Television network
Encyclopedia
A television network is a telecommunications network
for distribution of television program
content, whereby a central operation provides programming
to many television station
s or pay TV
providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast network
s. Many early television networks (e.g. the BBC
, NBC
or CBS
) evolved from earlier radio network
s.
In countries where most networks broadcast identical, centrally originated content to all their stations and where most individual TV transmitters therefore operate only as large "repeater stations
", the terms "television network", "television channel
" (a numeric identifier or radio frequency
), and "television station" have become mostly interchangeable in everyday language, with professionals in TV-related occupations continuing to make a difference between them. Within the industry, a tier
ing is sometimes created among groups of networks based on whether their programming is simultaneously originated from a central point, and whether the network master control
has the technical and administrative capability to take-over the programming of their affiliate
s in real-time when it deems this necessary — the most common example being national breaking news
events.
In North America in particular, many television networks available via cable
and satellite television
are branded as "channels" because they are somewhat different than traditional networks in the sense defined above, as they are singular operations – they have no affiliates or component stations, but instead are distributed to the public via cable headends or direct-broadcast satellite companies. Such networks are commonly referred to by terms such as "specialty channel
s" in Canada or "cable network
s" in the U.S.
A network may or may not produce all of its own programming. If not, production houses such as Warner Bros.
and Sony Pictures can distribute their content to the different networks, and it is common that a certain production house may have programmes on two or more rival networks. Similarly, some networks may import television programmes from other countries, or use archival programming to help complement their schedules.
Some stations or headends have the capability to interrupt the network through the local insertion
of TV commercials, station IDs, and emergency alerts. Others completely break away from the network for their own programming, known as regional variation. This is common where small networks are members of larger networks.
As with individual stations and headends, modern centralcasting
network operations center
s usually use broadcast automation
to handle most tasks. These systems are not only used for Broadcast programming and for video server
playout
, but use exact atomic time from GPS or other sources to maintain perfect synchronization
with upstream and downstream systems, so that programming appears seamless to audience
viewers.
, or BBC which is perhaps well known for its news agency BBC News
. Owned by the Crown
, the BBC operates primarily in the United Kingdom
. It is funded by the television licence
paid by British residents that watch broadcast TV and as a result, no commercial advertising appears on their networks. Outside of the UK, advertising is shown because the licence fee only applies to the BBC's British operations. 23,000 people worldwide are employed by the BBC and it's subsidiary, BBC Worldwide
.
has long been dominated by the Big Three television networks
, ABC
, CBS
and NBC
, but Fox
, launched in 1986, has gained prominence and is now considered as part of the "Big Four." The Big Three provide a significant amount of television program
s to each of their affiliates, including newscasts, prime-time, daytime television
and sports television, but still have periods each day when each affiliate can air local programming
, such as local news or syndicated programmes. Since the creation of Fox, the number of American television networks has grown, but the amount of programming they provide is often much less: for example, The CW Television Network
only broadcasts for ten hours each week, leaving its affiliates free to broadcast a large amount of syndicated programming. Other networks are dedicated to specialist programmes, such as religious broadcasting
or services in languages other than English, especially in Spanish.
The largest television network in the United States, however, is the Public Broadcasting Service
(PBS), a non-profit, non-commercial educational
, publicly owned service. In comparison to the commercial television
networks, there is no central unified arm of broadcast programming, meaning that each PBS affiliate
has a significant amount of freedom to schedule television shows as it sees fit.
There are also regional state network
s in the U.S., mostly for public television which refers to a miniature television network serving an entire state or multiple states. State Networks are common with stations aligned with the PBS, however there are a few state networks that are affiliated with a Commercial broadcasting
television network. These public television may also carry separate digital networks. For example, all Georgia Public Broadcasting
stations simulcast
, and carry mostly PBS and some GPB TV programs on one channel, PBS Kids
on another channel branded as GPB Kids, and PBS World
and other PBS and GPB programming on a third channel branded GPB Knowledge. Besides Georgia, several other U.S. state
s have statewide or regional PBS state networks.
