Desperate Housewives - Stars Hold Out for Pay Raise in Drama at ABC

Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co.’s ABC, last in the ratings among the big broadcast networks this season, has been unable to renew its most-popular drama “Desperate Housewives” because of pay demands by three of the show’s stars.

Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Eva Longoria are seeking a raise, said three people with knowledge of the demands. Teri Hatcher has signed a new contract, said one of the people, who sought anonymity because the talks with ABC aren’t public. In August, TVGuide.com put their pay at $400,000 each per episode.

“Housewives,” an hour-long weekly drama featuring five women living on the deceptively idyllic Wisteria Lane, is ABC’s most-watched scripted show. The Sunday night program averages 13.1 million viewers a night and 5.75 million among the 18-to-49 year olds advertisers target. A 30-second ad costs about $210,000, second on ABC only to the $220,000 for “Grey’s Anatomy,” Ad Age magazine reported in October.

“There are a lot of moving parts, but we have ambitions to pick it up,” Paul Lee, president of ABC Entertainment, said in an interview this week at a TV critics meeting critic in Pasadena, California. “We expect to get the agreements in place but it just hasn’t happened yet.”

Source: businessweek