Probably because the schedule is to crammed with soaps and "reality" shows that come relatively cheap. I can think of several good series that would warrant a repeat.
There have been lots of Laurel & Hardy DVDs offered for sale in recent years (especially in Sainsbury's and The Works around Christmas time). It's possible that, when the copyright holders (CCA) granted permission for the DVD companies to market those products in the UK, they also entered into an agreement not to grant any UK broadcasting rights for the same films for a number of years.
Anyway, Stan & Olly aren't really that important to me. I just want to know why we're not seeing re-runs of Sgt Bilko any more!
You used to see Harold Lloyd all the time too. Shame that the Marx brothers films weren't even shown in the 80s though-and Groucho only died in the 70s!
The old silent comedies used to be regularly shown on Saturdays when I was a kid in the 60s. Grew up with a detailed appreciation of Buster Keaton, Ben Turpin, Charlie Chaplin, the Keystone Cops, Fatty Arbuckle.....to me the least funny of the lot were Laurel and Hardy. I never actually saw an episode with The Three Stooges but don't feel I missed out. As a youngster I loved the Marx Brothers, but got a dvd recently and their humour didn't seem to have aged well.
Buenchico - Bilko has recently been shown daily on Forces TV - channel on Virgin, don't know about other broadcasters - but doesn't seem to be in the current listings.