Hasta La Creative!

Top cable TV networks are nearing the final lap in upfront negotiations for ad time in the new season even while some big broadcasters continue to negotiate deals.

In the last few years, the Big Four broadcasters and The CW have completed their upfront deal-making by early-to-mid-June, ahead of their cable counterparts. In 2012, Fox, the last to conclude, closed its negotiations on June 13. This year looks a bit different. While negotiations took off rather quickly, deals started to slow down as media buyers and the networks disagreed on pricing. CBS, Fox and The CW wrapped up earlier in the month, but major cable operators have swooped in while talks continue at ABC and NBC.

Turner’s suite of networks, which include TBS, TNT and TruTV, are largely completed. The company struck deals for about as much of its ad inventory as last year, securing increases in the cost of reaching 1,000 viewers, an industry measure known as a CPM, between 7% and 8%, according to people familiar with the negotiations. While revenue is expected to be up, it’s currently unclear by how much.

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