With the digital terrestrial television
and the mandated DTV transition in the United States
, several television networks have been created specifically to be transmitted on the digital subchannel
s of TV stations. These include Ion Life
(which is almost always paired with Ion Television as most of the stations are network-owned), and ThisTV (which is carried on an assortment of unrelated stations).
Providers of pay TV
generally on cable television
pay the networks a certain amount per subscriber (the highest charge being for ESPN
). Direct-broadcast satellite company can sell local television commercials, in which case there may be revenue sharing
. Networks that consist entirely of home shopping
or infomercial
s may instead pay the station or cable/satellite provider, which is known as brokered programming
. This is especially common with low-power TV stations, and now even more so for the ones that are using this income to make the forced conversion to digital, which in turn provides them with several extra channels to transmit different program sources on.
. Other companies built early radio stations in Detroit, Boston, New York City, and other areas. Radio stations received permission to transmit through broadcast license
s obtained through the Federal Radio Commission
(FRC), a government entity created in 1926 to regulate the radio industry. With few exceptions, radio stations east of the Mississippi River
received official call sign
s beginning with the letter W; those west of the Mississippi a K. The amount of programs these early stations aired was often limited, in part due to the expense of program creation. The idea of a network system which would distribute programming to many stations simultaneously, saving each station the expense of creating all of its own programs and expanding the total coverage beyond the limits of a single broadcast signal, was devised.
NBC
set up the first permanent coast-to-coast radio network
in the United States by 1928, using dedicated telephone line
technology. The network physically linked individual radio stations, nearly all of which were independent radio
owned and operated station, in a vast chain, NBC's audio signal thus transmitted from station to station to listeners across the United States. Other companies, including CBS
and Mutual
, soon followed suit, each network signing hundreds of individual stations on as affiliates: stations which agreed to broadcast one network's programs.
As radio prospered throughout the 1920s and 1930s, experimental television stations, which broadcast both an audio and a video signal, began sporadic broadcasts. Experimental television station broadcast license
were often granted to experienced radio broadcasters, and thus advances in television technology closely followed breakthroughs in radio technology. As interest in television grew, and as early television stations began regular broadcasts, the idea of networking television signals (sending one station's video and audio signal to outlying stations) was born. However, the signal from an electronic television system, containing much more information than a radio signal (6 MHz), required a broadband
transmission medium. Transmission by a nationwide series of radio relay towers would be possible but extremely expensive.
Research
ers at the AT&T
subsidiary
Bell Telephone Laboratories patent
ed coaxial cable
in 1929, primarily as a telephone improvement device. Its high capacity (transmitting 240 telephone calls simultaneously) also made it ideal for long-distance television transmission, where it could handle a frequency band of 1 megahertz. German television first demonstrated such an application in 1936 by relaying televised telephone calls from Berlin to Leipzig, 180 km (111.8 mi) away, by cable.
AT&T laid the first L-carrier
coaxial cable between New York and Philadelphia, with automatic signal booster stations
every 10 miles (16.1 km), and in 1937 they experimented with transmitting televised motion pictures over the line. Bell Labs gave demonstrations of the New York–Philadelphia television link in 1940–1941. AT&T used the coaxial link to transmit the Republican
national convention in June 1940 from Philadelphia to New York City, where it was televised to a few hundred receivers over the NBC station.
NBC had earlier demonstrated an inter-city television broadcast on February 1, 1940, from its station in New York City to another in Schenectady, New York
by General Electric
relay antennas, and began transmitting some programs on an irregular basis to Philadelphia and Schenectady in 1941. Wartime priorities suspended the manufacture of television and radio equipment for civilian use from April 1, 1942 to October 1, 1945, temporarily shutting down expansion of television networking. However, in 1944 a short film, "Patrolling the Ether
", was broadcast simultaneously over three stations as an experiment.
AT&T
made its first postwar addition in February 1946, with the completion of a 225 miles (362.1 km) cable between New York City and Washington, D.C.
