Syndication Exclusivity

Syndication exclusivity (also known as syndex) is a federal law in the United States designed to protect a local television station's rights to syndicated television programs by granting exclusive rights to the station for that program in the local market, usually defined by a station's Nielsen DMA. As a result, any airings of the same program on cable networks and superstations must be blocked by the local cable company upon request from the local station. Broadcast television stations have the option of signing programming deals with or without syndex protection, but stand to have audiences significantly diluted in markets without protection.