The program's sister magazine, launched six years ago by Time Inc.

Under AOLTimeWarner, it'll still be That Old Program

Originally published in Current, March 26, 2001
By Steve Behrens

Some time this year, the producer and hosts of This Old House will stop working for WGBH, Boston, and start working for AOL Time Warner's Time Inc., but viewers won't see the difference, according to WGBH spokeswoman Jeanne Hopkins.

The sale agreement, announced last month but not yet nailed down, will keep the exclusive first run of the series on PBS "well into the next decade," the two companies said in a press release. The exact term of that arrangement has not been agreed upon, Hopkins said. Episodes now go into commercial syndication after three years, and Hopkins said that may continue. Old episodes are now carried on Home & Garden Television Network.

The deal gives WGBH a series of payments over the years, Hopkins said, but she declined to reveal the amounts, which she called "proprietary information." Time Inc. will have the advantage of combining the content staffs of the TV show and the magazine of the same name, which it has published for six years under license from WGBH.

Executive Producer Russ Morash will do This Old House for Time Inc. and continue to work for WGBH as a contractor on two other programs he created, The Victory Garden and The New Yankee Workshop, Hopkins said. WGBH will still handle promotion and station relations for the series.

	.	To Current's home page
	.	Earlier news: Morash virtually invented how-to TV, starting with Julia Child's first series.
	.	Earlier news: In other business decisions by producers, programs like The Magic School Bus have left public TV entirely.
	.	Outside link: Websites of This Old House public TV program and This Old House Magazine.

Web page posted March 31, 2001
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