History MediaNotes / Syndication

There are some key differences between syndication and airing on a network. A network show is usually guaranteed to air on all the network's affiliates. There are, however, cases where network affiliates have refused to air a network show. Sometimes, this is due to concerns about offensive content, pressure from local MoralGuardians, or if a local station had a prior commitment to airing an event that was to serve its local audience, called preempting (such as airing of a local parade or a local political debate)[[note]]in the event of the latter, sometimes the preemted show will run later in the day on that station[[/note]]. However, it's usually because they feel that the network program simply isn't getting any good ratings, and that syndicated, or even local, programming airing instead is more profitable. An example of this would be when many Creator/{{NBC}} stations considered pulling ''The Jay Leno Show'' when its poor ratings started dragging down their nightly newscasts. It goes without saying that this tends to be a ''very'' bad omen for a network show's future. Network television also generally has the schedule consistent at the same time each week (although [[ScrewedByTheNetwork you never know sometimes]]). Syndicated shows, meanwhile, are scheduled by each individual station as they wish. Usually, they follow [[MediaNotes/ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule a pattern]] when it comes to scheduling, but time slot shifts are common, and shows may be cut down to make room for more commercials.

Not every TV series has a network home. Syndication is when a show, rather than being exclusive to a single {{network|s}} and [[MediaNotes/ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule shown at a particular time]], is sold to individual stations for them to do with as they wish. Syndication is primarily (although not entirely) an American trope, thanks to the way that television is run in the United States: television networks are not allowed to have their owned-and-operated (or O&O) stations reach more than 39%[[note]]Without considering the "UHF discount"[[/note]] of the population, and so they have to deal with a lot of independent affiliates to reach the other 61%. [[note]]For example, [[FunWithAcronyms KCUF]], a non-O&O in the city of, oh, [[IncrediblyLamePun Hana, Montana]], may carry the programming of Creator/{{NBC}}, but it is technically independent of the NBC structure, owned by another company or even by a single person or family.[[/note]] These affiliates are able to air whatever they want in times when they're not showing network programming, without asking the network or the other affiliates. In addition, there exist many TV stations that aren't affiliates of any network, and must rely on outside programming in order to fill their schedule with more than just {{infomercial}}s and poorly-made [[UsefulNotes/PEGChannel community access shows]]. Finally, even [=O&Os=] usually have some hours left over to fill with non-network programming, and as the network's flagship stations, they don't want to get caught showing dead air or crappy, locally-produced shows.

Usually, when syndicating a show, the production or distribution company attempts to distribute it to only one station in each media market. There is a logic to this: if multiple stations air a show, they will split the UsefulNotes/{{ratings}} and collect little in advertising revenue (some may cancel it if ratings get too low), while if one station has exclusive rights to a syndicated show, they will have much higher ratings for it and be able to charge much higher rates to advertisers. Therefore, it's in every station's best interest to get exclusive broadcast rights, and the ensuing competition allows the distributor to charge more for syndication.

In TheFifties and TheSixties, syndication was primarily a dumping ground for network {{rerun}}s (a practice invented by none other than Desi Arnaz with ''Series/ILoveLucy''), with only a few breakout original shows (such as ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSuperman'' and ''Series/MisterEd'') that were mostly produced by Ziv Television Programs. This changed in the late '60s, when the FCC started restricting what TV stations could show in the 7-8 PM "early fringe" hour just before UsefulNotes/PrimeTime (among other things, reruns were out) in the hopes that it would encourage the development of more local programming. What it caused instead was the rise of original syndicated programming in that coveted hour, particularly {{game show}}s (some of which made the jump to UsefulNotes/PrimeTime), {{talk show}}s, TV news magazines, and {{variety show}}s. A lot of British and Canadian imports, such as ''Series/UFO1970'', ''Series/Space1999'' and ''Series/TheStarlost'', also got American distribution through syndication. Finally, first-run syndication became an escape hatch for TV shows that [[{{Cancellation}} got the axe from the networks]].

Not every TV series has a network home. Syndication is when a show, rather than being exclusive to a single {{network|s}} and [[UsefulNotes/ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule shown at a particular time]], is sold to individual stations for them to do with as they wish. Syndication is primarily (although not entirely) an American trope, thanks to the way that television is run in the United States: television networks are not allowed to have their owned-and-operated (or O&O) stations reach more than 39%[[note]]Without considering the "UHF discount"[[/note]] of the population, and so they have to deal with a lot of independent affiliates to reach the other 61%. [[note]]For example, [[FunWithAcronyms KCUF]], a non-O&O in the city of, oh, [[IncrediblyLamePun Hana, Montana]], may carry the programming of Creator/{{NBC}}, but it is technically independent of the NBC structure, owned by another company or even by a single person or family.[[/note]] These affiliates are able to air whatever they want in times when they're not showing network programming, without asking the network or the other affiliates. In addition, there exist many TV stations that aren't affiliates of any network, and must rely on outside programming in order to fill their schedule with more than just {{infomercial}}s and poorly-made [[UsefulNotes/PEGChannel community access shows]]. Finally, even [=O&Os=] usually have some hours left over to fill with non-network programming, and as the network's flagship stations, they don't want to get caught showing dead air or crappy, locally-produced shows.

There are some key differences between syndication and airing on a network. A network show is usually guaranteed to air on all the network's affiliates. There are, however, cases where network affiliates have refused to air a network show. Sometimes, this is due to concerns about offensive content, pressure from local MoralGuardians, or if a local station had a prior commitment to airing an event that was to serve its local audience, called preempting (such as airing of a local parade or a local political debate)[[note]]in the event of the latter, sometimes the preemted show will run later in the day on that station[[/note]]. However, it's usually because they feel that the network program simply isn't getting any good ratings, and that syndicated, or even local, programming airing instead is more profitable. An example of this would be when many Creator/{{NBC}} stations considered pulling ''The Jay Leno Show'' when its poor ratings started dragging down their nightly newscasts. It goes without saying that this tends to be a ''very'' bad omen for a network show's future. Network television also generally has the schedule consistent at the same time each week (although [[ScrewedByTheNetwork you never know sometimes]]). Syndicated shows, meanwhile, are scheduled by each individual station as they wish. Usually, they follow [[UsefulNotes/ANSIStandardBroadcastTVSchedule a pattern]] when it comes to scheduling, but time slot shifts are common, and shows may be cut down to make room for more commercials.