| MUMBAI:
TV Guide Network has entered into an agreement with Disney-ABC Domestic Television
to acquire the exclusive basic cable off-network rights of Ugly Betty. This
is the network's first scripted series acquisition and part of a multi-tiered
programming strategy to evolve the network as an entertainment destination. The
deal includes access to existing and future episodes of Ugly Betty which
will begin airing as a weekly strip on TV Guide Network in fall 2010. As part
of the agreement, TVGuide.com will have rights to stream up to five Ugly Betty
episodes at a time. Additionally,
the deal includes repurpose rights for the new season of Ugly Betty premiering
in October on ABC. The repeat telecast of the new episodes will air on TV Guide
Network within two weeks of their premiere on ABC. TV
Guide Network and TV Guide.com president Ryan O'Hara said, "Ugly Betty
is a show that will attract new viewers and advertisers to our network and web
site. This acquisition is the first step of a larger, ongoing plan to strengthen
our programming schedule and redefine TV Guide Network as a place to watch great
television." Ugly
Betty is set in the superficial world of high fashion, where the sweet, intelligent,
hard-working and fashionably challenged Betty Suarez from Queens takes a job in
the cutthroat world of magazine publishing at Mode Magazine.
Lionsgate
Entertainment acquired TV Guide Channel from Macrovision in
January for $255 million. It sold 49 per cent of the channel
to JP Morgan Chase's Equity Partners for $123 million in May.
Also
Read:
Lionsgate
to acquire TV Guide for $255 million
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