The Simpsons: worth more dead than alive

FOR RUPERT MURDOCH, the Simpsons are probably worth more dead than alive. The phenomenally popular cartoon show is facing cancellation next year because of a salary dispute between the actors and the Fox TV channel (part of Murdoch’s News Corporation) that makes the series, but the bigger picture is that, with a falling audience and very high wage bills, it may make more financial sense for Fox to kill off the series so it can renegotiate the lucrative syndication rights for past episodes.

Since their debut in 1989, Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson have been entertaining a global audience with their irreverent take on American working-class life. The show has become the most successful television brand of all time, with global DVD and merchandising sales of more than $8 billion (€6 billion). For many of its fans, the show is as good as TV can get.

A statement from Fox Television last week had it that the station “cannot produce future seasons under its current financial model”. It has been reported that Fox is looking for the main actors who voice the characters on the show to accept a 45 per cent pay cut. It is believed senior members of the cast each earn $400,000 (€300,000) an episode – about $8 million, or €6 million, a year.

The actors in question – Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (bartender, Chief Wiggum, Apu) and Harry Shearer (Mr Burns and Ned Flanders) have, according to inside reports, offered to take a 30 per cent cut in salary. It is believed Fox has rejected this offer and is adamant that only a 45 per cent pay cut can save the show. The current season finishes in May next year. All other actors and crew on the show are also being asked to take pay cuts.

While The Simpsonsstill performs very well for Fox, ratings have been dropping. In the US, 20 per cent fewer people watch it now than did five years ago and, crucially, the show is losing a lot of its 18- to 25-year-old viewers.

Another problem for Fox is that the programme has been getting more expensive to make: the longer a programme stays on air, the more it costs in salaries.

Each episode of the show costs about $5 million (€3.7 million) to make, with actors’ wages making up a large proportion of that cost. With ratings not holding up, the show is believed to be struggling to break even.

THE SIMPSONS HASlong ceased to be the jewel in the crown of the Fox channel. Newer shows such as The X Factor, Houseand Gleeare drawing higher ratings for the channel – and are making more money.

There is also the consideration that, being voice actors, the cast could be replaced with no adverse effect on merchandising sales, but it is believed this option has already been ruled out by Fox.

The potential closure of the show is attracting plenty of attention from the financial markets, with experts saying that Fox could earn more than $750 million in new syndication deals if it cancelled the show. Analysts say this would add at least 10 cents to News Corporation’s share price.

This windfall would come about because the current syndication deal for the show (which was brokered 17 years ago in a very different era) allows Fox to sell the show only to certain broadcasters, and the deal prohibits a resale to the cash-rich cable channels.

If the show were to be cancelled, that syndication deal would become void, and Fox would be able to negotiate a deal that would allow it to sell the first 22 series to cable channels and to online distributors. When the original deal was struck, cable TV was a relatively insignificant player: now it is in a position of some financial strength.

Given the show's strong performance in reruns, there will be plenty of buyers in cable TV for the rights to screen the show, which is broadcast in more than 100 countries and in more than 50 languages. There are almost 500 episodes of the programme to syndicate and at a conference last month the company's chief executive, Chase Carey, told investors that News Corporation is "looking at opportunities from A to Z" in terms of what to do with the programme, adding that "whether it's channel, digital, ourselves, third parties, The Simpsonsis a series unique in television, with a volume that is unprecedented". Carey even spoke about the possibility of starting a cable network devoted to repeats of the show.

As it stands, enough new episodes are ready to see the show through until early next year, but the impasse needs to be resolved by December so the final episodes of the series can be planned.

It’s now just a question of who will blink first. A “source close to the actors” said this week: “The show has made billions in profits over the years and will continue to do so as far as the eye can see down the road. The actors are willing to take a pay cut of roughly a third, but that’s not good enough for Fox.” Fox says: “We are hopeful that we can reach an agreement with the voice cast that allows us to go on entertaining audiences with original episodes.”

In what can only have been a swipe at Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation, Harry Shearer tweeted a link to a story containing the news that Murdoch’s total compensation jumped 47 per cent, to $33.3 million (€25 million), in the latest fiscal year. “Must be a better biz model,” Shearer noted.

For Murdoch, already shaken by the UK phone-hacking scandal, going down in history as the man who killed Homer Simpson may bring him to a whole new level of notoriety.

30%

Pay cut cast have offered to take

45%

Pay cut Fox wants cast to take

22

Number of seasons – almost 500 episodes

€300k

Earnings per senior cast member per episode

€6bn

Value of merchandising sales

1989

First episode broadcast