I'm not 100% sure but I think much of a carriage deal is based on percentages and not neccesarily a flat upfront figure. For instance X amount of cash upfront and then a percentage of the gross of future revenues derived from the show.
Mind you, this is a lot of supposition on my part but it makes sense that a deal could be structured along these lines.
"Sort of" is such a harmless thing to say. "Sort of". It's just a filler. "Sort of" - It doesn't really mean anything. But after certain things, "sort of" means everything. Like after "I love you" or "You're going to live" or "It's a boy".