Atlanta -- TBS Superstation last week added Everybody
Loves Raymond to the roster of off-network sitcoms that will be coming to its lineup
after the year 2000.
TBS has inked an agreement with syndicator Eyemark
Entertainment, a unit of CBS Corp., to get Raymond -- a CBS Monday-night hit
starring Ray Romano -- in an exclusive cable deal for four years starting in the fall of
2004. TBS is reportedly paying roughly $100,000 per episode.
Under its agreement, TBS can only air Raymond once
per day, five days per week, except when the network does special stunts. Eyemark
doesn't want Raymond to get overplayed, and TBS typically double-runs its
off-network sitcoms during the day.
TBS' cable exclusive for the reruns will begin in the
third year of the series' first syndication window, which starts in the fall of 2001.
Raymond will joinsuch off-network shows as
Seinfeld, Friends, Home Improvement and The Drew Carey Show on
TBS.