, although a blurry demonstration broadcast showed that it would not be in regular use for several months. The DuMont Television Network
, which had begun experimental broadcasts before the war, launched what Newsweek
called "the country's first permanent commercial television
network" on August 15, 1946, connecting New York with Washington. Not to be outdone, NBC launched what it called "the world's first regularly operating television network" on June 27, 1947, serving New York, Philadelphia, Schenectady and Washington. Baltimore and Boston
were added to the NBC television network in late 1947. DuMont and NBC would be joined by CBS and ABC
in 1948.
In the 1940s, the term "chain broadcasting" was used when discussing network broadcasts, as the television stations were linked together in long chains along the East Coast. But as the television networks expanded westward, the interconnected television stations formed great television networks of connected affiliate television stations. In January 1949, with the signon of DuMont's WDTV
in Pittsburgh, the midwest and east-coast networks were finally connected by coaxial cable (with WDTV showing the best shows of all four networks)http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10136/1058239-426.stm. By 1951, the four networks stretched from coast to coast, carried on the new microwave radio relay network of AT&T Long Lines. Only a few local TV stations remained independent of the networks.
Originally, each of the four major television networks only broadcast a few hours of programs a week to their affiliate stations, mostly between the hours of 7 and 10 PM when most viewers were watching television. Most of a television station's programs were still locally-produced. As the networks increased the number of programs they aired, however, officials at the Federal Communications Commission
grew concerned that local television might disappear altogether. Eventually, the federal regulator enacted the Prime Time Access Rule
, which restricted the amount of time that the networks could air programs; officials hoped the rules would foster the development of quality local programs, but in practice, most local stations did not want to bear the burden of producing many of their own programs, and instead chose to purchase programs from independent producers. Sales of television programs to individual local stations is called broadcast syndication, and today nearly every television station in the United States obtains syndicated programs in addition to network-produced fare.
The Fox Broadcasting Company
network, part of Rupert Murdoch
's News Corporation
, was launched on October 9, 1986. In the 2006–2007 television season
, The CW Television Network
was launched by the merger of The WB Television Network
and the UPN
network.
Late in the 20th century, cross-country microwave radio relays were replaced by fixed-service satellites. Some terrestrial radio relays remained in service for regional connections.
(FCC) regulations in the United States restricted the number of television station
s that could be owned by any one network, company or individual (Concentration of media ownership
). This led to a system where most local television stations were independently owned, but received programming from the network through a franchising
contract, except in a few big cities that had network owned-and-operated station
s (O&O) and independent stations. In the early days of television, when there were often only one or two stations broadcasting in an area, the stations were usually affiliate
d with several networks and were able to choose which television program
s to air. Eventually, as more stations were license
d, it became common for each station to be affiliated with only one network and carry all of the "prime-time" network programs. Local stations occasionally break from regularly scheduled network broadcast programming however, especially when there is local breaking news
(e.g. severe weather
). Moreover, when stations return to network programming from commercial breaks, the station identification
is displayed in the first few seconds before switching to the network's logo.
Another FCC regulation, the Prime Time Access Rule
, restricted the number of hours of network programming that could be broadcast on the local affiliate stations. This was done to encourage the development of local programming
, and to give local residents access to broadcast time. More often, the result included a substantial amount of syndicated programming, usually consisting of old movies, independently produced and syndicated shows, and rerun
s of network programs. Occasionally, these shows were presented by a local host, especially in programs that showed cartoons and short comedies intended for children. See list of local children's television series (United States).
Under the Broadcasting Act, a network is defined as "any operation where control over all or any part of the programs or program schedules of one or more broadcasting undertakings is delegated to another undertaking or person" and must be licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
Only four national over-the-air television networks are currently licensed by the CRTC: the government-owned CBC
(English) and Radio-Canada
(French), French-language private network TVA
, and a network focused on Canada's indigenous peoples, APTN
. A third French-language service, V, is licensed as a provincial network within Quebec
, but not nationally.
