TV networks tiring of primetime Obama news conferences

A man takes a photo as pedestrians on the Las Vegas Strip stop outside the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, to watch television news coverage of U.S. Democratic President-elect Senator Barack Obama giving his acceptance speech November 4, 2008.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - By and large, they personally forked out for his campaign, they voted for him, and they know he is capable of boosting TV ratings just by making an appearance.

But executives at the big four U.S. TV networks are seething behind the scenes that President Barack Obama has cost them about $30 million in cumulative ad revenue this year with his three prime-time news conferences.

Now top network executives quietly are hoping that Fox's decision not to air Obama's April 29 news conference will serve as precedent for denying future White House requests for prime airtime.

"We will continue to make our decisions on White House requests on a case-by-case basis, but the Fox decision gives us cover to reject a request if we feel that there is no urgent breaking news that is going to be discussed," said one network executive, who, like all, would not go on the record fearing repercussions from the Obama administration.

Another network executive confided, "Nobody wants to take on the White House, so we'll have to tiptoe through this."

Although Obama's post-election visits to "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and "60 Minutes" were major ratings boosts, the love affair between the networks and Obama might be cooling: There are too many demands, and too much money is at stake.

Even more irksome, the White House is bailing out bankers, insurers and carmakers, but nary a nickel has gone to the media industry which has cut costs and lay off staff.

The White House declined comment.

The three televised Obama news conferences have been disruptive to all network schedules. Fox was particularly upset because the second one, in February, forced it to bump ratings juggernaut "American Idol." The network lost as much as $6 million in ad revenue on that night alone.

The networks are wondering why the U.S. president can't hold news conferences earlier in the night, either from 7-8 pm or during the evening news telecasts.

Under the terms of the deals between broadcast networks and media buyers, if a show in which dollars are allocated is either canceled or replaced for the night, ad buyers have the right to ask for cash back. Buyers often choose to reallocate those dollars, but it can be difficult to plant ads in the same or comparable shows.

Fox declined to preempt its evening drama "Lie to Me" on April 29 because the network doesn't have a news division or a nightly newscast. Fox made the news conference feed available to its broadcast affiliates but only three of them carried it live.

"Once it became apparent that there was no national emergency tied to this press conference, we felt that we should air entertainment for our regular viewers and leave the press conference coverage to (cable sisters) Fox News Channel and Fox Business Channel," said one Fox executive, who declined to be named.

Given the networks' reticence in airing their complaints publicly, it remains to be seen how strongly they'll push back when the White House makes its next request.

"Nobody's happy about these press conference pre-emptions, but nobody but Fox is going to get that aggressive with the White House," one industry observer said. "Some of the commentators on Fox News Channel are already at odds with the White House, so it doesn't matter as much to them."

Although network executives applaud Obama's zeal for keeping the people informed, they feel there are other ways he can deliver his messages, particularly if they don't involve a national crisis.

"There are countless ways to reach viewers today -- on several hundred cable networks and online with sites like You Tube and the White House's own Web site," one executive said.

The networks also want to make sure the president is not using them to sell his own political agenda.

"President (George W.) Bush did it once toward the end of his administration, holding a prime-time news conference to push privatization of social security, and we weren't happy about that," one network executive said.

Perhaps the more potent weapon for broadcasters will be the apparent tiring of the viewing public for live marathon prime-time conferences. Ratings are off 42% from the first to the third this year.

That seems to have emboldened broadcasters to stand up to the White House.

"We reluctantly went along with his latest request," one network executive said, "but the next one better involve something really important to the American people, or the networks are going to tell the White House to buzz off."

(Editing by Jill Serjeant at Reuters)