Turner Program Service said last week it has cleared Wonder Years in 107 markets covering 85% of the country. TPS began selling the show to stations in August 1990 for cash plus barter.
After clearing the top three markets ((WPIX-TV New York, KTTV[TV] Los Angeles and WFLD-TV Chicago) the sales pace slowed in the face of cash-poor stations and an abundance of available sitcoms for syndication, such as Designing Women and Family Matters, that were offered on a more attractive all-barter basis to stations.
"Our start was very good but then we hit a lull," said Russ Barry, president, TPS. "We got up to about 30% coverage and then the market got very cautious and very difficult."
Barry said a lot of stations wanted to wait and see how other new sitcoms, such as Full House and Married ... with Children, were performing in the market before making a decision.
Sources said that TPS was accepting a lot less cash in many of the recent
deals in order to get the show cleared. Barry admitted that the cash license
fees "were not as good as we expected." But he also said the company "hoped
to exceed the goal" of $1 million per episode for the show when the cash
and
barter elements are combined.
"The barter is yet to be determined," he said, and will depend on the performance of the program. TPS has already sold a large chunk of the barter to Kraft General Foods (roughly 38%).
Barry said he expects the show will be cleared in 90% of the country by next fall, and projected a national household rating of 5-6.
Turner acquired the domestic syndication rights for the show in 1990
from New World Television for a reported $100 million guarantee.