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Show M K WXI KM RXXm WJ WWWWW PWVI IVW1 KXXXX KVVV3 11 V.'.'.l IM I'.T ...... II T.l ! . . U t VNVwv wxw:y:-Xvw::::::::- Week of Oct. 13-1- 9, 1990 New streamlined era ;S: Competition with cable prompts PBS to market wares By JAY SHARBUTT AP Television Writer NEW YORK (AP) The audience is down, the competition from cable is rising. Despite the heady success of "The Civil War" series, PBS has its problems, but it also has a plan to deal with them. Public television has appointed its first programming mogul, responsible for picking the shows, - scheduling them and promoting them. Take a meeting, Big Bird. Jennifer Lawson, the chief program executive, will be able to give faster answers to program proposals, speeding up what has been a cumbersome decision-makin- g process, a PBS board member says. Producers of cultural and entertainment shows who would have gone to PBS in past years now have cable networks as a market for their wares, particularly the Arts & Entertainment and Discovery networks. "There are now so many more people looking for good programs that we're not the only opportunity that people have, as we used to be," says the board member, Henry P. Becton Jr., president of WGBH-Tin Boston. "We need to be able to be more responsive, to give quicker and V more definitive answers, to take more risks in order to have access to the best people and ideas." He said it's likely the board, meeting next month, will approve the final step in the plan that shifts $105.5 million from various sources to a single program and promotion fund administered by Lawson, PBS' executive vice president for national programming and promotion. That will complete the process by which she has become the PBS equivalent of moguls like NBC's in charge of Brandon Tartikoff program selection, scheduling and promotion. In olden days, public TV stations chose and helped pay for about half of the national prime-tim- e schedule through a voting process run by PBS' Station Program Cooperative. Come November, that process will be history. Although Lawson will pick programs, she will consult a committee that includes PBS and public TV station executives and, in some cases, minority and independent producers, she says. "It will not be me making decisions in a vacuum," she says. Lawson, who has spoken of experimenting with educational game shows and bringing more children's programs to public TV, says the can get reception you do not subscribe to Cable TV, you 14 aesignaiea 13 and 11, from the FREE stations, 2, 4, 5, 7, black code... on a white with in the listings will neip If you do subscribe to Cable TV, the following guide Orem. For and Provo in stations available the you locate full impact of the change probably won't be felt until the 1892-9- 3 season. That's because many program projects now on the boards have been funded for this season and the next, although next season's schedule will give an idea of what's to come, she says. But the new system will allow better focus and planning, she says: "It helps us move faster and it helps us move with more intelligence. Before, with the (program frcno TeieiitiM suums listed li IM Ri.Hl Eniertiiner O KTVX, Salt QKSL. Salt .. 2 .. 4 L .. 5 .. 7 I O KUED, U of 6BKBYU, BYU, C3 KSTU, Salt L I CD KXIV, .11 .13 na Salt L . (CBN), CBN Cable Network. (DIS), Disney Channel (ESPN), Sports Network 8 .16 .10 .12 . 6 na .19 ..18 (LIFE), Lifetime. (MTV). Music Te ..17 ..23 na ..26 (TDC). .. 3 ..25 (WGN), Chicago, III. .na . 22 Orem 2 4 5 7 11 13 12 22 38 19 25 17 15 27 34 35 37 16 33 23 26 9 8 w,y marketplace, the cooperative) process itself made the decisions. iw.r PA "It was a voting on a series of them in without putting programs any context and looking at what that does to shape our profile. The new system helps us react faster to changes in the media environ- ment." It's "no secret whatsover" that PBS ratings have fallen off, she ratings says, even though for "The Civil War" national rataveraged ings are due this week a 9.1, the highest in PBS' history. The network's overall 'Miracles' opens season brothers Bennet ratings iii play Ryan Delaney, top, and Zachary "Looking for Miracles" Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Channel Wonderworks launch Wonderworks in a new format a montly prime time special. Family Movie, hat, did that last month. O O NBC News to CD Andy Griffith (CBN) Funtown Funnies (COUG) Infotext (DIS) Movie (LIFE) It Figures (NIK) Mr. Wizard's World (CC) (USA) Cartoon Express (WGN) Robert Tilton (WTBS) Tom & Jerry's Funhouse 5:1 5AM CD A.M. Weather 5:30AM Q NBC News ABC News (CC) CBS News CD BYU Devotional CD Andy Griffith This Morning's Business O O O (CBN) Popeye (LIFE) Everyday Workout (NIK) Don't Just Sit There (TNT) Popeye Hour OO News O This Morning CD Ghostbusters O Jetsons (CBN) Dinosaucers (DIS) Varied Programs (LIFE) Attitudes (NIK) Inspector Gadget (WGN) Wake. Rattle & Roll 6:05AM (WTBS) Gilligan's Island A.M. Weather 6:1 5AM 6:30AM Q Mister Rogers CD Hooked on Aerobics fj Pr9rams presented each weekday 0 Flintstones Super Mario Bros. Super Show (CBN) 700 Club (COUG) Infotext CD y 6:OOAM 11 two-hou-r, WCCkdyS 5:OOAM : MIWIIIII lltfl MIlMMHMHIi Photo courtesy of Wonderworks 3 executive's P tilltiirHWillllTllMlHillllll percent in just the past year. When trying to lure viewers back, it sometimes pays to advertise. Lawson, wearing her program dropped J X-- 24-ci- ty If the other cities, contact your cable company to determine fix (CBN) Littles (NIK) Heathcliff (WGN) Bozo (In Stereo) (DIS) Good Morning. Mickey! (LIFE) Jane Wallace (NIK) Eureekas Castle (TDC) Tastes of the World (TNT) Movie (USA) Lost in Space (WGN) Magnum. P.I. 8:05AM (WTBS) Movie 8:30AM O Figuring It Out 6 35AM (WTBS) Bewitched O Today O Good Morning O Zoobilee Zoo 7:00AM (CC) (In Siereo) (CC) America CD Captain Kangaroo CD Tiny Toons (CC) Video Power (CbNi Our House (DIS) Mousercise (LIFE) What Every Baby Knows (NASH) VideoMoming (In Stereo) (NIK) Lassie (TDC) Assignment. Discovery (TNT) Fraggle Rock 7:05AM (WTBS) Little House on the Prairie 7:30AM CD CD CD O Sesame Street (CC) (R) Size Small Island Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Wake. Rattle & Roll (CC). (DIS) You and Me. Kid (ESPN) Varied Programs (LIFE) What Every Baby Knows (NIK) Maya the Bee (TNT) Muppets (WGN) Bewitched 8:00AM Q Focus Sesame Street (CO (R) S3 Peter Pan & the Pirates CD Merrie Melodies CD (In Jim Henson's Muppet Babies (CC) Mighty Mouse (DIS) Care Bears (TDC) Pasquale's Kitchen Express 9 00AM O Generations CD CD CD Stereol O Live IsRegis & Kathie Lee O Price Right O Applied Mathematics (CC). (R) - CD Mister Rogers CD Police Academy (CC) CD Dick Van Dyke (CBN) Sheila Walsh (COUG) Varied Programs (DIS) Donald Duck Presents (ESPN) Getting Fit (LIFE) Spenser: For Hire (NIK) Sharon. Lois & Bram's Elephant Show (TDC) Dr. Edell's Medical Journal (USA) Divorce Court (WGN) Joan Rivers (In Stereo) 9:1 5AM O Varied Programs (Continued on TV2) |