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NBC is turning over a two-hour block on its prime time schedule to an outside production company for docudramas that will air back to back. The deal will give two, and perhaps three, hours of prime time scheduling to the producer of such popular cable shows as Deadliest Catch and Monster Garage.
The producer, Thom Beers, of Beers and BermanBraun, calls the deal “totally unique” with “tons of potential,” according to the Los Angeles Times.
The block may air on Saturdays, but NBC has not definitively nailed down a night yet.
The deal guarantees Beers and his partners 30 hours of programs on NBC, made up of three separate, 10-episode series.
The 30 hours come at a fraction of the cost of standard network scripted or even reality programming, writes The New York Times.
The deal is not actually a first-of-its-kind for NBC. Five years ago, the network made a deal with Discovery Communications to provide Saturday morning programming, and producer Peter Engel also provided a Saturday morning block of shows that included Saved By the Bell, which began its run in the late eighties.
Networks are working to find more cost-effective ways to make shows, during a time when prime time ratings are falling.
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