Joey finds friends in UK
Joey from Friends: the presence of Matt Le Blanc in the show should guarantee Friends fans' support
Friends spin-off Joey is expected to fetch $1m an episode in the UK after makers Warner Bros triggered a bidding war between Channel 4, Channel Five and BSkyB.
Warner Bros effectively put the show up for auction today after a period of exclusive negotiations with Channel 4 ended without an agreement being reached.
Channel 4, Five and BSkyB are all expected to pitch for the show, which is to be broadcast on NBC in the US.
The Hollywood studio is understood to be looking for a bid of around $1m (£550,000) per episode of the 30-minute sitcom, in which Friends star Matt Le Blanc's character, Joey Tribbiani, moves from New York to Los Angeles to pursue his acting career.
In the UK programme acquisitions market, any figure of more than £100,000 per episode for a 30-minute US import is regarded as a lot of money by broadcasters.
So it remains to be seen whether a British broadcaster will meet Warner Bros' asking price for a show that is still largely an unknown quantity, despite the likelihood that Friends fans will be willing to give it a try because of Le Blanc's presence.
Earlier this year BSkyB is believed to have paid £10m for the 24-part third series of thriller 24, which works out at just over £400,000 per 60-minute episode, after seeing off Channel 4 in a bidding war.
And two years ago Channel 4 outbid Five to snatch the terrestrial rights for The Simpsons from the BBC, a deal in which it reportedly paid $1m per new episode of the long-running animated comedy.
However, Channel 4 argues that when the rights to numerous repeats of each episode are taken into account, the actual price per transmission of The Simpsons is much less.
The Simpsons is also a pretty unique property in that the programme comes with a library of more than 300 episodes, which when repeated attract nearly as many viewers as new episodes.
Warner Bros showed the Joey pilot to British buyers at the Los Angeles screenings for new US shows last month and it received reasonable reviews - the general view seeming to be that it was pretty good, but no Friends.
mediaguardian
