Friends repeats to stay on Comedy Central in UK after new deal

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/aug/12/friends-repeats-comedy-central-uk

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Friends is set to stay on Comedy Central UK for another four years after the pay-TV channel secured a new deal, despite rumours that ITV or Netflix might look to steal the rights to the US comedy franchise.

Comedy Central, which is run by Channel 5 owner Viacom, has struck a deal with Warner Bros TV distribution to continue hosting re-runs of the 10 series of Friends until 2019 in the UK.

The show, which retains a strong fanbase even 11 years after the last episode aired in the US, had been mooted as potentially a good fit for ITV2 to look to take on to boost its schedule.

It is also thought that Netflix ran the rule over the franchise to potentially boost its UK operation.

To mark the new deal Comedy Central is launching a week-long “FriendsFest” that will see a venue in Brick Lane, London, turned into the “ultimate Friends experience”.

This will include the recreation of the set of Monica’s apartment, played by Courtney Cox in the series, an exhibition of original props and the famous orange sofa featured in the show.

It was Comedy Central UK that swooped on the franchise, when Channel 4’s digital station E4 decided to shift investment to new shows such as Zooey Deschanel’s sitcom New Girl.

“Friends has become synonymous with Comedy Central in the minds of fans and so I’m thrilled we can continue to deliver them their favourite show,” said Jill Offman, managing director of Comedy Central UK. “We are also investing in the brand off-air and can’t wait to host FriendsFest, a week long interactive experience in central London this September.”

Since snapping up the show in 2011, Friends has quickly become core to Comedy Central’s schedule with 5.9 million viewers tuning in to catch a re-run of at least one episode each month.

Despite the fact that the last new episode aired in 2004, Comedy Central UK says that the share of viewing of the Friends franchise has risen 11% year on year so far in 2015.

“For 20 years Friends has been one of the most popular and enduring shows in the UK,” said Jeffrey Schlesinger, president of Warner Bros Worldwide TV distribution. “This great show continues to run contrary to all the usual trends for long running sitcoms by not only maintaining a loyal audience but attracting new fans, some of whom were not even alive when it was originally telecast. The performance and renewal on Comedy Central reinforces that Friends continues to be a culturally relevant programme, making it one of the few reliable hit shows that crosses generational lines and still attracts a large and diverse audience on linear television.”

The original show, which made household names of its stars including Jennifer Aniston, who played Rachel, and Chandler Bing, played by Matthew Perry, ran from 1994 to 2004.