Starz bags rights to ‘Force Awakens’ at a bargain price

Starz is bagging the pay-TV rights for the new “Star Wars” flick for the bargain price of $17.5 million, despite its runaway box office success, sources tell The Post.

The premium channel, run by Chief Executive Chris Albrecht, has dibs on “The Force Awakens,” the first installment in the rebooted franchise, under an exclusive pay-TV distribution deal with Disney that grants the rights to movies that appeared in theaters through the end of 2015.

Traditionally, Starz and other premium cable channels pay for rights based on a formula derived, in part, from a percentage of a film’s box office and have no limit on the number of times they can run a movie.

So far, “The Force” has taken in $740 million in North America since its Dec. 18 debut and is on track to surpass “Avatar” as the highest-grossing film of all time.

Based on its old contract, Starz will pay an estimated $17.5 million to be the pay-TV home for the film in as little as a year after its theatrical debut. By comparison, it pays around $4 million for an hour of original programming. Starz declined comment on its licensing deals.

Even so, that may turn out to be a bargain. Disney inked a new pay-TV pact with Netflix, which agreed to a sizable jump in fees. Under its arrangement, Netflix would be on the hook for double the figure Starz will pay.

“If Disney were on their Netflix deal, they would be paid $40 million,” the source said.

As it stands, Netflix will stream “The Force Awakens” — but only in Canada, and will air subsequent “Star Wars” movies in the US.

Rich Tullo, an entertainment analyst at Albert Fried & Co., believes there may still be a negotiation between Starz and Disney on pricing, but adds: “The benefit to Starz is it’s a sleepy brand and it will stir some excitement. It’s like having Super Bowl to launch other programming.”

Starz closed Monday at $33.07, off 1.28 percent. The stock was up almost 12.3 percent in 2015, mostly on takeover rumors.