A SHOW FROM OUR SPONSOR

By Richard Zoglin

A lot of companies feel they don't get a fair shake in the media, so the History Channel's offer was enticing. The 18-month-old cable network, seen in 19.2 million homes, was gearing up The Spirit of Enterprise, a series of hourlong documentaries, each of which would recount the history of a different corporation--and be produced by the corporation itself. AT&T, DuPont and General Motors were among those who had signed on; the first show, on Boeing, was already nearing completion. But last week, after the series was publicized and questions were raised about how objective these "histories" would be, The Spirit of Enterprise was abruptly scrapped. Said History Channel general manager Dan Davids: "We decided, based on the feedback we received, that it is not a road we want to go down."

The aborted series is only the latest example of the increasingly hazy distinction between TV advertising and programming. CNBC has announced a series called Scan, a weekly look at technology's impact on people's lives. The show will be sponsored by IBM, which also has final approval over the show's content--ensuring, presumably, that technology's impact will not include things like corporate downsizing and carpal-tunnel syndrome. (Whether IBM's editorial involvement will be noted in the show's credits has not yet been decided.) Scan was commissioned by CNBC's sales and marketing department, though Jack Reilly, vice president for business news, maintains he will have final say over whether it airs. "This is not hard news," he points out. "It is a feature program--a high-tech magazine."

Advertisers have for years been looking for more creative ways of disguising their pitches. Infomercials that air on many cable and broadcast channels are designed to look like talk shows and other entertainment programs; those minute-long "Movie News" segments, frequently run during local newscasts, may look like clips from Entertainment Tonight, but they are actually commercials for Disney films. In 1994 NBC aired a prime-time special on the newly opened Treasure Island resort and casino in Las Vegas that was produced by Stephen Wynn, who owns the place. ABC, CBS and NBC have all run prime-time specials on the making of such big Hollywood films as The Lion King and Wyatt Earp--specials produced by the studios releasing the films.

The trend has accelerated with the proliferation of cable channels, which have hours and hours of program time to fill, and of advertisers looking for novel methods of getting their message across. "As advertisers look for new ways to break through the clutter on the Web and in television, you are going to see a greater push to do this kind of thing," says Betsy Frank, executive vice president for Zenith Media Services. Nor is the practice (if prominently labeled) necessarily evil. Who's to say that a corporate history of AT&T, as told by the folks at AT&T, would not be an illuminating hour of television? So long as it isn't confused with history. Or with the History Channel.

--By Richard Zoglin. Reported by William Dowell/New York

With reporting by WILLIAM DOWELL/NEW YORK