Syndicators bolstered their clearances last week with series such as Twentieth Television’s “Yes, Dear” and Sony’s “Pat Croce: Moving In” pinning down key sales for fall debuts.
Both series cleared the Fox owned-and-operated station group, with “Yes, Dear’s” tally up to 55 percent of the country for the fall launch of the off-network CBS sitcom. The strip is slated to premiere in all nine of the markets where Fox owns and operates duopolies (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Washington, Houston, Minneapolis, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla.) as well as at Fox O&Os KSTU-TV in Salt Lake City, WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Mo., and the UPN affiliate in Baltimore, WUTB-TV.
Stations from other groups include duopolies in San Francisco (KTVU/KICU-TV), Albuquerque, N.M. (KASY-TV/KWBQ-TV), Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C. (WSPA-TV/WASV-TV), Louisville, Ky. (WDRB-TV/WFTE-TV); and XETV/Fox in San Diego, KTVD-TV/UPN in Denver and KQCA-TV/WB in Sacramento, Calif.
“Quality sitcoms are still one of the best investments a station can make,” said Bob Cook, president and chief operating officer of Twentieth. “Every time `Yes, Dear’ has been asked to perform, it’s done well.”
Sony’s half-hour strip “Pat Croce: Moving In” has been sold to the Fox television stations in New York (WNYW-TV/WWOR-TV), Los Angeles (KTTV/KCOP-TV) and Chicago (WFLS-TV/WPWR-TV) for a fall 2004 launch in national syndication, clearing the country’s top three markets for its fall launch.
The series has now been sold in 18 of the top 20 U.S. television markets and to stations in the following groups: Fox, Viacom, Tribune, Raycom, Scripps Howard, LIN, Belo, Young Broadcasting, Clear Channel, Media General, ACME and Weigel.
“We couldn’t be happier with the overwhelming reception `Pat Croce: Moving In’ continues to receive in the marketplace,” said John Weiser, executive VP of Sony Pictures Television.
Over at Buena Vista “The Tony Danza Show” has now cleared more than 65 percent of the country, adding stations from three new station groups. New deals last week saw stations from Hearst-Argyle, Raycom and Young Broadcasting added to the talker’s lineup, joining a host of existing station groups, including the ABC Owned Station Group and Gannett Broadcasting.
“We’ve secured stations from 14 top station groups for `The Tony Danza Show,’ building extraordinary momentum behind this hot new talker,” said John Bryan, executive VP of sales for Buena Vista Television. “With 25 years’ television experience and an established following, Tony has proven to be a real draw for the station groups.”
Other strips in active sales saw Telepictures’ upcoming talk show hosted by Larry Elder rise to a 40 percent clearance level in the country, including its core of Viacom stations.
The series is now set in eight of the top 10 markets and the WB 100+ Station Group.
Universal’s “Home Delivery” is locked in at 75 percent of the country so far, with 45 of the top 50 markets cleared.