Re: Ratings

The answer to Nick's general question is no, there is nothing the networks can't screw up.  In this case, though, the numbers are probably on their side.  Here's how the ratings for the 2000 and 2004 Democratic conventions broke down by network on a per-night average. 

. Network 2000 2004 . NBC 6.0 M 4.7 M . ABC 6.4 M 4.4 M . CBS 4.8 M 4.7 M . Fox News 0.46 M 2.1 M . CNN 2.3 M 1.6 M . MSNBC 0.66 M 1.3 M

You'll see that there was migration to the cable networks, but overall the ratings in the aggregate were slightly down in 2004 -- from close to 21 million to 19 million.  PBS claimed a 20% increase in ratings for the week of the 2004 Democratic convention, but PBS's original programming generally doesn't rise above 3 to 4 million, so an increase over a week is not going to be huge in absolute numbers and may not have been much greater than the bump I presume they got in 2000.  I'm not sure what C-SPAN's ratings were, but I'm guessing they were slightly up in absolute terms as well, so at best, there was maybe a very slight uptick in overall viewership across all these channels.

I assume the numbers across the board will be higher this year (particularly for the Democratic convention), but when NBC's "Last Comic Standing" can draw 5 million viewers, you can see why they might take the bet that their numbers will be better with different programming.  Personally, I don't find this to be particularly lamentable -- the conventions are only occasionally interesting, and the fact that you see viewer migration to other outlets tells you that there are places to watch the conventions if you want to. (Though, of course, not everyone has access to those other channels.)

But to the extent I have complaints about how the networks conduct their coverage, I tend not to rely exclusively on arguments that if they do X thing that I like, their ratings will go up.  We forget that the major, non-cable networks were effectively granted huge public subsidies to conduct their business.  From time to time, they owe us something other than purely ratings-driven programming decisions.

Comments

[Sir Charles]

Wasn't "Last Comic Standing" the subtitle for the Republican race for the nomination?

I think your point is seriously correct --- they are using our airwaves and they owe the public something. Actually they owe us reparations . . . or payment for pain and suffering.