U.S. TV season could see weaker CBS - study

By Paul Thomasch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The upcoming U.S. television season will likely see the NBC network rebound from last place in audience ratings at the expense of rival CBS, which could suffer double-digit declines in viewers, according to an industry report.

The "Primetime Network Television" report by Santa Monica, California-based advertising and media buying agency RPA comes just ahead of the official September start of the 2007-08 broadcast season, a period that will go a long way to determining how future TV advertising dollars are spent.

The report said 2006-07 "was a bad season pretty much across the board" with declines in audience ratings and few breakout hits, as competition for viewers intensified from media like video games, iPods and the Internet.

For the upcoming season, the major U.S. networks pre-sold about $9 billion worth of advertising deals for prime-time programs.

Ratings for total viewers should see CBS remain at the top, though by a reduced margin, followed by Fox, ABC, and NBC, according to RPA.

In the category of viewers aged 18-to-49 years old, the group most prized by advertisers, Fox should finish first followed by ABC, NBC and, in last place, CBS, the report predicted.

CBS will introduce just five new programs, making few changes to a lineup that attracted the most overall viewers last season.

The report said that "an unbiased observer could reasonably conclude the facade of stability can no longer hide the network's long-term audience erosion."