Fin-syn

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The Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, widely known as fin-syn rules, were a set of rules imposed by the Federal Communications Commission of the U.S. in 1970. They sought to prevent vertical integration in the broadcast landscape by preventing the Big Three television networks from owning any of the programming that they aired in primetime.

Controversial from the very beginning, the fin-syn rule was relaxed slightly during the 1980s. Following the severe changes in the TV landscape, such as the rise of the Fox network and cable television, fin-syn was abolished completely in 1995.

It was the repeal of fin-syn that ultimately made broadcast netlets UPN and The WB financially interesting for its highly vertically-integrated parent media conglomerates Paramount Pictures (Viacom) and Time Warner, respectively.

Closely related to fin-syn, the Prime Time Access Rule seeks to strengthen local and independent producers by preventing affiliates from airing network programming during much of the early evening.