USA Network Acquires Rights to 'Modern Family'

USA Network has reached an agreement with Twentieth Television, acquiring the exclusive syndication rights to the critically acclaimed ratings hit MODERN FAMILY. The 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."

MODERN FAMILY rose to the top of the ratings charts, topped critics' lists and won the Peabody Award, two Writers Guild Awards and the Directors Guild Award, as well as scoring Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations. The #1 new half-hour comedy of the 09/10 season among A18-49 and total viewers, and averaging 11.2 million viewers each week, MODERN FAMILY 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.

MODERN FAMILY 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.

The series is produced by Twentieth Century Fox Television in association with Levitan Lloyd Productions. Steven Levitan and Christopher Lloyd are executive producers/creators. The pilot was directed by Jason Winer, who also serves as co-executive producer on the series.

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