ABC Family secures rights to Half-Blood Prince

Not even an 8 month film delay can hold back the Disney-owned family channel from snagging cable rights to the sixth film. Variety reports this evening that the company recently made a late deal for Order of the Phoenix and a very early deal for Half-Blood Prince. The Potter franchise as a whole has done well for ABC Family:

The first four Potter movies — “Sorcerer’s Stone” (2001), “Chamber of Secrets” (2002), “Prisoner of Azkaban” (2004) and “Goblet of Fire” (2005) — are already under contract to ABC Family. Tom Zappala, senior VP of program acquisitions and scheduling for ABC Family, said the movies have become one of the bellwethers of the network’s annual “25 Days of Christmas” programming initiative, often getting key primetime slots.