Currently, licensed national or provincial networks must be carried by all cable systems (in the country or province, respectively) with a service area above a certain population threshold, as well as all satellite providers. However, they are no longer necessarily expected to achieve over-the-air coverage in all areas (APTN, for example, only has terrestrial coverage in parts of northern Canada).
In addition to these licensed networks, the two main private English-language over-the-air services, CTV
and Global
, are also generally considered to be "networks" by virtue of their national coverage, although they are not officially licensed as such. CTV was previously a licensed network, but relinquished this licence in 2001 after acquiring most of its affiliates, making operating a network licence essentially redundant (per the above definition).
Smaller groups of stations with common branding are often categorized by industry watchers as television system
s, although the public and the broadcasters themselves will often refer to them as "networks" regardless. Some of these systems, such as CTV Two, Citytv
, and the now-defunct E!, essentially operate as mini-networks, but have reduced geographical coverage. Others, such as Omni
or CTS
, have similar branding and a common programming focus, but schedules may vary significantly from one station to the next.
Most local television stations in Canada are now owned and operated
directly by their network, with only a very few affiliate
s still operating.
Network.
When UHF television allowed a greater number of television stations to broadcast, the BBC launched a second network, BBC Two
(and the original service was later renamed BBC One
). A fourth nationwide commercial network was launched, Channel 4
, although Wales introduced a Welsh-language service instead, S4C
. A fifth network, currently called Channel 5, was later launched. Since the introduction of digital television, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 each introduced a number of digital-only channels. The large amount of remaining channels are operated by satellite and virgin media
cable only BSkyB and free to view UKTV
who operate a number of channels including Dave, GOLD
, Watch, yesterday and other more specific channels
, Nederland 2
and Nederland 3
. Rather than having a single production arm, there are a number of public broadcasting organizations that create programming for each of the three stations, each working relatively independently. Commercial broadcasting in the Netherlands is currently operated by two networks, RTL Nederland
and SBS Broadcasting, which together broadcast seven commercial stations.
when the first independent television network, 2×2, was launched.
and the network itself survived. The other 5 networks were Ground Zero. This free airwave space allowed many private television networks like NTV and TV-6 to appear in the mid-1990s.
and the founder of NTV Vladimir Gusinsky
. As a result most of the star reporters left the channel. Later, on 22 January 2002, the second biggest private television network TV-6, where the former NTV staff took refuge, was shut down allegedly because of its editorial policy. Five months later, on 1 June TVS
was launched, mostly consisting of NTV/TV-6 staff, only to stop airing 1 year later. Since then four biggest TV networks (Channel one, Russia 1, NTV and Russia 2) are state-owned.
Still, 2000s saw a rise of several independent TV networks like REN (its coverage increased vastly allowing it to become federal channel), Petersburg — Channel Five (overall the same), the relaunched 2×2 and others. Now the TV audience is mainly shared by 5 leading companies: Channel one, Russia 1, NTV, TNT and CTC.
and SBS. The ABC operates eight stations as part of its main network ABC1
, one for each state and territory, as well as three digital-only channels, ABC2
, ABC3
and ABC News 24
. SBS currently operates two stations, SBS One and SBS Two.
The first commercial networks in Australia involved commercial stations in Sydney
, Melbourne
, Brisbane
, Adelaide
, and later Perth
, sharing programming, with each network forming networks based on their allocated channel numbers: TCN-9 Sydney, GTV-9 Melbourne, QTQ-9 Brisbane, NWS-9 Adelaide and STW-9 Perth together formed the Nine Network
, while their equivalents on VHF channels 7 and 10 formed the Seven Network
and Network Ten
respectively. Until 1989, areas outside of these main cities had access to only a single commercial station, and these rural stations often formed small networks such as Prime Television
. Beginning in 1989, however, television markets in rural
areas began to aggregate, allowing these rural networks to broadcast over a larger area, often an entire state, and become full-time affiliates to one specific metropolitan network.
network's flagship station (usually based in the Mega Manila
area). Hence VHF networks are sometimes informally referred to by the channel number they are seen on terrestrial TV in the Mega Manila
area (e.g. Channel 2 or Dos for ABS-CBN
, Channel 5 or Singko for TV5
, and Channel 7 or Siyete for GMA Network
) while some networks have the channel numbers in their name (e.g. TV5
, Studio 23
and Net 25 which are seen on channels 23 and 25 respectively).
