Spike Looks For Bite Of Big Apple

Spike TV is on the cusp of securing the cable syndication rights to CSI: New York for a record sum.

The cable network, which also owns the rerun rights to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, is reportedly in negotiations with CSI: New York distributor King World to acquire the Big Apple series for $1.9 million an episode, according to Hollywood Reporter. If the deal goes through, it would be the highest price ever paid for the cable syndication rights of a prime-time television series.

The $1.9 million price tag is $300,000 more than the $1.6 million Spike reportedly coughed up to secure the privilege of airing CSI episodes in 2002. After originally being restricted to non prime-time periods, the series began showing five nights a week in September this year. The rights to CSI: Miami were snapped up by the A&E Network in 2003 for a reported $1 million an episode, with the airings kicking off last month (story).

King World's pact with Spike TV reportedly allows the network to start showing CSI: New York once a week in fall 2005, with episodes airing daily in prime-time slots from fall 2008. When CSI: Miami's deal was announced last year, the Hollywood Reporter commented that it was "almost unheard of" for a series to be sold into syndication in its first year. But the New York pact will surely be a new record, since the spin-off hasn't yet broken the ten episode mark.

The original report can be found here at Yahoo! News.

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