Syndication exclusivity
Encyclopedia
Syndication exclusivity (also known as syndex) is a federal law
in the United States
designed to protect a local television station
's rights to syndicated
television programs by granting exclusive rights to the station for that program in the local market
, usually defined by a station's Nielsen
DMA. As a result, any airings of the same program on cable networks
and superstation
s must be blocked by the local cable
company upon request from the local station. Broadcast television stations have the option of signing programming deals with or without syndex protection, but stand to have audiences significantly diluted in markets without protection.
. WTBS in Atlanta, the original "superstation", had programming blacked out in some areas where duplication existed.
In 1980, the FCC lifted the old syndex law, as a way to bolster the growing cable TV market. This led to cable systems picking up more superstations and more regional out-of-market independents, at a time when the popularity of both was growing.
The current syndex law was tied in part to the Satellite Home Viewer Act
of 1988. In the run-up to that legislation's passage, Tom Meek
of WOFL-TV Orlando
, with the assistance of Preston Padden of INTV, presented a study utilizing custom Nielsen audience data showing significant ratings dilution in the 7-8 p.m. time period directly attributable to the carriage of identical programming via WGN-TV
Chicago on numerous local cable systems, with an estimated loss of several hundred thousand dollars in advertising revenue. The legislation, H.R. 2848, had been blocked by the late representative Mike Synar
(D-OK), who represented the district including United Video, WGN's satellite carrier, headquartered in Tulsa. After the study was presented to and subsequently validated by Synar's staff, Synar dropped his opposition under pressure from committee chairman Rep. Al Swift
(D-WA). H.R. 2848, sponsored by Rep. John Bryant
(D-TX), then passed.
Before the reimposition of the syndex rules, stations like WGN and WTBS were paying local single market rates for programming, but gaining national coverage, and were selling that extended coverage to advertisers. After syndex, in at least some cases, pricing paid by superstations better reflected their actual national distribution, depending on arrangements with any given syndicator.
There have been a number of legal cases, most notably in Miami, Florida
, and efforts in Washington, D.C. by terrestrial broadcasters to keep satellite providers from exploiting a provision in the law where satellite providers can offer programming where a broadcast station's signal is not available. In the Miami case, satellite providers were found to have allowed carriage of outside stations in households within a few miles of broadcast transmitters in violation of the law. Syndex is often unpopular with satellite subscribers and companies who would rather not afford local broadcast stations program rights protection.
Syndex is currently being used to block Dish Network
superstation
s from being picked up in certain markets. In this case, the CW
and MyNetworkTV
affiliates in given markets can invoke the syndex law to keep the superstations affiliated with the same network from coming into the market in any form. CW stations are using the law in order to block KTLA
, WPIX
, and KWGN, while WWOR-TV
and WSBK-TV
are presently blocked in markets where MyNetworkTV affiliates are invoking the law.
in New York City
(later moved to Secaucus, NJ
), WGN-TV
in Chicago, and WTBS in Atlanta
were available nationally. WTBS aired shows that are generally "syndex proof" (or, in simpler terms, having "full signal rights") due to program contracts they are able to negotiate so that they wouldn't have to worry about being covered up at all, save for sports programs. In 1990, when the syndex law was passed, national versions of WWOR-TV and WGN-TV, which aired different programs from their native city versions, were launched. WWOR's national feed outside of New York was known by cable subscribers as "WWOR EMI Service
." WGN-TV didn't have to cover up as many programs as WWOR did, and while WGN was able to carry The WB
on their national feed from 1995 to 1999, WWOR was not permitted by UPN
to carry their programming on the EMI feed. After the national version of WWOR ceased uplinking, the native feed, which included UPN and other shows previously covered up on the EMI feed, was uplinked by a different company because it was now only available on satellite. (That feed was discontinued in 1999, though the original version can still be seen on Dish Network
.) WTBS was eventually separated from the national feed of TBS, and now airs only Atlanta-cleared programming as WPCH. WGN dropped The WB from its national superstation feed in 1999. WGN's national superstation feed, Superstation WGN, would be renamed WGN America in 2007.
was allowed to air on WGN's national "Superstation" signal by virtue of Tribune Entertainment
(the station's owner) being a majority partner as well as the program distributor.
