Warners Clears More 'Big Bang' Markets

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Warner Bros. has cleared its hot off-net sitcom The Big
Bang Theory in eight more markets, bringing the show's total sales to just
over 30 markets. (See related: 'Big Bang' Clears Eight More Markets)

The show, which is continuing to pace ahead of Two and a
Half Men in cash license fees, is encountering bidding wars in most
markets.

The show is now sold to Tribune's WPHL Philadelphia (market
no. 4); CBS' WFOR/WBFS Miami (market no. 17); Local TV's WJW Cleveland (market
no. 18); Meredith's KPTV/KPDX Portland, Ore. (market no. 22); Sinclair's WSTR
Cincinnati (market no. 33); Newport's WHP Harrisburg, Pa. (market no. 39);
Sinclair's WMYV Greensboro, N.C. (market no. 46); and Block's WDRB Louisville,
Ky. (market 49).

Fox acquired Big Bang for a fall 2011 start in tenmarkets, while TBS picked up a cable run of the show for a simultaneous start. TBS paid a record-setting $1.5 million an episode for the show, according to
industry sources.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.