• by Wayne Friedman , Staff Writer, 3 hours ago

Following on the heels of some major syndication cancellations, now a legacy TV-movie company syndication division is closing its entire operation -- NBCUniversal.

This comes after recent news that NBC's major first-run daytime syndication program “The Kelly Clarkson Show” is stopping at the end of this season.

Other shows that will end include first-run syndicated show programs “The Steve Wilkos Show”and “Karamo.” Magazines shows will also end: “Access Hollywood” and its offshoot “Access Live."

In a statement, Frances Berwick, chairman, of Bravo & Peacock Unscripted, who oversees the first-run syndication programming said: "NBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations."

NBC will still sell library programs of these shows and others, to include “Dateline,” “Law & Order,” “Chicago PD,” “Maury”, “Jerry Springer,” “Steve Wilkos” and “Karamo.”

NBCUniversal is the first major movie/TV company to abandon the business of offering "first-run" syndicated scripted and unscripted programming.

Berwick alluded to TV stations now shifting to other programming decisions -- from a financial perspective.

This includes more home-grown programming including local news with an increasing emphasis on video podcast-like content. There is even a small push by some stations groups in returning with soap operas.

TV stations don’t want to spend high licensing fees for new first-run shows -- and they do not want to give up any ad inventory that syndicators ask for in non-cash “barter” deals with stations.

Advertising pricing for national syndication TV shows for the 2025-26 season was between $21.00 and $24.00 CPM (the cost per thousand viewers), according to estimates from Media Dynamics Inc. This was around a 5% decline versus the previous season ($22.00 to $26.00).

For the 2025-26 TV season, roughly $10 billion to $12 billion was spent in upfront deals for national TV syndication and other national TV dayparts, according to Media Dynamics.

What remains, as a probable shift continues for the business?

Typically, game shows -- for example, “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” -- are still strong performers for TV stations in terms of viewership and “attentiveness.”

Media Dynamics (with data partner research from TVision) show that game shows can pull 15% to 22% higher attention score than an average syndicated show.

A broader picture shows that it is not only streaming growing dominance for traditional TV station syndication advertising deals but the rise of FAST channels (Free Advertising Supported Streaming Television) that continue to take advertising share from all types of legacy linear TV.

And what about daytime talk shows -- where will they go? Think about YouTube, FAST and other digital/streaming places. Debmar-Mercury’s syndie talker “Sherri” could be looking for a possible digital/streaming platform, for example.

Talking will still be a thing.