Business

Nets: in with the new

The broadcast networks are spending big on new pilots to make up for this year’s dearth of hits.

By most accounts, the major networks ordered up a record number of new series this year.

The lengthy list includes 45 scripted series for the new fall season, 10 more than last year.

They will debut 25 new shows in the first half of the season alone — 18 more than last year, according to UBS analyst John Janedis.

ABC will launch eight shows in fall, while Fox and NBC will each add six. CBS, the top-rated network, has the fewest changes. More new shows will debut in mid-season.

It typically costs a network $5 million per episode for a drama and $3 million for a comedy or sitcom. There’s also the huge marketing outlay come September.

One top media executive wondered if the networks had blown much of the $3 billion in retransmission dollars — the fees networks get from cable and satellite-TV operators to carry their channels — in their bid to deliver new hits.