Other studios can also allow full signal rights to superstations for its programming. For example, 20th Television
allowed WGN full signal rights to the syndicated version of 24
, Sony Pictures Television
the same method for Seinfeld
for TBS, and so on.
However, once one superstation's term of license on a program ends, it can enter into syndex restrictions. For example, for decades TBS had full signal rights to The Andy Griffith Show
until Viacom's networks were able to negotiate new full signal rights in the mid-1990s (the Griffith show at the time was distributed by Viacom, then its successor, Paramount Television
). Today, TV Land
has national rights to the Griffith show (now distributed through CBS Paramount Television
), and under this new contract cannot be seen on any other national network or superstation, but it can still be seen on local over-the-air channels, as stations such as Raleigh
's WRAL
/WRAZ and WVTV
in Milwaukee have done for decades. Airing on these local channels is only restricted to their particular markets.
Federal law
Federal law is the body of law created by the federal government of a country. A federal government is formed when a group of political units, such as states or provinces join together in a federation, surrendering their individual sovereignty and many powers to the central government while...
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
designed to protect a local television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
's rights to syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
television programs by granting exclusive rights to the station for that program in the local market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
, usually defined by a station's Nielsen
Nielsen
Nielsen , is a Danish patronymic surname, literally meaning son of Niels, Niels being the Danish version of the Greek male given name Νικόλαος, Nikolaos . It is the second most common surname in Denmark, shared by about 5% of the population. It is also used in Norway, although the form Nelsen and...
DMA. As a result, any airings of the same program on cable networks
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
and superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
s must be blocked by the local cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
company upon request from the local station. Broadcast television stations have the option of signing programming deals with or without syndex protection, but stand to have audiences significantly diluted in markets without protection.
History
The first syndex law came into effect in the early-1970s. The law at the time was similar to the present-day law, except that it applied to almost all programming, including shows such as the Jerry Lewis TelethonJerry Lewis MDA Telethon
The MDA Labor Day Telethon is an annual telethon in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association . The first MDA telethon was during the Thanksgiving Day weekend of 1952 and titled Party for MDA. It has been held annually since 1966...
. WTBS in Atlanta, the original "superstation", had programming blacked out in some areas where duplication existed.
In 1980, the FCC lifted the old syndex law, as a way to bolster the growing cable TV market. This led to cable systems picking up more superstations and more regional out-of-market independents, at a time when the popularity of both was growing.
The current syndex law was tied in part to the Satellite Home Viewer Act
Satellite Home Viewer Act
The Satellite Home Viewer Act of 1998 comprises a set of regulations which govern the transmissions of television stations in the USA, specifically imposing the restriction of satellite carrier transmissions of a network station's transmissions only to subscribers who cannot receive these...
of 1988. In the run-up to that legislation's passage, Tom Meek
Tom Meek
Tom Meek is a columnist and author of "Another Day In Cyberville" published weekly in The Gainesville Voice, a New York Times regional newspaper, beginning in October, 2000 in The Gainesville Sun. "Cyberville" deals with issues related to high-tech, computers, New Media and Internet issues...
of WOFL-TV Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
, with the assistance of Preston Padden of INTV, presented a study utilizing custom Nielsen audience data showing significant ratings dilution in the 7-8 p.m. time period directly attributable to the carriage of identical programming via WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
Chicago on numerous local cable systems, with an estimated loss of several hundred thousand dollars in advertising revenue. The legislation, H.R. 2848, had been blocked by the late representative Mike Synar
Mike Synar
Michael Lynn "Mike" Synar was an American Democratic politician who represented Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district in Congress for eight terms.-Early life and career:...
