox Cable Roanoke's Bill Sledd. "We realize 75 percent of the people who own a VCR can't program it to record a movie an hour later."
by CNB