• September 10, 2003

In a deal that is sure to get the TV syndication marketplace buzzing, Tribune Broadcasting announced a deal on Wednesday to acquire the off-network syndication rights to critically-acclaimed, but steamy HBO hit "Sex and the City." It's not the first time a risqué HBO series made it of the pay channel and into domestic syndication, but the blatantly sexual nature of "Sex and the City" could raise issues for both the national and local TV advertisers, as well as TV station standards and practices departments. Tribune said it would begin running the series as a six-day-a-week strip beginning in September of 2005, but did not say how the show would be edited, nor what time of day it would air in most markets. Tribune Broadcasting owns and operates 26 television stations concentrated in major markets.