Dennis Swanson may just be getting that bottle of champagne from Paramount Television.
The former WNBC-TV New York general manager made the deal to grab Judge Joe
Brown from WNYW-TV there.
In its first outing of double runs 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. on WNBC-TV -- leading into one
hour of Paramount's court leader, Judge Judy -- Judge Joe recorded
a solid 4.3/12, then jumped to a 4.8/13 in its second day, according to Nielsen
Media Research data.
Frank Comerford, GM at WNBC-TV, called it a nice pairing and said
so far, so good, although he pointed out that he looks at trends of "longer than
two or three days."
Paramount Domestic Television president John Nogawski called it great for NBC
and Paramount, although he said he came in with high expectations given the track
record of the shows' pairings in other markets.
Nogawski said NBC's ability to lock up the shows in New York should allay
fears that Paramount's sibling relationship to CBS would give co-owned stations
an inside track. "Paramount is looking to keep shows in the best time periods it
can," he added.
Nogawksi had "no comment" on potential champagne shipments.
