Brian Damage
10-29-2006, 01:45 PM
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" is set to become the first drama series to air weekday reruns in broadcast syndication since 2001.
The show will air on Fox owned-and-operated stations in several major markets -- including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago -- beginning next fall, distributor NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution said Thursday. The terms of the two-year deal call for one run per day.
"7th Heaven" was the most recent drama to be sold to broadcast stations as a "strip," i.e. airing Monday to Friday. The last crime drama deal was 14 years for "21 Jump Street." In recent years, the trend has been to sell weekday reruns to basic cable and weekend runs to local stations.
In 2004, NBC Universal-owned USA Network and Bravo acquired cable rerun rights to "Criminal Intent" for nearly $2 million per episode. USA, which paid a majority of that license fee, acquired the weekday rights and a rerun of the first-run episode that had aired the previous week on NBC, while Bravo got a three-hour window of repeat episodes from the first five seasons on Sunday nights.
Frank Cicha, senior VP programming at Fox Television Stations, predicted that more dramas would be sold as strips in the near future.
"I think it speaks to the times because there aren't a lot of sitcoms, and a lot of first-run isn't doing very well," he said.
"Criminal Intent," the third installment in the "Law & Order" franchise, is in its sixth season on NBC, where it's averaging 11.5 million viewers and is up 39% in the key adult demos of 18-49 and 25-54 over last season.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
The show will air on Fox owned-and-operated stations in several major markets -- including Los Angeles, New York and Chicago -- beginning next fall, distributor NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution said Thursday. The terms of the two-year deal call for one run per day.
"7th Heaven" was the most recent drama to be sold to broadcast stations as a "strip," i.e. airing Monday to Friday. The last crime drama deal was 14 years for "21 Jump Street." In recent years, the trend has been to sell weekday reruns to basic cable and weekend runs to local stations.
In 2004, NBC Universal-owned USA Network and Bravo acquired cable rerun rights to "Criminal Intent" for nearly $2 million per episode. USA, which paid a majority of that license fee, acquired the weekday rights and a rerun of the first-run episode that had aired the previous week on NBC, while Bravo got a three-hour window of repeat episodes from the first five seasons on Sunday nights.
Frank Cicha, senior VP programming at Fox Television Stations, predicted that more dramas would be sold as strips in the near future.
"I think it speaks to the times because there aren't a lot of sitcoms, and a lot of first-run isn't doing very well," he said.
"Criminal Intent," the third installment in the "Law & Order" franchise, is in its sixth season on NBC, where it's averaging 11.5 million viewers and is up 39% in the key adult demos of 18-49 and 25-54 over last season.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter