ABC's affil board "agreed to contribute" $45M a year
"to help defray" NFL rights fees of $550M annually,
according to Sally Beatty of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. As
part of the agreement, the affils "will give back 10 kids-
slot ads a week to ABC," while ABC will "compensate" the
affils by "turning over eight additional prime time spots a
week." The pact also highlights the affils' participation
in ABC's soap channel, which will be based on "a percentage
of either subscriber revenue or profit, whichever is
greater." ABC TV Network President Patricia Fili-Krushel
said that the payment, combined with an advertising
inventory swap between the two groups, "gave the NFL portion
of the agreement ... an annual value to the network of '$50
million-plus.'" ABC had originally asked the affils to pay
$50M a year, "coupled with a warning that the network would
take back local advertising and promotion time" if the plan
was rejected (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 6/29). In N.Y., Lisa
Brownlee reports the deal "also gives ABC rights to
repackage some of its content to appear in places other than
the affiliates, such as on cable TV" (N.Y. POST, 6/29). The
N.Y. TIMES' Bill Carter lists the "repurposing rights" for
cable includes a 48-hour delay on the rebroadcast of sports
programming (N.Y. TIMES, 6/29).
