‘Modern Family’ Syndie Clearances Top 70%

Still more than two years away from its syndication debut, Modern Family, Twentieth Century Fox’s Emmy winning sitcom, has cleared 70% of the country, a Twentieth Television executive said Friday.

That brings to 70 the number of markets that the show will air in when it begins syndication in fall 2013, Twentieth Television EVP Paul Franklin told TVNewsCheck.

Since January, Twentieth has added stations from more than 10 station groups including Barrington, Raycom, Titan, Local TV, Meredith and Gray, he says. The Fox Television Stations launch group, Tribune, Cox, Hearst, CBS, Sinclair and Newport signed on earlier.

Major new station clearances include Sunbeam’s WLVI Boston; Sinclair’s KDNL St. Louis and WLFL-WRDC Raleigh, N.C.; Weigel’s WDJT-WMLW  Milwaukee; Meredith’s WHNS Greenville, N.C.; Newport’s WPTY-WLMT Memphis; and Block’s WDRB Louisville, Ky.

Franklin says the traction reflects both the popularity of Modern Family, the No. 1 sitcom among adults 18-49, the health of the syndication and the appeal of a sitcom in a field with relatively few players.

Station groups responded just as enthusiastically to The Big Bang Theory, the Warner Bros.-distributed sitcom, which reached 75% clearance just two months after it became available for fall 2011.