July 21, 1999
Web posted at: 3:14 p.m. EDT (1914 GMT)

• Report: Price tag for 'Friends' goes up
• 'Blair' scares Universal, Warner Bros.
• Entertainment big wigs ask court to sink Hong Kong pirates
• Remaining NABET units ratify contract with ABC

The cast of "Friends" gathers for a curtain call after taping this season's finale

NEW YORK (CNN) -- NBC is reportedly going to have to pay a lot more to keep its "Friends." Variety reports the peacock network has agreed to fork over $5 million an episode to keep the primetime Thursday sitcom on the air through mid-2002 -- $2 million dollars more than it currently pays Warner Bros. Television, which produces the show.

The $5 million-per-episode fee would be the second-most lucrative license fee agreement for a sitcom in modern TV history. The most expensive deal also belongs to NBC, which paid $5.5 million per episode for "Seinfeld" during that show's final season.

A salary deal must still be brokered with the six stars of "Friends," who have yet to renew their contracts beyond the 1999-2000 season. Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer each make about $100,000 a show and should be able to command at least $250,000 each for one or two more years, industry insiders say.

"The Blair Witch Project"

LOS ANGELES (CNN) -- "The Blair Witch Project" is scaring two major studios into reshuffling their schedules.

The shoestring Artisan horror flick had a tremendous limited debut last weekend, and it's slated to expand to 800 screens on July 30. Rather than go up against it, Universal has postponed the release of the superhero comedy "Mystery Men" by a week, to August 6. Warner Bros. will try another tactic: It's moving its release of the shark thriller "Deep Blue Sea" from July 30 to July 28 to get a jump on the crowds.

Even without network TV advertising, "Blair Witch" earned $1.5 million in 27 theaters over the weekend, with an average of $56,002 per screen. Its initial take was more than enough to cover its very low budget, reported to be between $25,000 and $100,000.

"Blair Witch" is expected to go onto an additional 1,000 screens on August 6 when MGM's "The Thomas Crown Affair," Disney's "The Sixth Sense" and Warner Bros.' "The Iron Giant" all open wide.

HONG KONG (CNN) -- Music and movie pirates in Hong Kong are facing more opposition, as major names in the U.S. film industry and international music companies have joined a lawsuit against alleged manufacturers of bogus discs and videos.

The U.S.-based Motion Picture Association and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry filed suit in Hong Kong's High Court against five companies and six individuals for unspecified damages and costs, executives said in a statement distributed Wednesday.

The film and music companies want court orders to stop the pirates from further production and distribution. This marks the first time members of the two industries had filed a joint civil lawsuit.

The movie and music executives says they're pursuing companies and individuals targeted in the Hong Kong government's seizure in April 1998 of more than $128 million worth of pirated discs and production equipment.

The U.S. motion picture industry said it lost $30 million dollars last year because of the pirates. The recording industry estimates a $70 million loss.

The Motion Picture Association includes all major U.S. film producers, while the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry includes Hong Kong affiliates of major international recording companies.

The companies taking the pirates to court include Warner Bros., Warner Music, Sony, Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox and United Artists.

Union members went on strike in November outside ABC News studios

NEW YORK (AP) -- The union representing behind-the-scenes employees at ABC says five bargaining units have changed their positions and ratified a contract with the network.

After reaching a tentative agreement with ABC last month, the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians submitted the deal to a vote by the 1,400 members of NABET units in New York, Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Those units had initially rejected the agreement.

The new contracts now become part of the master agreement between ABC and NABET, which represents 2,400 camera operators, engineers, producers and other workers at the network. The agreement runs through March 31, 2003 and covers those five units as well as the seven units already under contract after ratifying the package in February.

NABET members in the five units had been without a contract since March 1997.

The dispute turned ugly in November when a one-day strike over health benefits led to an 11-day lockout, in which ABC used temporary workers.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.