• The Philadelphia Inquirer, Thursday, May 21, 2009 9:30 AM

Competing TV stations have been sharing resources since January as they respond to a financial train wreck that has local TV broadcasters across the country reeling. Despite the excitement of the presidential election -- or maybe because it moved viewers to cable news -- ratings for local evening news shows nationwide dropped 11.4% from November 2007 to November 2008, per Nielsen.

In Philadelphia, for instance, nearly $200 million in revenue, 25%, vanished from the TV market between 2004 and 2008, and an additional $50 million will be missing by 2012, say forecasters. "The situation is more dire than I have ever seen in my 59 years of experience," says veteran TV executive Lew Klein, who once was executive producer of "American Bandstand."

As a result, viewers are seeing a lot more direct-response commercials in programs. "The big success has been the Snuggie. You'll see more ads like that, and hanging tomato plants, and watering globes. You'll see more products like that in areas and day parts [where] you wouldn't have traditionally seen them," says media buyer Bernie Shimkus.

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