'Good Day' spin-off struggles in syndication.

As co-hosts of "Good Day L.A.," Jillian Barberie, Steve Edwards and Dorothy Lucey have helped Fox's network-owned KTTV-TV (Channel 11) become one of the dominant players in local morning television.

But their antics haven't exactly translated into syndication gold across the rest of the nation.

"Good Day Live," a version of the morning show that is shipped to affiliates of Fox, a unit of media giant News Corp., has garnered a rating of just 1 during the last sweeps period in May, trailing since-cancelled shows like "Caroline Rhea" and "The Other Half."

"Good Day Live," which premiered on eight stations in 2001 and today airs on 162 stations, hasn't done poorly in every market. In Atlanta, where it's part of a block of youth-oriented daytime programming, it is the top show in the 1 p.m. period, beating out the soap opera "All My Children," according to Gene McHugh, the general manager of Fox-owned station WAGA-TV.

"With youthful audiences, they don't want to watch soaps all day," said McHugh. "What we're doing is counter-programming."

But in New Orleans, WVUE-TV has moved the show to the graveyard shift of 3 a.m. after it failed to perform well in the more favorable 11 a.m. time spot. It also does poorly for WPGH-TV, the Fox affiliate in Pittsburgh owned by Sindair Broadcast Group. "Good Day Live" manages less than a 1 rating in the 12 p.m. time spot, trailing local newscasts, as well as the newly launched "Sharon Osborne Show."

"It doesn't do that well in Pittsburgh. Honestly, I don't know why," said Rob DePascale, WPGH's program manager.

Fox spokeswoman Ivy Van Allen admitted that the show isn't performing as expected. But she says that "Good Day Live" will take time to gain traction, adding: "It's an acquired taste, like 'Good Day L.A.' was when it started."

One reason why the show has managed to survive is media consolidation. Until the mid-1990s, networks were barred from owning shows or limited in the number they could own. So they had to buy from independent syndicators like Warner Bros., now a unit of AOL Time Warner Inc.

But when the Federal Communications Commission lifted that prohibition, networks began forming their own syndication arms. Being tethered to station groups controlled by the networks have allowed their syndication units to garner prime-time spots, even if the shows aren't stellar performers.

A talk show by Drew Carey sidekick Wayne Brady, which is produced and syndicated by Walt Disney Co. and aired on Disney's ABC television stations, has garnered just over a 1 rating since its launch last year.

Helping "Good Day Live's" case has been its low production costs.

Unlike many first-run syndication shows, which can cost more than $l million per episode, "Good Day Live" is just an extension of the local show. It shares the same hosts, producers and studio space, while the only extra costs are generated by remote interviews and other features specially devoted to the national show, such as sponsored segments.

"If you do an additional hour, it may be a third to 50 percent of the cost of producing the local show," said Bill Carroll, vice president of New York media representative Katz Media. "They've already made their investment. Now they have an hour that can be syndicated to their stations and affiliates," he said.