Unlike the US where networks get programmes from various production houses, the two largest networks in the Philippines produce all their prime time
programmes except for Asianovelas. Other networks adopt block-time programming whose programming arrangements are similar to the relationship between a US network and station. And also Philippines has network wars in which the fans of the 2 major networks defend their favorite channel, or when the 2 major networks produce similar and rival programming, and example of this, is when an ABS-CBN fan tells an insult on GMA (usually being called cheap), and a GMA fan would answer and make another insult (usually the answer is that ABS-CBN is mayabang (arrogant in English), and an exchange of insults would occur, usually on social networking sites, especially Facebook
. In terms of programming, for example, after the launch of Showtime, GMA launched Diz Iz It!
, but was cancelled due to the former's popularity, and the latter was called a copycat and cheap. But the real definition of the network wars is that the 3 networks battle for ratings supremacy.
Telecommunications network
A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...
for distribution of television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
content, whereby a central operation provides programming
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
to many television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s or pay TV
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of broadcast network
Broadcast network
A broadcast network is an organization, such as a corporation or other voluntary association, that provides live television or recorded content, such as movies, newscasts, sports, Public affairs programming, and other television programs for broadcast over a group of radio stations or television...
s. Many early television networks (e.g. the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
or CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
) evolved from earlier radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
s.
In countries where most networks broadcast identical, centrally originated content to all their stations and where most individual TV transmitters therefore operate only as large "repeater stations
Broadcast relay station
A broadcast relay station, relay transmitter, broadcast translator , rebroadcaster , or repeater is a broadcast transmitter which relays, repeats, or reflects the signal of another radio station or television station, usually to an area not covered by the signal of the originating station...
", the terms "television network", "television channel
Television channel
A television channel is a physical or virtual channel over which a television station or television network is distributed. For example, in North America, "channel 2" refers to the broadcast or cable band of 54 to 60 MHz, with carrier frequencies of 55.25 MHz for NTSC analog video and...
" (a numeric identifier or radio frequency
Radio frequency
Radio frequency is a rate of oscillation in the range of about 3 kHz to 300 GHz, which corresponds to the frequency of radio waves, and the alternating currents which carry radio signals...
), and "television station" have become mostly interchangeable in everyday language, with professionals in TV-related occupations continuing to make a difference between them. Within the industry, a tier
Tier
TIER may refer to:* Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, one of two major economic research institutes in TaiwanTier may refer to:* a layer or ranking or classification-group in any real or imagined hierarchy...
ing is sometimes created among groups of networks based on whether their programming is simultaneously originated from a central point, and whether the network master control
Master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room in television studios where the activities such as switching from camera to camera are coordinated...
has the technical and administrative capability to take-over the programming of their affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
s in real-time when it deems this necessary — the most common example being national breaking news
Breaking news
Breaking news, also known as a special report or news bulletin, is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming and/or current news in order to report its details. Many times, breaking news is used after the news network has already reported on this story...
events.
In North America in particular, many television networks available via cable
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
and satellite television
Satellite television
Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...
are branded as "channels" because they are somewhat different than traditional networks in the sense defined above, as they are singular operations – they have no affiliates or component stations, but instead are distributed to the public via cable headends or direct-broadcast satellite companies. Such networks are commonly referred to by terms such as "specialty channel
Specialty channel
A specialty channel can be a commercial broadcasting or non-commercial television channel which consists of television programming focused on a single genre, subject or targeted television market at a specific demographic....
s" in Canada or "cable network
Cable network
A cable channel is a television channel available via cable television. Such channels are usually also available via satellite television, including direct broadcast satellite providers such as DirecTV, Dish Network and BSkyB...
s" in the U.S.
