
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 24, 1990                   TAG: 9003232184
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: E-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES                                LENGTH: Medium

`COSBY SHOW' SEEKS HUGE RENEWAL BONUS

Producers of "The Cosby Show" asked NBC for a $100 million signing bonus to renew the high-rated comedy series for a seventh season, but have dropped their request to $25 million, a newspaper reported today.

Marcy Carsey and Tom Werner have spent the past eight weeks in negotiations with Brandon Tarti- When you're talking about renewing the No. 1-rated show in television, it's a question of how high you're willing to go. They have one level and we have another level. Brandon Tartikoff NBC entertainment chief koff, entertainment chief for the National Broadcasting Co., the Los Angeles Times reported.

David Brokaw, a spokesman for Carsey-Werner, said it is "the company's policy not to comment on matters of this kind."

Tartikoff also declined to comment, but said money is the main dispute in the final rounds of renewal negotiations.

"When you're talking about renewing the No. 1-rated show in television, it's a question of how high you're willing to go. They have one level and we have another level," Tartikoff said.

He made the comments last week after presenting NBC's fall development projects to advertisers.

"Cosby" has reportedly earned $575 million so far for NBC, and that amount is expected to increase substantially each year the show is on the network, the newspaper said.

The series is filmed in New York and centers around the Huxtable family: an obstetrician, his wife and their five children.

Sources close to the seesaw negotiations said they began initially with Carsey-Werner asking for a $100 million signing bonus, and NBC seeking a two-year renewal, the newspaper reported.

The producers then countered with a request for a $75 million bonus and a one-year renewal. They also wanted NBC to pay $1 million an episode to cover all "direct costs" associated with the show, the Times reported.

Carsey-Werner then considered dropping the bonus request, if the network agreed to hike its license fee to $3 million per 30-minute show, but NBC declined.

by CNB