• Mediaweek, Thursday, December 14, 2006 11:30 AM

While Dave Poltrack, executive vice president and chief research officer for CBS Corp., has been telling Wall Street that a "more seller-friendly upfront market" will return this May, buyers--and some competitors--think he may be tad premature.

Poltrack cites strong scatter buying at above-upfront prices in fourth quarter and the looming shift from program to commercial ratings as trends that should give the nets more leverage. But to one media buyer: "CBS seems like a fish swimming upstream. This seems to be their strategy every year at this time, to prop up their position publicly. But the scatter pricing we are seeing right now is not that significantly above upfront to have any of our clients seeking to change this year's strategy."

Another media exec says clients that chose to spend less in the upfront or to sit out are not second-guessing that decision. And for one competing broadcast exec, "I hope CBS is right, but to be calling in the first week of December how the upfront will play out in May is crazy. I don't see anything in the marketplace right now to guarantee a shift of dollars back into the upfront."

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