HBO Shopping 'True Blood' to Basic Cablers

Premium network confirms it has held pitch meetings for its highest-rated original series

By Paige Albiniak and Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/22/2010 8:34:53 PM

EXCLUSIVE: HBO is officially shopping its campy vamp drama True Blood to basic cable networks, a network spokesman confirmed June 22. The network has held meetings to pitch the show, but it hasn't been sold yet and a premiere date has not been set.

Charles Schreger, president of HBO Enterprises, is leading the network's efforts to sell the show domestically.

True Blood's third season premiered on Sunday, June 13, with 5.1 million viewers tuning in. That was up nearly 40% from the season-two opener, which was the network's most-watched series episode since The Sopranos went off the air in June 2007.

HBO announced June 21 that it had picked up the show for a fourth season, although sources say that renewal had been a done deal for weeks in light of the show's popularity. Season four is due to premiere next summer.

True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris' Southern vampire mysteries, stars Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress who has a vampire for a boyfriend (Stephen Moyer) and frequently finds herself drawn into the affairs of supernatural creatures in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana. It also stars Ryan Kwanten, Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell, Rutina Welsey and Nelsan Ellis.

True Blood is created and executive produced by Alan Ball, who also created another HBO hit, Six Feet Under.