There’s a good reason why NBC has been getting scoop after scoop in the Anna Nicole Smith soap opera and leaving the other networks in the dust - it has a secret $1 million deal with Larry Birkhead, the biological father of her 7-month-old baby, Page Six has learned.

An insider tells us the network’s parent, NBC Universal, sealed the deal with Birkhead shortly after Anna Nicole’s funeral, and that’s why it’s getting exclusives that end up on the network’s “Today” and “Access Hollywood” programs and on its Bravo channel.

A rep for Bravo confirmed to us last night: “NBC Universal has an exclusive contract with Larry Birkhead and we don’t discuss the terms of our deals.”

Our source says the Birkhead deal is almost up, but one more big scoop is in the works. Birkhead and little Dannielynn Hope Marshall Birkhead are flying from the Bahamas to Los Angeles today. “They’ll be on board a Bravo-funded plane along with Howard K. Stern and the network is planning some kind of big interview,” our insider says.

“NBC-Universal made the deal with Larry right after the funeral. NBC did it through their entertainment division so there wouldn’t be any uproar about it coming from news.”

Indeed, “Access Hollywood” just scored a copy of the baby’s newly-issued birth certificate. Last month, Birkhead exclusively revealed to the show a tattoo he has of the late blond bombshell just above his jean line. “I have a tattoo on my back so I carry that around,” he gushed to the show. “It’s a picture of Anna so wherever I go, she goes.”

When Birkhead and his lawyer, Debra Opri, went their separate ways, “Access Hollywood” was the first to report it. “Today” has also had its scoops. When Birkhead was officially ruled the biological father, he went on the show first to describe his joy, gushing, “Yesterday was just a great day for me and Dannielynn.”

Birkhead’s lawyer could not be reached.

(Via pagesix)