• Mediaweek, Tuesday, September 23, 2008 9:15 AM

For years, ABC, NBC and CBS insisted that network integration fees were necessary to cover the cost of inserting ads into programming. Now those networks have agreed to phase them out.

Talks between media agencies and the networks to ditch the fees began over the summer. The deals were wrapped up two weeks ago. So far, GroupM has made the most progress, negotiating with the three nets to eliminate fees for clients at all four of its media shops-MindShare, Mediaedge:cia, MediaCom and Maxus.
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MediaVest cut deals to eliminate ABC's fees for a majority of its clients, but is still negotiating with CBS and NBC. "We decided that this was the year we wanted to push the issue," says Donna Speciale, MediaVest executive.

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