Syndication is usually a boom or bust business. This fall, it finds itself in the uneasy middle. Media buyers say syndication will probably end this year up only a bit from 2004. Ad expenditures in the recent upfront tumbled, but cable and broadcast networks also had a tough go of it. Syndication's boosters point out that some of television's longest-running shows are in syndication, so advertisers know what they're getting On the flip side, buyers who recently finished negotiations in the upfront, which covers fourth quarter 2005 through third quarter 2006, say syndication's problem is a lack of fresh content.
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