How Does a Show Go Into Syndication?
Original run
Before a TV show goes into syndication it first has an original run on a network. The network owns the rights to the show and works out the syndication deal at the end of the show's run. For example, one of the most popular TV shows of all time, "Seinfeld," was exclusively broadcast by NBC before becoming available for syndication on other stations and networks after its original run was over.
Syndication rights
When a show goes into syndication, the rights to broadcast it have to be cleared with all parties involved in the original show contract. For a more successful show, such as "Seinfeld," these rights involve the show's creators and actors (and their lawyers) working with the network to clear a deal with the TV syndicate. However, there are some older, popular shows, such as "Gilligan's Island," where the actors receive no royalties at all when the show is broadcast in syndication.
In syndication
After a show is in syndication, the syndicate will then make the show available to any station or network that wishes to broadcast it after paying a syndication fee. A TV syndicate works the same way a comic strip syndicate does for newspapers--by making the show available to a single broadcast station in a certain market or an entire network of cable stations across the country.
Radio syndication
Radio shows are usually syndicated on the original run since they are topical, live broadcasts. Neal Boortz, a talk radio host whose show is owned by WSB in Atlanta, has live daily shows broadcast all over the country. Any radio station outside the WSB network can broadcast first-run shows if they acquire syndication rights.
