From neogaf
Quote:
“That's not why.
Do you notice how most cable shows never go beyond 6 or 7 seasons, while some broadcast shows (Bones, NCIS, Grey's, SVU) can go on forever? Cable shows are able to achieve success with lower ratings because their costs are much lower than your standard broadcast show (instead of $4 million an episode, maybe it's $2 million). But, as your seasons go on, you start to incur costs you cannot avoid -- the cast gets mandatory pay bumps every season after season 3, the writers/producers get mandatory title bumps and pay bumps, and there are a bunch of other smaller, little things that start to add up to significant numbers.
The cost of White Collar continuing, even with fine ratings, becomes prohibitive. So, doing 16 episode seasons becomes almost impossible. And then trying to even do a 13 episode final season becomes tough.”
Didn't know about "mandatory pay bumps"....
