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   clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 27-Nov-2023 05:46:32 JST clacke

   Non-US people in discussions about TV series and reading TV history may be wondering: What is "syndication"?

   "Syndication" is a term closely tied to US television and the mostly US-specific concept of "network television".

   It's a large country that was early into television, and early into commercial television, and as a result they have a very complex and decentralized system of TV broadcasting.

   People actually from the US feel free to correct me on anything I'm saying, I'm not in the business and I'm not even a consumer, I'm just piecing this together from cultural osmosis from across the seas and from wikipedia articles like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcas… .

   In the US, television was originally run by many local TV stations run independently. Over time they started affiliating with each other into TV "networks". This mainly meant networks in an organizational sense, rather than in the sense of a physical radio network of relays all broadcasting the same signal. In fact, as the phenomenon of local broadcasters was considered a good thing and something important, regulation was put in place to make sure a limited number of hours were controlled by a centralized entity, the other hours were supposed to be managed locally.

   Syndication is kind of a way around this. Instead of simply relaying programming from a centralized broadcaster, which is restricted to certain hours, local stations that are part of a network can buy recordings of TV series through their network. This does not have the same restriction, as the decision on what to show when is made locally, even if it's centrally-produced content.

   When a big broadcaster produces a TV show of their own, they might first air it on their own national direct-relay hours, but after this exclusive airing they might sell it to their network of local stations or even to other TV networks, for local stations to buy and show on their own time.

   This is syndication, and this is the main way reruns happen, which is what people are referring to when they are saying things like "after its original run Star Trek gained more and more of a following during its years of syndication". It means local TV stations were showing Star Trek episodes on their own time.

   Again, any insight from US people welcome. The above is my impression of how this works, not the ironclad truth.

   • Embed this notice
     Stephen Michael Kellat (alpacaherder@ubuntu.social)'s status on Monday, 27-Nov-2023 05:47:06 JST Stephen Michael Kellat

     in reply to

     @clacke Broadcast syndication is making your own DIY network through striking deals with each individual station. That’s how Space: 1999 was distributed in the USA even though it wasn’t a “network” show. Babylon 5 ran first in syndication before the cable network TNT picked it up. The big two syndicated shows most Americans would be familiar with are Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy as they could be on any TV station regardless of its network affiliation.

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     clacke (clacke@libranet.de)'s status on Monday, 27-Nov-2023 05:47:12 JST clacke

     in reply to

     • Stephen Michael Kellat

     @alpacaherder Is this supplementary to my description, a correction to it, or a little bit of both?

     Am I correct about how Star Trek (TOS) was produced and aired?

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     Your friendly 'net denizen (cstanhope@social.coop)'s status on Monday, 27-Nov-2023 09:05:55 JST Your friendly 'net denizen

     in reply to

     @clacke Sounds about right. I have to admit I took our TV broadcast setup for granted since I grew up with it. :)

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     Stephen Michael Kellat (alpacaherder@ubuntu.social)'s status on Monday, 27-Nov-2023 09:05:58 JST Stephen Michael Kellat

     in reply to

     @clacke A little of both.

     As to The Original Series, there is quite a bit of history there. The whole concept of “residuals” didn’t exist yet when those episodes were produced. They could be easily farmed out via syndication then because no further payments to actors was required unlike the situation today. People forget that Star Trek originally ran on NBC for 3 seasons before it hit syndication. It arguably hit more of an audience outside the straitjacket of NBC.

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     LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864} (lnxw48a1@nu.federati.net)'s status on Monday, 27-Nov-2023 10:40:25 JST LinuxWalt (@lnxw48a1) {3EB165E0-5BB1-45D2-9E7D-93B31821F864}

     in reply to
     @clacke That is probably close enough. By the time television rolled out, there were already multiple networks of radio broadcasters, so I think TV started out with networks being a part of the experience. There were limits on how many stations any one entity could own, so most stations were independently owned, even if they joined a network.
     
     In late 1960s through 1970s Los Angeles, there were 3 main network TV stations, plus several independent stations. I don't think all 14+ stations* operated in the same time periods.
     
     * 3 were public broadcast stations, including one owned by LA City Schools / LAUSD.