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Fashion Police
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Miss Universe Meets the Peacock
The Peacock network is trumpeting a $50 million five-year deal for a trio of beauty pageants, produced by that lover of blondes, mogul Donald Trump.
The troika of Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA have aired for many years on CBS--the first two since 1960, the later since 1983. But disappointed with recent Nielsens, the Eye blinked, or rather its ratings-hungry gaze refocused on the Victoria's Secret models. The network has laced up a deal to air the more hip lingerie trip down the runway this fall, despite the charges of indecency the so-called fashion show special attracted on ABC last year.
The March 1 telecast, which saw Shauntay Hinton from the District of Columbia crowned Miss USA, only pulled in 7.6 million viewers, the lowest in history and about half as many viewers as originally tuned in 1998, the first year of Trump's five-year deal with CBS. Shortly thereafter, the network told Trump it wouldn't renew the contract when it expires after current Miss Teen USA Marissa Whitley has to hand over her tiara on August 28.
NBC got interested last month, when the Miss Universe pageant entranced 11.3 million viewers and Russian brunette Oxana Fedorova donned the crown (which NBC may be pleased to know looks strikingly like a peacock's tail). That was the telecast's best showing since 12.3 million watched in 1998.
So the king of the deal closed the deal and sold the broadcast rights to NBC. Trump also bought back the 50 percent stake CBS had in the Miss Universe Organization, giving him full control of the trio of pageants.
"This is a great opportunity for us," Trump says in a statement. The pairing of NBC and Miss Universe, he declares, "is sure to be a winning combination."
The deal, beginning next year, allows NBC to also air the three beauty contests on its Telemundo, which will be the exclusive Spanish-language broadcaster for the pageants. Also ShopNBC will hawk tie-in products on television and the Internet, if you really want to purchase something like a kiwi-colored spaghetti strapped Miss Teen USA tank top.
Meanwhile, ABC will again telecast the Miss America Pageant in September. Oh, and isn't there a Miss World somewhere sometime for whoever it is who can't get enough of this stuff?
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