Pax TV Is Giving Reruns a Whole New Meaning

When Paxson Communications Chairman Lowell “Bud” Paxson unveiled plans for a seventh national broadcast network, he stressed a desire to convey wholesome values, presenting shows “free,” as Pax TV’s ad campaign put it, “of explicit sex, senseless violence and foul language.”

Lately, however, the “free” on Pax increasingly refers to an absence of production costs, characteristic of a new equation in the television business, one that hinges on filling two station lineups using one staff and, in some instances, a few frequently repeated programs.

NBC, which acquired a minority interest in Pax last fall, is quickly taking steps toward “multiplexing,” showcasing a single show within days or even hours on more than one channel. Pax has already begun airing second runs of the quiz show “Twenty One” and will begin carrying same-day repeats of “The NBC Nightly News With Tom Brokaw” at 7:30 p.m. on a trial basis during May. Selected Pax outlets will rerun local NBC stations’ newscasts on a delayed basis as well.

Though the practice irks some network affiliates--they want exclusive rights to such material--and threatens to diminish original production, TV executives say it’s necessary, dictated by a money-losing formula of rising programming costs combined with shrinking ratings.

Jeff Sagansky, president and chief executive of Pax TV, insisted that the arrangement has less to do with slicing the company’s work force than with garnering more income immediately, as opposed to waiting years for a financial return from selling repeats in syndication.

“There’s only so long you can develop a business where your programming costs rise and your audiences decrease,” Sagansky said, adding that repeating the NBC newscasts would be a service to those who don’t get home in time for earlier broadcasts.

Of course, NBC’s reasons are more than altruistic. Deals are being structured under which the network and its stations will package and sell local and national ad time for Pax, meaning advertisers pay one price for the cumulative “Nightly News” rating on both networks.

Such an approach has become more common using cable channels for these second runs, underscored by NBC’s and ABC’s agreement last fall to repeat two new series--”Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Once and Again”--a few days later on the USA and Lifetime networks, respectively.

Gradually, this practice is spilling over to weaker broadcast outlets, in part thanks to continued government deregulation. Last August, the Federal Communications Commission approved revised rules allowing a single entity to own two TV outlets in the same city. In several cities, a single company already manages and sells advertising for two TV stations, a clear means of reducing administrative overhead.

Just as NBC is seeking economic benefits by combining certain functions pertaining to Pax, Viacom--given its proposed merger with CBS--is awaiting FCC approval to retain ownership of UPN, another fledgling broadcast network that, operating separately, has sustained losses of more than $900 million.

Television executives contend that such program-sharing relationships can help offset such losses and that any concerns about diluting network viewership no longer apply. If anything, they say, with the average home receiving nearly 60 channels, multiple runs of a single program offer viewers a second chance to see series they would have missed otherwise.

“What’s happened is the stigma has been broken, and the idea has actually become attractive to people,” said David Kissinger, president of Studios USA Television, which produces “Law & Order” as well as the new spinoff show. “Everybody’s looking to lower their costs.”

In fact, Studios USA intends to employ a similar launch strategy this summer with a new version of “The Invisible Man,” which will air on the Sci-Fi Channel and simultaneously be sold directly to broadcast stations for syndication.

All this repetition of existing shows could represent another blow to creative talent, which has harbored hopes that these new networks would blossom into viable outlets for original production, in essence expanding shelf space for their products.

Instead, not only is a fledgling network such as Pax potentially being transformed into a sort of “NBC II” but traditional comedies and dramas keep losing turf to low-cost, unscripted programming alternatives, among them NBC’s broadcasting of the World Wrestling Federation’s new XFL football league in prime time, fostering doubts regarding the future of dramatic programs now scheduled on Saturday nights.

Though Pax relies heavily on reruns of such shows as “Touched by an Angel” and “Diagnosis Murder” to flesh out its lineup, the network does present original series every night at 8, including “Twice in a Lifetime,” “Hope Island” and “Chicken Soup for the Soul.”

Sagansky maintains that the recycling of NBC programs on Pax will remain limited and that his network will continue to develop its own distinctive fare, some of which could even migrate in the other direction, airing on NBC.

“We’re determined to keep our identity,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is somehow submerge or lose that.”

Despite the industry’s emphasis on the bottom-line benefits of program sharing, consumer advocates say broadcasters--unlike cable channels--operate over public airwaves and thus possess certain obligations that go beyond profit incentives.

“Even though there are more outlets, the concentration of ownership is only getting worse,” said Kevin Taglang, a telecommunications policy analyst at the Benton Foundation. The strategy, he added, is to surround the consumer by spreading programs across multiple channels, less to serve the viewer than provide these media giants more leverage in their dealings with advertisers.

Indeed, Viacom and CBS have pointed out that their merger will create cradle-to-grave reach for advertisers, beginning with children tuning in Nickelodeon, teens and young adults watching UPN, MTV, VH1 and TNN, and finally more mature adults viewing the flagship network.