• by Paul Gough , June 3, 2004

The broadcast network upfront began in earnest Wednesday, agency and network executives tell MediaDailyNews. While it's unclear how briskly the market is moving, exactly how much money is at play, or when it would wrap up, but it's definitely a more full-blown marketplace than the kind of sporadic studio and automaker deals that have already been struck.

Executives said Thursday that most of the major networks -- save one -- have been in the marketplace with a faster pace of deals, although at least one network executive disputed that. And knowledgeable sources said NBC was, inexplicably, not as far into the marketplace as it normally is.

The 2004-05 upfront has already charted a different course than the past two, when advertisers bought network TV time at a brisk clip on a pace for a $9.3 billion upfront haul for the past season. Weary of double-digit CPM increases, advertisers and agencies served notice to the broadcast networks that they wouldn't go for another year of record increases. Between $500 million and $1 billion in broadcast network ad spend could be shifted to cable networks this year, some buyers and cable executives have suggested. Broadcast network executives have balked at a shift of that magnitude, though most if not all acknowledge that there has been a consistent advertiser outcry.

Billions have already been poured into the cable networks for the 2004-2005 TV season, as the cable networks took advantage of the broadcast networks' upfront-presentation week to start deal-making. It took several weeks for the broadcast networks to begin major deal-making with agencies, although several initial deals have been done at least by Fox and CBS.