'Law & Order: Criminal Intent' Returns As Syndie Strip This Fall

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

NBC Universal's Law & Order: Criminal Intent is returning to broadcast syndication as a strip starting this fall, the syndicator said Monday (Feb. 14). The show, which for the first time is being offered as a two-hour block, has been sold to stations covering more than 90% of the country, including broadcast groups Fox, CBS, Sinclair, Hearst, LIN and Local TV.

Criminal Intent is currently airing on MyNetwork TV and USA, although it previously aired as a syndicated strip from 2007 to 2009. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, which currently airs in broadcast syndication, is ending that run for now and expected to take CI's place on My Network TV, although that deal is not confirmed.

Law & Order, the first of the franchise, is cleared in well over 90% of the country to premiere on weekends this fall, marking the mothership's first shot at broadcast syndication, although it's long been a cable staple.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent is produced by Wolf Films and Universal Cable Productions. The show was created and executive produced by Dick Wolf, and was developed by Rene Balcer.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.