MIDLIFE CRISIS FOR NETWORKS; AUDIENCES KEEP SHRINKING FOR ABC, CBS AND NBC.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Daily News Staff Writer

They're 49 years old, and they're desperately trying to appear young and hip.

But there are few things more pitiful than a paunchy, middle-aged broadcast network trying to look like MTV.

As the ABC, CBS and NBC television networks mark their 50th birthdays next fall, the celebrations will be tempered by the fact that they have been losing viewers in big numbers - to cable networks, to movie theaters, to personal computers, to hectic lifestyles - and with rising costs, even network economics is growing shaky.

Like many people dealing with midlife crises, the networks are trying to figure out what to do next - and this was even before Jerry Seinfeld announced he is quitting at the end of this season.

And that isn't the only problem. Look at the latest sweeps. The ever-popular NBC took the biggest hit, a plunge of 9.7 percent from the November before. In the 1996-97 season, it averaged 15.2 million viewers in any given hour, off from 17 million in 1995-96. How many companies would stay in business with an economic forecast of ever-declining shares?

In fact, the six broadcast networks (the Big Three plus UPN, the WB and Fox) together averaged a 44.2 rating in November, 1-1/2 points off from 1996 and just slightly higher than TV western ``Gunsmoke'' delivered by itself in 1957.

Falling reputations

In a word-association game, mention of third-ranked ABC prompted one media expert to reply ``still trying to find their way,'' while another blurted out ``confusion.'' CBS executives probably would wince at hearing their network described as ``still appealing to the ancient ones.''

So how are the networks coping with middle age?

In what seems like an attempt to lower expectations, NBC spins the idea that it's a niche network - much like a cable channel. And ABC offers up black-and-yellow billboards and promos proclaiming ``TV is good'' and ``We love TV.'' Spin city, indeed. Meanwhile, CBS talks about itself in the terms of being a traditional network - something for everybody - but with huge losses expected to be announced for 1997, they may being rethinking their strategy.

Now, even profitable NBC, who has been tops in the ratings since 1995, is facing some tough decisions. The biggest, of course, is what to do about the departure of ``Seinfeld,'' the No. 2-rated show on the air and anchor of NBC's ``Must See TV'' package. To show how desperate the Peacock was to keep ``Seinfeld,'' reports say it offered $5 million an episode to the star alone.

Meanwhile, ``ER'' is up for grabs. On the open market after four consecutive seasons at No. 1, ``ER'' is seen as the white knight that could save whichever broadcaster wins the bidding should NBC fail to meet the asking price. It's rumored to be in the $10 million-per-episode range, nearly double that of current record holder ``Seinfeld'' at a reported $5.5 million a pop. If NBC can't pony up, the combined loss of ``ER'' and ``Seinfeld'' could turn Thursday's ``Must See TV'' into ``Please See TV.''

Add to this the fact that the cost of programming is skyrocketing, and the NBA and the NFL have contracts coming up and are seeking more money.

Channel surfers

Another point of concern: Teens and children have been defecting en masse to cable - music video channels, Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network, for example. The fact that they are not now in the habit of tuning in broadcast channels does not bode well for the future when they are in the coveted 18-to-49 demographic.

So here they are, three former all-stars who, with bum knees taped up, still lead the TV marathon but can't afford to look over their shoulders, let alone break for Gatorade.

The one sign of aging they seem to flaunt is that distinguished gray at their temples known as the network news divisions. While up-and-comers Fox, the WB and UPN hold out against launching their own news departments, ABC, CBS and NBC are leaning more heavily on theirs than ever, asking them to fill 10 out of 66 prime-time hours each week with magazine shows, in addition to their usual nightly newscasts and other programs.

``I would think (this anniversary is) a midlife opportunity,'' spins George Schweitzer, executive vice president of marketing at CBS. ``We keep reinventing ourselves. We keep listening to what the public wants, offering what they want to see.

``I think the number of years we've been around, there's been huge development in the business, so I don't think of it as midlife so much as looking back and looking ahead.''

Or circling the wagons? CBS edged out NBC in households in the November sweeps, but it trails big time in ad revenues. One recent report projects that CBS will lose $50 million to $90 million this year, while NBC will reap $450 million in profits.

Why? Because ad rates are weighted by demographics. Advertisers last year paid $23 per thousand viewers for 18- to 34-year-olds, but only $9 per thousand for the 35-plus bracket. Unfortunately for its bottom line, CBS' ``Touched by an Angel'' and other hits attract older audiences, the viewers many advertisers write off as too set in brand-loyalty ways to be persuaded by a TV commercial. So much for looking ahead.

