Source: Globe and Mail

The TV racket is a murky one. Lies, half-truths and exaggerations are standard. Nothing is what it seems. Viewer skepticism is advised.

Herewith, some events and manoeuvres explained.

Late last week Canadian Press reported: "The CBC plans to expand several supper-hour local TV newscasts across the country - even as it faces a $7-million budget cut and the loss of 70 staff."

Apparently, there was an internal CBC announcement that in local markets across the country the suppertime news program would move forward to 5 p.m., and suddenly grow to 90 minutes from the current hour-long length. This raised eyebrows. How and why was CBC expanding news coverage when it is currently cutting staff and budgets?

The truth is in the details, people. What's happening is this - local news is being parked at an earlier hour so that Coronation Street can air at 6:30 p.m., and then, in the 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. hour, Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune will run.

The point is to get as much juice as possible from those American game shows (they cost a lot of money to buy) and use them to keep viewers watching CBC-TV until prime-time shows kick in at 8 p.m. It's not about the news. It's about scheduling. Those game shows get lots of viewers. If most stick around to watch CBC dramas and comedies at 8 p.m., then the ratings go up, up, up. CBC is not doing you a favour by offering 90 minutes of local news starting at 5 p.m. - it's doing itself a favour by getting the boring news stuff out of the way earlier. You're welcome.

NBC's decision to schedule a Jay Leno-hosted talk show five nights a week at 10 p.m. caused some consternation in the network TV racket and with the public. The decision eliminates the traditional 10 p.m. drama on NBC - it has aired such shows ER and Medium - and leaves the drama field open to CBS and ABC.

There's been a widespread assumption that NBC's move is just about economics. It's cheaper to produce a talk show than a drama. True, but that's not the real reason. See, 10 p.m. is beddy-bye time in Los Angeles. Anyone who's ever been there and had any dealings with the TV racket knows that in L.A., the parties start at 6 p.m. and end at 9 p.m. A working day on a TV series can start at 6 a.m. And there's the matter of staying in sync with the East Coast time zone. From inside the L.A. bubble, a serious TV drama at 10 p.m. is a waste. People will watch Jay Leno's monologue in bed at 10 p.m. and doze off. Makes sense if you're an L.A.-based network exec. Okay, that's just a theory. But you're welcome.

It's also assumed that, in general, network TV is bleeding viewers and cutting back on production because the racket is bleeding money. Not true. Take NBC's Heroes, a series that has fallen down the ratings chart. In its first season it was huge hit. Recently it was 59th in the Top 100 shows. Still it's on the air and, obviously, costing a lot of money to make.

Why is it still in production? Because it charges one of the highest ad rates in prime time. In fact, according to a recent report in Forbes magazine, it brings in around $4.5-million (U.S.) per episode. The average cost of a 30-second ad on Heroes is $194,000. That's not far off the $251,000 it costs to get a 30-second ad on Desperate Housewives, a much hotter, higher-rated show. The reason is this - Heroes draws younger male viewers and those viewers spend a lot of time online delving deeper and deeper into their obsession.

Thus, the reason the show is still on the air is simple enough. Heroes might be losing viewers, but there's lot of money to be made from geeks. You're welcome.

© Globe and Mail