Sci Fi, G4 Find ‘Lost’ Off-Net Rights
NBCU, Comcast-Owned Nets to Air New Episodes in Fall ‘08
By Kent Gibbons -- Multichannel News, 10/16/2007 3:38:00 AM
Sci Fi Channel and G4 said they’ve acquired off-network cable rights to ABC’s hit series Lost from Disney-ABC Domestic Television. The deal gives both G4 and Sci Fi rights to existing episodes of Lost, which the networks will debut in primetime in fall 2008, extending through all six seasons of the series.
This is the second syndication deal in a week for Comcast-owned G4, which just bought off-network rights to NBC’s Heroes in conjunction with In Demand’s Mojo channel. Coincidentally, NBC Universal owned Sci Fi repurposed the first season of Heroes.
Deal terms were not disclosed.
Some programming terms were, though. Sci Fi said it would run a weekly four-hour primetime stack of Lost beginning in fall 2008. Sci Fi, it said, will be the only place on television to see weekly mini-marathons of the popular drama, allowing viewers to remain engaged with the exciting and often surprising ongoing storyline.
Sci Fi also obtained the right to stream a limited number of episodes of Lost on SCIFI.COM.
G4 will add an extensive interactive update to Lost, offering audiences a variety of ways to participate during each episode. Lost 2.0 will feature multiple interactive and web-enabled elements, tapping into a huge online following that the hit series has generated. G4 has had prior success using that formula with old Star Trek episodes.
G4 also has exclusive cable weekend rights for the series, as well as the right to stream a limited number of episodes of the series on the network’s popular Web site, G4tv.com.
Sci Fi Channel Gets Into The Game
06/08/2008'Lost' Can Be Found On G4, Sci Fi Next Week
09/11/2008Interactivity Goes Off-Net
10/21/2007
