'Friends' Renewed Through 2017

Friends' third cycle has now been cleared in 90% of the country, with many station groups joining Tribune and Sinclair in renewing what's now a sitcom classic.

The show's third cycle, which will air in True HD for the first time, begins in December 2013 and runs through 2017. Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution now has cleared the show on stations from the CBS, Raycom, Cox, Hearst, Meredith, Local TV, Titan, Nexstar, Grant, New Vision, Univision, Weigel, New Age, Gocom, Comcorp, Bonten, Venture Tech and Newport broadcast groups.

Friends stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Krudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer and six friends who live and work in New York City. The show is a Bright/Kauffman/Crane Production in association with Warner Bros. Television.

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.