Syndication Exclusivity - Notable Examples

Notable Examples

• Syndex also applies to programs seen on stations in Canada and Mexico—in the Buffalo, New York television market, when CFTO-TV or CIII-TV airs a program that is also seen on an American broadcast network, the Canadian broadcast is blacked out, or replaced with the signal of the American station carrying the same program at that time. (Note that this does not apply to most sports on cable, especially if they are different productions from one another, unless the league for that sport requests a blackout; Buffalo Sabres games carried on CBC Television's Hockey Night in Canada and on MSG Network can be seen on both channels.)
  • During the October 2008 dispute with LIN TV Corporation and Time Warner Cable, CBS programming (most notably NFL on CBS games, including the Buffalo Bills) were blacked out in the Buffalo market due to LIN and Time Warner not coming to terms with a new contract. Despite this, WIVB-TV (a LIN-owned station and CBS affiliate) was still allowed to enforce syndex and prevent other CBS affiliates or CFTO from being brought into the market. CFTO was allowed to carry games in Niagara County, WSEE-TV in Chautauqua County, WBNG in Steuben County, and WROC-TV in Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming Counties. Time Warner customers in Erie, Cattaraugus and Allegany Counties, whose only CBS affiliate is WIVB, have been completely blacked out; in the latter two counties, because of terrestrial reception issues, antennas cannot be used, leaving satellite television (which still carried WIVB) as the only choice.
• A similar rule, simultaneous substitution, exists in Canada, allowing broadcasters to require that US feeds of shows airing at exactly the same time on a Canadian network to be replaced with the Canadian feed. This is intended to protect Canadian advertising revenue.
• Sporting events that air on a national network such as ESPN are often blacked out in the markets of teams playing if their local channels also have rights to the game. For example, a weeknight baseball game between the Cubs and Cardinals carried by ESPN would be blacked out in areas that receive either team's local channel. In another case, ESPN's ACC Wednesday is blacked out in markets that receive coverage of Atlantic Coast Conference basketball on local stations via Raycom Sports. In such instances, the ESPN feed is usually replaced with ESPNEWS. A 2012 deal reached between ESPN and Major League Baseball will virtually eliminate local blackouts during the network's Monday and Wednesday night games, allowing ESPN coverage to co-exist with the local broadcaster's in home markets beginning in 2014.