Do channels which play reruns only buy them for a season at a time? It seems like the reruns keep repeating so does that mean the channel only got the rights for a season or two?

Answer by  starryday727 (23)

The reruns you're seeing are shows in syndication. Those stations have agreed to air the show, but only get contracts for specific seasons, depending on how old the show is, or when it was on the air. Often the contract lets them air the episodes a set number of times, so when they complete a full cycle, they start over.

Answer by  video (8)

Usually stations buy a series to run for a year. TV shows they are usually syndicated from the first episode through the last full season. If they run the show every day, in 3 months they could broadcast every episode of the series, then they start over at the beginning.

Answer by  technogeek (6640)

When shows go into syndication, which means they are selling the rights to the reruns, then networks buy syndication packages. If your channels seem to only be playing one or two seasons, then that is the package that they bought. Other networks buy entire series because they are better able financially to do so.