A network may or may not produce all of its own programming. If not, production houses such as Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
and Sony Pictures can distribute their content to the different networks, and it is common that a certain production house may have programmes on two or more rival networks. Similarly, some networks may import television programmes from other countries, or use archival programming to help complement their schedules.
Some stations or headends have the capability to interrupt the network through the local insertion
Local insertion
In broadcasting, local insertion is the act or capability of a broadcast television station, radio station, or cable TV system to insert or replace part of a broadcast network feed with content unique to the local station or system...
of TV commercials, station IDs, and emergency alerts. Others completely break away from the network for their own programming, known as regional variation. This is common where small networks are members of larger networks.
As with individual stations and headends, modern centralcasting
Centralcasting
In terrestrial radio and television broadcasting, centralcasting refers to the use of systems automation by which customised signals for broadcast by multiple individual stations may be created at one central facility.- :...
network operations center
Network Operations Center
A network operations center is one or more locations from which control is exercised over a computer, television broadcast, or telecommunications network....
s usually use broadcast automation
Broadcast automation
Broadcast automation incorporates the use of broadcast programming technology to automate broadcasting operations. Used either at a broadcast network, radio station or a television station, it can run a facility in the absence of a human operator...
to handle most tasks. These systems are not only used for Broadcast programming and for video server
Video server
A video server is a computer based device dedicated to delivering video.Unlike personal computers, being multi-application devices, a video server is designed for one purpose; provisioning video, often for broadcasters. A professional grade video server records, stores, and playout of multiple...
playout
Playout
In broadcasting, playout is a term for the transmission of radio or TV channels from the broadcaster into broadcast networks that delivers the content to the audience...
, but use exact atomic time from GPS or other sources to maintain perfect synchronization
Synchronization
Synchronization is timekeeping which requires the coordination of events to operate a system in unison. The familiar conductor of an orchestra serves to keep the orchestra in time....
with upstream and downstream systems, so that programming appears seamless to audience
Audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
viewers.
Global
A major international television network is the British Broadcasting CorporationBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, or BBC which is perhaps well known for its news agency BBC News
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...
. Owned by the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
, the BBC operates primarily in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. It is funded by the television licence
Television licensing in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, any household watching or recording live television transmissions is required to purchase a television licence every year. As of 2010, this costs £145.50 for colour and £49.00 for black and white. The licence is required to receive any live...
paid by British residents that watch broadcast TV and as a result, no commercial advertising appears on their networks. Outside of the UK, advertising is shown because the licence fee only applies to the BBC's British operations. 23,000 people worldwide are employed by the BBC and it's subsidiary, BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide
BBC Worldwide Limited is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in 1995. In the year to 31 March 2010 it made a profit of £145m on a turnover of £1.074bn. The company had made a profit of £106m...
.
United States
Television in the United StatesTelevision in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
has long been dominated by the Big Three television networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
, ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, but Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, launched in 1986, has gained prominence and is now considered as part of the "Big Four." The Big Three provide a significant amount of television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
s to each of their affiliates, including newscasts, prime-time, daytime television
Daytime television
Daytime television is the general term for television shows produced that are intended to air during the daytime hours on weekdays. This article is about American daytime television, for information about international daytime television see Daytime television....
and sports television, but still have periods each day when each affiliate can air local programming
Local programming
The term Local Programme, Local Programming, Local Content or Local Television refers to a television programme made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or television market...
, such as local news or syndicated programmes. Since the creation of Fox, the number of American television networks has grown, but the amount of programming they provide is often much less: for example, The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
only broadcasts for ten hours each week, leaving its affiliates free to broadcast a large amount of syndicated programming. Other networks are dedicated to specialist programmes, such as religious broadcasting
Religious broadcasting
Religious broadcasting refers to broadcasting by religious organizations, usually with a religious message. Many religious organizations have long recorded content such as sermons and lectures, and have moved into distributing content on their Internet websites.While this article emphasises...
or services in languages other than English, especially in Spanish.
