NATPE: Twentieth Clears Court, Expands Family Guy
By Jim Benson -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/15/2007 12:46:00 PM
Twentieth Television has renewed its three court shows, Divorce Court, Judge Alex and Christina’s Court, and added a dozen more Sinclair stations to its Family Guy lineup for 2007-08.
Divorce Court, featuring Lynn Toler as host and entering its ninth season next fall, has been renewed in 73% of the U.S., including the Fox station group, CBS Television Stations’ KBCW/San Francisco, KSTW/Seattle and WGNT/Norfolk, Va., Sunbeam Television Corp.’s WSVN/Miami and Entravision’s XDTV/San Diego.
Judge Alex, currently in its second season, has already been renewed in more than 70% of the country, including the Fox O&Os, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s WPGH/ Pittsburgh, WLFL/Raleigh, N.C., and WZTV/Nashville; Las Vegas Television Partners’ KTUD/Las Vegas; and Acme Communications’ KASY/Albuquerque, N.M. It is hosted by Judge Alex E. Ferrer.
Cristina’s Court, hosted by Cristina Perez and executive-produced by court veteran Peter Brennan, has to date been renewed for its second season in 77% of the country. Besides Fox, other major group owners renewing it include Cox Television’s KICU/San Francisco, Tribune Broadcasting’s KCPQ/Seattle and KTXL/ Sacramento, Calif., CBS’ WBFS/Miami and Sinclair’s WPGH/ Pittsburgh.
Twentieth also announced that it has cleared its off-net sitcom Family Guy on 12 additional stations owned by Sinclair, increasing its U.S. coverage to 82% for fall 2007.
Sinclair stations clearing the Seth MacFarlane series include WLFL-WRDC/Raleigh-Durham, N.C., WZTV-WUXP/Nashville, KABB-KMYS/San Antonio, WTTO-WABM/Birmingham, Ala., KOCB-KOKH/Oklahoma City, WNYO/Buffalo, N.Y., WRLH/Richmond, WDKY/Lexington, Ky., WSYT-WNYS/Syracuse, N.Y., WCHS-WVAH/Charleston-Huntington, W.V., KBSI-WDKA/Paducah, Ky.-Cape Girardeau, Mo., and WMMP-WTAT/Charleston, S.C.
Family Guy had previously been cleared on Sinclair’s WPGH-WCWB/Pittsburgh, WBFF-WNUV/Baltimore, WSYX-WTTE/Columbus and WCGC-WVTV/Milwaukee.
Other major group owners that have cleared Family Guy include Tribune Broadcasting, Fox Television Stations, Raycom Media, LIN TV, Acme Communications, Clear Channel Television, Belo, Nexstar and Las Vegas Television Partners.
Bill Butler, VP, group programming and promotion of Sinclair, said Sinclair added the show to 12 more stations to boost “viewership with targeted demos, as well as serve as a strong platform to cross-promote our program schedule.”
