“Arts organizations in Seattle have complained for years about waning TV coverage,” writes Brendan Kiley in Tuesday’s (4/27) Stranger (Seattle). “So earlier this year, the 5th Avenue Theatre teamed up with KING 5 TV to craft a solution: Arts groups would start paying for coverage by buying segments on a new daytime talk show called New Day Northwest—segments not labeled as commercials. The 5th Avenue bought a year’s worth of weekly appearances on New Day, both to discuss its own productions and to rent the segments to other arts groups. So far, the Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Seattle Symphony Orchestra have paid the 5th Avenue to appear on New Day Northwest. None of the involved parties have disclosed exact payment amounts, but a marketing manager at ACT Theatre said she’d heard an appearance would cost between $3,000 and $6,000. … Unlike a TV commercial or an advertisement in a newspaper, New Day’s bought-and-paid-for segments appear identical to any other segment on the show—but KING 5 and the 5th Avenue insist their financial arrangement is made clear by a brief disclaimer at the end of the program stating that some segments are sponsored.”
Posted April 30, 2010
