• by Amy , April 22, 2005

The first deals of the 2005-06 TV upfront advertising marketplace are getting under way and it appears that cable networks are in fact moving before broadcast, media buyers tell MediaDailyNews. Turner entertainment networks TBS and TNT, Discovery Networks and Lifetime television are all actively selling upfront ad time, according to buyers at agencies who asked not to be identified.

"It's not exactly cold pizza time, but business is getting done," said the executive at a top cable network, alluding to the frenetic point in upfront markets when buyers and sellers negotiate into the wee hours. "It's not like the starter's gun has gone off, but we're doing business."

Buyers claim the deals are getting done early - weeks before the major broadcast networks even unveil their new prime-time schedules - because the cable networks are cutting reasonable deals, and because they expect much more of their ad budgets to shift to cable from broadcast. At least half a billion dollars is expected to shift to cable from broadcast during this year's upfront.

Sales executives, however, say the fact that buyers are looking to quietly place ad budgets before the market gets fully underway is an indication that there may be higher upfront ad budgets and greater demand than Madison Avenue has been indicating. To date, buyers have been posturing that the broadcast network upfront would be essentially flat, with modest CPM increases.