Buying your Friends
Joey spin-off auctioned to UK channels
British broadcasters are entering a bidding war for Friends spin-off Friends, with the cost predicted to top $1million an episode.
Exclusive discussions between Warner Bros and Channel 4 have ended without agreement, so now Channel 5 and BSkyB can enter the race.
Even ITV, which has not traditionally bid for American imports, says it’s interested in the sitcom. An unnamed insider told Hollywood trade paper Variety: “We'll be in there bidding."
Meanwhile, MediaGuardian reports that Warner Bros expects to get $1m (£550,000) for each episode - an almost unheard-of figure in the UK, where £100,000 is considered a price ceiling.
Channel 4 paid a recent figure for the rights to the Simpsons, but that’s an established ratings-winner, and includes multiple repeats, driving the actual cost of each half-hour’s TV down.
Warner Bros showed the Joey pilot, in which Matt Le Blanc's character Joey Tribbiani moves from New York to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career, to British buyer last month.Published: 24 Jun 2004
