ABC doesn't plan to mimic NBC's move to ditch dramas in the 10 p.m. timeslot as NBC will do next year when it strips Jay Leno during that time period, Disney-ABC's Anne Sweeney said during a keynote interview at NATPE in Las Vegas this morning. In fact, she likes having one less competitor for the time period. "For us it's good news on the drama front, because 10 p.m. has been a successful slot and one less player at 10 is not bad news for us," she said. When asked if ABC would find other ways to cut back on the hours of programming it produces, Ms. Sweeney said the network will be open to new ideas, in the vein of its ongoing efforts to work with sister network ESPN to program college football on Saturdays as an example. She also said the ratings erosion broadcasters experienced in 2008 is rooted in the unique conditions of the last year. "This past year was unusual. We had the writers strike and an election that was talked about by more people than any election in the past, and we also had the financial crisis and we started to see the early signs of that in the spring. So I think we have to be really careful and look at the performance of all of our shows across mediums."

Read the complete post at http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/tvweek/News/~3/524689035/abcs_sweeney_leno_move_good_ne.php

---

Posted Tue, Jan 27 2009 1:16 PM by News