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"Earl" Goes Off-Net To TBS

Twentieth Television has reached an off-network deal that will bring "My Name is Earl" to TBS. The cable network will get a simultaneous launch with stations in the fall of 2009 and is thought to have bid more than $600,000 per episode. Twentieth declines to comment on price, but will wait until the fall, after Tribune enters the market, to roll out "Earl" to broadcast stations.

But Twentieth President Bob Cook says the studio's sister Fox stations have already made an offer "that we would entertain." With two syndicators making off-net sitcom sales to Turner the same day, cable seems to have become a big player in the off-net comedy sales market.

"The reason we went with cable first is that we had multiple bidders," Cook says. "We hadn't gone with broadcast since Tribune told us that they wouldn't be paying for product until fall."

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