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C4 drops out of Joey bidding war
Joey: bidding was expected to start at around £100,000 an episode

Channel 4, the home of Friends for 10 years, has decided to pull out of the bidding war for spin-off comedy Joey, starring Matt Le Blanc, after a rival broadcaster put in a knockout offer for the show.
The network was believed to be in pole position to acquire Joey, because it had a deal with Hollywood studio Warner Bros giving it a period - believed to be 24 hours - in which it could match any bids from rival British broadcasters.

However, after another broadcaster tabled a bid earlier this week the network has ducked out of the fight altogether.

One Channel 4 insider described the bid for the show as "excessive and ludicrous".

Channel 4's decision opens the way for another UK broadcaster to snap up the show, with Five and ITV believed to be the other leading contenders in the bidding.

"Channel 4 has understandably been linked with this series given the huge success we enjoyed with Friends and our long association with Warner Bros," said Channel 4's controller of acquisitions, June Dromgoole.

"We had an exclusive negotiating period and have been in talks with Warner Bros - but ultimately we could not reconcile the value they placed on the show with our assessment of its audience potential so we have decided not to take these discussions any further," Ms Dromgoole added.

Bidding for the UK rights to Joey was expected to begin at around £100,000 per episode - or £2.2m for the 22-part first series US network NBC has ordered from Warner Bros.

However, Warner Bros is understood to be looking for around $1m - £550,000 - per episode for Joey, although the sitcom would not be commercially viable above $350,000 - £190,000 - per half hour, according to a source at one of the UK bidders.

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.

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 opinion seeming to be that it was pretty good, but no Friends.

However, Channel 4's director of programmes, Kevin Lygo, is not believed to be a big fan of the show.

Spin-offs from successful shows also have a chequered history - Frasier, which grew out of Cheers, and the hit spin-off from CSI being among the notable exceptions in recent years.

Joey centres on the efforts of Le Blanc's Friends character, Joey Tribbiani, to further his acting career after he moves from New York to Los Angeles
mediaguardian

Five digs deep to win war for Joey



Channel Five has won the bidding war for Joey, the Friends spin-off starring Matt Le Blanc, after Channel 4 pulled out of negotiations as bidding went to an extraordinary £250,000 an episode.
Landing Joey - which sparked more interest among UK buyers than any new US show for some years - is something of a coup for Five, which is looking for hits such as CSI - another American import - to keep its audience share rising towards 7%.

Five is sure to back the UK launch of Joey early next year with a big marketing campaign based around the high recognition factor for Le Blanc's character - who, after 10 years in Friends, is one of the best known faces on TV.

But the Joey acquisition is also something of a gamble for Five, which has bought the show after only seeing a pilot.

US network NBC has ordered a full 22-part series run of Joey for the autumn, but many American shows are axed after only a few episodes if they do not get good enough ratings.

And it remains to be seen whether Le Blanc will be able to carry a sitcom on his own, away from the ensemble cast that made Friends such a durable hit.

Five declined to comment on what it paid for Joey, but according to industry estimates the figure is more than £250,000 per episode.

This is a lot of money for a US import, with UK broadcasters normally reluctant to pay more than £100,000 an episode.

As part of the Joey deal with Hollywood studio Warner Bros, Five has also bought Charlie Sheen sitcom Two and a Half Men.

The two US sitcoms will be broadcast in a new weekly Five comedy hour, which is likely to be launched in February next year.
mediaguardian

that's crazy. i hope Five do better, but i bet joey will be a flop. i think the only reason any of the characters worked in Friends was because the other five were there to bounce off.