• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 10, 2006

Another important source of objective TV advertising marketplace data is going dark. The Broadcast Cable Financial Management Association (BCFM), Thursday said it was putting its quarterly Network Revenue Report on "hiatus" until "a better benchmarking tool can be developed." The fourth quarter and full-year 2005 report will not be released.

Until about two years ago, the BCFM used to report a monthly compilation of cable network ad sales revenues, which also went on hiatus when then Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau President Joe Ostrow asked the BCFM to suspend the report until a better method could be developed. That report has not been revived, but the BCFM said it already has begun work on "enhancements" designed to make the broadcast network revenue reports "more valuable."

"A lot has changed in the industry since the report was first published about 20 years ago, a time when the three networks it tracks represented the vast majority of television network advertising revenues," stated Mary Collins, president-CEO of BCFM and its Broadcast Cable Credit Association Subsidiary. "We decided it would be better to temporarily suspend the report in its current form until we can make the changes that will restore its value as a benchmarking tool for television advertising rather than to continue providing a report that does not provide the full picture of today's television advertising marketplace."

One of the problems with the network revenue report is it only reflected self-reported data from the Big 3 networks - ABC, CBS and NBC - and never factored in Fox, The WB, UPN, or Pax. The BCFM said the Big 3 networks have been "receptive" in working on improvements in the reports, but did not indicate whether other networks would participate in the future.