I’ve just put the finishing touches on a new article called M*A*S*H in Syndication. Here’s the introduction:
Syndication refers to a method of distribution in which individual outlets are supplied with content by a central provider. Comic strips, for example, are syndicated to newspapers. In the television industry, shows can be placed in “first-run syndication” (where individual television stations are the first to air new programs) or “off-network syndication” (when a program originally broadcast on a network is later sold to individual stations). In the past, networks would also syndicate repeats of their own programming in daytime and late-night time slots.
M*A*S*H, of course, was broadcast by CBS from 1972 to 1983. While it was on the air, however, CBS aired repeats of the series during the afternoon and late at night. The series was also sold into off-network syndication in the late 1970s. Off-network syndication continued long after M*A*S*H went off the air in 1983. In 1998, the series went into cable syndication.
As of February 2009, M*A*S*H is being syndicated on two cable channels, one broadcast network and on local stations.
Did you know that M*A*S*H may be the only network television series ever to be broadcast in three time slots by the same network? After reading this article you will. You can also watch four promotional spots for M*A*S*H in syndication, including one for newly remastered episodes and another for a marathon on FX.
I hope to eventually write another article about M*A*S*H in international syndication but at the moment I have very little information about the show airing in other countries.
Thanks to Tom and the fine folks at The Bulletin Board for confirming that M*A*S*H is still broadcast in local syndication in some areas of the country.
