Comedy Central has acquired the off-network syndication rights to NBC's "30 Rock."
It will share the cable window of the Emmy-winning comedy series with WGN America for a combined license fee said to be in the range of $800,000 an episode, surpassing cable sales of other recent comedy offerings such as "The Office," "My Name Is Earl" and "Entourage."
The two cable networks will begin to run "30 Rock" in 2011.
via THR.com'.
This is ridiculous. Two and a Half Men in syndication outdraws new primetime episodes of 30 Rock, yet they are both sold for $800 000.
Two and a Half Men gets something like $3 mil an episode across all syndication, so I don’t think you have to worry that it’s getting the short end of the stick here.
People who watch Two and a Half Men = dumb. People who watch 30 Rock = smart. There are more dumb people than smart people. I’m just sayin’.
Not only that, but I think 30 Rock does fairly well among high-income segments of the population. I’m sure Two and a Half Men’s demographic is centered around the minimum wage earners.
i watch both shows
but i like 30 rock way more and watch it everyweek
i watch two and a half men at 6 on weekdays if nothings on
but i think i’ll end up watching 30 rock a lot more if its on comdey central and WGN i always watch scrubs on those channels all ready and i’ve been watching just shoot me a lot more since its been on comedy central (and i don’t think ill stop for a long time)
30 Rock = Alec Baldwin
2.2 Men = Charlie Sheen
I hate them both.
Wasn’t there somebody interpreting that deal as a 2-year pickup for 30 Rock? Because it said something about 5 seasons?
@wiesengrund, I’m assuming that’s the case even if NBCU hasn’t said as much. That’ll get it over 100 episodes, and $800K is a good incentive to produce as many as possible.
I’m not totally knowledgeable, but is the timing of this release normal? Do shows usually get sold into syndication two years before they’ll actually start airing? I would have assumed Comedy Central would start airing episodes this year, much like ‘The Office’ was syndicated on cable well before they reached the 100-episode mark (and is about to enter non-cable syndication this fall).
Patrick O, I don’t keep close track of typical syndication timing, but in a very recent data point, Lifetime picked up Old Christine to begin in Q4 2010.
People who watche 30 rock are the biggest idiots around.Its the worst show ever/