NBC Universal will relocate some of its gab- and confrontation-fests to Connecticut this year with plans to turn the Rich Forum in Stamford into a TV studio by summer, pumping millions and possibly 200 jobs into the economy.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell said several of NBC”™s syndicated talk shows including “The Jerry Springer Show,” “Maury” and “The Steve Wilkos Show” will be coming to the city. (Recently on Wilkos: “Teen girls in jail.”)
“This is terrific news for the state and for Stamford,” said Rell. “It will bring much-needed jobs, revenue and excitement and we”™re proud as a peacock to pull it off.Anything that brings jobs to the state is always welcome. Not only are these jobs themselves important, many of these production facilities can become tourist attractions in their own right, becoming an additional economic development tool.”
Wilkos”™ and Springer”™s programs are currently shot in Chicago and Povich”™s is shot in New York.
The NBC network, lured largely by the state’s tax credits, joins the World Wrestling Entertainment in Stamford”™s television lineup.
“As a company based in the tri-state area, NBC Universal is enthusiastic about expanding our footprint in the region,” said Barry Wallach, president of NBC Universal Domestic television Distribution. “The tax credit program fosters additional public and private investments in production infrastructure that Connecticut can use to help the state through the current economic crisis.”
Connecticut offers a 30 percent production tax credit and 20 percent tax credit on infrastructure costs exceeding $1 million.
Rell said the deal is expected to bring 150 to 200 jobs and an initial infrastructure investment in excess of $3 million.
Production should commence in the fall at Rich Forum, which is owned by the Stamford Center for the Arts.
Michael Widland, chairman of Stamford Center for the Arts”™ board of directors, said the new neighbors in drama will help the SCA continue productions in the Palace Theater and help it continue to be a key platform for the arts in Stamford.
The center filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last summer in state Superior Court in Bridgeport after experiencing financial anguish for several years as state funding dropped to $500,000, a fifth of previous years.
“The city has always made an effort to encourage and support the arts, and this deal is testament to the value we place on such projects in Stamford,” said Mayor Dannel Malloy. Â
Michael Freimuth, Stamford’s director of economic development, said NBC’s plans are a blessing for the arts center, particularly since the state plans to reduce next year’s SCA funding to $250,000 and then offer nothing the year after that.
“From that perspective, it will help them close what is projected to be a huge gap in state funding,” said Freimuth.
NBC, a unit of Fairfield based General Electric, could have as many as 200 employees there by fall.
Since Connecticut’s 2006 adoption of film tax credits the state and local economic development officials have courted motion-picture and television-industry executives.
Earlier this year, Blue Sky Studios, formerly of White Plains, N.Y., opened a digital animation studio in Greenwich with more than 200 employees.
