Affiliates contacted last week by Broadcasting and Cable, without exception, said all affiliates would take a loss on the inventory shift whether the buy-back option is exercised. The unexpected Fox action comes a week after ABC terminated negotiations with its affiliate board on exclusivity, the NFL and a planned soap opera channel. Because of lack of access to Kosovo and Serbia to document war damage, much of the television coverage of the latest Balkan crisis has centered on the refugee crisis. Trying to cover both angles of the war means spending millions of dollars weekly and sucking up increasing amounts of resources. If NATO decides to launch a ground war, all the networks would expand their coverage significantly.
Executives say they have been telling producers and crews to pack for three weeks.
Right after NATO started bombing runs, the Serbs rounded up Western journalists in Kosovo and Belgrade and expelled them. Reports coming from Belgrade are subject to review by government authorities and must be filed through Serb television facilities. The channel will repeat four shows that air earlier in the day on the broadcast network's daytime schedule, including All My Children and General Hospital. ABC's decision is aimed at recapturing working women who no longer watch daytime soaps but might be more likely to do so in prime time. The decision follows a test in three cable markets last year.