`Project Runway' may leave, but NBC keeps its producers

"Project Runway" may switch from Bravo to the Lifetime cable network this fall, but NBC Universal ensured Monday that the show's producers won't go with it.

NBC Universal, whose properties include Bravo, USA and Oxygen, announced a deal that ties it to producers Dan Cutforth and Jane Lipsitz, giving the company first look at their projects. In effect, it forced the duo to choose between staying with "Project Runway" or the promise of more work at NBC.

Lifetime last month announced it had agreed on a $150 million deal with the Weinstein Co., owners of "Project Runway," to televise five seasons of the cable hit starting in February. NBC Universal has tried to block that move in court.

Cutforth and Lipsitz, who call their production company Magical Elves, acknowledged their tough call.

"This was kind of a crossroads," Cutforth said. "It was a difficult decision to leave a Continue reading the remaining 50% ...