After a bidding war with TBS and Comedy Central, FXX has acquired the rights to every episode of The Simpsons in a deal worth around $1.25 million per week, resulting in a pay off of something close to $1 billion. Fox executives are calling this one of the biggest television syndication deals ever, and the repeats are scheduled to arrive next August.
The show will remain airing on local stations in syndication as a part of the 25-year-old deal Fox made with its affiliates when The Simpsons first debuted, although FXX will be the only major network who will have syndication rights.
This is great news; The Simpsons are still big, and it’s a good thing I’m not in charge of FXX, because I’d just make it a Simpsons channel and show those repeats 24 hours a day. Will anybody be subscribing to FXX?
Originally published November 17, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
