25 seasons, 530 episodes, Simpsons continues

Fox targets $1 billion for Simpsons sale to cable and stations, says a source.

LOS ANGELES: With The Simpsons entering its 25th season, the yellow animated characters continue to shine on screen and are not ready to leave. A show that most of us grew up watching and still watch, has about 530 episodes till date and the number is expected to grow further as a new agreement has surfaced.

Twentieth Television, a unit of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox, plans to market re-runs of the Fox network’s long-running animated comedy The Simpsons. They are targeting a package of up to $1 billion, a person with knowledge of the plans said on Monday.



The studio first syndicated the show featuring Bart and Homer Simpson to TV stations in 1998. The new deal would license re-runs to stations and cable channels at the same time, the person said. The show’s creator Matt Groening would share in the proceeds.

The show features a family of five fictional characters — Homer Simpson (dad), Marge Simpson (mom), Bart (son), Lisa (daughter) and Maggie (baby daughter) — who live in a small town called Springfield and each episode is a new adventure of theirs. Other characters on the show include Apu (an Indian), Milhouse (Bart’s friend), Ned Flanders (their neighbour), Skinner (school principal), Krusty the Clown and several others.

News of the marketing effort was first reported in TV Guide.

The company’s fx cable channel is expected to have first claim to the show. Other potential buyers are Viacom, whose cable properties include Comedy Central and Nick at Nite, and Turner Broadcasting.

A Fox spokesman had no comment.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2013.

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