Pasadena, Calif. -- Continuing to expand its programming
beyond just country music, The Nashville Network has acquired a package of 38 films that
it plans to use as the basis for a primetime-movie night on Thursdays, officials said at
the recent Television Critics Association summer tour here.
The package includes theatricals such as Honkytonk Man with
Clint Eastwood, Hooper with Burt Reynolds and Baja Oklahoma with Julia
Roberts.
TNN's deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Pay-TV, Cable &
Network Features also includes made-for-TV movies based on three TV series: Dallas and
The Dukes of Hazzard,which both air on TNN, as well as Eight is Enough.
The package also includes Turner Broadcasting System Inc.
telepics such as Good Old Boys with Tommy Lee Jones and Billy the Kid with
Val Kilmer.
"We have had great success with seven [The] Waltons
movies we acquired with the series a little more than a year ago," TNN vice
president of programming Brian Hughes said. "These made-for-TV movies have attracted
ratings in the 1.2 to 1.3 range, with strong demographic profiles."
Apart from the 38-film package, Hughes said, TNN is in
negotiations with a number of movie distributors in order to program its two-hour Thursday
movie block, which kicks off Sept. 30 at 8 p.m.
The first package has films with "country-music
artist, Western and rural themes," he added, "and it's a package that fits
extremely well with TNN."
In addition to the movies, TNN has acquired off-network
series The Real McCoys and Alice for its lineup starting June 28.
TNN, which is owned by CBS Cable, has been broadening its
programming to appeal to a larger audience beyond the country-music fan.
In that vein, it has created a male-targeted Friday-night
block that currently includes WSL RollerJam, Professional Bull Riders
Championship Rodeo and Motor Madness.And starting Aug. 27, its
Friday-night schedule will include a one-hour weekly wrestling series from ExtremeChampionship
Wrestling.
In August, the network will be air two PBR bull-riding
events, Bullnanza Nashville and Jerome Davis Challenge,that involve
$150,000 in prize money.
