Technology and ads change, but TV lives on

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American broadcast television is here to stay, regardless of dramatic changes taking place in how, where and when viewers watch their favorite shows.

So concluded top media executives at this week's Reuters Media Summit in New York, where most predicted dramatic changes to occur in TV over the next few years, making it necessary to be more creative and flexible than ever before.

"I don't think broadcast is going away anytime soon," Anne Sweeney, the head of Walt Disney Co.'s (DIS.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) entertainment and news television properties, told the summit.

Yet Sweeney's comments came as Disney's ABC experiments with making shows available in places other than broadcast TV, including its ABC.com site, where viewers can watch hits like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Desperate Housewives."

These days, network TV shows can also be purchased and downloaded from Apple Computer Inc.'s (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) iTunes, meaning they can be watched on iPods by viewers on the move.

And when Americans do cozy up to their TV sets at home, they can zip through commercials or watch shows whenever they choose, thanks to TiVo and other digital video recorders.

Not surprisingly, TV advertising is also starting to change. Audience measurement standards are being questioned, while marketers are looking beyond the traditional 30-second commercial spot to product placements and sponsorships.

"The TV industry has changed so dramatically," said Jessica Reif Cohen, a media analyst with Merrill Lynch. "I don't doubt things will change more and there will be more fragmentation of the business model and different ways of viewing."

"But I'm a big believer in broadcast television," she said. "I don't see another entity yet able to replace that."

Charles Courtier, global chief executive of media buyer Mediaedge:cia, predicted the TV broadcast system as most people know it will still exist in a few years, but only as a part of the overall TV landscape.

"There will be a second part of television that will massively grow over the next three to five years: That's the lean forward aspect of television, the interactive nature of television," said Courtier, suggesting viewers will do everything from shopping to ordering pizza on their TVs.

"When you turn it on it will look more like the homepage of Yahoo or Google, for example, than it will TV currently," he predicted.

Given the sweeping ways TV may change, Disney's Sweeney said executives must keep up with consumer behavior.

"You have to pay attention to what your consumer is doing," she said. "The easier we make it for people to come to us, the more they will come to us."

As an example, Sweeney said ABC.com and iTunes had been "additive" to its TV audience, boosting its network ratings and helping ABC's TV season get off to its best start in 30 years.  Continued...