"Unlikely" is how the New York Times termed today's reported partnership between returning radio pariah Don Imus and RFD-TV, a 24-hour network celebrating the early-rising country life, broadcasting shows called I Love Toy Trains and The Johnnie High Country Music Revue. I wouldn't be so sure.Launched in 2000, RFD is reportedly already available in some 30 million American homes, about 10 million fewer homes than HBO. And you can expect that to change. This deal is obviously a major coup for RFD -- whose audience will likely be fairly forgiving toward Mr. Imus -- and gives the network much stronger leverage as it pursues carriage through Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA) and Time Warner Cable Inc. (NYSE: TWC).
Terms of the arrangement have not been disclosed, as the final deal has yet to be struck. One Times source expects RFD to pay as much as $5 million annually for the five-year deal, which, along with Imus' radio contract with Citadel Broadcasting Corporation (NYSE: CDL), would nearly match his earnings from CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS) Radio before the network yanked him this spring.
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