'Project Runway' blocked from moving to Lifetime Networks from Bravo

By Meg James

Project Runway's" bolt to Lifetime Networks has hit a snag.

In a blow to the cable network and Weinstein Co., which produces the program, a New York state judge granted a preliminary injunction Friday to block the show's move to Lifetime -- at least for now. NBC Universal, which has run "Project Runway" on its Bravo channel for four years, sought the injunction by claiming that Weinstein Co. broke its promise to give NBC Universal an option to renew before handing the program to a competing network.


The case revealed the sloppy contracts, strong personalities and sharp elbows that are sometimes at work in the TV business.

During a court hearing over the summer, Weinstein Co. co-founder Harvey Weinstein testified that although he considered NBC Universal Chief Executive Jeff Zucker to be his "friend," Weinstein would rather "cut off my arm than give him right of first refusal."

In his decision, New York Supreme Court Justice Richard B. Lowe III wrote that Weinstein had falsely led Zucker to believe that "Project Runway" still was available, even though Weinstein had weeks earlier secretly entered into a deal, worth as much as $200 million, to sell the show to Lifetime. Lifetime is jointly owned by Walt Disney Co. and Hearst Corp.

'Project Runway' blocked from moving to Lifetime Networks from Bravo....