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THE VIBRANT MIAMI-FT. LAUDERDALE MARKET, WHICH YEARLY DRAWS BILLIONS OF tourism dollars to South Florida, has an extremely active media landscape, as each player in its respective business tries to capture its share of advertising revenue. "It's truly an international city, with a very competitive television market," says Michael Colleran, vp and general manager of WFORTV, CBS' owned-and-operated station, as well as UPN affiliates WBFS and "TVX in West Palm Beach. "It's a very exciting and changing place." The Miami-Ft. Lauderdale television market ranks No. 17 in the country, with 1.5 million TV households.
WSVN, Sunbeam Television's Fox affiliate, had a lot to cheer about in the February sweeps. "In adults 25-54, we're the No. I newscast in all of South Florida [among the English-language stations]," says Bob Leider, WSVN vp and gm.
The station's local news finished ahead of all the other English-langage stations, winning in the mornings, early evening and late news in all the key demographics. Its late newscasts at 10 and 11 p.m. were buoyed by strong Fox prime-time programming, including American Idol and Joe Millionaire. WSVN's locally produced Deco Drive also won the access daypart in key demos.
Leider says 2002 was "an exceptionally good year," in terms of advertising revenue for the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale television stations. It certainly was for WSVN, the market's top biller, which took in an estimated $72.6 million in revenue in 2001, according to BIA Financial Network. That amounts to a revenue uptick of 18 percent in 2002, compared to the average 10 percent increase for the DMA's other eight English-language stations. Leider says 2003 so far has continued the upward trend.
The marriage last year of Telemundo and NBC has created a local alliance between WTVJ, the NBC O&O in Miami, and its new sister Telemundo station, WSCV. About six months ago, WSCV moved into WTVf's new facility, creating a fully integrated duopoly. Before its purchase by NBC, WSCV was located in Hialeah, Fla., home of then-parent company Telemundo.
Shortly after the merger, Don Browne, WTVJ president and gm, ran both stations for several months until he hired Michael Rodriguez away from CBS' WFOR-TV to become WSCV's new gm. A Miami native, Rodriguez had been local sales manager at WFOR. (Rodriguez's brother Ray is...