Ms. Winfrey had by then joined forces with Mr. Jacobs, who began a search for a syndication contract.

Such syndication contracts are often worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The four-year syndication contract stipulated that the studio deliver at least 110 half-hour episodes by the year 2010, and allowed for up to eight seasons of the show.

Two stations in Chicago and Boston, however, signed long-term syndication contracts with Columbia years ago and have declined to terminate them.

On November 1, Citadel announced they had agreed to what was reportedly a multi-year syndication contract with Imus.

When the syndication contract with Yahoo!

TNT also aired episodes of Garfield and Friends on a separate syndication contract.

The original syndication contract for Opus stipulated that the strip occupy an entire half of a newspaper page.

Also, the show's syndication contracts specifically state that if Dr. Phil is on another station, it cannot air at the same time as Oprah.

March 20: The Peter B. Collins show cancels itself after failing to secure a syndication contract.