News Corp. Settles ‘NYPD Blue’ Suit Filed by Bochco

To avoid a courtroom showdown with writer-producer Steven Bochco, News Corp. has agreed to sell “NYPD Blue” reruns on the open market this fall and pull them off its FX cable channel if another bidder offers a higher price than what FX is paying, the company said Sunday.

The agreement settles a lawsuit scheduled to begin today in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Bochco, who produces the one-hour police drama under a long-term contract with News Corp.’s 20th Century Fox television studio, sued his partner last year, alleging that he was cheated out of millions because of the company’s failure to auction off reruns on the open market and making a sweetheart deal with its cable division.

The settlement marks the first time a sale of TV reruns has been reversed.

In this case, News Corp.’s television studio financed “NYPD Blue” under a long-term deal with Bochco, while its distribution arm sold the reruns to sister cable channel FX several years ago after the popular drama’s initial run on the ABC network was well underway.

“The dispute has been amicably resolved to the mutual benefit of all parties,” News Corp. said in a statement released Sunday night.

Complaints like Bochco’s have grown more common in this age of “vertically integrated” media companies that control all aspects of the creative process--not only producing movie and television content, but distributing it to consumers through a variety of broadcast and cable channels.

News Corp. settled a similar lawsuit last year brought by actor David Duchovny, who claimed that he was short-changed in the sale of reruns of the sci-fi drama, “The X-Files,” which also ended up airing on FX after its initial run on News Corp.’s Fox network.

Likewise, Walt Disney Co. settled a suit brought by the creators of “Home Improvement” that claimed the production studio gave its ABC broadcast network a sweetheart deal in renewing the hit comedy.

News Corp. would not release any terms of the settlement with Bochco, though both parties are expected to issue a joint statement sometime this week.

When FX ponied up to buy reruns of “NYPD Blue” reruns several years ago, it paid what was at the time a record price by a cable network for a TV show--about $400,000 an episode.

Bochco stood to make $80 million from the sale but claimed in his lawsuit, which was filed in September 1999, that he could have made more had Fox sought other bidders rather than favoring its own outlet.

In recent years, syndicated one-hour TV dramas have been fetching $1 million or more per episode from cable channels.

Bochco and News Corp. reached the settlement Friday night.