THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997 TAG: 9701180227
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 24 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: 1997 FORECAST
SOURCE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 69 lines
If you're looking for a mirror of the Hampton Roads economy, try broadcasting. The fortunes of the region's TV and radio stations gyrate in sync with Hampton Roads' economic shifts - and generally a little harder both up and down.
So it may be useful to all hereabouts to know that Hampton Roads' broadcasting executives are expecting moderate to moderately strong growth in advertising revenues in 1997.
If they're right, you can expect slow to moderate growth this year for the region's economy overall.
``Overall, I'm pretty optimistic about this year,'' says Edward L. Munson Jr., president and general manager of WAVY-TV, the local NBC affiliate. He said the consensus estimate for national TV ad spending is for a 4 percent increase in '97. ``Here I think we might do a little bit better than that.''
Munson thinks the region's new grocery chains - Hannaford and Harris Teeter - will increase their TV spending in '97 as they expand locally. The explosion of new telecommunications services, particularly in cellular phone services, will lead to more ad pitches, he says.
Christopher Pike, president and GM of WGNT-TV, the local UPN affiliate, also expects another growth year for TV ad spending - in the same range as last year's 7 to 8 percent increase locally.
That's well below the estimated 14 percent increase for Hampton Roads' TV stations in '94. But if Pike is right, this year's increase ought to push total ad spending on the region's local TV stations close to $100 million for the first time.
The competition for that spending will clearly get tougher this year. WPEN-TV, a local independent station that operates on low-power frequencies, plans to supercharge its reach with the purchase of full-power underperformer WJCB.
At WGNT, Pike aims to keep grabbing a bigger share of ad dollars as UPN's youth-oriented programming attracts more local viewers.
Then there's Local News on Cable, the joint venture of ABC affiliate WVEC-TV, The Virginian-Pilot and Cox Communications Inc., the region's dominant cable provider. This new 24-hour local cable news channel will start trolling for viewers and ad dollars next month.
Cox will also make a stronger pitch for ad spending on its other cable-exclusive channels like TNT and USA Network now that it has taken control of nearly every cable-TV system in Hampton Roads. The only major unclaimed prize: Falcon Cable, which serves Suffolk, the Eastern Shore and the Outer Banks.
Cox officials have said privately they'd love to acquire Falcon. But Cox isn't under as much pressure to complete its lock on Hampton Roads now that Bell Atlantic Corp. has scuttled plans to deliver a wireless cable service in the region. Bell Atlantic is now considering other options, including satellite TV, which has been rapidly gaining subscribers in Hampton Roads.
The outlook for local radio ad spending in '97 is also good, at least according to Bob Sinclair, president and GM of Norfolk-based Sinclair Communications Inc., which owns WNIS-AM, WTAR-AM, and FM stalwart The Coast.
After a flat '96, Sinclair says he expects Hampton Roads' radio ad market of roughly $45 million to increase about 7 percent this year - in line with national trends.
The big story in local radio last year was consolidation. Through mergers, about 20 of the regions's two dozen highest-rated radio stations are now controlled by only six owners. Sinclair predicts further mergers within that group of six in '97, though he says he knows of no specific deal in the offing. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]
[Television]
KEYWORDS: 1997 FORECAST TELEVISION