TNT Acquires Syndication Rights To Disney-ABC's Castle For $1.5M Per Episode

TNT has acquired Disney-ABC's Castle, starring Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic, to begin airing on the basic-cable network next summer. TNT scored both the rights to air the show on its main channel as well as online through Time Warner's "TV Everywhere" rollout.

TNT acquired Castle for $1.5 million an episode, according to sources, significantly less than the network paid for its last acquisition, CBS Television Distribution's Hawaii Five-0, which sold for approximately $2.5 million an episode. Hawaii Five-0, for which TNT also acquired "TV Everywhere" rights, begins airing on TNT in 2014. TNT just premiered Warner Bros.' The Mentalist, for which it paid approximately $2.2 million an episode in late 2009.

Castle's third-season finale on May 16 won its Monday 10 p.m. time period by a long shot, averaging 13.3 million viewers and a 3.3 among persons 18 to 49. Hawaii Five-0, whose season finale also aired at that time, averaged 9.8 million viewers and a 2.5 against the demo.

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