Rainbow brightens its stripes: channels like Bravo rarely push the envelope; under Sapan, though, there's a more ambitious agenda-and NBC may want Bravo. (Cover Story).(Brief Article)

Broadcasting & Cable, October, 2002 by Romano, Allison

for years, the cornerstone show on Bravo has been Inside the Actor's Studio, an hour-long, endlessly fawning interview of some major movie stars. It costs the network around $125,000 an episode. And for years, that was pretty much at the high end of Bravo's programming budget.

That will change. Next fail, Bravo takes a huge financial plunge, debuting off-net episodes of one of NBC's signature series, The West Wing. Bravo is paying a hair-raising $1.2 million per episode. That's at least $105 million for four seasons' worth of episodes, a record price for an hour drama at the time the deal was cut.

That bet isn't limited to Bravo, but a reflection of a philosophical transformation at the network's parent, Rainbow Media. For years, Rainbow...

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