TV has a new runaway bride: eBay.
Producers have been trying to come up with a show to tap into the onlineauction phenomenon for years – but so far, two ready-to-go eBay shows have been killed at the last minute.
The latest, “Buy It Now,” a reality show, had been slated to debut on ABC next month, but suddenly disappeared off the network’s summer schedule late last week – with no explanation.
The show was supposed to feature a family each week auctioning a prized possession for some greater project – sort of “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” meets eBay.
Plans in 2003 for the first eBay show – a highly anticipated syndicated program called “eBay TV,” which was to tell the stories behind the items sold on the popular auction Web site – were also mysteriously scuttled.
What happened? It depends on who you talk to.
But it appears the Internet giant keeps getting cold feet about making its site into a TV show without control over the final product.
“We never had a deal with ABC or [producer] Madison Road Entertainment,” an eBay spokeswoman said yesterday, explaining the show’s demise.
Network sources, however, say that ABC scheduled the show for a July debut based on how close the sides were to a final deal.
“It was just a few very minor trademark issues that it got hung up on,” an ABC source told The Post.

