Syndication
The series was originally an NBC production in association with The Stuffed Dog Company and Quincy Jones Entertainment. After the show was released to syndication in 1994, the series distributed with Warner Bros. Television Distribution, which continues to distribute the show worldwide (although NBCUniversal does own the series' copyright). WGN America was the first cable channel to acquire the series in 1997, TBS acquired the series a year later in 1998; both channels carried the series until the fall of 2003, though TBS reacquired the series in 2007. The theme song was shown in the original TBS run, but after TBS re-acquired Fresh Prince in 2007, the opening credits were truncated and the theme song removed and replaced with the instrumental version used as the show's closing theme; these versions also re-added portions of scenes cut from the original syndicated prints for some episodes, particularly those from seasons 3-6. TBS continues to air the series today, early in the morning. Reruns also aired on WPIX-TV on weeknights from 1994 until 1996, and as a weekday basis, sometimes on weekends until 2004.
The series aired on Nick at Nite from 2004 to 2009, as well as sister network (through Nickelodeon) The N (now TeenNick) with portions of scenes that were removed from other syndicated airings, with parts of scenes kept in other syndicated airings removed due to time constraints; the series was dropped from its schedule in September 2009 after Disney/ABC purchased the rights to the show. In July 2009, Disney XD acquired the rights to the series, though it was quickly moved from prime-time to late night airings, and only episodes from seasons 1-3 are aired, mainly because those episodes are more appropriate for young viewers and does not contain as much mature themes and sexual content as later episodes. But in August 2010, Disney XD stopped airing the show for unknown reasons. ABC Family acquired the series in September 2008, though airing all 148 episodes; originally airing exclusively on Saturday nights, the series was added to ABC Family's weekday line-up in late 2009, where it currently also airs at midnight.
In Australia, the show was aired on the Nine Network from 1991 until 1996, and was syndicated various times throughout the 2000s. On Foxtel, Australia's cable network, the series was aired on Nickelodeon and Nick at Nite. The show is currently being aired on the Nine Network at irregular time frames on weekends.
In the UK, the show was exclusively aired in 1991 on BBC Two up until the Summer 2004, originally in the DEF II programming block. The channel edited some of the episodes so that, like the pilot, the titles would come before the beginning of the episode; this was indicated by the lack of credits in the first scene. Other episodes were broadcast with the pre-titles teaser intact. It has since aired on digital channels Trouble and Channel One, both of which are now defunct, before moving to Sky Living Loves. Since Summer 2011, it now airs on Viva, MTV UK and Nickelodeon UK, where airings on the latter are heavily edited both for time constraints and suggestive references unsuitable for Nickelodeon's young demographic.
In Ireland, the show aired on Network 2's children's strand The Den until its final number of seasons when it was felt that the series had become too grown up for younger children, RTÉ moved the series to a prime time slot on Friday evenings. In 2011 RTÉ Two began re-runs of the series on their children's strand TRTÉ at 11:30.
In Canada, the series aired on CBC Television. The show previously aired on YTV and The Comedy Network. It now airs on Comedy Gold and MuchMusic.
It has been airing on Nick@Nite Latin America since 2006.
In Spain, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was a huge success. Originally it arrived in Spain via regional broadcaster TV3 who screened episodes dubbed into Catalan, but the series would go unnoticed until national broadcaster Antena3TV picked up the rights for a national broadcast. Titled El principe de Bel Air, the series would open with a Spanish version of the Fresh Prince rap. The series took the 2pm weekday comedy spot that A3TV had opened, and remained anchored there for years, where the channel rerun the series in loop numerous times. The series would later expand to air two daily episodes, at 2 and 2:30pm seven days a week. A3TV usually aired new episodes once the US had completed the series, and new episodes would usually arrive in time for the Summer months, where they would air in the Monday to Friday 2pm slot. Once these were screened, A3TV would go back to reruns. The Fresh Prince double slot on A3TV usually attracted 2.5 million viewers and the series usually ranked in the Daily Top 10 of Spanish TV.
After many years of rerunning on Antena3TV, El principe de Bel Air would find a second life on Spain's regional channels, where it again went on to enjoy multiple looped reruns. In 2010, Antena3TV recovered the series and placed it in the schedules of its spin off youth skewed digital channel Antena Neox where it continues to air.
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