******************************************************** NOTICE ******************************************************** This document was converted from WordPerfect to ASCII Text format. Content from the original version of the document such as headers, footers, footnotes, endnotes, graphics, and page numbers will not show up in this text version. All text attributes such as bold, italic, underlining, etc. from the original document will not show up in this text version. Features of the original document layout such as columns, tables, line and letter spacing, pagination, and margins will not be preserved in the text version. If you need the complete document, download the WordPerfect version or Adobe Acrobat version, if available. ***************************************************************** DA 98-2202 October 28, 1998 Released: October 29, 1998 Ms. Diane Zipursky Washington Counsel National Broadcasting Company, Inc. 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, DC 20004 Re: Preemption of Children's Television Educational and Informational Programming Dear Ms. Zipursky: This letter refers to your request that the Commission accord stations owned and operated by, and affiliated with, the National Broadcasting Company, Inc. (NBC) continued, limited flexibility in preempting regularly scheduled children's educational and informational, or "core," programming for the 1998-1999 television season. The Bureau granted NBC such flexibility in a July 11, 1997 ruling, concluding that certain preemption practices would not preclude otherwise qualifying programming from being counted toward a station's educational and information programming requirements. In that July 11, 1997 ruling, we considered NBC's proposals regarding the rescheduling and promotion of "core" programming for the 1997-1998 television season, and specifically accepted its proposals to commit to certain promotional and preemption notification efforts in exchange for a limited amount of preemption flexibility of children's educational and informational programming. Recently, NBC requested a continuation of this preemption flexibility for the 1998-1999 television season, and provided the Bureau with information concerning its preemption practices, preemption notification efforts and promotional efforts during the 1997-1998 television season. NBC also provided the Bureau with its anticipated preemptions for the 1998-1999 television season. Performance During the 1997-1998 Television Season We begin our review of NBC's performance during the 1997-1998 television season by recognizing that the initial year of operation under the children's educational programming rules adopted in 1996 was necessarily an experiment for those charged with complying with our rules. Under these circumstances, we believe that areas of needed improvement can be identified without making any actionable "findings" pertaining to the 1997-1998 television season. It is in that spirit that we commend NBC on its preemption notification efforts during the past year, but we also caution that NBC's performance during the 1997-1998 television season does not appear to fully satisfy NBC's promotional commitments. Additionally, we note our concern with what appears to be a relatively high average preemption rate experienced by NBC's owned and operated stations. Preemption Rates With respect to NBC's preemption practices during the 1997-1998 television season, we are concerned that it appears that NBC's owned and operated stations experienced a relatively high average preemption rate of 10.7% -- more than double the 4.1% average preemption rate of CBS's owned and operated stations, and almost double the 5.7% average preemption rate of ABC's owned and operated stations. Preemption Notification Efforts Last year, NBC committed to provide publishers of program guides with the alternate date/time in advance of any core programming preemption for live network sports events, to notify viewers, in the week preceding the rescheduling, of the time and day on which the program will be broadcast the following week, and to prepare and make available to affiliates promotional spots which notify the viewers of any necessary rescheduling. During the 1997-1998 television season, NBC reported that in each instance of rescheduling, each station contacted its local listing service notifying them of the change, and in almost every instance of rescheduling, the stations provided on-air announcements of the change (with formats provided by the network) in the week immediately prior to the change. NBC also reported that in some cases, its owned and operated stations also aired promotional announcements on the Saturday in which the rescheduling occurred. Additionally, NBC indicated that the majority of NBC's owned and operated stations also posted schedule changes on their own websites. Given that NBC's owned and operated stations routinely provided local listing services with rescheduling information, and, in almost every instance, provided on-air announcements of the change using format provided by the network, we are pleased to report that it appears that NBC fully satisfied its preemption notification commitments. Promotional Efforts Last year, NBC committed to promote its Saturday morning educational programming (which you refer to as "Teen NBC" or "TNBC") in a number of ways, including: (1) through on-air promotions during premier network sports programming and during prime time hours; (2) through "theme days" and the appearance of well-known professional athletes on TNBC shows; (3) through the intensified efforts of two dedicated director-level employees whose responsibility is to promote the TNBC lineup throughout the electronic/print media and to develop a broad variety of promotional events designed to increase the audience for the TNBC shows (to include airing promotional spots on teen-oriented cable programs and placing ads in teen-oriented magazines); and (4) through promotional spots to be made available to affiliates. During the 1997-1998 television season, NBC reported that its promotional efforts included: (1) broadcast of four TNBC promotional spots during Saturday NBC sports programming in August and from mid-September through April, and the broadcast of 22 on-air promotional spots during prime time on Friday nights; (2) "theme days" and the appearance of professional athletes on specific episodes of its programs; (3) appearances by the stars of the TNBC shows at 11 community and school events; and (4) launch of a dedicated TNBC website, "At the Max," in September. We note that, although NBC did provide a limited number of on-air promotions during premier sports programming and during prime time hours, these promotions amounted to less than one on-air promotion per week. In addition, there is no indication that NBC intensified the efforts of two dedicated director-level employees whose responsibility is to promote the TNBC lineup throughout the electronic/print media and to develop a broad variety of promotional events designed to increase the audience for the TNBC shows (to include airing promotional