ABC was riding high earlier this season with a win in the November sweeps among the 18-49 year-old demographic, but it has hit a rough patch. February was a difficult month for the Alphabet Network as
it faced stiff competition from CBS, with the Super Bowl, and Fox, which brought back "American Idol."
Making things worse is that ratings for former hit "Lost" have plummeted since
the show came back after a long break and in a different time slot. In addition, "Desperate Housewives" is down, and ABC has only two new hits: "Ugly Betty" and "Brothers and Sisters." Add them up,
and it finishes third in the February sweeps period, behind Fox and CBS but ahead of NBC.
"Ultimately, with some of ABC's programs starting to show their age, that's going to be an
issue with advertisers. I would be concerned about "Lost," says Bill Carroll, vice president and director of programming with Katz Television Group. John Rash, senior vice president and director of
media negotiations with Campbell Mithun, thinks ABC may have been hurt more than other networks because it put "Lost" on the shelf. "ABC's challenges are shared by every network, but Fox, because the
cultural sensation of "American Idol" is stronger than ever," he says.
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