(D-OK), who represented the district including United Video, WGN's satellite carrier, headquartered in Tulsa. After the study was presented to and subsequently validated by Synar's staff, Synar dropped his opposition under pressure from committee chairman Rep. Al Swift
Al Swift
Allan Byron Swift , an Emmy award–winning broadcaster, served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 1995. He represented the Second Congressional District of Washington as a Democrat....
(D-WA). H.R. 2848, sponsored by Rep. John Bryant
John Wiley Bryant
John Wiley Bryant is a Texas politician who represented Texas's 5th congressional district in the 98th to 104th U.S. Congress....
(D-TX), then passed.
Before the reimposition of the syndex rules, stations like WGN and WTBS were paying local single market rates for programming, but gaining national coverage, and were selling that extended coverage to advertisers. After syndex, in at least some cases, pricing paid by superstations better reflected their actual national distribution, depending on arrangements with any given syndicator.
There have been a number of legal cases, most notably in Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, and efforts in Washington, D.C. by terrestrial broadcasters to keep satellite providers from exploiting a provision in the law where satellite providers can offer programming where a broadcast station's signal is not available. In the Miami case, satellite providers were found to have allowed carriage of outside stations in households within a few miles of broadcast transmitters in violation of the law. Syndex is often unpopular with satellite subscribers and companies who would rather not afford local broadcast stations program rights protection.
Syndex is currently being used to block Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
superstation
Superstation
Superstation in United States television can have several meanings. In its most precise meaning, a superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission as "A television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite...
s from being picked up in certain markets. In this case, the CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
and MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
affiliates in given markets can invoke the syndex law to keep the superstations affiliated with the same network from coming into the market in any form. CW stations are using the law in order to block KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
, WPIX
WPIX
WPIX, channel 11, is a television station in New York City built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WPIX also serves as the flagship station of The CW Television Network...
, and KWGN, while WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
and WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV
WSBK-TV is a MyNetworkTV television station for eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire that is licensed to Boston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter along the Needham and Wellesley town line southwest of the MA 9 and I-95 / MA 128...
are presently blocked in markets where MyNetworkTV affiliates are invoking the law.
Notable examples
- Syndex also applies to programs seen on stations in Canada and Mexico—in the Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, New YorkBuffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...
television market, when CFTO-TVCFTO-TVCFTO-DT, broadcast on channel 9 and cable 8, is a television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, owned by Bell Media. Currently branded as CTV Toronto, it is the flagship station of the CTV Television Network, and was one of the charter members of the network when it was launched in 1961. It...
or CIII-TVCIII-TVCIII-DT-41 is a television station owned by Shaw Communications that serves much of the population of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is a flagship station of the Global Television Network...
airs a program that is also seen on an American broadcast network, the Canadian broadcast is blacked out, or replaced with the signal of the American station carrying the same program at that time. (Note that this does not apply to most sports on cable, especially if they are different productions from one another, unless the league for that sport requests a blackout; Buffalo SabresBuffalo SabresThe Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League .-Founding and early success: 1970-71—1980-81:...
games carried on CBC TelevisionCBC TelevisionCBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
's Hockey Night in CanadaHockey Night in CanadaHockey Night in Canada is the branding used for CBC Sports' presentations of the National Hockey League...
and on MSG NetworkMSG NetworkThe MSG Network, now shortened to simply MSG, is a regional cable television and radio network serving the Mid-Atlantic United States. It is focused on New York City sports teams...
can be seen on both channels.)- During the October 2008 dispute with LIN TV Corporation and Time Warner CableTime Warner CableTime Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
, CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
programming (most notably NFL on CBSNFL on CBSThe NFL on CBS is the brand name of the CBS television network's coverage of the National Football League's American Football Conference games, produced by CBS Sports.-Market coverage and television policies:...
games, including the Buffalo BillsBuffalo BillsThe Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
) were blacked out in the Buffalo market due to LIN and Time Warner not coming to terms with a new contract. Despite this, WIVB-TVWIVB-TVWIVB-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station for Western New York that is licensed to Buffalo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter on Center Street in Colden. Owned by the LIN TV Corporation, the station is sister to CW...
