How times have changed for NBC Universal. The one-time home of "Must See TV" is now taking the Weinstein Company to court over rights to Project Runway.

Since when does a niche reality show, running on Bravo, an NBC Universal cable channel, and generating little more than a 3 percent household rating on its best night this season, justify what will no doubt be an embarrassing and expensive lawsuit? Not to mention an ugly and public fight between two media titans, Jeff Zucker and Harvey Weinstein?

But NBC Universal is clearly desperate. Cable networks have become an increasingly important part of its television business. According to the 2007 annual report of NBC parent General Electric, NBC Universal's cable business—including CNBC, MSNBC, USA, SciFi, Bravo, and Oxygen—make up half the company's profits. And USA is currently the biggest cable channel anywhere.

So NBC Universal is fighting for every inch.

"If I'm Bravo and I'm enjoying drinking at the trough of upscale women and gay guys that love cool, urban, creative programming, if someone is stealing my signature show and one that already has a big audience, that's pretty troubling," says Eli Holtzman, the creator of Project Runway for Miramax Television in 2000. "It dilutes their brand."

Brad Adgate, senior vice president at media-planning and buying agency Horizon Media, adds that the strength of Runway's online viewership and robust web offerings, including blogs by cast members, designer photo diaries, and cameos from past contestants, also makes it an attractive show. "It has repositioned Bravo and become a flagship program," says Adgate.

And it is not as if the main franchise is pulling its weight. Since the 2001–2002 broadcast season, the NBC network has suffered a steady decline in ratings, down to a low of 5.8 percent of households in the 2006–2007 season, when the network placed fourth, behind Fox. NBC is wrestling with a fractured viewing audience as the ratings for network television in general are declining.

In its lawsuit, filed Monday in New York Supreme Court, NBC Universal contends that the Weinstein Company, led by brothers Bob and Harvey, had promised the company the right of first refusal before selling the airing rights to another cable channel.

The lawsuit alleges that Harvey Weinstein promised, at a lunch at the Beverly Hills Four Seasons, not to "embarrass" Zucker when it came to renegotiating the rights to the show. Instead, he signed a deal in secret with the Lifetime channel on February 7 but continued to negotiate with NBC for two months.

"I think that [Zucker and Weinstein] had a friendship, but they have different definitions of the word 'friend,'" says someone familiar with the personalities involved, who declined to be identified out of concern about professional ramifications. "I would say that Jeff's definition of 'friend' is a lot closer to the one that you and I would probably have."

This person speculates that failed movie projects at the Weinstein Company have made money tight and that Lifetime's reported $150-million-plus offer for Runway was too rich to ignore.

Asked to comment on the lawsuit, an NBC representative said only that the company has "continuing legal rights related to Project Runway, including a right of first refusal to future cycles of the series, which the Weinstein Company unfortunately has refused to honor."

But when asked whether, if NBC is successful in court, the company would hope to bring the show back to Bravo, where it made its debut in December 2004, the spokesperson wouldn't rule out the possibility.

In a statement, the Weinstein Company said that the lawsuit was without merit.

Holtzman does not expect any personal fallout between the two media moguls. "These guys have been around the block so many times that this is all just business."