Aiming for adolescents

Critics and the public alike have complained of cookie-cutter shows.

``What is happening, in my view, is that (the networks) lost focus in terms of what television can do - should do - in order to reach a sophisticated American citizenry,'' says Judith Marlane, chair of the Radio, TV and Film Department at California State University, Northridge. ``I think they are thrashing about in order to reach numbers with material that is genuinely juvenile.

``Broadcasters have lost confidence in the American people to see and appreciate programs of quality,'' Marlane says.

Leaders at the Big Three would argue that point, of course. Both ABC and NBC claim to be the source for witty, upscale, urban sitcoms.

Warren Littlefield, president of NBC Entertainment, suggests his network is not trying to be all things to all people, instead setting itself apart from the pack with blocks of sophisticated adult comedies.

But Steve Sternberg, senior partner at BJK&E Media in New York, says the idea of networks becoming specialized is just a lot of talk.

``They say they're going after 18- to 49-year-olds,'' Sternberg says. ``That's not a niche. That's a huge target.''

In fact, he notes, NBC balances its schedule with older-skewing shows such as ``Law & Order,'' ``Homicide: Life on the Street'' and four weekly installments of ``Dateline NBC.''

``They have a broader audience than any other network,'' he says of the Peacock. ``That's how you stay bigger.

``It's very hard to brand a network,'' Sternberg adds. ``The only network right now that really has a brand, a positive brand, is WB and to a lesser extent, Fox. You can brand cable networks very easily because many of them are niche. When you think of MTV you think music, but when you think NBC, maybe you think `Seinfeld.' That's a program, not a brand.''

He also questioned NBC's right to claim the comedy franchise. ``You have - this year - 13 two-hour comedy blocks (in network prime time). NBC has four of them, so how do brand yourself as having comedy blocks when everybody has comedy blocks?''

Numbers game

Schweitzer says CBS' mission has not changed.

``We consider ourselves a true broadcaster. We're a mass audience business,'' he says. ``We invite everyone; we're inclusive.''

Schweitzer says according to Nielsen research, most viewers watch only seven channels more than 15 minutes a month. They may flip through several dozen, but they remain creatures of habit in a comfortable rut dug by NBC, CBS and ABC.

``Network television also provides things that can't been seen elsewhere, and that's the shared experience - the Princess Diana funeral, the World Series, the Olympics, the Academy Awards - the stuff people will be talking about tomorrow morning,'' he says. ``In times of crisis or rejoicing, people come together around broadcast television.''

ABC marketing chief Alan Cohen agrees. ``We don't want to try to become as narrowly targeted as a cable network. We'd be out of business. You want to be broad, but you want to have a skew.''

ABC's answer was to skip the traditional slogan concept for its fall campaign and instead adopt ``an attitude,'' Cohen says. The attitude was behind its irreverent black-and-yellow billboards and promos encouraging America's love affair with the tube, often without pitching a particular show.

CSUN's Marlane sees evidence of broadcasters' midlife crises in the fact that the Big Three have sprouted cable franchises: CNBC and MSNBC, CBS' Eye on People and The Nashville Network and ABC's ESPN and the Disney Channel.

``They're trying to compete with themselves,'' Marlane says.

She says the networks' greatest hindrance to bolder programming efforts is the parent companies to which they answer, conglomerates that did not set out to be broadcasters.

``There is very little innovation, very little courage,'' Marlane says. ``There is such fear that permeates the network halls. People are making so much money that they're going to take the safe and easy road in order to keep their jobs. And that safe and easy road has gotten so bloody narrow.

``I can't look at the large networks with any degree of hope in the near future,'' she adds. ``I think they're going to have to lose a lot more viewers before panic sets in - or rather good judgment sets in.''

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, 2 Photos

Drawing: (Cover--Color) makeover tv

At nearly 50, TV's big three (ABC, CBS, NBC) are going through a midlife crisis and trying to give themselves a younger, MTV look. But with declining viewership, shaky ad revenues and now ``Seinfeld'' leaving, the Nets are facing some tough decisions. Looking hipper may not be enough...

Jon Gerung/Daily News

Photo: (1) ``ER'' and its cast of doctors may leave NBC and take up residency with the highest bidder this year.

(2) The venerable oater ``Gunsmoke,'' with Marshal Matt Dillon and Miss Kitty, pulled nearly as high a percentage of viewers in 1957 as all six broadcast networks combined in 1996.