In the context of American television, the term "syndication" refers to series that are sold directly to individuals TV stations, groups of stations or cable channels for broadcast, rather than being developed for and broadcast by a broadcast network. Much syndicated programming consists of re-runs of series that originally aired on broadcast networks, but original programming produced specifically for syndication is also common.
On broadcast stations, syndicated programming often runs outside of the prime weekday evening hours when network programming isn't available. These off-peak times include the daytime hours on weekdays, late-night and weekends. An especially common slot for syndicated programming is in the hour between 7:00 and 8:00 pm, just before network primetime programming begins.
Re-runs of network sitcoms are popular on both broadcast stations and cable channels, while network drama series run in syndication more often on cable. Some genres, such as talk shows and game shows, are commonly produced for first-run syndication.
