Comedy Central last week signed an exclusive repurposing deal to rebroadcast NBC's Late Night With Conan O'Brien.

Late Night will begin to appear on Comedy Central on Sept. 3. The cable network will air NBC's late-night episode during an early-evening time slot the following day. The same Late Night will appear again a day later during the day.

Comedy Central will pay NBC an undisclosed license fee.

The deal gives Comedy Central another program featuring timely, topical humor. The network figures a good chunk of its audience, particularly its older viewers, aren't staying up till 12:30 a.m. to watch the show on NBC. The arrangement broadens the audience for Late Night and promotes its original appearance on NBC; it also helps strengthen Comedy Central's challenged prime-time-access lineup.

?The addition of Late Night With Conan O'Brien to our lineup within a day of its original broadcast on NBC supports a new acquisitions strategy at Comedy Central that will emphasize more current, cutting-edge, brand-supporting comedy programming with a quality and sensibility that complements our portfolio of original programs,? Comedy Central EVP and general manager Bill Hilary said in a statement.

Last week Comedy Central also said its affiliate sales team will help secure distribution for the Tennis Channel under an unusual arrangement announced by the two networks last week.

The Tennis Channel will maintain its own relationships with MSOs and negotiate national contracts. Comedy Central's affiliate relations sales force will negotiate launches on a system-by-system basis and handle local marketing support.

Comedy Central will also negotiate charter affiliation agreements for the Tennis Channel with operators that are smaller than the top 15.

The Tennis Channel will pay Comedy Central a combination of fixed-base fees and incentivized compensation.

?This is a great deal for the Tennis Channel, especially in this new, digital era,? said David Meister, chairman and CEO of the Tennis Channel, in a statement. ?Using Comedy Central will save the Tennis Channel a lot of money, allowing us to keep rates low.?

Meister added that the Tennis Channel will maintain key relationships with the largest MSOs. ?Since they represent more than 98% of all cable subscribers, we will clearly control our own financial destiny,? he said.

The Tennis Channel plans to launch this fall. Its investors include former Viacom executives Frank Biondi, Philippe Daumann and Tom Dooley, sports marketing company IMG and tennis champion Pete Sampras.

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