And the winner is…Spike TV?

Yup. Daily Variety is reporting that niche cabler Spike TV has successfully bid between $65 and $70 million in a six-year deal for the cable rights to all six of the Lucasfilms Star Wars chapters.

NBC Universal’s USA Network, the Sci-Fi Channel, and Turner Broadcasting TBS and TNT were all reportedly enthusiastic bidders. Estimates earlier this year that the dual trilogy would net in the $50 million-range were woefully off target.

Under terms of the deal Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” will first air in April 2008.  

Two of the most recent trilogy, Attack of the Clones (2002) and The Phantom Menace (1999) have already have had runs on Fox but have never been on cable. Spike gets them and the original trilogy in April 2008.

This is not the first time Spike has paid big bucks for the rights to a sci-fi franchise. In 2000, the cabler paid $364 million for the rights to reruns of three Star Trek series: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine and Voyager plus the first five Star Trek theatrical movies.