Syndication: Difference between revisions

{{tropeUseful Notes}}

Not every TV series has a network home. '''[[Syndication''']] is when a show, rather than being exclusive to a single [[Networks]] and [[ANSI Standard Broadcast TV Schedule|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% of the population, and so they have to deal with a lot of independent affiliates to reach the other 61%.<ref>For example, [[Fun with Acronyms|KCUF]], a non-O&O in the city of, oh, [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Hana, Montana]], may carry the programming of [[NBC]], but it is technically independent of the NBC structure, owned by another company or even by a single person or family.</ref> 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 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.