menuBarBack
Beam Up News | Join | Your Account
Home
Advanced Search
boxBottom
News Tribblets
boxBottom
Stardates Calendar
News Story

Features

TV Guide: Paramount Cut ENT Price Tag in Half to Secure Fourth Season on UPN

Features

By BWilliams / 17:23, 14 June 2004 / Enterprise

The license fee for the upcoming fourth season of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE will be substantially cut, according to a report from TV Guide.

The report, which will appear in the June 20-26 edition of TV Guide, cites industry sources as reporting that Paramount renewed ENTERPRISE, which had struggled in the ratings during its third season, on the offer that the fee UPN pays would be reduced from $1.7 million per episode to $800,000 per episode.

UPN is moving ENTERPRISE from its Wednesday night time slot, replacing the series with AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL, followed by the new series KEVIN HILL. ENTERPRISE is currently scheduled to air on Friday nights at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time, where UPN's ratings have been extremely poor. Paramount has sought a fourth season of ENTERPRISE in an attempt to secure syndication rights, according to the piece. In addition, TV Guide suggests that Paramount's merchandising income may have been a significant incentive to renew the show.

"STAR TREK video games, books, doll and other collectibles ring up about $200 million a year in retail sales, bringing in royalties of $20 million to Paramount," writes the magazine's Stephen Battagilo. "When Adams Media Research ranked the 50 all-time best-selling TV show DVD box sets last year, nine were collections of STAR TREK seasons-selling at $129 and $139 a pop and each putting more than $4 million in the studios coffers."

Although the magazine offers no word on the actual budget for the series, cutting the fee for each episode by half could mean a lot less money to spread around. Creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga surely take a hefty fee for each episode, but with Braga stepping back from his show running position, Paramount may be saving on at least one of their salaries. Whether star Scott Bakula or any of the other actors will be receiving a pay cut has not been announced. There could also be a lot less of the award-winning visual effects and production work that have brought home the show's only Emmy accolades.

Stay tuned to StarTrek.com and TrekWeb for the latest news on ENTERPRISE's fourth season. Thanks to 'Craig Morris' for the transcript.



More Top StoriesComments
Nov 22Exclusive Digital Content Now Available With New Star Trek Movie on iTunes
0
Nov 22Star Trek Online MMORPG Producer Talks Space Combat and Away Missions0
Nov 21Faran Tahir on His 10 Minutes as Captain Robau in J.J. Abrams Star Trek Movie2
Nov 21J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman on Shatner and Nimoy7
Nov 21Roberto Orci on the Status of the Star Trek XII Script and the Possibility of Producing a New Star Trek TV Series17
Story Archives...Browse:   
ENTERPRISE Mission Schedule | Logs by Season: 1 2 3 4
Episode Number Title Airdate

Talkback

31 comments Post New | Help
View:

Budget limitations = quality stories | Report this post to moderator
By: J'Onn (Odo's file, contact) @ 09:19:59 on Jun 15, 2004

I'm actually excited, this may be the best news I've ever heard concerning Enterprise!


"Art thrives on limitations.."

- Nicholas Meyer, Director

--------

"Let's make sure that history never forgets the name.. Enterprise"

Reply
Reply
Quote
Quote
Parent
Parent
Talkback Top
Top
Promenade










TrekWeb Merchants
Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.ca
Amazon.de
Barnes & Noble

Get Firefox!
Privacy Policy | About Us | Legal Notice | Contact Us | | Get Firefox!
© 1996-2009 TrekWeb.com and Steve Krutzler. All rights reserved.