From: demillo@juliet.ll.mit.edu ( Robert DeMillo )
Subject: Syndication vs. Network (was Re: Wow! So many new SF shows!)
Organization: M.I.T. Lincoln Lab: Fine Food and Coffee
	<1992Dec30.123415.14219@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Distribution: usa
Date: 30 Dec 92 10:38:39

In article <1992Dec30.123415.14219@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> rroy@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Raja R Roy) writes:

>  What is a syndicated series? I get start-trek-TNG here on FOX. 
>  Anyone knows whether DSN will be on fox here or will it change?

>  Raja

I head this a *lot* from friends who swear that TNG is a FOX 
syndicated show.

First, to answer Raja's question: syndication is an old form of 
doing buisness for selling reruns, but it is increasingly becoming
a way of getting new shows to market that might just put one of the
three major networks out of business before this decade is through.

It works like this: a production house (Paramount in the case of
the Star Trek franchise) has a hot new show (let's say Star Trek)
that they want to produce and distribute, but they don't want the
hassle of dealing with NBC, CBS or ABC. Thanks to satellite transmission,
they can sell *directly* to local independent stations around the 
country. This has two advantages: 
	(1) They get money *up front* in the form of subscription
	    fees. StarTrek:TNG, for instance, costs paramount
	    on the order of $150M-$200M/year to produce, but they
	    get almost $400M/year *up front* in subscription
	    fees from the 200+ affiliates around the country that
	    bought the show. Not bad return on your investment.
	(2) They are not subjected to network guidelines for 
	    viewer demographics *or* viewer ratings. Since each
 	    affiliate puts the show on WHEN THEY THINK IT IS 
	    APPROPRIATE FOR THEIR VIEWING AUDIENCE, the show 
	    is given a more than fair chance of succeeding in that
	    market. (i.e. If NBC was showing TNG, they do something
	    like put it on at 8:00PM EST on Thursday, for instance.
	    That puts it in direct competition with shows on ABC and
	    CBS, and TNG might not do to well and get cancelled.
	    Now, however, the local affiliate puts it wherever they
	    want. Since they paid the money upfront, they have 	
	    a vested interest to show the program where it will	
	    do well. If it doesn't do well in a given time slot,
	    they can move it to a slot where it does. Theoretically,
	    the show should *always* win that way.)
This is why ST:TNG and ST:DS9 and Jeporady and Wheel of Fortune, etc
are on at different times across the country.

Now, in the case of FOX:

FOX is the "baby fourth network" of the United States, but it works a
bit differently. First of all, FOX (you will notice) does not have
a full line-up of shows. Rather than getting allifiates to "dedicate"
themselves to FOX, as is the case with CBS, NBC and ABC affiliates,
FOX *rents* the time to local stations. In effect, the entire
FOX network is in syndication. So, since the FOX affiliates don't
have any obligation to FOX, and since they have a lot of air time
that is *not* FOX related, they can buy more syndicated shows.
For that reason, a large percentage of FOX allifiates buy Star Trek
from Paramount, giving the impression that FOX owns the rights to
Star Trek, but they don't.

And if you think about it, they never would. Paramount owns StarTrek,
and 20th Century Fox owns FOX...they are competitors.

Anyway, there you go, Raja....

- Rob



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 - Rob DeMillo			| Internet: 	  demillo@juliet.ll.mit.edu
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