(a LIN-owned station and CBS affiliate) was still allowed to enforce syndex and prevent other CBS affiliates or CFTO from being brought into the market. CFTO was allowed to carry games in Niagara County, WSEE-TVWSEE-TVWSEE-TV, channel 35, is an CBS-affiliated television station located in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. WSEE-TV is owned by Lilly Broadcasting, and is operated by NBC affiliate WICU-TV through a local marketing agreement. The two stations both share studios on State Street in downtown Erie, and a...
in Chautauqua County, WBNG in Steuben County, and WROC-TVWROC-TVWROC-TV, virtual channel 8, is a CBS affiliate based in Rochester, New York, USA, owned and operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group. WROC-TV operates Fox affiliate WUHF through a shared services agreement. The two share studios on Humboldt Street in Rochester...
in Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming Counties. Time Warner customers in Erie, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties, whose only CBS affiliate is WIVB, have been completely blacked out; in the latter two counties, because of terrestrial reception issues, antennas cannot be used, leaving satellite television (which still carried WIVB) as the only choice.
- During the October 2008 dispute with LIN TV Corporation and Time Warner Cable
- A similar rule, Simultaneous substitutionSimultaneous substitutionSimultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
, exists in Canada, allowing broadcasters to require that US feeds of shows airing at exactly the same time on a Canadian network to be replaced with the Canadian feed. This is intended to protect Canadian advertising revenue. - Sporting events that air on a national network such as ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
are often blacked out in the markets of teams playing if their local channels also have rights to the game. For example, a weeknight baseball game between the CubsChicago CubsThe Chicago Cubs are a professional baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League. They are one of two Major League clubs based in Chicago . The Cubs are also one of the two remaining charter members of the National...
and CardinalsSt. Louis CardinalsThe St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...
carried by ESPN would be blacked out in areas that receive either team's local channel. In another case, ESPN's ACC WednesdayACC WednesdayWednesday Night Hoops appears every Wednesday with the biggest college basketball games in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Big East Conference, and Big 12 Conference in primetime during the regular season on ESPN. The official name is Wednesday Night Hoops presented by Disney Parks...
is blacked out in markets that receive coverage of Atlantic Coast ConferenceAtlantic Coast ConferenceThe Atlantic Coast Conference is a collegiate athletic league in the United States. Founded in 1953 in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC sanctions competition in twenty-five sports in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association for its twelve member universities...
basketball on local stations via Raycom SportsRaycom SportsRaycom Sports is an American syndicator of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Raycom Media.-Founding:...
. In such instances, the ESPN feed is usually replaced with ESPNEWSESPNEWSESPNEWS , launched on November 1, 1996, is a 24-hour-a-day sports news television channel...
.
Some effects of syndex
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, several local independent stations were uplinked via satellite so that they can be available either nationally or regionally. Three of those stations, WOR-TV/WWOR-TVWWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(later moved to Secaucus, NJ
Secaucus, New Jersey
Secaucus is a town in Hudson County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town population was 16,264. Located within the New Jersey Meadowlands, it is the most suburban of the county's municipalities, though large parts of the town are dedicated to light manufacturing, retail, and...
), WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in Chicago, and WTBS in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
were available nationally. WTBS aired shows that are generally "syndex proof" (or, in simpler terms, having "full signal rights") due to program contracts they are able to negotiate so that they wouldn't have to worry about being covered up at all, save for sports programs. In 1990, when the syndex law was passed, national versions of WWOR-TV and WGN-TV, which aired different programs from their native city versions, were launched. WWOR's national feed outside of New York was known by cable subscribers as "WWOR EMI Service
WWOR EMI Service
WWOR EMI Service was a New York City-based American superstation for Secaucus, NJ-licensed WWOR-TV Channel 9, uplinked from Syracuse, New York to satellite by Eastern Microwave, Inc., who later sold the satellite distribution rights to Advance Entertainment Corporation, which was owned by Advance...