spots on teen-oriented cable programs and placing ads in teen-oriented magazines). Similarly, there is no indication that NBC made TNBC promotional spots available to its affiliates. Given NBC's low number of on-air promotions and the lack of evidence that NBC met some of its other promotional commitments, we caution that it appears that NBC did not fully satisfy its promotional commitments of last year. We would also like to underscore here, as we did in our July 11, 1997 ruling, our belief that these promotional commitments will help to ensure the success of children's educational and informational programming by focusing the attention of the viewers on the entire "core" block of TNBC programming. Anticipated Preemptions for the 1998-1999 Television Season For the 1998-1999 television season, NBC informed the Bureau that it anticipates a maximum of five additional Saturdays in which the broadcast of live action sports programming will require rescheduling of its TNBC block in the Eastern, Central and Mountain time zones. Although NBC stated that the same number of Saturdays as last year will require rescheduling of some of the TNBC block for stations in the Pacific time zone, NBC also stated that, during two consecutive weekends in the second quarter of 1999, when NBC broadcasts the "Triple Header" National Basketball Association Playoff Games on Saturday, those stations may not be able to reschedule some of the preempted programs at all. Additionally, NBC informed the Bureau that stations may reschedule other preempted programs to a time period outside the program's normal "second home." Preemption Flexibility for the 1998-1999 Television Season Having reviewed NBC's past year's performance and considering your anticipated preemptions for the 1998-1999 television season, we have decided once again to afford NBC limited flexibility in preempting core programming under the same terms and conditions as applied during the 1997-1998 season. Although some aspects of your performance raise concerns, overall we continue to find such flexibility consistent with our goals of maintaining scheduling continuity and predictability for the children's audience. We base our conclusions on your representation that NBC will: (1) provide publishers of program guides with the alternate date/time in advance of any core programming preemption for live network sports events, notify viewers, in the week preceding the rescheduling, of the time and day on which the program will be broadcast the following week, and prepare and make available to affiliates promotional spots which notify the viewers of any necessary rescheduling; and (2) promote your Saturday morning educational programming (which you refer to as "Teen NBC" or "TNBC") in a number of ways, including through on-air promotions during premier network sports programming and during prime time hours, through "theme days" and the appearance of well-known professional athletes on TNBC shows, through the intensified efforts of two dedicated director-level employees whose responsibility is to promote the TNBC lineup throughout the electronic/print media and to develop a broad variety of promotional events designed to increase the audience for the TNBC shows (which will include airing promotional spots on teen-oriented cable programs and placing ads in teen-oriented magazines) and through promotional spots to be made available to affiliates. We will allow NBC: (1) to count a preempted children's core program toward a station's core programming obligation if the program is rescheduled to a fixed "second home" during the "core" time period (i.e., between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m.) within the same day or week, or to the following week to a time period adjacent to other regularly scheduled children's programs, or, in isolated circumstances, at any time during core hours during the week of preemption; and (2) to exempt from the above provisions core programming that is preempted for breaking news, though we encourage stations to reschedule programming in these circumstances. We emphasize, however, the limited nature of the preemption flexibility which we are granting for the 1998-1999 season, as it is based on the level of preemption that NBC experienced during the 1997-1998 television season and NBC's performance of the above notification and promotional commitments. In the event NBC cannot fulfill any of its commitments, we would expect an explanation as to why such compliance was not possible. In particular, while we acknowledge NBC's projection that it might not be able to reschedule some core programming preempted the weekends of April 24-25 and May 1-2, 1999, we expect NBC, should it fail to reschedule any additional preempted programming, to provide an explanation as to why that programming could not be rescheduled either on weekends or weekdays. We also expect NBC to make every effort both to limit its preemption rate to a level as close to last year's as possible, and to reschedule and promote all preempted core programming. We also advise you here, as we did in our July 11, 1997 ruling, that although this letter addresses NBC's specific requests regarding network scheduling, it remains the duty of each television broadcaster to comply with the requirements of the Children's Television Report and Order. Moreover, every effort should be made to minimize each individual station's number of preemptions, and we would expect that those stations having higher than the network's average projected preemption rate will increase their efforts both to notify viewers of rescheduled programming and to promote their children's core programming more aggressively. Furthermore, the Commission will continue to review each licensee's performance to ensure compliance with the children's educational and informational programming rules. Finally, we note that this is the first year in which we have reviewed requests for extension of the limited preemption flexibility granted to the networks, and, as a result of the experience we have gained in this year's review, we have decided that other interested stakeholders should be given the opportunity to comment on any future requests for extension of the limited preemption flexibility we are granting here. Moreover, we believe the public interest would be best served by developing a complete, comprehensive record on which the Bureau may base future decisions to grant any preemption flexibility extension requests. Accordingly, next year, if NBC decides that it would like the Bureau to extend the limited preemption flexibility granted here, we would seek your cooperation in submitting NBC's extension request early in the summer of 1999 (preferably June) to allow sufficient time for public notice and comment to be completed prior to the beginning of the 1999- 2000 television season. Additionally, in response to any extension request, we would seek your continued assistance in providing information concerning NBC's preemption, promotion and rescheduling practices during the 1998-1999 television season. Sincerely, Roy J. Stewart Chief, Mass Media Bureau