N B5THE NEW YORK TIMES, MONDAY, MARCH 1, 2010

address that.”The easy answer would seem

to lie in NBC’s structure, becausein contrast to its competitors,that news organization is flush,making an estimated $400 millionin profit a year.

“We actually think we have acompletely different model,”Steve Capus, the president ofNBC News, said. That model:win every significant ratingscompetition on the broadcastside and rely on MSNBC’s reve-nue stream of advertising pluscable subscriber fees to subsidizethe high costs of news gathering.

The effectiveness of that for-mula inevitably resurrects pre-dictions that a marriage with acable news organization is imper-ative for CBS and ABC. The obvi-ous partner is CNN, and boththose networks have been incourtships with it before. To date,the cultural challenges have beeninsurmountable. CNN, whichsays last year was its most profit-able since its founding in 1980,would seem to have little incen-tive to rush to the aid of a net-work. And neither network wantsto cede editorial control to CNN.

“If it were easy or obvious, itwould have happened by now,”Mr. Heyward said.

But a longtime network newsexecutive, who asked not to beidentified because of connectionsto previous private negotiationsinvolving CNN, said that ABC orCBS was likely to enter into an al-liance with a partner like CNN“within the next few years.”

Even Mr. Westin, who said hedid not see how a match withCNN “makes sense for us,” con-ceded: “In general, in business,when there is real decline, con-solidation inevitably happens.”

Already, outlines of consolida-tion are discernible. Several CNNstars contribute to “60 Minutes”on CBS. And CBS executives,mindful that Katie Couric’s con-tract expires in a little over ayear, have talked to AndersonCooper of CNN about an anchorjob, according to two TV veteransinformed of the meeting.

In recent months, a handful ofABC News reporters has ap-peared on the business channelBloomberg, and the two organ-izations have tried to jointly hireat least one person, according totwo staff members who asked notto be named because they werenot authorized by their employ-ers to speak. Those two, and twoothers, labeled the sharing byABC and Bloomberg — what oneperson called flirting — a pos-sible prelude to a broader news-gathering pact.

A Bloomberg spokeswomansaid that the company was a cli-ent of ABC’s affiliate service anddeclined to comment on any talksabout a broader relationship be-tween the organizations. An ABCspokesman said the current levelof cooperation with Bloombergwas “hardly unusual.”

Network news divisions havehistorically been family jewelsfor their parent corporations,lending prestige and an aura ofpublic service — as well as ashield against government intru-

sion. Mr. Heyward called the net-work evening newscasts a “bas-tion of serious news coverage at atime when so much of televisionhas become tabloid and trivial.”

While they have steadily shedviewers, to a cumulative 22 mil-lion in 2009, from about 50 millionin 1980, the newscasts still amassan audience that dwarfs anyshow on a cable news channel. Inthe last five years, the more lu-crative network morning showshave also shown declines, TomRosenstiel, director of the Projectfor Excellence in Journalism,said. “What’s occurring in broad-cast news is not some sudden cri-sis. This has been a glacial ero-sion,” he said.

A survey by the Pew ResearchCenter last year reported thatthree-quarters of respondents

thought the cancellation of theevening newscasts would be an“important loss” to the country.Mr. Rosenstiel said, “None ofthese news division presidentswants to be the first guy to kill anevening newscast.”

Not that it would be their call.That decision would fall to thenetworks’ corporate parents. Ex-ecutives from CBS News andABC News said the top corporateexecutives for both networks re-mained outspoken supporters ofthe news divisions.

ABC employees were review-ing buyout packages last week-end. Eligible staff members haveuntil March 26 to decide whetherto leave. If ABC cannot meet itsgoal, layoffs will follow.

Mr. Westin said ABC Newscould no longer afford to support

a worldwide staff of about 1,500,with bureaus in cities foreign anddomestic, most with traditionalTV news work forces: camera op-erators, sound engineers, tapeeditors, assignment editors and,of course, correspondents, manywith substantial salaries.

