A&E gets rights to "Sopranos" reruns for $2.5 million per episode

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=597&e=1&u=/nm/20050201/tv_nm/television_sopranos_dc

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Cable television powerhouse HBO has agreed to sell rerun rights for its hit mob drama "The Sopranos" to the A&E cable network in a deal industry sources put at a record $2.5 million per episode.

The acquisition, which A&E said on Monday had been agreed to in principal, marks the biggest per-episode sum ever paid for "off-network" distribution of an existing TV series, industry observers said.

The deal covers 65 episodes from the show's first five seasons, plus 10 to 13 additional hours from a sixth season that recently went into production, an A&E spokesman said.

Both networks said the acquisition would extend to a seventh season if series creator and executive producer David Chase were to renew his deal with HBO. A&E, a basic cable outlet that reaches about 88 million homes -- nearly triple HBO's subscriber base -- plans to begin airing reruns of "The Sopranos" in the fall of 2006.

in a "IEP" meeting kind of way. I bet my kid would get every damn thing.

I'm just sayin'

:-)

...2.5 million per episode- to show re-runs no less- is fucking obscene.