'Post-Merger TNT: The Shows Won't Go On' by J. Max Robins TV Guide Robin's Report Unknown Date Why You Won't See TNT's Bull and Breaking News: Whenever viewers hear about another media megamerger, they wonder how it will affect what they see on TV. But sometimes what it's really about is what they won't see on TV. That was exactly the case when TNT, in the wake of the AOL Time Warner merger, pulled the plug on Bull, its Wall Street drama, and the yet-to-debut Breaking News, a series set in a TV newsroom, starring Tim Matheson. On the surface, the cancellations did not seem to make much sense. Both series were part of a much-ballyhooed plan to expand TNT's reach into the original-drama business, which has proved so lucrative for premium cable channels such as HBO and Showtime. Indeed, TNT recently unveiled a massive marketing campaign touting the slogan "We know drama." And as part of the big drama drive, the basic-cable network put its programming muscle behind the summer launch of the new fantasy thriller Witchblade. Against that backdrop, the network had invested about $13 million for 13 episodes of Breaking News. Meanwhile, it paid another $11 million for 11 new episodes of Bull, which already had an 11-episode run after debuting to generally positive critical response- yet middling ratings- last August. But much has changed behind the scenes at TNT since the decision to pour millions into Bull and Breaking News. Most notably, TNT became part of AOL Time Warner. And now it appears those two promising series were victims of the biggest media merger in history, a deal that put TNT in a unique position to greatly limit its losses by canceling Bull and Breaking News and capitalizing on purchase-price accounting regulations and law. "[TNT's] financial exposure is dramatically less than it would have been if there had been no merger and it had canceled the series," says Tom Wolzien, senior media analyst of Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., a subsidiary of Alliance Capital Management. "The way accounting rules work, paying for not running those shows will have virtually no impact on [the AOL Time Warner] balance sheet." In the end, it was imply more cost-effective for TNT to run more of the network-series reruns, such as Law & Order and ER, that make up so much of the network's prime-time schedule. (Ironically, Bull star Elisabeth Rohm joins Law & Order this fall). The TNT party line is that prospects for both series were dim. Still, it's rare for a network to pay for so many episodes of a series and not run them. Also factored in was a post-merger shakeup in which former WB chairman Jamie Kellner was named chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting, making TNT part of his empire. Kellner, in turn, assigned several executives to new roles, including ex-NBC Entertainment president Garth Ancier. "There's a new team in place with a track record of doing distinctive programming elsewhere," says a Turner insider. "It just didn't seem that [Breaking News and Bull] had the elements that would set TNT enough apart. Witchblad is probably more indicitive of where [TNT] is headed. And that we didn't have to take that big a financial hit made making the decision that much easier." This article is the intellectual property of TV Guide and its author. It is transcribed simply for fan purposes. No copyright infringement is intended. :: Back up ::       2008 Rohm with a View. Rohm with a View (lis-rohm.net) is an independent publication and is not endorsed by Elisabeth Rohm, her management or any related companies. Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of Elisabeth Rohm or her management.