ABC Studios and NBCU have both instituted initiatives to trim production costs, reports
Variety. ABC has asked series producers to cut 2% from their budgets. At NBC, a move is underway to cut
3% or $500 million, of its 2009 company budgets. Producers have responded in kind. At the CW, production costs for "Smallville" were trimmed by several hundred thousand dollars a segment this
year.