‘Friends’ Keep Bond Alive for 10th Season

“Friends” will return for a 10th season in a deal in which NBC will pay as much as $10 million an episode -- the highest price ever for a 30-minute show, and a sign of just how desperate the network is to cling to the hit comedy.

NBC will likely lose money on the tentative new deal. But the network couldn’t afford to let the sitcom get away before it finds a substitute that would enable it to continue domination of Thursday nights. Its “Must-See TV” slates on Thursdays over the years have included “The Cosby Show,” “Cheers” and “Seinfeld.”

Even though the six-member cast and the network had publicly announced that this season likely would be its last, the behind-the-scenes courting had already begun.

And when Jennifer Aniston and others began expressing sadness at the end of the show, with a few cast members hinting that they might want to continue a bit longer, the network pounced.

The tentative deal with Warner Bros. is for 18 new episodes; that’s fewer than the 22 NBC had been seeking, but it’s a compromise that was acceptable to the network and the cast members, who have begun pondering life beyond the sitcom.

Aniston, in particular, was reluctant to commit to a full season because she wants to start a family with husband Brad Pitt, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

Cast members, who already earn $1 million an episode, are not expected to get raises, sources said.

A Warner Bros. spokeswoman confirmed, “We have a tentative agreement,” but declined to comment on any specifics. NBC officials also declined to comment.

The deal marks the end -- at least for now -- to one of the season’s most anticipated decisions.

The cast has been questioned endlessly about whether this season would truly be the last.

The close-knit cast members -- Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox Arquette, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry -- talked about future acting opportunities but never seemed truly ready to give up the show for good.

And that was good news for NBC.

The reality is that there is no way of putting a price tag on “Friends.”

It is television’s most-watched sitcom, and draws the highest viewership overall among the young adults most prized by advertisers. It also gives the network a built-in platform from which it can promote other series.

The return of “Friends” now means that ABC, CBS and Fox will have to wait at least another year before they can start to give NBC real competition on Thursdays.

“If they lose ‘Friends,’ then they’re much more susceptible -- not only to losing Thursday night, but slipping versus the other networks on an average weekly basis,” said Stacey Lynn Koerner, an analyst at Initiative Media, the media-buying arm of Interpublic Group of Cos.

For NBC, the race is now on to develop a replacement.

Although the hospital comedy “Scrubs” has shown some recent momentum, it is not considered a sure successor to “Friends.”

“Will & Grace” appears to have reached its peak, and none of NBC’s other comedies is strong enough to anchor the night.

In fact, some top executives at rival networks had long speculated that the curtain would not come down on “Friends” in May because the series is far too valuable to NBC and Warner Bros.

Although the “Friends” deal is unprecedented, it echoes the $500-million agreement in 2000 that enabled NBC to keep “ER” on its schedule for three more years, continuing one of TV’s most-watched dramatic series at least through 2004.

Despite the success in bringing back “Friends,” NBC and Warner Bros. are not out of the money woods yet.

Still looming is the renegotiation for the Emmy-winning political drama “The West Wing,” which is expected to be another costly deal for both of them.

The “Friends” deal underscores the widening gap between television’s haves and have-nots.

Though certain hit shows generate large license fees, the networks try to make up that cost by programming greater numbers of inexpensive “reality” shows such as “Fear Factor,” “Amazing Race” and “Survivor,” which are far cheaper to produce.

Still, it’s not likely that the record sum “Friends” commands will drive up the price for renewals of other hits.

Networks tend to own most of their hit shows, while “Friends” is produced by Warner Bros.

Under the tentative agreement, the network will pay Warner Bros. an estimated $10 million per episode in licensing fees, an increase from the current $7 million, said an insider familiar with the negotiations.

NBC is paying the extra millions to cover Warner Bros.’ production costs, which are estimated to be more than $9 million an episode, including cast members’ salaries.

Even though “Friends” can command an average of $450,000 per advertising minute, that still amounts to only about $7 million per episode.

The studio had previously been making up the difference by selling the episodes into syndication, but those deals are not expected to be extended because the costs are simply too high for local stations.

Under the complicated syndication arrangement currently in place, stations, including groups such as Tribune Co. -- which also owns the Los Angeles Times -- already pay an aggregate $4 million an episode for the so-called first cycle of reruns.

They will pay about 40% less for a second cycle of reruns that they have already committed to, beginning at the end of 2004. But if they agree to take a 10th year of episodes, the second cycle will be delayed for 18 months into 2006, meaning they will be paying an extra 40% per episode during that period, something they don’t want to do.

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Times staff writer Brian Lowry and Bloomberg News contributed to this report.