In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows to multiple individual stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in countries where television is organized around networks with local affiliates, notably the United States. In the rest of the world, however, countries have mainly centralized networks without local affiliates and syndication is less common. Shows can also be syndicated internationally.

Types of syndication:

• first-run syndication refers to programming that is broadcast for the first time as a syndicated show (not any one particular network), or at least first so offered in a given country (programs originally created and broadcast outside of the United States, first presented on a network in their country of origin, have often been syndicated in the U.S. and in some other countries);
• off-network syndication involves the sale of a program that was originally run on network television: a rerun;
• public-broadcasting syndication has arisen in the U.S. as a parallel service to stations in the PBS service and the handful of independent public stations.