Fox reached a deal with its affils to share the costs
of the net's recent $4.5B NFL rights deal which begins with
the upcoming '98 season (Fox Sports). Over the five-year
NFL deal, Fox affils will collectively contribute $50M a
year to the net, "partly by selling advertising inventory
and partly by foregoing money owed them by the network in
exchange for their stake in the Fox Kids Network and other
issues." In addition, the net will return to each station
three primetime spots and two spots during Sunday NFL
coverage. Affils will then "return the proceeds to Fox
based on average local sales figures." The affils agreed to
waive $20M a year for the next five years that they
"expected to receive" for their portion of shared Fox Kids
Net profits and for promoting the Fox Family Channel.
Affils "will also forgo about" $5M a year "to which they are
entitled" under a '93 deal regarding retransmission consent
and the FX cable net (Jonathan Davies, HOLLYWOOD REPORTER,
7/27). DAILY VARIETY's Cynthia Littleton reports that the
deal "is expected to be ratified, however, begrudgingly," by
Fox's affils in the next few weeks (DAILY VARIETY, 7/27).
