NBCU, Weinsteins, Lifetime Settle Runway Dispute

NEW YORK: NBC Universal, The Weinstein Company and Lifetime Television have settled their dispute over the reality TV hit Project Runway.

A year ago, NBC Universal initiated legal action to prevent The Weinstein Company from moving Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime. At the time, NBCU said it had "continuing legal rights related to Project Runway, including a right of first refusal to future cycles of the series." The five-year deal between the Weinsteins and Lifetime should have moved the show to the female-oriented cable channel in November 2008. 

As part of the settlement announced late yesterday, The Weinstein Company will pay NBCU for the right to move Project Runway to Lifetime, which is expected to launch the show in August, after Bravo has rolled out its new series, The Fashion Show.

Harvey Weinstein said in a statement: "I want to personally congratulate Jeff Zucker and NBCU on their success in the litigation and thank Jeff for resolving this in a professional manner. We look forward to working together on our ongoing projects.”

Andrea Wong, the president and CEO of Lifetime Networks, added: "I couldn’t be more excited that Lifetime will bring its viewers an amazing, all-new season of Project Runway this summer.  As the highest-rated cable network for women, Lifetime is the perfect home for this outstanding program as well as its companion series Models of the Runway.  All of us at Lifetime are thrilled to move forward with Heidi, Tim, Nina, Michael, The Weinstein Company and the entire Project Runway team. We are proud to add these shows to our growing slate of original programming, including the hit series Army Wives, the all-new upcoming series Drop Dead Diva and our top-rated original movies."