USA and Bravo will pay $1.4 million per episode for hit Fox drama 'House.'
USA and Bravo have agreed to pay their sister company NBC Universal $1.4 million an episode for cable rights to reruns of the hit Fox Network series "House."
The $1.4 million price comes less than a week after Lifetime ponied up $1.35 million for reruns to Paramount TV's "Medium." But Lifetime bought out the weekend syndication rights to "Medium" with its $1.35 million.
By contrast, NBC U has retained the right to sell "House" to TV stations for double runs each weekend simultaneous with the show's debut on USA and Bravo in fall 2008. The ad revenues from these TV syndication plays could funnel another $500,000 into NBC U's coffers over a four- or five-year period.
The syndication clause restricts the runs of "House" on USA and Bravo to Monday through Friday. The bulk of the runs will go to USA.
There's no cap on the number of episodes in the "House" deal, so USA and Bravo will have to continue paying for the series as long as Fox keeps renewing it.
USA and Bravo together agreed to cough up $1.92 million an episode last year to share the reruns of NBC U's "Law & Order: Criminal Intent." But in that case, the deal is cable-exclusive: There'll be no weekend TV syndication.
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