• Los Angeles Times, Thursday, January 7, 2010 10:37 PM

News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox is near a deal to sell the commercial TV rights to Jim Cameron's runaway hit "Avatar" to sister cable network FX, people close to the situation say.

While nothing is finalized yet, he price tag on the movie could be $25 million over several years. That one News Corp. unit, FX, is buying a movie from a sister unit, 20th Century Fox, is no surprise. There are some concerns: The movie runs over two hours, which means when commercials are added, it will be a four-hour event. Then there is the 3-D factor and whether the movie will hold the same appeal to viewers in regular TV. Finally, by the time the movie hits commercial TV, it will have been out on DVD, video-on-demand and HBO. It will probably be two years, if not longer, until FX gets it.

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