Saying News Corp. executives are pushing for cost cuts, Fox executives said
that for the first time in the network's history, it won't be spending any money
on co-op advertising for the February sweeps.
Fox regularly spends between $10 million and $15 million on local cable,
radio and print ads during sweeps.
Fox chairman Sandy Grushow said he doesn't want to waste the money for a
sweeps period that will "likely be thrown out" by everyone because of NBC's
Winter Olympic Games.
"It will be a significant savings for all concerned," he added.
Talking to TV critics in Los Angeles, Grushow said that unlike NBC, Fox
isn't interested in selling liquor ads, but, like NBC, it is selling off its
Saturday-morning kids' block and it is, in fact, close to a deal.
Grushow wouldn't say who is buying the time, but added: "I suspect that NBC
may have some misgivings about the deal they made when they learn about
ours."
Late last year, NBC made a deal with Discovery Communications Inc. to program its Saturday-morning
lineup.
Other Fox notes include the addition of actor Dennis Hopper to new drama 24 for five episodes starting April 23.
The network also said it is producing a special America's Most Wanted episode
from the Super Bowl dealing with security measures for this year's game.
