Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Goes Off-Network
NBC Universal Offers Series Following in Footsteps of Sibling Law & Order: Criminal Intent
By Paige Albiniak -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/28/2008 4:15:00 PM
Following in the footsteps of its sibling, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, NBC Universal is offering TV stations weekday runs of its primetime procedural, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for fall 2009.
Stations from the Fox group picked up the off-network procedural drama in New York; Los Angeles; Chicago; Dallas; Washington, D.C.; Houston; Phoenix; Minneapolis; Orlando, Fla.; and Baltimore, joining stations from the CBS, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Sunbeam Television, Granite Broadcasting, Hearst-Argyle Television, Local TV and Belo broadcast groups.
Fox already airs Law & Order: CI on weekdays in select markets, where it averages a 1.5 live-plus-same-day national household rating, according to Nielsen Media Research. That’s far less than the ratings averages garnered by the top 10 off-net sitcoms but similar to what Twentieth’s COPS -- an hour-long off-net unscripted drama -- averages at a 1.7.
Law & Order: SVU premiered in weekend broadcast syndication last fall, where it hit a 3.4 household average in the week ending April 13. That makes SVU the second-highest rated weekly off-net drama behind only CBS’ CSI: Miami.
