LOS ANGELES — After suffering the fallout of a writers’ strike last year and a fall season in which three networks posted significant ratings declines, network programmers have turned their attention to changes that can be made quickly.
The issues are most acute at ABC and NBC. In the audience category both those networks use as their chief barometer of success, viewers from the ages of 18 to 49, each network is down 12 percent from last year. The Fox Broadcasting network is off even more at 14 percent, but it has introduced its usual winter schedule of strong programs, led by “American Idol,” and should steam ahead into the lead in that age group within a few weeks.
CBS, the one network that actually gained overall audience this season, is off only 3 percent among those young adult viewers and has the fewest programming holes to fill.
But worries about the network business are pervasive, especially because of the downturn in the economy. CBS executives have lamented privately that the network has not been able to take full advantage of its strong fall and that the advertising market has stalled. That has led to fears about what might happen this spring when advertisers make their commitments to new fall television shows.