A NEW TV GUISE NETWORKS GO OUTSIDE THE BOX TO PROMOTE FALL SCHEDULES.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Passengers on American Airline flights are seeing a CBS Fall Preview program hosted by Mary Hart this month. Visitors to Disney's California Adventure theme park mingled with such ABC stars as Dennis Franz and Dylan McDermott in August. Baskin-Robbins customers are getting scoops about NBC's fall lineup along with their ice cream.

Welcome to the fall marketing campaigns for the major broadcast networks where corporate synergy, product tie-ins and Internet campaigns are being used like never before in an all-out effort to grab viewers. Networks will spend as much as $3 million on a promotional campaign for a single new show, according to Advertising Age magazine.

``Promotions have to be so much more aggressive and specific,'' said Robert Thompson, founding director for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. ``I think the key now is to absolutely pummel, get people to make something an appointment show.''

Back in the days when it was just NBC, CBS and ABC vying for the attention of a captive television audience, fall promotional campaigns were elaborate, splashy affairs touting new and returning shows with catchy slogans like ``Be There!'' and ``Still The One!''

``They were like Coke commercials, where there was not much choice,'' Thompson said. ``Now the promos are more a matter of: Please sample at least one of our programs while you are surfing through your 400 channels on digital cable.''

The audience pie is being cut into increasingly thinner and thinner slices due to the additional number of broadcast networks - Fox, WB and UPN - and the growing gamut of cable channels.

The challenge for the six broadcast networks is to convince advertisers the record $8.1 billion committed to them in the advertising up-fronts this summer is money well spent amid growing competition from cable.

``There's so much more competition, not just among the six networks but there's cable, home video, music, playing with computers,'' said George Schweitzer, executive vice president of marketing at CBS. ``Our battle is for a share of leisure time. Everyone is pounding for attention.''

The audience fragmentation was illustrated this week when the fourth- season premiere of HBO's ``The Sopranos'' beat all broadcast competitors Sunday night. This was accomplished despite the fact that HBO is a pay channel available in only about 31 million homes, compared with the approximately 100 million homes that the broadcast networks reach.

The mob drama had its highest ratings ever with 13.4 million viewers tuning in and is one of several HBO series - including ``Sex in the City'' and ``Six Feet Under'' - that are currently enjoying immense popularity with viewers and widespread critical acclaim. The competition from regular cable programming has also become increasingly fierce with reality shows such as MTV's ``The Osbournes'' striking a chord with the public.

Thompson singles out the eye-catching promos for Fox's new one-hour drama ``Fastlane'' as an example of what networks should do to capture the attention of viewers.

``It looked like a (Quentin) Tarantino movie,'' he said. ``That's exactly the kind of promotion networks need because first you have to get people there, then get them to stay there.''

With help from the summer ratings bonanza ``American Idol,'' Fox had the advantage of promoting its new shows, which also include ``John Doe'' and ``Cedric the Entertainer Presents,'' to the biggest audience on the nights that the show aired.

Last week, NBC devoted a half-hour of prime time to a special promoting its fall lineup of new series, including the dramas ``Boomtown'' and ``American Dreams'' and new sitcoms ``Good Morning, Miami,'' ``In-Laws'' and ``Meet My Folks.'' The network has a partnership with Baskin-Robbins to generate exposure for the network which, unlike the other broadcast networks, is not a part of a larger media conglomerate.

ABC, owned by The Walt Disney Co., has used its corporate synergy in some creative ways including a two-day event last month at Disney's California Adventure theme park in Anaheim.

ABC Primetime Preview Weekend featured Drew Carey, ``NYPD Blue'' stars Franz and Mark-Paul Gosselar, and others. Cast members from the network's new fall shows, including John Ritter and Katey Sagal of ``8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter'' and Bonnie Hunt of ``Life With Bonnie,'' were also on hand.

The network had some promising initial success this week with the bows of three of its most high-profile new series, ``8 Simple Rules...,'' ``Life With Bonnie'' and ``Push, Nevada,'' which won their time slots. The shows, however, were up against mostly reruns and two of them did not air in their regular, more-competitive time slots.

CBS's fall marketing campaign is also being powered by the media resources of its corporate parent, Viacom Inc., with its new shows being advertised on Paramount Home Video releases and such Viacom cable channels as MTV, Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite, TNN, TV Land, VH1, BET and CMT.

Said CBS's Schweitzer: ``It changes every year because there is just more and more out there and we have to push ourselves creatively to find ways to break through, ways to make an impact.''

Among the new ideas this year is a promotion at Blockbuster video stores that features the distribution of CBS fall preview DVDs with a glimpse of such new shows as ``CSI: Miami,'' ``Presidio Med,'' ``Without A Trace'' and ``Hack.''

``It's something where we think we are reaching an entertainment-savvy consumer who comes to Blockbuster every day,'' Sweitzer said. ``It's a great place for us to distribute these DVDs.''

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(1 -- color) The broadcast networks must contend with popular cable fare, such as the HBO series ``The Sopranos,'' which beat all six networks in the ratings Sunday with its third-season premiere despite reaching one-third as many homes.

(2 -- color) ABC scored with ``Push, Nevada,'' featuring Derek Cecil and Eric Alan Kramer, but the show has yet to face serious competition.

(3) CBS is promoting new series like the medical drama ``Presidio Med'' with a preview DVD available at Blockbuster.