Program Partners

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Jan. 30, 2006
CW setting stage for 'Crime' spree

By Kimberly Speight
Program Partners saw a flurry of sales on its two-hour procedural block "Crime Watch" after the news that WB Network and UPN would re-emerge in the fall as a single network.

The independent producer was at NATPE selling the weekly block — which consists of the Canadian procedurals dramas "Cold Squad" and "Stone Undercover" — and said the news gave business a boost as numerous soon-to-be-independent stations scrambled to fill time slots that would be empty in September once CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment launch their new CW network.

Program Partners said it "immediately brought in commitments" from such current WB affiliates as Granite's KBWB San Francisco and WDWB Detroit and Hearst-Argyle's KCRA/KQCA Sacramento (KCRA is an NBC affiliate; KQCA is a WB affiliate). The company added that it received a commitment from the WB 100+ Station Group, a collection of local cable channels that distributes the WB in smaller markets and might undergo a transformation as plans for the CW are firmed up.

In addition, the company has cleared the show on several other top-market stations, including such ABC O&Os as East Coast flagship WABC New York, WLS Chicago and WFAA Dallas. Other stations clearing the show — now sold in more than 60% of the U.S. — include several ABC affiliates, including Scripps' WFTS Tampa, Fla., and KNXV Phoenix, LIN's WTNH Hartford-New Haven, Conn., and Young's WKRN Nashville.

"We were the only guys who came to NATPE with a two-hour primetime block that was actually designed specifically to work in syndication as a two-hour primetime block," Program Partners principal Ritch Colbert said.

Program Partners — which also distributes the Canadian procedural "Da Vinci's Inquest" in the U.S. — said it's already in discussions to move up its timetable to offer more procedural crime dramas to meet what it's calling a "sudden and unexpected spike in demand."

Added Josh Raphaelson, the other principal in Program Partners: "It's going to take some time for this to sort itself out. But it still feels to us like we're in the right place at the right time."

The company will provide "Crime Watch" affiliates a choice of satellite feeds, with two different episodes of "Cold Squad" and one of "Stone Undercover" available each week. Program Partners is marketing both shows as well as "Inquest" as part of a worldwide distribution agreement with Thunderbird Films.