Marking the first time a basic-cable programmer has inked a broadcast-window
output deal with a major studio, Turner Broadcasting System Inc. has reached an
agreement with DreamWorks SKG whereby Turner Network Television, TBS
Superstation and Cartoon Network will have access to up to 60 films in that
window, the parties announced Tuesday.
These films will be available to the Turner channels exclusively, immediately
after their license to a broadcast network. Terms of the deal were not
disclosed, but sources estimated its worth at $350 million to $400 million.
Coupled with a previously announced syndication-window deal, the new pact
gives the Turner channels access to virtually every DreamWorks film starting
from 1997 and extending through 2007. Some of the broadcast-window rights extend
as far out as 2015.
The agreement with the studio run by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenburg and
David Geffen gives TNT and TBS -- which have secured the rights to more
theatricals than any other commercial networks -- the rights to the 2000 and
1999 Academy Award-winning 'Best Pictures,' Gladiator and American
Beauty.
Among the other pictures that will wind up on the Turner networks:
Castaway, The Mexican, What Lies Beneath, Galaxy
Quest, The Contender, The Haunting, Forces of Nature,
Small Soldiersand The Legend of Bagger Vance.
Cartoon will also play home to such DreamWorks titles as Chicken Run,
The Prince of Egypt, Antz and The Road to El Dorado.
Sources said the movies could also appear on other existing or
yet-to-be-launched TBS Inc. services.
'DreamWorks, led by Messrs. Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen, consistently
produces some of the most widely acclaimed, most prestigious and most successful
motion pictures in Hollywood today, and the studio has instantly become known
for high-quality films spanning a wide range of genres,' TBS Inc. president of
general-entertainment networks Brad Siegel said in a prepared statement.
'We are thrilled to have our networks become the exclusive basic-cable
television home of DreamWorks titles for many years to come,' he
added.
