Ch. 55 loses right to broadcast game shows
“Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune,” with Vanna White, will no longer air on WLNY/55. Credit: AP file, 2007
Melville-based WLNY/55 has dropped daily telecasts of "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" in the wake of last week's sale to CBS because of a federal law that prevents duplicate airings of the same show in the same TV market, according to a spokesman.
For years fixtures on channel 55, both hit game shows also air on WABC/7, where they will continue to air. A law known as "syndicated exclusivity," or "syndex" as it's commonly referred to in the TV industry, protects one station's rights to have exclusive airings of a show.
According to CBS spokesman Mike Nelson, "WABC has the syndex rights to air 'Jeopardy!' and 'Wheel of Fortune' in New York, which means WLNY could only air those shows in a portion of [the] tri-state area."
He said that before the CBS purchase was finalized last Friday, channel 55 "provided two feeds to local cable providers -- one with the station's full schedule and a second feed with syndex programs blacked out."
He said that CBS converted channel 55's signal to high definition after the purchase, but that channel 55 had sent both feeds out as analog signals.
The spokesman said, "Now that we've converted to HD, we are providing the tri-state area with one feed featuring programming that we have the right to air across the entire market."
