AFI BLOG: Media and Technology

NY Times

IN one booth, two purple-robed men stirred up snacks to promote “TV’s Zaniest Chefs.” Nearby, celebrity impersonators posed for photographs for a show about look-alikes called “The Next Best Thing.”

Nearly 330 production companies showed off television shows and movies here at the National Association of Television Program Executives conference this week, hoping to sell the syndication rights to local stations in the United States and abroad. Some of the shows are familiar, like “Judge Judy” and “Baywatch.” (Yes, “Baywatch” reruns are still being sold to stations, though the series ended in 2001.)

But most of the shows for sale are low-profile titles from smaller production houses, which churn out modest shows about cooking, business, the environment — you name it. Collectively, these programs are the anonymous glue that keep local stations on the air. After all, despite all the attention placed on prime time, that occupies only three hours a night, and television schedulers must fill 24 hours a day.

This year at the biggest conference in syndication — where local affiliate stations fill their shopping carts with enough content to keep their schedules lively — the hottest topic was online syndication. In this emerging part of the market, stations buy syndicated programs to show on their Web sites, and they sell advertisements with those programs to local businesses.

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