• Variety, Tuesday, November 25, 2008 9:30 AM

Fox will program two hours of infomercials on Saturday mornings starting in January. It's believed to be the first time a major network has slated full-blown, program-length advertisements on its schedule.

The move follows an out-of-court legal settlement in which Fox terminated its deal with children's TV producer 4Kids, which had been programming Fox's Saturday morning kids block. Fox opted to return two hours of the block to affiliates, and program the other two with long-form advertising.

Long term, the net hopes to fill the slots by sealing deals with major marketers to create more traditional-looking programs that weave in advertising messages. Those would not be infomercials, but content that highlights certain products. In that regard, "it will have a little better quality," says Fox chairman Tony Vinciquerra. Affiliates associates chairman Brian Jones supports the network's decision to program the infomercials -- but believes the move is a "short-term type of answer."

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