• Mediaweek, Monday, March 9, 2009 9:45 AM

There is little disagreement among ad buyers that they have a lot of leverage heading into this year's upfront television marketplace. They plan to seek price rollbacks, significantly greater flexibility on terms, and more options to pull out of or reduce spending commitments made in the upfront.

CBS says its price may be up and possibly its will sell less inventory this year. Other network sellers say it's anyone's guess how pricing will shape up and warn buyers about coming to the table with unrealistic expectations. Cable TV could come out a winner in the potential standoff. "Advertisers are getting pushed hard. If the broadcasters try to squeeze back too hard, a lot of business will come to us," says a cable sales chief.

Conversations about the upfront have begun with networks and vendors, and "flexibility is very top of mind," says Bob Bernstein, MC Media managing director, and former Draftfcb executive. Draftfcb clients spend about $1 billion on ads and the agency is positioning those dollars as "stable." The question is what sorts of concessions will networks grant for a share of those dollars, he says.

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