'Stealth'
NEW YORK -- Though "Stealth" and "Bewitched" disappointed with b.o. ticket sales, Sony Pictures TV will pocket north of $12 mil in the first-network-window sale of the two titles.
TBS and ABC will share in the window of "Bewitched," with TBS getting an exclusive, nine-month term beginning in September 2007 for multiple plays, followed by a one-year avail for ABC, which will take two runs of the movie. Then, "Bewitched" goes back to TBS for the final years of a five-year contract.
TBS' sister network TNT has bought the first plays of "Stealth," beginning in October 2007, and Sony has reserved the right to find a broadcast or cable network to share the "Stealth" window with TNT.
Sony Pictures TV prexy of distribution John Weiser, who spearheaded the deal, said he was able to negotiate solid license fees from the cable networks because TNT and TBS still need recognizable theatrical movies as part of the networks' programming mix.
ABC jumped at the chance to join TBS in the shared "Bewitched" window, at least in part because the original series on which the movie is based was a hit on the ABC network from 1964 through 1972.
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