• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, March 9, 2010

TV has always had a shelf-space issue -- that is, until the Internet arrived. Nowadays, video seems to have the opposite problem, a shelf-unlimited-space issue.

In this world -- unless you have an Oscars or a Super Bowl broadcast -- grabbing big masses of TV viewers with one big hit is difficult.

Still, TV networks and programmers do what they can these days to make sure everyone will see their programming wares. NBC did this by showing more of the past two Olympics on its various networks -- NBC, Telemundo, MSNBC, CNBC, USA Network, etc. -- than it had in the past.

Now Discovery is looking to cover the landscape with its new nature series "Life," simultaneously showing the first episode on seven networks on Sunday, March 21.

Turner Broadcasting did something similar in November, launching "Lopez Tonight" by simulcasting it on TBS and sister networks TNT and truTV. The show grabbed a decent 3.2 million viewers for its collective efforts in its debut.

Of course, TV marketers have been using "road-blocking" efforts for years when it came to their TV commercial messaging, running the same ad at the same time across big TV networks or stations. This was before the TV universe grew into hundreds of channels.

That said, Sony Pictures Entertainment took a page out of the old media-buying textbook to start up "2012" last Oct. 1, running a trailer/commercial on three broadcast networks and 89 cable networks between 10:50 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Current TV-programming and media-buying thinking is that you can't be everything to everyone. That means: Choose and target your viewer carefully for your product. Because entertainment options are vast, no one wants to waste money on viewers who might not be interested.

But the Discovery and Turner examples offer a new approach -- since those more established cable network groups now cater to a somewhat broader, more homogeneous group of viewers.

Cable networks and others will continue to do this. That's because many cable networks aren't registering the same quick and easy viewer gains they have in the past. Increasingly, cable channels are undergoing what the broadcast networks have been going through for decades: viewer erosion.

Increasingly, digital video options are pushing media companies to rally around their own platforms -- using whatever is left of their marketing clout.