Twentieth Century Fox has signed a deal with the Tribune Company that will result in the syndication of the animated Futurama TV series in major urban markets including New York (WPIX), Los Angeles (KTLA), Philadelphia (WPHL), Houston (KIAH), Dallas (KDAF), and Chicago (WCIU).  The Matt Groening-created animated science fiction satire will be broadcast on these stations, which reach about 30% of all U.S. households, on weekends starting in the fall of 2011.

Futurama, which aired on Fox from 1999-2003 and was then rerun on the Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim from 2003-2007, was revived in 2007 in a series of four direct-to-DVD films, that were later cut into 16 half-hour episodes that aired on Comedy Central.  Futurama remains a key element in the Comedy Central lineup.  In 2009 the cable channel ordered 26 new half-hour episodes of the series, which began airing on June 24th, 2010 (see “Futurama Cast Signed”).  So far there are 99 episodes of Futurama, which are enough to insure wide syndication, which in turn means that it should be available on various TV outlets for years to come.