TV Show Bazaar Muted by Caution

NEW ORLEANS â€”  Dressed in a stylish black pantsuit and accompanied by security escorts, Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial, was mobbed by paparrazzi and television station owners Tuesday as 20,000 executives from around the globe gathered for the world’s biggest bazaar for TV shows sold into syndication.

Clark is trading in her district attorney’s badge to become a talk show host. Her popularity at this television swap meet underscores her rise to celebrity.

But it also says something about just how slim the pickings are this year for TV programming--and how changes in the federal rules may in the short term be shrinking viewers’ choices outside of network prime time.

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After offering up more than 35 new shows for daily syndication last year with only one success, “Rosie O’Donnell,� television suppliers have dramatically scaled back this year, giving Clark’s show about women in the judicial and law enforcement system a fighting chance despite station owners’ fears that her cool style will alienate audiences.

“The mood this year is cautious,� said Tony Thomopolous, chief executive of MTM Entertainment. “We had the opportunity to come out with two new shows but are concentrating on one.� MTM is busy renewing station rights to “The Cape,� a one-hour drama it launched at last year’s convention.

A combination of rising production costs and falling broadcast ratings, plus federal laws that allow networks to favor their own shows over those sold by independents, is having a chilling effect on the development of syndicated fare.

In part, producers were spooked by the massive failures in syndication last year as an avalanche of talk shows depressed the ratings for all. At the same time, costs have continued to rise, bringing the risks to $10 million or more to launch a syndicated series, especially if there is a celebrity attached. (The other shows with buzz at the convention star former quarterback Terry Bradshaw, home arts maven Martha Stewart and former New York Mayor Ed Koch.)

The dearth of new programming also owes to the lack of lucrative time periods available for new shows. Many stations are locked until 1998 into carrying shows like “Jeopardy!� and “Wheel of Fortune� in the most key time period before prime time.

That is why many studios are postponing their launches until then. DreamWorks is set to enter syndication, with Connie Chung and Maury Povich, in 1998, while Warner Bros. and National Geographic also announced a show for next year.

While time periods are scarce, some suppliers say they are taking fewer risks in the syndication market until the big station owners show the degree to which they intend to supply their own programming needs. Under new rules enacted last year, networks can produce programs for syndication on their own stations, meaning there may be fewer periods available to outside suppliers on their schedules.

Already, NBC and Fox are producing “Access Hollywood� to run on their own stations during the run-up to prime time.

That could hurt suppliers like Warner Bros., Columbia Tristar and Universal that do not own stations.

The consolidation of television stations into the hands of a few large groups, like Fox, CBS and Tribune, is already changing the marketplace dynamics, causing some major TV suppliers to question the need for appearing at this buying bazaar. While syndicated shows used to be sold one station at a time across the top 200 television markets, the emergence of large station groups that reach 30% to 40% of the nation’s viewers makes it possible to reach full coverage for a show with only three or four sales calls.

Twentieth Television, the TV production arm associated with the Fox network, launches its shows with the advantage of a 40% reach of the 22 stations in its group. The company, and all the major studios, are in the process of reviewing whether it is necessary to spend an estimated $2 million a year to bring rafts of executives to the buying floor when centralized buying by large station groups is making other approaches more efficient.