Hot Off Emmy, Modern Family Starts Strong
ABC’s top-rated network show started strong with a 1.5 houshold rating, becoming the second-highest rated off-network sitcom to debut in the past five years, trailing only the 2011 debut of Warner Bros. The Big Bang Theory.
The Peacock stations may pick up one more hour of daytime in 2012, and the contest pits existing (but ailing) shows against risky new upstarts.
Syndication’s Strong Upfront Is No Surprise
Mitch Burg, president of the Syndicated Network Television Association, says the medium delivers great programming that viewers really value as demonstrated by both ratings and E-score research that looks at viewers’ attitudes toward syndication and show hosts. And it does this, on average, for about half the cost of network primetime, yet is delivering, in many cases, ratings that are greater than network primetime. And marketers like syndication because the shows’ advertising pods continue to be much shorter, generating higher recall and awareness for advertisers.
Twentieth Television clears 90% of country for the animated series’ weekend debut.
Twentieth Television has signed the network’s O&Os for the hit show when it makes its weekend broadcast syndication debut in fall 2013.
Exclusives
How Oprah’s Daytime Exit Affects NATPE
The talk show queen’s exit from the syndication arena this year could bring renewed energy to the annual TV convention, which kicks off today in its new Miami home.
Turner Broadcasting CEO Phil Kent said Turner, parent of the cable network TBS, which buys lots of sitcom reruns, pulled out of the bidding for ABC’s Modern Family over concerns that the show’s exposure on the Web would hurt its long-term value and ratings.
Twentieth Television’s sitcom has been sold in 33 markets in advance of its broadcast syndication debut in fall 2013.
Litton’s Judge Karen’s Court, which the distributor brought back to syndication after Sony canceled the show in 2009, has been renewed for fall 2011.
The flagship drama has been sold for weekend runs by NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution to station groups including Fox, CBS, Cox, Gannett, Hearst and Sunbeam for its debut in broadcast syndication next fall.
