Fewer Women Are Working in Primetime TV
The CWThe number of females working both in front of and behind the camera has decreased, according to a new study.
By Rebecca Ford
According to a new study, there were fewer female faces both in front of and behind the camera on primetime television last season.
Women made up 15% of working writers on broadcast programs during the 2010-2011 season, a decline from 29% in 2009-2010, according to a new study by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film at San Diego State University.
Women comprised 25% of all individuals working as writers, producers, creators, directors, executive producers, editors, and directors of photography on broadcast television programs during the 2010-11 prime-time season. That represents a decrease of 2% from the previous season.
The number of women directors also declined from 16% in 2009-2010 to 11% in 2010-2011.
As for on screen, women accounted for 41% of all characters, a decline of 2% from the 2007-08 season when female characters accounted for a historical high of 43% of characters. “Programs with at least one woman creator or writer featured more female characters than programs with no women creators or writers,” the study stated.
Interestingly, the CW got the highest marks being the only network with accurate proportion of females based on the U.S. population. Female characters accounted for 52% of all characters last season.
Media Earnings Wrap
Cable companies see major revenue increases
By Katie Feola
If one thing marked media holding companies’ summer earnings reports, it was the big jump in revenue from their cable networks—with a major factor behind those jumps. “It’s not subscriber growth driving the numbers. It’s more [carriage] revenue,” says Jessica Reif Cohen, a media analyst with Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, about the renegotiations over affiliate fees—the chunk of cable subscription revenue paid back to content owners. As entertainment networks ramp up spending on original productions and acquired series, the owners are covering costs by raising fees. Meanwhile, former startup networks that are now established are also commanding more money from the companies that distribute them.
News Corp. is a prime example. Its cable networks reported a 12 percent yearly uptick in operating income—$631 million—with quarterly affiliate revenue growth of 7 percent domestically and a staggering 30 percent internationally. Justifying the higher programming costs at FX and renewals of Fox News affiliate deals accounted for much of the jump. “Now that [Fox News] ratings have significantly improved... the cable operators are being asked to pay extremely significant increases,” says Tuna Amobi, a media analyst with Standard & Poor’s, about the latter.
Viacom’s networks—home to MTV’s ratings juggernaut Jersey Shore—raked in some $2.4 billion in revenues, an increase of 16 percent. “They’ve benefitted from better ratings” as well as affiliate fee rises, says Cohen. Indeed, Viacom saw worldwide affiliate revenues totaling $971 million—a 19 percent increase.
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