Tag: 09.04.00

Ratings for the TV networks have been slipping for years, and it looked, even a year or two ago, that network TV might not be profitable again for a long time. That was then…”The networks’ parents don’t break out numbers for the properties, but analysts estimate that earnings in the second quarter were up across the board: NBC raked in $375 million; ABC, $220 million; CBS, $95 million; and Fox, $48 million.” – Inside.com

The summer movie season is officially over. “This has been one of the shabbiest movie summers in memory – a stretch as desolate as a beach closed by the Board of Health.” – The Nation

• HIT ME: “Summer 2000 closed with its sixth straight frame in the red compared with 1999. It still wound up as the No. 2 summer of all time, barely edging 1998, but the lack of dynamic titles and the troubles of exhibitors made it an anxious season for most distributors.” – Variety

The movie theatre business is hemorrhaging money – several are on the verge of collapse, even as the movie business itself is doing just fine. So what’s the problem with theatres?  Overbuilding. “It was a mass suicide. They see their competitors putting up new attractive theaters, so they think that to be competitive they have to do that, too.” – New York Times