Exclusive: SPT Sells 'Seinfeld' Into Fifth Cycle

Sony Pictures Television has sold the fifth cycle of Seinfeld to TV stations, extending that show’s run through 2017, the company said Monday.

Seinfeld is the greatest television show ever,” says John Weiser, SPT’s president, U.S. distribution, in a statement. “With this renewal, viewers will be able to enjoy the show for many more years into the future.”

The deal extends Seinfeld’s clearances in more than 90% of the country, continuing its successful broadcast run on such highly ranked stations as  WPIX New York, KCOP Los Angeles and WCIU Chicago, and also supported by station groups including Tribune, Fox, CBS, Sinclair, Local, Raycom, Cox and Hubbard, among many others.

“It's really something that the show about nothing is entering its 5th syndication cycle,” said Neal Sabin, Weigel’s president of content and networks, also in a statement. “Seinfeld is a timeless classic we are happy to have on our station, making viewers and advertisers happy and successful, yada, yada, yada.”

Now in its fourth cycle, Seinfeld remains a top-five show in the adults 25-54 demographic among current hits including Warner Bros.’ The Big Bang Theory and Two and A Half Men, and Twentieth’s Family Guy and How I Met Your Mother. Seinfeld also numbers among the top 10 off-net sitcoms in households. 

According to reports, Seinfeld already has made more than $3 billion since debuting in syndication in 1995.  Seinfeld premiered on NBC in July 1989 and ran for nine seasons, wrapping in May 1998.

Seinfeld -- starring Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Michael Richards and Julia Louis-Dreyfus -- is a Shapiro/West production in association with Castle Rock Entertainment.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.