For example, KCMI in Kansas City just recently stopped playing "South Park" in September 2015, because the network took that right away from them, and the show can only air on Viacom stations, as it said recently on their Facebook page. Also, I know the Joplin CW still plays "Married...with Children" and I don't know anybody else playing it. Do you have any?
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Shows in syndication in a market longer than everyone else?
- Thread starter tall_guy1
- Start date
For us in Los Angeles, "I Love Lucy" immediately comes to mind. KTTV (Fox) has owned the local rights since the mid-60s since the show entered off-network syndication; sister station KCOP carries mostly the show now, airing every weekday in-between all of those court and talk shows they carry through the rest of the daytime schedule. KTTV will air "I Love Lucy" on weekend afternoons barring any heavy schedule of Fox Sports telecasts. Other than the Fox LA duopoly, I can't think of any other station outside the Me-TV affiliate group that airs "I Love Lucy" elsewhere on a regular basis. With "Married...with Children", one of the local stations here (UHF indie KDOC) has the rights, but nowadays it's either aired sporadically or overnights. Coincidentally, KTTV (and later KCOP too) held the L.A. syndication rights to MWC for nearly 20 years until KDOC picked it up.
As far as "South Park", it's kinda surprising that it lasted as long as it did in off-net syndication, given that a lot of cable series (premium or basic) don't have much of a self life when their reruns air on local stations (mostly due to editing issues and the like). Two prominent examples I can think of right away were "Entourage" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"...both of those lasted in off-net syndication for only a year before HBO/Warner Bros. Television pulled them off of the syndication market. Another HBO hit, "Sex and The City" fared a little bit better albeit it didn't last that long in off-net syndication either (I believe HBO/WB had the show in syndication for two or three years).
As far as "South Park", it's kinda surprising that it lasted as long as it did in off-net syndication, given that a lot of cable series (premium or basic) don't have much of a self life when their reruns air on local stations (mostly due to editing issues and the like). Two prominent examples I can think of right away were "Entourage" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm"...both of those lasted in off-net syndication for only a year before HBO/Warner Bros. Television pulled them off of the syndication market. Another HBO hit, "Sex and The City" fared a little bit better albeit it didn't last that long in off-net syndication either (I believe HBO/WB had the show in syndication for two or three years).
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K.M. Richards
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One problem we have in discussing this is that we have no access to the contracts between the stations and the syndicators as they are proprietary information and therefore legal to keep secret.
Did South Park have a clause in its agreement that gave Viacom the right to rescind its agreement if they wanted to restrict it in the future to only its own O&O stations? It would seem that way ... but it could also be that they entered into no agreements with an expiration beyond last month.
Most shows have a specified number of plays allowed in their syndication contracts, but as a show gets longer in the tooth that clause tends to disappear from renewals. Married...With Children and I Love Lucy may well fall into that category and may be for longer periods with unlimited play. Again, do we know for sure? No, and we can't.
Much of what determines a show's longevity in syndication is how well it performs its first couple of years off-network. Shows that had their original run on cable (such as the examples Shawn gave) seem to do worse in this regard. Or perhaps I'm wrong and the syndicators deliberately give short terms to those shows' off-network runs. Do I know? Do you know? Do any of us know for certain? Nope.
Did South Park have a clause in its agreement that gave Viacom the right to rescind its agreement if they wanted to restrict it in the future to only its own O&O stations? It would seem that way ... but it could also be that they entered into no agreements with an expiration beyond last month.
Most shows have a specified number of plays allowed in their syndication contracts, but as a show gets longer in the tooth that clause tends to disappear from renewals. Married...With Children and I Love Lucy may well fall into that category and may be for longer periods with unlimited play. Again, do we know for sure? No, and we can't.
Much of what determines a show's longevity in syndication is how well it performs its first couple of years off-network. Shows that had their original run on cable (such as the examples Shawn gave) seem to do worse in this regard. Or perhaps I'm wrong and the syndicators deliberately give short terms to those shows' off-network runs. Do I know? Do you know? Do any of us know for certain? Nope.
I think as streaming media outlets Hulu and Netflix continue to grow, along with those networks that stream their own content, I don't think you'll see off-network syndicated shows last a long time like many others have before. That can be more of a plausible reason as to why syndicators are keeping their shows less and less available for local stations to have. Given that Hulu now has exclusive streaming rights to the entire "South Park" series, it could also be another reason why Viacom (along with co-distributors Debmar-Mercury and 20th Television) pulled the show from syndication.
