Analysts unconcerned about stars’ skyrocketing salaries

TV industry analysts are not concerned about the trend by network executives to pay stars of successful series million-dollar salaries in order to keep them. Their comments appeared in Thursday’s New York Daily News following recent revelations that Frasier star Kelsey Grammer had signed a deal for $1.6 million per episode, that Ray Romano sealed a $40-million deal and that Drew Carey will receive $750,000 per episode. “The size of these contracts may sound astronomical, but within the networks’ business plan, they’re not out of control,” media analyst Tom DeCabia of ad firm Advanswers/PHD told the newspaper. “When you have a star like Kelsey Grammer, you want to hold on to him.” And Robert Thompson of Syracuse University’s Center for the Study of Popular Television remarked, “There are so few icons left in network TV that networks are desperately trying to hold on to what they’ve got.”