." WGN-TV didn't have to cover up as many programs as WWOR did, and while WGN was able to carry The WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
on their national feed from 1995 to 1999, WWOR was not permitted by UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
to carry their programming on the EMI feed. After the national version of WWOR ceased uplinking, the native feed, which included UPN and other shows previously covered up on the EMI feed, was uplinked by a different company because it was now only available on satellite. (That feed was discontinued in 1999, though the original version can still be seen on Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
.) WTBS was eventually separated from the national feed of TBS, and now airs only Atlanta-cleared programming as WPCH. WGN dropped The WB from its national superstation feed in 1999. WGN's national superstation feed, Superstation WGN, would be renamed WGN America in 2007.
Syndex-free/Full signal rights
In any case, national superstations such as WGN can, in the present day, still sometimes negotiate full signal rights for a syndicated program. Whether or not a particular program can be cleared for full signal rights depends on how it was originally sold to other stations nationwide. For example, the re-packed American Idol RewindAmerican Idol Rewind
American Idol Rewind is a syndicated television series that ran from September 30, 2006 to May 15, 2010. The hour-long weekly series was a repurposed edition of the hit reality talent show American Idol, featuring present day interviews with the contestants, semi-finalists and rejected auditioners...
was allowed to air on WGN's national "Superstation" signal by virtue of Tribune Entertainment
Tribune Entertainment
Tribune Entertainment was a television production and syndication company owned and operated by Tribune Broadcasting in the mid-1980s. Many programs offered from Tribune Entertainment have been broadcast on the company's television stations....
(the station's owner) being a majority partner as well as the program distributor.
Other studios can also allow full signal rights to superstations for its programming. For example, 20th Television
20th Television
20th Television is an American television production and syndication company that was formed in 1992 by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation, a division of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation....
allowed WGN full signal rights to the syndicated version of 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
, Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
the same method for Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
for TBS, and so on.
However, once one superstation's term of license on a program ends, it can enter into syndex restrictions. For example, for decades TBS had full signal rights to The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
until Viacom's networks were able to negotiate new full signal rights in the mid-1990s (the Griffith show at the time was distributed by Viacom, then its successor, Paramount Television
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
). Today, TV Land
TV Land
TV Land is an American cable television network launched on April 29, 1996. It is owned by MTV Networks, a division of Viacom, which also owns Paramount Pictures, and networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon...
has national rights to the Griffith show (now distributed through CBS Paramount Television
CBS Paramount Television
CBS Television Studios is an American television production/distribution company that was formed on January 17, 2006 by CBS Corporation merging Paramount Television and CBS Productions...
), and under this new contract cannot be seen on any other national network or superstation, but it can still be seen on local over-the-air channels, as stations such as Raleigh
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...
's WRAL
WRAL-TV
WRAL-TV, virtual channel 5 , is a television station in Raleigh, North Carolina. WRAL-TV has been the flagship station of Capitol Broadcasting Company since its inception, and is currently the CBS affiliate for the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill/Fayetteville area, known collectively as the Triangle...
/WRAZ and WVTV
WVTV
WVTV is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA and serves as Southeast Wisconsin's The CW Television Network affiliate. The station broadcasts from the Milwaukee Public Television tower on Milwaukee's northeast side with WMVS/WMVT, along with WCGV , WVTV's sister station...
in Milwaukee have done for decades. Airing on these local channels is only restricted to their particular markets.
See also
- Simultaneous substitutionSimultaneous substitutionSimultaneous substitution is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission requiring Canadian cable, direct broadcast satellite and multichannel multipoint distribution service television distribution companies to substitute the signal of a foreign or...
-- Canadian technique of placing a Canadian signal over the American signal on cable and satellite - Blackout (broadcasting)Blackout (broadcasting)Blackout usually relates to the broadcasting of sports events, television programming, that is prohibited in a certain media market.The purpose is theoretically to generate more revenue by obliging certain actions from fans, either by making them buy tickets or watch other games on TV...
-- for blackouts of sporting events