As newer shows' back catalogs are more readily available via streaming (for the most part, unedited and uncut), it'll become almost pointless to put these shows in syndication other than for time filler and whatever ad revenue can generated. However, as long as local stations stick around, the syndication market will be around too.
WLMT in Memphis is airing the two Tyler Perry TBS shows - House of Payne and Meet the Browns in the 6-7PM CT hour weeknights. They are the only station I know that still airs HOP and MTB. They were widely aired until the end of the 2013-14 season.
Of course, several CBS stations in the southern US STILL air Andy Griffith in reruns. WFMY does, WCBI does, WDBJ does. Believe it's all cash nowadays, with only local breaks, no national ads. They are VERY popular with the audience even 55 years later.
Of course, several CBS stations in the southern US STILL air Andy Griffith in reruns. WFMY does, WCBI does, WDBJ does. Believe it's all cash nowadays, with only local breaks, no national ads. They are VERY popular with the audience even 55 years later.
Here in the Jackson, Miss. market, Andy Griffith has run for several years now at the 6:30 p.m. timeslot on CBS affiliate WJTV 12. On 12.2's CW subchannel, they also air Griffith as well as Tyler Perry's HOP and MTB.
WDAF (Fox) airs Andy Griffith as filler on weekends and overnight
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How does AG do with the audience that matters (way under 80)? How much do they pay for it?
From September 2014-September 2015 WCTX/59 in New Haven, CT aired Married with Children at 5AM and Steve Harvey's sitcom at 5:30AM. This year they're airing Infomercials in the 5AM-6AM time slot. Prior to this I hadn't seen either show in broadcast syndication for years. Though "Married" is used as filler on ION and although they're currently not airing the show Antenna TV also has the rights to "Married."
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Which tells us absolutely nothing about what was in the contract that allowed it to be taken away.
in cincinnati
I looked at Cincinnati's TV schedules for autumn 2015 for the times between midnight and 9 a.m., the times most likely for the national affiliates here to have local programming. Most of the series were from the 2000s. The oldest ones I found were these:
WXIX (Fox) The King of Queens
WCVN (PBS) As Time Goes By
WCET (PBS) The Lawrence Welk Show
WSTR (MNT) Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, King of the Hill, Seinfeld
I looked at Cincinnati's TV schedules for autumn 2015 for the times between midnight and 9 a.m., the times most likely for the national affiliates here to have local programming. Most of the series were from the 2000s. The oldest ones I found were these:
WXIX (Fox) The King of Queens
WCVN (PBS) As Time Goes By
WCET (PBS) The Lawrence Welk Show
WSTR (MNT) Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, King of the Hill, Seinfeld
...I recall PBS affiliate WTTW/11 Chicago ran Dave Allen at Large late on Sunday nights into the early '90s, over a decade after the last time I saw that series on a commercial station (WVTV/18 Milwaukee circa '80). I also recall that WTTW had to stop the run after Dave Allen himself had the BBC withdraw his old material from distribution...
Minneapolis has both. Simpsons on My29 (WFTC) and Community on WUCW CW23
Simpsons have been on My29 for years (probably decades)
Yakima still has The Simpsons at 7:30 every weeknight on KIMA-29 (CBS). A very odd placement and station, but if you have been doing that for 21 years now, KIMA must be doing something right. About 5 or 6 years ago they also aired Family Guy every night, before The CW Plus (KIMA-DT2) took over.
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In Los Angeles, The Simpsons airs after the Sunday 10:00pm news on Fox O&O KTTV/11, in addition to a 7:30pm Monday through Friday airing on co-owned KCOP/13.
According to LocateTV, the only other two California markets carrying reruns of The Simpsons are (weekday airtimes) KMPH/26 Fresno (5:00 and 5:30pm) and KQCA/58 Sacramento (5:00pm). Of course, cable subscribers in those and other markets can get the reruns via FXX.
According to LocateTV, the only other two California markets carrying reruns of The Simpsons are (weekday airtimes) KMPH/26 Fresno (5:00 and 5:30pm) and KQCA/58 Sacramento (5:00pm). Of course, cable subscribers in those and other markets can get the reruns via FXX.
Charlotte has both. WCCB (CW, once Fox) moved them from 11 weeknights to Sunday afternoons. "Community" is on My 12 every night.
Judge Judy has been on WTTG/FOX 5 since day one, however the second airings have been moved to sister station WDCA/My20.
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