Fox classics land at TCM

AMC contract had prevented studio from making deal

By JOHN DEMPSEY

NEW YORK -- Turner Classic Movies has engineered its first major output deal with 20th Century Fox, shelling out about $1.5 million for 27 pictures, including "Cleopatra," "Patton," "The Longest Day" and "All About Eve."

Tom Karsch, senior VP and general manager of TCM, confirmed the deal but would not comment on the license fee.

Karsch said a long-term contract with AMC had prevented Fox from selling its library product to TCM in the past. AMC recently loosened its hold on Fox's oldies when the network shifted its strategy to buying newer movies released from the '70s through the '90s.

Airing soon

"Peyton Place" and "The Day the Earth Stood Still" will reach TCM before the year is out. In 2005, TCM will start scheduling "Cleopatra," "The Seven Year Itch," "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "Western Union." The rest of the titles float into TCM's inventory between 2006 and 2010.

TCM moved aggressively this year to supplement the 5,000-title library owned by its parent company, Time Warner, to which it has exclusive access, including the pre-1948 movies from MGM, Warner Bros. and RKO Radio.

Four months ago, TCM bought 89 titles from Universal and 57 from Columbia Pictures, causing Kagan World Media to boost its estimate of TCM's programming expenses in 2004 from $41.3 million to $45.8 million -- a substantial hike from the $38.2 million laid out by the network in 2003.

In the 20th deal, TCM has bought one silent movie, 1927's "Sunrise." The next oldest movie is "Western Union" (1940). Most of the other titles come from the 1950s and '60s, including "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "The French Connection," "Hello Dolly," "The King and I," "Two for the Road" and "Zorba the Greek."