We'll note that NBC had no problem taking Sony's money when it came to the exclusive sponsorship of NBC's 24/7 HDTV Olympics coverage. Nor did we see CBS have a problem with pro-Bush pre-game during their Super Bowl coverage (while they banned MoveOn from the festivities). With viewership leaving by the busload, they can hardly afford to say no to ANY business...
When Might Turns Right
Golly GE, why Big Media is pro-Bush
L.A. Weekly has learned that CBS, NBC and ABC all refused Fahrenheit 9/11 DVD advertising during any of the networks' news programming. Executives at Sony Pictures, the distributor of the movie for the home-entertainment market, were stunned. And even more shocked when the three networks explained why.
"They said explicitly they were reluctant because of the closeness of the release to the election. All three networks said no," one Sony insider explains. "It was certainly a judgment that Sony disagrees with and is in the process of protesting."
And protest Sony did. (Michael Lynton, the onetime Pearson publishing executive who is now chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, has privately told people he hasn’t seen anything like this since his Penguin Group published Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses.) What especially galled the Sony suits was this: The networks had no problem having the DVD ads appear on their entertainment shows so long as the guidelines for R-rated content like Fahrenheit 9/11 were followed. However, Sony executives told L.A. Weekly they wanted only to market the movie's DVD on CBS's, NBC's and ABC's news shows. "But all three networks said no to straight news," one Sony exec explained. "Then, suddenly, the networks were extending the definition of news programming to include the news magazines and the morning news shows and restricting access to those as well. That becomes very problematic to any advertiser trying to reach an adult audience."
Finally, this week, Sony's protests started having an effect. "We're now getting movement," a Sony suit told L.A. Weekly Monday night. Sony corporate senior vice president Susan Tick claimed Tuesday that the initial ban on the morning news shows was lifted, and time on an NBC Dateline had been made available. But she also confirmed that the early-evening news shows are still verboten, and ABC still remains adamant that the DVD can't be advertised on its PrimeTime Live.
