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Syndication news: USA takes 'Modern Family', Oxygen grabs 'Glee'

By April MacIntyre Jun 30, 2010, 6:32 GMT

06/13/2010 - Lea Michele - 64th Annual Tony Awards - Arrivals - Radio City Music Hall, 50th Street Between 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue - New York City, NY, USA © Sylvain Gaboury / PR Photos

Syndication nation news as two popular TV shows were snatched up for syndication by NBCU sister cablers USA and Oxygen.

USA has acquired exclusive rights to ABC's comedy "Modern Family," while Oxygen won exclusive rights to FOX musical series, "Glee."

The USA announcement was made today by Jane Blaney, USA’s executive vice president, programming, acquisitions and scheduling and Steve MacDonald, EVP, General Sales Manager, Basic Cable of Twentieth Television.

Under the agreement, USA will strip the series Monday through Sunday beginning Fall 2013.

"This is by far the most significant sitcom acquisition we have ever made.  Modern Family is the hottest new sitcom that premiered during the ’09-’10 TV season and it’s a perfect fit for USA,” said Blaney.  "The terrific writing, incredible ensemble cast and the ‘cool’ cultural relevance align perfectly with the Characters Welcome brand.”

“Modern Family is an incredible comedy series driven by a strong ensemble cast, which we think will be an excellent complement to USA Network’s slate of character driven programs,” MacDonald added.  “We are thrilled that Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd’s television family now has a second home on cable.” 

The series is ABC’s highest rated new comedy dating back nine years, and the highest rated half-hour freshman comedy on any network dating back three years.   It stars Ed O’Neill as Jay, Julie Bowen as Claire, Ty Burrell as Phil, Sofía Vergara as Gloria, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Mitchell, Eric Stonestreet as Cameron, Sarah Hyland as Haley, Nolan Gould as Luke, Ariel Winter as Alex and Rico Rodriguez as Manny.

"Glee" will begin airing on Oxygen in 2013, with a weekend marathon of the second season next January, according to FOX.

FOX will also spin out a new reality competition show to find the next "Glee" star, which will debut next summer (2011).

"Modern Family" and "Glee" are both distributed by Twentieth Television and produced by 20th Century Fox Television.