CBS’ The New Adventures of Old Christine and HBO’s Entourage and Curb Your Enthusiasm have now been sold in three-year deals in more than 93% of the country, said Ken Werner, president of Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution. All three shows will launch on TV stations next fall.
“That these three shows have been bought in over 93% of the country in seven short weeks speaks to the high value stations have placed on these premium series,” Werner said in a statement.
Station groups to have recently acquired the shows include Newport, Freedom, LIN TV, Belo, New Age, Nexstar, Griffin, Journal Broadcast Group, New Vision, Schurz, GoCom, Second Generation, Block, Gray, Entravision, Quincy, Barrington, Smith, ComCorp, White Knight and Cordillera. These groups join Tribune, Weigel, CBS Television Stations, Sinclair, Fox, Local TV, Hearst, Raycom, Meredith, Acme, Titan, Roberts, Gannett, Capitol, Grant and Cox.
Concurrently, Lifetime Television will launch Christine in cable syndication next fall. TV stations, who acquired the show for a 5/2 local-national barter split and some cash, will air Christine as a daily strip, with double runs Monday through Friday and two weekend half-hours.
Entourage will premiere on cable on Spike in January 2010. It also will be repurposed on Tribune’s WGN America cable network. Both Entourage and Curb will air mostly in late-night Monday through Friday with one weekend run. Stations acquired both Entourage and Curb for a 4/3 local-national barter split. As of yet, no cable deal for Curb has been announced.
