Broadcasting increased $18 million to $268 million due to higher affiliate and royalty revenue and lower programming and production costs, partially offset by lower Network advertising revenues. Advertising revenues at the Network decreased modestly as lower ratings were partially offset by higher rates”
TRANSLATION: Disney is still making money, but they are doing it literally on the backs of their affiliates and slashed production budgets. The fact that ratings and "modest" decreases in ad revenue are mentioned at all, suggests to me, the loss of ad revenue is worse than Disney wants to talk about. Bear in mind, this is the quarter that would encompass a great deal of political advertising, and the fact that ABC ad-revenue is not being buoyed by that is significant.
I remain convinced financial pressure on ABC affiliates is immense, and when the political ad revenue dries up, the affiliates are going to be even more vulnerable as a result of the increased fees they are paying to Disney and the decreased ad revenue Disney's poor decision-making has brought them. Disney has put its affiliates in a very tough situation that will likely get even worse after November.
Here's the press release with the trademark Disney spin on their earnings: https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/sites/default/files/reports/q3-fy12-earnings.pdf
Hot Topic
TWIT-FIL-A: IS MISSY REEVES HOMOPHOBIC OR JUST OPINIONATED?
On the heels of Greek track athlete Voula Papachristou being booted from the London 2012 Summer Games roster after she posted a tasteless tweet about Africans and the West Nile Virus, sparking an uproar on social media and dashing her Olympic dreams and years of training and preparation, Salem’s Eternal Girl Next Door Melissa Reeves also came under fire for recent comments on Twitter.
Last week Reeves tweeted, “Chick-Fil-A today!!!! Loved every bite of it;)!! Land of the free and home of the brave. Love that we all appreciate free speech, right?”
Immediately, fans bombarded the actress by reminding her that the heated and polarizing Chick-Fil-A controversy is not that company president Dan Cathy shouldn’t be able to state his opposition to marriage equality, but that the company is funding antigay organizations that have been designated “hate groups.”
DAYTIME CONFIDENTIAL’s editorial director Jamey Giddens responded to Reeves in a blog post by writing, “I guess Reeves sees absolutely nothing wrong with the chain working so hard to deny 10 percent of the population their civil rights.”
Here’s a lesson on freedom of speech, Missy: I may not like apples, and may voice that opinion openly, but I certainly don’t go around advocating for the fruit to be disenfranchised from the rest of the food chain, either.
Poor, Frances Reid! Reeves’s former, late, great co-star and mentor, is probably rolling in her grave. Reid was an advocate of gay rights… even helping to fund several gay documentaries including THE CELLULOID CLOSET.
But what makes Reeves’s tactless tweet even more contentious is the fact that DAYS just won two Daytime Emmy Awards for its critically acclaimed gay storyline involving Chandler Massey’s Will Horton, Jennifer’s nephew.
Clearly, Reeves has forgotten that thousands of gay fans are tuning into DAYS because of Will and Sonny’s gay journeys.
Word of Reeves’s passive-aggressive hate tweet spread like wildfire amongst the former and current cast. “Well, in her defense, Missy was never that smart,” a former DAYS star emailed me.
A gay star on another soap opined, “She sure can forget ever being nominated for an Emmy again. And Scott can, too. This industry is small and we have long memories.”
In response, Scott tweeted he was going to pray for each and every person who attacked his wife.
“And we’ll pray for their marriage,” scoffed the gay actor.
Meanwhile, and on a more serious note, one of Reeves’s current co-stars sighed to me on the phone last week that “it’s going to be awkward on set, that’s for sure—especially given that all of our bosses [with the exception of Ken Corday] are gay [and a lot of our crew].”
She continued, “It’s an unfortunate situation—and sheds some negative press on our show. We’re just trying to survive, especially after being off the air for two weeks during [the Olympics]. She’s on the wrong side of history.”
Given the recent epidemic of gay teen suicides sweeping America, Reeves’s statement certainly doesn’t help the cause — especially when you factor how many young homosexuals watch DAYS and probably look up to her.
“She’d have been better served had she promoted DAYS on Twitter, which she never does, by the way; and left the politics alone. She’s no Nancy Lee [Grahn],” says another co-star, “Why she’s defending a restaurant chain I wouldn’t let my dogs eat at is insane!”
