Syndex-free/full Signal Rights
In any case, national superstations such as WGN can, in the present day, still sometimes negotiate full signal rights for a syndicated program. Whether or not a particular program can be cleared for full signal rights depends on how it was originally sold to other stations nationwide. For example, the re-packed American Idol Rewind was allowed to air on WGN's national "Superstation" signal by virtue of Tribune Entertainment (the station's owner) being a majority partner as well as the program distributor.
Other studios can also allow full signal rights to superstations for its programming. For example, 20th Television allowed WGN full signal rights to the syndicated version of 24, Sony Pictures Television the same method for Seinfeld for TBS, and so on.
However, once one superstation's term of license on a program ends, it can enter into syndex restrictions. For example, for decades TBS had full signal rights to The Andy Griffith Show until Viacom's networks were able to negotiate new full signal rights in the mid-1990s (the Griffith show at the time was distributed by Viacom, then its successor, Paramount Television). Today, TV Land has national rights to the Griffith show (now distributed through CBS Paramount Television), and under this new contract cannot be seen on any other national network or superstation, but it can still be seen on local over-the-air channels, as stations such as Raleigh's WRAL/WRAZ and WVTV in Milwaukee have done for decades. Airing on these local channels is only restricted to their particular markets.
Read more about this topic: Syndication Exclusivity
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