Fringe time

For local affiliate stations, syndicated programs are often used or slotted in what is known as Fringe Time.

This includes programming immediately before the evening's prime-time schedule, called "early fringe", and the time following the local evening news or the network's late-night talk shows, called "late fringe". Syndication to fill up these slots comes in two forms.

First, there is off-network syndication, in which older programs, no longer running during network prime time, are made available for reruns to local stations, cable operators, online services, and foreign markets. A local station may purchase old Cosby Show or Simpsons episodes as a lead-in to boost the ratings for its late-afternoon news, or it may purchase Friends or Seinfeld to boost its ratings after the late evening news.

A second type of syndications used to fill fringe time is first-run syndication, which is any program that is specifically produced for sale into syndication markets. Quiz programs such as Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune and daytime talk or advice shows like Ricki Lake and Dr. Phil are made for syndication. The producers of these programs sell them directly to local markets around the United States and the world. When the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established the Prime Time Access Rule in 1971 to turn more prime time over to local stations, it created an immediate market for non-network programs.

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