Travel Channel Nabs ‘Amazing Race’ Rights
Emmy Award-Winning Reality Show Joins Net’s Primetime Lineup
By Larry Barrett -- Multichannel News, 8/21/2008 12:41:00 PM
Travel Channel Media Thursday announced that it has acquired the exclusive U.S. cable rights to The Amazing Race, CBS’s Emmy Award-winning reality show that pits teams against one another in a race around the world.
As part of the deal, Travel Channel has acquired the U.S. cable broadcast rights for Season 12, Season 13 (now in production for CBS Television) and Season 14, if CBS greenlights another campaign. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The Travel Channel will begin airing episodes of Season 12 of The Amazing Race on Wednesday, Sept. 3 at 8 p.m. ET, with additional episodes airing every Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET.
“The Amazing Race is an iconic American television series that really taps into what exploration is all about—not only the incredible riches that the world has to offer travelers—but the incredible transformative powers that travel brings about in people,” Patrick Younge, Travel Channel’s president and general manager, said in a statement. “The Amazing Race is simply the best travel reality format in the world, and it will nicely complement our stable of popular travel offerings such as Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, and Samantha Brown’s Passport series.”
The deal marks the show’s third cable distribution arrangement. GSN currently holds the rights to the first eight seasons of the show, while Fox Reality holds the rights to air episodes from seasons nine through 11, according to CBS.
