Syndie Insider

One month after talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey announced that she will stay on the air through at least the 2007-08 season, TV stations have rushed to sign up to continue her show. Last week, King World and CBS Enterprises CEO Roger King said stations covering 60% of the U.S. have reupped through 2007-08. Besides the show's initial renewals by the ABC-owned stations, King World has renewed stations from the Hearst-Argyle, Belo, Cox, Post-Newsweek, Emmis and Viacom groups. The Oprah Winfrey Show is enters its 18th season this fall.

Sony's Seinfeld has been off prime time since 1998, but the show was the series choice of men 18-49, beating everything else in syndication as well as everything on prime time and cable, in the week ended June 8, according to Nielsen. Seinfeld scored a 5.3 rating in the demo, surpassing CBS's No. 2 show, Everybody Loves Raymond, which did a 5.0. Fox's The Simpsons was close behind with a 4.9, while Seinfeld's weekend run was fourth with a 4.3. CBS's CSI and CSI: Miami tied for fifth at 4.2 each.

As schools let out and summer officially got under way, syndie Nielsen ratings stayed relatively steady in the week ended June 8. In access, Paramount's Entertainment Tonight at a 5.0 was up 4% for the week and up 2% year-to-year. King World's Inside Edition at a 3.1 came off a season low last week to bounce 19%, representing a 7% increase from last year. Warner Bros.' Extra! at a 2.3 was up 5% for the week and unchanged from last year, while NBC Enterprises' Access Hollywood at a 2.2 was down 4% for the week and down 8% year-to-year. Sony's Seinfeld at a 6.4 made it four straight weeks as the No. 1 off-net sitcom. With a 2% gain for the week and a 12% increase for the year, King World's Everybody Loves Raymond tied Warner Bros.' Friends for second place at a 5.8. Raymond was up 5% for both the week and the year, while Friends was down 3% week-to-week and 9% year-to-year. For the first time in 10 weeks, Carsey-Werner-Mandabach's rookie That '70s Show scored a 3.9 to beat fellow rookie Warner Bros.'Will & Grace, with a 3.8.