Toughing it out at KNBC-TV.

Station chief Reed Manville earns hard-nosed rep over cable TV, Moyer brouhahas

The messy battle over cable television retransmission consent is over, but Reed Manville, the combative president and general manager of KNBC-TV, Channel 4, relishes reliving the six-day October war between his station and cable operator, Century Communications Inc.

Manville, 40, ascended to the top rung at KNBC-TV in November 1991, after spending 11 years working at the National Broadcasting Co. He arrived in Burbank in 1985 after progressing through several staff positions at the network in New York. In 1980, he had switched careers, leaving the art world where he was the Hudson River Valley Museum's financial administrator.

The rough and tumble, and certainly more lucrative, world of television seems to suit Manville better.

During the last two tumultuous years in Los Angeles, Manville has intensified the station's news coverage, despite seeing its advertising revenues shrink in the decimated Southland economy.

Bold moves have been necessary to keep KNBC competitive, and Manville has been making them. Luring anchor man Paul Moyer from KABC-TV Channel 7 and paying him a reported $1.5 million a year caused print media critics to howl over Moyer's package.

Manville says the estimates on Moyer's contract were exaggerated and, whatever he is being paid, Moyer has been worth it. Moyer jumped to KNBC in July 1992, but has yet to lift the station ahead of Channel 7's news broadcast ratings.

While the Moyer controversy provides a glimpse of Manville's ability to withstand heat, Manville's reputation as a hard-nosed G.M. was really forged during the complex retransmission fight -- when he went up against Century Cable's Bill Rosendahl, its senior vice president.

Manville, 40, became the so-called peacock network's attack dog in Los Angeles when he tried to force Century Cable to cave in and accept its retransmission terms. The Cable Act of 1992 permitted local broadcasters such as KNBC to require payments from cable systems for the rights to transmit their broadcast signals. In the past, cablers had gotten the television stations' signals for free. An Oct. 6 deadline was set for stations and cablers to make these "retransmission" deals.

KNBC was able to come to terms with most of the 14 major cable operators in Los Angeles County, but locked horns with Century. The major negotiations were held in New York, but Manville and Rosendahl were in the trenches locally and duked it out.

Manville said: "Retransmission was a very quiet issue, and print journalists weren't doing much with it. It's a tough, complex story, and the public assumed television is like a utility -- like hot and cold water. With the Oct. 6 deadline ticking, we felt we had to take the battle to the public."

To win over the public, KNBC ran spots explaining that, because Century wouldn't sign a retransmission consent deal, its subscribers would not be able to get KNBC's programs, which include the "NBA Finals" and popular shows like "Seinfeld."

The move worked; Century's switchboard lit up with protest calls. According to Rosendahl, there were more than 45,000 calls, many from people who weren't even Century subscribers. Manville's commercial was seen by about 5 million viewers.

Rosendahl said, "I was mad as hell with these calls because my customers couldn't get through to transact normal business. We had met once before, and he (Manville) walked into my office and threw his cards on the table. He said, 'You either go along, or we will pull the plug.' I got angry with him and nearly threw him out and raised my voice. He then backed off and said, 'Let's see if we can work this out.'"

Both Manville and Rosendahl are still not conceding anything. Each claims his side got the deal it wanted. The deal that was finally hammered out came two hours before the midnight Oct. 6 deadline.

Soon after the L.A. retransmission fire was put out, Manville threw his news team into the Malibu and Laguna Beach fire coverage. Advertising was preempted to devote full-time coverage to the fires, which cost the station hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost revenues.

Manville's competitors did likewise, as the competition for news ratings in L.A. has become the most intense in America, Manville says. There has been a quantum shift in news coverage here recently. Bubble-headed, "happy-talk" anchors are long gone.

"During the last three years, Los Angeles has become a serious market," Manville says. "We have faced the economy, civil unrest and natural disasters, and this has caused a profound change in people's attitudes here, and this has changed viewing patterns. Our single biggest product line is our news, and this has gotten a lot more serious. There is less fluff, less lifestyle and more hard news coverage."

Soon after Manville was named general manager, he brought in Mark Hoffman from Chicago's CBS station to give KNBC a hard news edge. KNBC has been trying to eclipse KABC as the market leader, but continues to run a close second, with both stations having overall annual revenues of about $150 million.

KNBC had been the most profitable of the six NBC-owned stations, but was eclipsed by WNBC-TV Channel 4 in New York this year, Manville says. And that situation may not change soon because Manville says he doesn't anticipate an advertising turnaround here for at least another year. Advertising revenues at KNBC have declined for three consecutive years.

Moyer continues to be KNBC's star prime time news anchor, but there have been several big-name defections. Linda Alvarez and John Beard have bolted to competitors.

"When you lose somebody good, there are no quick fixes. We look to replace inside, while pursuing the best available talent at a reasonable price," explains Manville.

"There is a trend in the business to drive anchor salaries down. But we still have a star-based system, and the stars can command extraordinarily high salaries," he continues. "The market sets these rates, but it's my decision if I want to participate. If I could, I would cut these salaries in half. They are absolutely crazy. I think ballplayers are paid too much also."

Chuck Henry is among the top candidates to succeed Beard. Compensation was part of the lure to convince Manville to leave the art world for the entertainment business. He had once hoped to become an artist, but switched to museum management and then to the more lucrative entertainment industry.

"I went from being the chief financial officer at the Hudson River Museum to being a junior financial analyst at NBC and got a raise. Museums don't pay," Manville says.

Although he has spent 8 years and raised his three children in Burbank, Manville says he is not tied to Southern California. His predecessor at KNBC, John Rohrback, went back to NBC headquarters in New York to head the network's owned-and-operated division of television stations.

"I love Southern California, but I would go anywhere for the right position, even Cleveland," he declares. "I flirt with the new technologies, and it would be good to find a way to be a player in it. I've been able to develop skills in a traditional business, but we must be able to change ourselves to tap into tomorrow."

Snapshot

Reed Manville

Native of: Westport, Conn. Resident of: Burbank Age: 40 Education: Bachelor of Science degree in studio art and art history, Skidmore College; Master's Degree in Business Administration, State University of New York, Binghampton.