'Friends' Reruns Renewed Until 2017!

[Brian Damage]

OK, all together now:

So no one told you life was going to be this way.
Your job's a joke, you're broke, you're love life's DOA.
It's like you're always stuck in second gear,
Well, it hasn't been your day, your week, your month, or even your year.

But, I'll be there for you, when the rain starts to pour.
I'll be there for you, like I've been there before.
I'll be there for you, cause you're there for me too.

One of viewers' all-time favorite sitcoms, "Friends," will remain on Tribune stations through 2017 under a new syndication deal with Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, reports The Hollywood Reporter. The show will air in major-market stations such as New York's WPIX-TV and Los Angeles' KTLA-TV, the story notes. "

"When people think of the Tribune stations they think of comedy and 'Friends'," said Sean Compton, Tribune Broadcasting's President, Programming & Entertainment, the story says.

The deal is a cash plus advertising barter deal, but Tribune and Warner didn't reveal deals, the story says.

http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/tvbizwire/

[AKA]

The article doesn't mention this, but under the new deal Friends will now air in true HD for the first time in the U.S.

[DSfan]

Does anyone know when Friends first started in syndication episodes? I know it was during the same time as original episodes were still being produced but don't know the exact year.

I'm wondering if it will be one of the longest syndication deals for broadcast networks of a sitcom? Maybe Seinfeld has gone for longer, would be interesting to find out.

[AKA]

Friends started in local syndication in the fall of 1998. I think Seinfeld started in 1995 or 1996.

[Pavan]

Better story...from US:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sitco...i-friends.html

[ryan423]

Originally Posted by Pavan

Better story...from US:

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/sitco...i-friends.html

Pavan, does this guarantee that the show won't start airing in HD on TBS and Nick at Nite until then either? Current TBS-HD airings merely stretch and/or crop the picture, and it's grainy and old looking. I've seen screencaps from international HD airings, and I can't believe how great this show looks in HD!

[Pavan]

Yes, everything is in 2013.

[bossradio93]

Originally Posted by AKA

Friends started in local syndication in the fall of 1998. I think Seinfeld started in 1995 or 1996.

The headline on the SO blog says it will be Friends third broadcast syndication cycle. All 240 episodes have run many times in syndication in lots of places, but what does the 'syndication cycle' mean? Thanks!

[Pavan]

Syndication cycle means its third renewal for nationwide broadcast syndication. Most sitcoms last one cycle (about 4 years), but only the good ones with ratings last longer with multiple cycles like Friends, Seinfeld, and Three's Company back in the 80s and 90s.