Moreover, it’s hypocritical that the religious star supports an organization opposed to gay marriage considering Reeves was embroiled in a real-life scandal almost two decades ago when she was allegedly caught having sex with her co-star Jason Brooks in her dressing room by her husband, Scott Reeves.
Furious, Reeves forced his wife to quit the series so she wouldn’t share anymore intimate scenes with Brooks or be tempted to cheat again. When she abruptly left the role, Sony/NBC sued Reeves for breach of contract and promptly recast the role with Stephanie Cameron.
In 2000, Reeves returned to the series to the shock of the cast and the press.
While the daytime community has been relatively quiet on the scandal publicly, a few have spoken up, including Y&R Emmy winner Greg Rikaart.
He diplomatically tweeted, “Melissa Reeves, it’s disappointing that you’ve aligned yourself with a company that supports hatred & bigotry. This is not an issue of free speech.”
Meanwhile, Scott’s co-stars Nancy Lee Grahn and Brandon Barash also made their voices heard.
Grahn wrote, “I say this lovingly. But Its not bout speech but funding hate groups.”
Barash, who is Scott’s PORT CHUCK band mate, was a little more passionate in his tweet: “Thx Chik Fil A. Seriously. Your abject bigotry and ignorance has prolonged the elasticity of my arteries.”
Scott’s head writer Ron Carlivati, who is an out gay man, also weighed in, tweeting, “I'm all for free speech, but how about some equal rights too while we're at it?”
It appears it may not be happiness to see Scott on the GH set, too.
Former ONE LIFE star and longtime gay rights advocate Ilene Kristen would only say to me on the record, “I will simply not be eating at [Chick-Fil-A] any time soon!”
If she values her health, that’s a pretty good idea.
While I think Reeves knew exactly what she was doing (and she still hasn’t taken down the tweet as of press time), I don’t feel she should be let go from DAYS, as some fans have suggested.
I firmly believe an actor’s real life shouldn’t impact their reel life… only story should. But considering Missy is without a love interest and story, this latest scandal may not bode well for her.
Instead, DAYS would be wise to write a storyline involving Jen defending Will’s homosexuality on air or speak up against it.
Art heals and enlightens and educates all at the same time; which is why it’s too bad DAYS films so far in advance because, if the soap were advantageous, it would immediately integrate this hot topic into its narrative like Agnes Nixon would have.
Hey, instead of Chick-Fil-A, DAYS could welcome Burger Delight to Salem and really garner a lot of publicity with this timely tale and take their gay storyline to the next level: the zeitgeist.
Frances Reid would be proud.
Cable 411
SCANDAL IN THE AFTERNOON
One network’s colossal loss is another cable network’s treasure. Investigation Discovery is wisely launching a new line of daytime programming using — get this – soap stars!
Dubbed "Days of Our Knives", the cabler's new line-up will feature scandalous offerings hosted by classic soapers Susan Lucci, Kim Zimmer, Robert Newman, Drake Hogestyn, Lynn Herring, Jackie Zeman, Kin Shriner, Judi Evans, Terri and Austin Pec
k, Laurence Lau, Alicia Minshew, and Matthew Ashford, among others.
"After the cancellation of AMC and ONE LIFE we saw an opening in the marketplace for some of our most popular series," marvelled ID president and general manager Henry Schleiff. "Our tagline at ID is 'Your Guilty Pleasure' and that's a perfect fit for soap viewers, too. Our show titles even sound like they come from soaps — Happily Never After, Dates From Hell, Deadly Women, Wicked Attraction, Who the Bleep Did I Marry?"
ID’s new soap-themed block will also promote the upcoming series DEADLY AFFAIRS, hosted by Emmy winner Susan Lucci, the biggest soap star of them all. The series premieres Sept. 8 at 10/9c.
Idiot Ratings Report
KARMA’S A BITCH: NIELSEN SUED!
Well, it’s about time. A leading 24-hour Indian TV network, NDTV, has sued the Nielsen Company, accusing its Indian joint venture of providing “false, fabricated and manipulated data” on TV ratings for almost a decade.
For most soap fans, this isn’t a shocker.
New Delhi Television claims the manipulated data cost it nearly a billion dollars in advertising revenue, and the suit is seeking several billion dollars in damages.
The company filed the suit