Get It? Got it? Good : Network Economics

A note to reality “stars” : You are NOT celebrities. This means you are not entitled to make demands or have executives kowtow to you. You are expendable.

Get it?

Sorry kids, but your fifteen minutes of fame are just that. Short, fleeting, and no one’s going to remember you next year. ... Unless you’ve managed to garner the role of Network Pet a la Lauren Conrad—who already came from a wealthy family prior to her MTV days—and have managed to do something with your short, precious time other than bask in the sun on a beach or stumble drunkenly out of clubs for the photogs, your days as a reality TV somebody will come crashing to an end before you can even say “Ed Hardy.”

Oh, what was that? Ed Hardy, you say?

Do you know where I’m going with this?

I never thought I’d write so much about my once-beloved reality show “Jon & Kate Plus 8.” I used to watch it because the kids are adorable and, quite frankly, I thought Kate was pretty interesting (every other media writer and blogger out there would tell me I’m an idiot for saying that, but I find her character fascinating to watch. Like I said before, I’d like to see you try to juggle 8 young children while your husband rolls his eyes at you all day). I haven’t watched the show since the couple announced their split, but that hasn’t kept me from reading about them on the blogs (I can’t help myself, okay?). But enough about my justifying my attraction to this train wreck. Let’s get to the real news.

RadarOnline.com broke the news that “Jon & Kate Plus 8” network TLC is going to start blurring out Jon’s Ed Hardy tee-shirts and any other promotional products he brings with him to the show. I don’t know if he’s getting paid by these companies or if he’s just getting free stuff. Either way, it’s publicity for the products—and even though Jon Gosselin isn’t the most beloved man in American media, you know what they say: all publicity is good publicity. According to RadarOnline, “high-level executives have now decided to make it a policy” to blur the names of all the products Jon brings onto the show with him. Jon’s been racking up the endorsements since his big media-grabbing divorce, and TLC is not going to let him use their air time to pad his pocket with checks from anywhere but their accounts payable department.

Got it?

RadarOnline reports:

"TLC feels like they are being used by Jon," said a source close to the situation. "They want to send him a message loud and clear."

While that may be the public excuse, I have a feeling that TLC isn’t upset because they feel they’re being “used.” Remember that TV networks (and pretty much all other media) are funded primarily through advertisers. The revenue generated keeps the network running; there are a lot of personnel who need to be paid. It’s a symbiotic relationship, where one can not exist with out the other. I wouldn’t call TLC greedy. It’s just business! Jon Gosselin gets paid to be on the show and bringing on products he endorses (who may not be running ads on TLC) might really piss off the network’s advertisers. Loss of advertising equals loss of revenue equals forced cutbacks equals crappier programming. Keep your advertising, keep your shows, keep your viewers. Don’t-cha just love Capitalism?

Good.

TLC is sending Jon Gosselin a crystal clear message: Don’t f*** with their revenue.