Complex sentence: In 1998, network management made the decision to focus on renewals instead of new shows, thus adopting a more cautious strategy than the aggressive one of launching a significant number of new series that had been used in the prior year.
Split into simpler sentences: In 1998, network management decided to focus on renewals instead of new shows. This was a more cautious strategy than launching a significant number of new series as it had in the prior year.