Cabler sees future in 'Medium'

Lifetime agrees to $1.35 mil per episode

By JOHN DEMPSEY

Lifetime has agreed to pay more money for a rerun series than ever before in its 20-year history: $1.35 million an episode for Paramount TV's "Medium."

The total dollar figure ponied up by Lifetime could theoretically rise to $300 million if NBC keeps renewing "Medium" through the 2014-15 season; the number of episodes is capped at 10 years, which would yield about 220 hours.

The license fee is well below the record $2.5 million an hour that A&E will shell out to HBO for "The Sopranos," but HBO plans to stop production of that series at 83 episodes. The second most expensive hour, Universal TV's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," cost $1.9 million an episode, but two cable networks will share it, USA during the week and sister channel Bravo on weekends.

In single-network rerun deals, TNT paid $1.4 million per for Warner Bros. TV's "Cold Case" and $1.32 million per for Warner's "Without a Trace."

Susanne Daniels, president of entertainment for Lifetime, said one reason for the high price of "Medium" is that "we have all of the rights, including weekends." Lifetime has, in effect, bought out the TV-syndication window, meaning that Paramount won't be able to sell "Medium" simultaneously to television stations in weekend syndication.

"Cable networks have become more aggressive about securing as much exclusivity as they can," said Bill Carroll, VP and director of programming for Katz Television, a firm that represents hundreds of TV stations.

Carroll points out that, in reruns, King World's "CSI" is the highest-rated weekend series in TV syndication, which could be cutting into the ratings of the show's weekday runs on Spike TV. "Lifetime clearly wants to avoid that situation," he said.

Daniels acknowledged that Lifetime is gung ho about exclusivity but she also said the net loves the "closed-ended" structure of "Medium," which means the reruns of each episode have a better chance of drawing more viewers.

In closed-ended shows, there are no subplots and character arcs that carry over, unresolved, into multiple episodes, causing confusion to people coming in cold to the repeat. Each "Medium" hour has a beginning, middle and end, just like "Law & Order," "CSI" and all their spinoffs, which have continued to harvest wide viewership in what seems like endless reruns.

But the key to Lifetime's interest in "Medium," said Daniels, is the content. The character played by Patricia Arquette, who won the 2005 Emmy, "has depth and complexity both as a mother and as someone who works in a proactive job that's sometimes very dangerous." The supernatural elements -- as a medium, the Arquette character can communicate with the dead -- add spice to the show's appeal, Daniels said.

Although Lifetime won't take title to the series until mid-2009, Daniels said, "we think 'Medium' could become an anchor show for us."

If it draws lots of viewers, Lifetime would use it as a promotional vehicle for its firstrun shows and movies and as a lead-in to draw sampling to a lesser-known show.

The producer of "Medium" is Picturemaker Prods., in association with Grammnet Prods. and Paramount Network TV. Creator-producer is Glenn Gordon Caron.