IN NEGOTIATIONS

Michael Freeman of ELECTRONIC MEDIA has a great article on the strength of the producers at 20th Century Fox Television, including some good dish about how the BUFFY renegotiation talks are going and what Joss thinks about syndication rights stuff.

Quotage: "20th Century Fox Television, which holds the crown as Hollywood's most prolific supplier of network TV series, can point to a lot of things it has done very well lately. Currently, with 17 series airing on the networks (representing 13.5 hours of programming), one would wonder if 20th Century Fox can maintain the momentum

The truly hardball renewal negotiations 20th faces this season is with The WB on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, which has been the network's 8 p.m. Tuesday tent pole for the past five seasons. Rumors have been swirling in Hollywood that if 20th doesn't get its desired price for BUFFY, it may seek to move the show to Fox, which has a similar strong young- adult and teen audience. Although industry watchers estimate that Fox is earning a license fee of around $1 million per BUFFY episode from The WB, sources indicate that Fox and co-production partner Regency Television are actually carrying a production deficit of more than $400,000 per hour, since BUFFY's cast costs have escalated in recent years. Even so, some sources suggest 20th may be reluctant to separate BUFFY from The WB and its 9 p.m. Tuesday lead-out companion ANGEL, which is also executive-produced by show creator Joss Whedon for 20th and Regency.

In fact, Mr. Whedon does not seem overly concerned about where BUFFY eventually may end up, but he also thinks The WB will `step up to the plate' when renewal talks begin near the end of this season. `I think `Buffy' can take its audience wherever it goes, but I am happy where I am [at The WB], and I'm hoping that something can be worked out,' Mr. Whedon said.

Mr. Whedon's confidence in 20th handling the renewal negotiations also matches his satisfaction in the synergistic back-end deal it struck with the FX cable network, which is estimated to have bought the Monday-through-Friday run of BUFFY at $650,000 per episode. Syndication division 20th Television has also sold the show to more than 200 stations for weekend barter-supported advertising runs starting in fall 2001.

`Let me say, I think the price we got for `Buffy' in the back-end seemed pretty high and competitive with other premium entering the market recently,' Mr. Whedon said. `I would have to say it was a good deal all the way around.' Positive comments coming from Mr. Whedon are in notable contrast to an acrimonious breakup of NYPD BLUE Creator/Producer Steven Bochco's production deal with 20th."