Variety is reporting that the ABC Family channel has paid $100 million for the cable rights to a big package of WB Network programming.  The lynchpin of the deal was the acquisition of cable TV rights to Smallville reruns.  ABC will pay a license fee of $400,000 per episode for Smallville -- a strong indication of the series' strong appeal to the key young demographic that all cable and broadcast networks are seeking.  ABC Family outbid the Sci Fi Channel and Spike TV to get the highly coveted rights to Smallville, the popular series based on Superman's high school years.

ABC Family will receive the rights to 66 episodes of Smallville.  According to Variety the cable net is likely to pair Smallville with The Gilmore Girls, another WB series it has the cable rights to, in an early evening two-hour block starting during the 2005-2006 season.