American Idol Syndication Could Mark Beginning of End

As rumored last week, with only four complete seasons in the bag, American Idol is going into syndication, MediaPost reports. The first season of the show, dubbed American Idol Rewind, has already been cleared on Tribune and Sinclair stations covering 55 percent of U.S. TV homes and nine of the top 10 markets. The announcement comes just as Fox has launched the show's fifth season. It also follows a Magna Global USA report that found that just over three-quarters of all shows that went into syndication since 1987 - 51 shows - witnessed immediate ratings declines on their network runs the next season.