As noted in the section on Economics, for 2005 Fox News was expected to markedly increase its investment in its news operations, by 16%, CNN to grow only moderately, 4%, and MSNBC to cut expenses 5%, even further than in 2004.
Expenses involve two components. Total expenses include salaries, capital expenditures on technology and machinery, and the specific costs attributed to different programs. The latter are termed programming expenses.19 [1] Roughly the same pattern that was expected for overall expenses at the three networks was anticipated for programming costs as well.
In 2005, Fox News was expected to increase its programming expenses by 20%, a follow-up to the 24% increase of 2004. MSNBC was estimated to reduce its programming expenses in 2005 by 10%, much as it had the previous year, when they declined by 9%. A major question now is whether the shift of control of the network to NBC in December 2005 brings further changes, as some reports have suggested.20 [2]
CNN was expected to show a 4% growth in programming expenses in 2005, unlike the drop of 8% recorded for 2004. The figure could be a reflection of the investment being put into CNN Headline news (the number includes both CNN and CNN Headline News).
|
1997 - 2005, by Channel
|
 |
|
Source: Kagan Research, "Economics of Basic Cable Networks 2006", June 2005
|
|
CNN figures include CNN Headline News |