"American Idol" reruns going into syndication

from variety

Tribune snares 'Idol'
Hit reality skein offers syndie rights
By JOHN DEMPSEY

"American Idol," the mother of all talent contests, is planning to
make its debut in TV syndication this fall.

Tribune Entertainment has bought the syndication rights to reruns of
"American Idol" for scheduling on weekends beginning in September.

Tony Calguire...

This late entry in the syndie sweepstakes could make for a lively
convention of the National Assn. of TV Program Executives in Las Vegas
later this month as Tribune seeks to clear "Idol" on TV stations
throughout the country.

The Tribune O&Os are on board, and the distributor's marketing plan is
likely to call for no cash payments by the stations. Instead, the
stations would compensate Tribune by giving it seven minutes within
each hourlong episode to sell to national advertisers.

The Fox Network has avoided using reruns of "Idol" since it premiered
in June 2002, anticipating that mass audiences might not be interested
if they already knew the winners in each of the first two seasons. The
show's appeal, at least in part, comes from the weekly eliminations
that build suspense over which of the contestants will emerge as No.
1.

But on Saturday, the Fox Reality Channel will begin a rerun marathon
of all 43 episodes of the fourth season of "Idol," playing the show
every night through Jan. 17, the night that Season 5 of "Idol"
premieres on the Fox Network.

Tribune is expected to put all its big marketing guns behind "Idol" at
the NATPE convention because the distributor has no other rookie
series available for sale in the fall.

"Idol," hosted by Ryan Seacrest, has become a Nielsen phenomenon,
dominating the competition on the nights that it runs (Tuesday and
Wednesday). It was the highest-rated series in all of network
primetime in total viewers and in adults 18 to 49 for each of the last
two seasons.