Radar has a must-read about NBC’s collaboration with Perverted Justice. “The extent of the network’s business relationship” with founder Xavier Von Erck “has raised eyebrows in the halls of NBC News, John Cook writes. Dateline “has gone to unprecedented lengths to secure Von Erck’s ongoing cooperation, reportedly paying him in excess of $100,000 per episode for his services.” And:

“The deal that Perverted Justice cut with NBC is unusual in two respects: For one, according to the former NBC News official, it was negotiated by the network’s entertainment lawyers, not by the news division’s legal staff. Secondly, according to an NBC News staffer, Perverted Justice is entitled to a portion of any revenue from DVD sales of ‘To Catch a Predator’ episodes — an arrangement common in the entertainment world but unheard of in the context of a news division’s relationship with a consultant.”