Hollywood Ppl, Help Me Out!

Can anyone explain this to me? I dont know who to ask, but Im very interested in the business of television, and I read something to day that puzzled me.
Apparently ABC picked up a new TV show for the fall. HBO saw it first and passed on it, but somehow HBO will still get paid $5,000 to $7,000 for each episode that airs on ABC, plus about 7% of the back end.
According to TVBizWire, this is not uncommon. "CBS, meanwhile, has been getting a cut of the USA drama "In Plain Sight," which is produced by NBC Universal. News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox Television had a stake in "Everybody Hates Chris," which was made by Paramount (now CBS Television Studios) for UPN and later the CW."

Soooo the way the story was framed is this: HBO passed, but they dont want to get embarassed in case the show is a hit for ABC. So they worked out a deal so they can get paid either way. How can you do that?