NBCU Exits FirstRun Syndication; ‘Steve Wilkos, ‘Access Hollywood’ End

The drumbeat for the diminishing prospects of the first-run syndication business has been growing louder over the past few years amid a shrinking marketplace. Now, NBCUniversal has become the first major studio to rip off the Band-Aid, leaving the space altogether. It likely won’t be the last major exit.

The timing of the decision was likely informed by the recent announcement that NBCU’s highest-profile first-run program, The Kelly Clarkson Show, is coming to an end at the end of this season.

As part of the strategic wholesale pullout, also set to wrap original production are the remaining NBCUniversal first-run syndicated shows: The Steve Wilkos Show and Karamo, which already have completed production on their current seasons; as well as venerable entertainment newsmagazine Access Hollywood and its offshoot Access Live, which will wind down at the end of the summer.

New episodes of The Steve Wilkos Show and Karamo will continue to air through the summer. It is unclear whether Access Hollywood/Access Live would be kept alive as digital brands beyond the shows’ linear run.

The move is expected to result in layoffs, both in terms of crew of the sunsetted shows and NBCU first-run executives.

“NBCUniversal is making changes to our first-run syndication division to better align with the programming preferences of local stations,” said Frances Berwick, Chairman Bravo & Peacock Unscripted, who oversees the division. “The company will remain active in the distribution of our existing program library and other off-network titles, while winding down production of our first-run shows. These shows have provided audiences with great talk and entertainment content for many years and we’re very proud of the teams behind them.”

Once a financial bonanza riding the wave of daytime mega hits such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, the first-run syndication business has been struggling for most of the past decade as linear viewership has been plummeting in the streaming era, with traditional talk shows often supplanted by video podcasts. Local stations, the buyers of syndicated product, have largely shunned first-run syndicated fare in favor of local news or only take those programs in on a barter basis, declining to pay license fees.

That has made the existing dedicated syndication studio model no longer sustainable.

There is still appetite for library and other off-network titles; NBCU will remain in the distribution business of such programs, including Dateline, Law & Order, Chicago P.D., Maury, Jerry Springer, Steve Wilkos and Karamo.