How does syndication work?

November 5, 2006 9:44 AM

How do syndication fees for TV shows like The Simpsons work? Does every episode cost the same to show? Or is it priced by season? Or by episode? Do the good ones cost more to show than the bad ones? Or the new ones more than the old ones?
posted by hoverboards don't work on water to media & arts (6 comments total)

The Wikipedia entry on TV Syndication basically says that they work however they can cut the deal. Or in other words the answer is: Sometimes.
posted by Ookseer at 9:56 AM on November 5, 2006

Shows are sold to stations in "packages" containing (typically) one chronologically continuous run of episodes. A package usually contains at least 65 episodes -- enough to "strip" the show across the schedule Monday through Friday for 13 weeks. The station pays one fee for the entire package.

For a show that didn't make many more than 65 (that is, any show that only ran four or five years in prime time) the package will just contain the whole run, however long it was. For a show with many more episodes, like The Simpsons, there will be a few different packages available. If the show is still in production, stations will re-up to get the newer episodes, but if it's not, they often just stick with the last package they bought -- that's why you kept seeing the last few years of M*A*S*H over and over on your local station even though the show ran for 13 years.
posted by jjg at 11:58 AM on November 5, 2006 [1 favorite]

Usually, when the production company sells the first five seasons for syndication, stations will pay the same price for every episode. They may pay a different amount when they later buy episodes from later seasons.
posted by spira at 10:25 PM on November 5, 2006

And what kind of money are we talking about here?
posted by agregoli at 7:44 AM on November 6, 2006

If someone knowledgeable checks in here, kindly explain (while you're at it) why TNT can or will not run old episodes of Law and Order. I'm so tired of only seeing the last five years, when the previous ten or thirteen or whatever were so much better.
posted by norm at 8:03 AM on November 6, 2006

norm, replace "M*A*S*H" with "Law & Order" in my example above and you've got your answer. Why buy more episodes when the ratings are good enough for the ones you've already got?
posted by jjg at 10:51 AM on November 9, 2006