Reruns of “The Simpsons” will yield a 12.5 percent cut of the revenue generated online from those shows and other Fox programs.
Now that News Corp has managed to sign a new six-year agreement with its 187 affiliates, the Fox network should start catching up to its competitors in making shows like “American Idol” available on the Internet.
A Wall Street Journal report noted that in the complicated revenue-sharing scheme developed to provide affiliates with a piece of the action, those affiliates will receive 12.5 percent of revenue after costs.
The move is the latest step by News Corp to make use of its vast media properties and the Internet. While the company’s social networking site MySpace tends to attract the most attention, its television programming offers an even better way to create more ad inventory by making shows available online.
Fox understands that as well, and as noted in the article will bring its affiliates along for the ride:
“We have just about complete flexibility to exploit new distribution opportunities going forward,” said Peter Levinsohn, Fox’s president of digital media. “Now when we go into the marketplace we will be the only network with the whole support of our affiliate base.”
The move comes just a couple of days after The Walt Disney Company announced plans to broadcast shows from ABC and the Disney Channel online.
In that deal, advertising from sponsors like Procter & Gamble or Ford will occupy three one-minute blocks in an hour of programming. Unlike Fox, ABC has not yet worked out an affiliate revenue sharing model; those affiliates will certainly point out the Fox deal whenever the issue comes up in negotiations.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
