ABC negocia la compra de los derechos de la entrevista de MJJ
ABC está negociando con Granada TV la adquisición de los derechos para retransmitir la entrevista de Michael Jackson con Martin Bashir en los Estados Unidos. La cadena ABC podria pagar entre 4 y 5 millones de dólares.
El interés de ABC por la retransmisión de la misma se justifica en las grandes audiencias que ha registrado Jackson en USA:
- El especial del MSG fue uno de los programas más vistos del año.
- La entrevista con Oprah Winfrey en ABC en 1993 atrajo a 62.29 millones de telespectadores.
- Su último chat con Diane Sawyer en el programa de la ABC: "PrimeTime Live" después de su matrimonio con Lisa Marie Presley en 1995 registró una audiencia de 37.5 millones de telespectadores.
Jacko talk isn't cheap
By STEPHEN BATTAGLIO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
ABC has won a frenzied bidding war for a British documentary looking inside the wacky world of Michael Jackson.
The network is believed to be paying between $4 million and $5 million for the program, which includes a series of no-holds-barred interviews with the bizarre entertainer, according to TV executives familiar with the deal.
All four major networks expressed interest in the documentary, but CBS and Fox dropped out. That left ABC and NBC to battle it out for the U.S rights.
The film's interviewer, British journalist Martin Bashir, was given unprecedented access to Jackson, spending eight months with him on the road and at his Neverland ranch in California.
In fact, the British press reported that Bashir was with Jackson when he dangled his son from the balcony of his Berlin hotel suite late last year.
The 90-minute program, produced by Granada Television, airs Feb. 3 on British broadcaster ITV.
Granada TV executives have said no subject was off-limits and Jackson was not paid for his participation. Jackson is shown in the film with his children and discusses his plastic surgeries, according to network executives who have seen the film.
"It has everything you'd want to hear," said one U.S. network executive familiar with the film.
The British press says he also addresses past child-abuse allegations.
While Jackson isn't a multiplatinum-selling recording artist anymore, he is still a major draw on TV. Public fascination with his freaky behavior is likely to attract mammoth ratings for the British show.
Jackson's concert from Madison Square Garden in 2001 for CBS was one of the highest-rated specials that year. Jackson's two previous TV interviews were also major events.
His sit-down with Oprah Winfrey on ABC in 1993 attracted 62.29 million viewers.
His last chat, with Diane Sawyer on ABC's "PrimeTime Live" after his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley in 1995, was watched by an audience of 37.5 million.
ABC will air the film during the February sweeps, the crucial ratings period used by local affiliate stations to set ad rates.
NBC already has a Jackson program in the sweeps pipeline — an hour-long "Dateline NBC" that deals with the performer's much-reconstructed face.
Fuente: NY Daily News
