NBC's Burbank studio goes digital as Bravo, Telemundo move over. (Up Front).

Major changes are underway at NBC's longtime Burbank studios as the broadcaster prepares to lay out the welcome mat for Spanish-language sister stations KVEA-TV (Channel 52) and KWHY-TV (Channel 22) in the coming weeks and the Bravo cable network moves onto the lot later this spring.

The latest multi-million dollar renovation at the studio made famous by Johnny Carson and Jay Leno is an attempt by NBC and its parent, General Electric Co., to integrate its newest acquisitions with the local NBC mothership -- a prelude to closer cooperation between the company's various media assets.

Besides making room for more than 225 Telemundo employees from facilities in Glendale and an unknown number from Bravo, NBC's local broadcasting operation is investing millions of dollars in a digital upgrade, said Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC-TV (Channel 4).

Although KNBC is one of the nation's highest grossing local television stations -- with well over $200 million in annual ad sales -- it is the only one of NBC's three local stations that hasn't been broadcasting a digital signal.

"Every office, every department at KNBC is under construction, and everything has been moved, shifted or slightly relocated," Madison said. "There have been major expenditures and major cost outlay to make this a fully digital operation."

Last November, NBC purchased Bravo, a Jericho, N.Y.-based cable channel that is aimed at an upscale audience, from Cablevision Systems Corp. and minority partner Metro-Goldwn-MaYER Inc. for $1.25 billion in cash and stock. NBC acquired Telemundo in a $2 billion cash and stock deal in October 2001.

NBC has not formally announced that the cable station is relocating to Burbank, but company officials confirmed such a move was being planned for this spring. It was unclear if the division's headquarters would be relocated.

Officials said a large space on the lot known as Studio 9 has been tabbed as the new home for Bravo employees in Burbank. "A decision hasn't been made on how many Bravo folks are coming out, but for at least part of the operation, it makes sense to move them out here," said Rebecca Marks, an NBC spokeswoman.

Sisters in news

The changes in the KNBC newsroom -- which is being reconfigured to accommodate all three local stations -- offer a concrete example of how NBC hopes to increase its efficiency and its newsgathering capabilities.

All three local news operations will be grouped in a single space that is an expanded version of the former KNBC newsroom. KVEA and KWHY will share a news director and the three news teams will share a bilingual assignment desk. Anchors from one station will not appear on another's broadcasts, but the three stations will share video footage that can be tailored to a specific channel by adding voice-overs.

The rebuilt newsroom will also include a three-pronged mini-studio that will enable reporters on all three stations to go live simultaneously in the event of breaking news, and it will allow the network to transmit and download signals from a single locale.

Manuel Abud, vice president and general manager of Telemundo Los Angeles who will occupy a suite next door to Madison's, said the move would take place in several phases beginning next month. "There has been a tremendous amount of planning to make sure that the transition is as smooth as possible' he said.

The first live test will come on March 2, when KNBC and KVEA co-produce the Los Angeles Marathon. Using a single feed, the stations will air the race in English and Spanish. "What we're doing here has never been done," Madison said of the company's English-Spanish duopoly. "The marathon will serve as a model for what we'd like to do in the future."

The network's three local television stations are one more than Federal Communication Commission ownership limits allow. When it completed its acquisition of Telemundo, NBC obtained a waiver to keep KWHY for a year, but that waiver expires in April and the FCC could require the network to sell the station.

To adhere to FCC requirements that require some separation of the businesses, the Channel 22 sales team will remain in Glendale apart from the station's news operation and the KNBC and KVEA sales teams.

Union Issues

There could be other challenges on the labor front. The American Federation of Radio & Television Artists has been at odds with NBC over what it says is unequal working conditions between Spanish-and English language newsroom employees.

AFTRA, which represents the on-air employees at KNBC, has been pushing to give on-air employees at KVEA and KWHY the same rules, wages and benefits. But AETRA wants NBC to allow employees to vote on union representation through a process of signing union cards rather than going through a formal election. Furthermore, AFTRA is asking NBC to remain neutral on the issue of organizing.

NBC insists that AETRA must win an election sanctioned by the National Labor Relations Board in order to organize Telemundo stations, and it is reserving the right to comment on the organization drive as it sees fit.

Leslie Simon, director of AFTRA's Spanish-language media project, said NBC is allowing a double-standard to exist between English and Spanish broadcasters, and that the union likely would step up its protest campaign when the Telemundo stations moved to Burbank.

"Once the Telemundo stations move on to the NBC lot and they are working side by side with the KNBC employees, the issue becomes more crystallized," Simon said.

In Chicago, a jointly housed NBC-Telemundo duopoly has been the target of picketing and an AFTRA public relations campaign.

Madison denied that NBC was interfering with organization efforts, but she said it was NBC's position that AFTRA must follow regular procedures.

"AFTRA is creating contention because they want us to suspend the practices that we and other broadcast operations have followed," Madison said. "We would love AFTRA to assist us by having a vote. We want to bring an end to this controversy."

RELATED ARTICLE: Triopoly at Risk

DESPITE a looming Federal Communications Commission deadline to sell KWHY-1V (Channel 22) and come into compliance with local television ownership limits, NBC is making no plans to divest the Spanish-language station.

"We're proceeding as though we will continue to own it," said Paula Madison, president and general manager of KNBC-TV (Channel 4), and regional general manager of the local NBC-Telemundo triopoly (which includes KVEA-TV, Channel 52). "With more than 500 satellite channels, cable television, the Internet and a variety of daily and weekly publications...the amount of voice we have with these three stations is very reasonable."

By acquiring Telemundo last year, NBC had ownership of three television stations in the Los Angeles market, one more than current rules allow. A one-year FCC waiver intended to give the company ample time to sell KWHY expires April 10.

NBC is betting the FCC will not require it to sell KWHY while the commission is in the process of reviewing television and radio ownership rules. The FCC is studying whether loosening those rules would have an impact on media diversity. A decision on possible changes is expected before summer, according to FCC spokeswoman Michelle Russo, but that could be too late for NBC.

"The commission said that they must file an application to divest the third station and we expect them to comply with that order appropriately and at the deadline," Russo said.

Come April 10, NBC can ask the FCC to extend its waiver until the ownership issue is clarified or request to put the station into a trust, where NBC would own the station but not manage it.

But the strategy could backfire. When the FCC granted its approval for the waiver last year, the commission said it expected "NBC to use its best efforts to promptly achieve compliance with our multiple ownership rules." Commissioner Michael Copps went further, saying "I can not support this level of concentration by a single owner absent compelling public interest circumstances."

One such circumstance would be that no other viable owner had come forward. But that's unlikely with KWHY, which is expected to attract many suitors should NBC put it on the block.

Manuel Abud, vice president and general manager of Telemundo Los Angeles, said the situation NBC was presenting to the FCC was unusual. "In terms of audience, the Spanish-language market is totally different than the English-language market. You can't group them together," Abud said.

Similar stalemates are playing in various television and radio markets. Locally, Infinity Broadcasting Corp., which owns seven local radio stations, one more than FCC rules allow, has petitioned the FCC to put one of its stations, KFWB-AM (980) in trust, rather than sell. That petition is pending.

Darrell Satzman