While Fox’s new season of American Idol continues to dominate the television landscape, the news is also good for the syndicated version of the show, due out in the fall.
Tribune Entertainment said it has cleared a weekly hour of American Idol Rewind and reconfigured episodes of the hit music show’s first season in 96 markets representing more than 80% of the country.
The weekend series, from FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment, will debut in September. Several Fox-owned stations have signed on for the show, with Tribune Broadcasting serving as the flagship group after TEC landed the rights just before Christmas, despite the fact that the Fremantle show is so closely associated with Fox.
Tribune has repackaged the episodes, even adding new material, to get around the fact that the winner is widely known.
Tribune President and CEO Dick Askin also announced renewals for an eighth season of Family Feud and a fourth season of the educational three-hour kids block, DIC Kids’ Network.
Feud has been cleared in 48 of the top 50 markets covering 85% of the country, with a lineup again including stations from Fox, Viacom, Sinclair, Tribune, Weigel, Sunbeam, Linn, Cox and Meredith.
DIC Kids’ Network has been cleared in more than 80% of the country, with a lineup including stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group, Granite Broadcasting and Belo Corporation.--Jim Benson contributed to this report