More journalists will becomejacks-of-all-trades, wielding cam-eras, microphones and lights, aswell as lists of interview ques-tions. More production work willbe conducted out of New York.“The ones who fear the mostfrom the cuts are the ones thathave a single function,” one ABCstaff member said.

Mr. Westin said high-pricedand purely cosmetic talent wouldbecome an increasingly endan-gered species. “There have beenpeople in television news — verysuccessful people — who do notwrite,” he said. “We are going todefinitely require more of ourjournalists.”

Mr. Westin said he did notthink the cuts would compromiseABC’s journalism, but not every-one shares his confidence. Oneveteran ABC News executivesaid, “Clearly the signal is: It’snot important to create anythingnew. We simply have to figure outa way to manage it cheaply.”

CBS, similarly, is trying to dothe same with less. In an in-terview after its layoffs in earlyFebruary, the CBS News presi-dent, Sean McManus, said the or-ganization was figuring out howto “utilize our resources in amore efficient way.”

NBC News, meanwhile, re-mains the envy of the business,

largely because of its decision in1996 to start up a separate cablenews channel.

The total work force at NBCNews — which includes MSNBC— is 1,100, the size ABC now as-pires to be. CBS is believed tohave fewer than 1,400 on staff.

So far, Web revenue is a rathersmall part of the broadcast net-works’ bottom lines, although Mr.Westin said ABC’s digital incomewas “up substantially.”

But if digital revenue cannotoffset ad losses, Mr. Heywardsuggested there was high groundfrom the flood if the networkscould find a way to make theirnews stand out.

“The notion of investing morein distinctiveness and less insameness is critical,” he said.That means more enterprise re-porting and less overlapping cov-erage of news that cable handles,like reporters standing in snowdrifts with yardsticks.

But the networks will surelystick it out, he predicted, if onlybecause they do not want to seetheir competitors win.

“I sometimes compare it tothree people in a leaky boat,” Mr.Heyward said. “Each one sees anisland shimmering in the dis-tance and starts thinking: I couldjump out and swim for the islandand maybe I could make it.

“On the other hand, I coulddrown and make the boat lighterso the other two make it. I thinkyou are going to see everybodystaying in the game because ev-erybody knows leaving guaran-tees a longer lease on life for theircompetitors.”

As Budgets for Broadcast News Shrink, Networks Consider New Paths

IDA MAE ASTUTE/ABC

David Westin, left, the president of ABC News, with Jim Mur-phy, senior executive producer of “Good Morning America.”

From First Business Page

By MICHAEL J. de la MERCED

Merck of Germany said onSunday that it had agreed to buyMillipore, an American providerof purifiers and filters for biotech-nology laboratories, for about$7.2 billion, including debt.

With the Millipore acquisition,Merck will become the latesthealth care company to strike adeal during a period of industry-wide consolidation. The takeoverwill give the German drug makera big presence in products for thebiotechnology industry.

Under the terms of the deal,Merck will pay $107 a share incash, a 13 percent premium toMillipore’s closing price of $94.41on Friday.

“This transaction is very at-tractive to shareholders, custom-ers and employees of both com-panies,” Karl-Ludwig Kley,Merck’s chairman, said in astatement. “This is a combinationwith an excellent strategic fit.”

Millipore shares have risenmore than 34 percent since lastweek, when news reports saidthat it had received a $6 billionbid from another company, Ther-mo Fisher Scientific. Milliporelater confirmed that was consid-ering selling itself.

Millipore, based in Billerica,Mass., had $1.7 billion in sales lastyear. It has about 6,000 employ-ees in more than 30 countries.

The deal is expected to close inthe second half of the year.

Merck plans to pay for the dealwith a mix of cash on hand andloans from Bank of America Mer-rill Lynch, BNP Paribas andCommerzbank, though it expectsto issue bonds to replace some ofthe bank financing.

Merck was advised by Gug-genheim Securities, PerellaWeinberg Partners and the lawfirm Skadden, Arps, Slate,Meagher & Flom. Millipore wasadvised by Goldman Sachs andthe law firms Cravath, Swaine &Moore and Ropes & Gray.

Merck to Pay

$7.2 Billion

For Millipore

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