The largest television network in the United States, however, is the Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS), a non-profit, non-commercial educational
Non-commercial educational
The term non-commercial educational applies to a radio station or TV station that does not accept on air advertisements , as defined in the United States by the Federal Communications Commission . NCE stations do not pay broadcast license fees for their non-profit uses of the radio spectrum...
, publicly owned service. In comparison to the commercial television
Commercial Television
Commercial Television was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.-History:...
networks, there is no central unified arm of broadcast programming, meaning that each PBS affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
has a significant amount of freedom to schedule television shows as it sees fit.
There are also regional state network
State network
A State Network in the United States broadcasting industry is a term which refers to a miniature television network serving an entire state or multiple states...
s in the U.S., mostly for public television which refers to a miniature television network serving an entire state or multiple states. State Networks are common with stations aligned with the PBS, however there are a few state networks that are affiliated with a Commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting
Commercial broadcasting is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship...
television network. These public television may also carry separate digital networks. For example, all Georgia Public Broadcasting
Georgia Public Broadcasting
Georgia Public Broadcasting is the public broadcasting radio and television state network in the U.S. state of Georgia. It is operated by the Georgia Public Telecommunications Commission....
stations simulcast
Simulcast
Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...
, and carry mostly PBS and some GPB TV programs on one channel, PBS Kids
PBS Kids
PBS Kids is the brand for children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service in the United States founded in 1993. As with all PBS programming, PBS Kids programming is non-commercial. It is aimed at children ages 2 to 10...
on another channel branded as GPB Kids, and PBS World
PBS World
PBS World is a 24-hour United States over-the-air digital subchannel showing public TV non-fiction, science, nature, news, public affairs and documentaries...
and other PBS and GPB programming on a third channel branded GPB Knowledge. Besides Georgia, several other U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
s have statewide or regional PBS state networks.
With the digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
and the mandated DTV transition in the United States
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
, several television networks have been created specifically to be transmitted on the digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
s of TV stations. These include Ion Life
ION Life
ION Life is a digital television network carried by ION Television affiliates, airing lifestyle programming during the day, and movies in the evening. It was launched February 19, 2007...
(which is almost always paired with Ion Television as most of the stations are network-owned), and ThisTV (which is carried on an assortment of unrelated stations).
Providers of pay TV
Pay TV
Pay television, premium television, or premium channels refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by both analog and digital cable and satellite, but also increasingly via digital terrestrial and internet television...
generally on cable television
Cable television in the United States
Cable television in the United States is a common form of television delivery, generally by subscription. Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948, with subscription services in 1949. Data by SNL Kagan shows that as of 2006 about 58.4% of all American homes subscribe to...
pay the networks a certain amount per subscriber (the highest charge being for ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
). Direct-broadcast satellite company can sell local television commercials, in which case there may be revenue sharing
Revenue sharing
Revenue sharing has multiple, related meanings depending on context.In business, revenue sharing refers to the sharing of profits and losses among different groups. One form shares between the general partner and limited partners in a limited partnership...
. Networks that consist entirely of home shopping
Home shopping
Home shopping commonly refers to the electronic retailing/home shopping channels industry, which includes such billion dollar television-based and e-commerce companies as HSN, QVC, eBay, ShopNBC, Buy.com, and Amazon.com, as well as traditional mail order and brick and mortar retailers as Hammacher...
or infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
s may instead pay the station or cable/satellite provider, which is known as brokered programming
Brokered programming
Brokered programming is a form of broadcast content in which the show's producer pays a radio or television station for air time, rather than exchanging programming for pay or the opportunity to play spot commercials...
. This is especially common with low-power TV stations, and now even more so for the ones that are using this income to make the forced conversion to digital, which in turn provides them with several extra channels to transmit different program sources on.
History
Television broadcasting in the United States was heavily influenced by radio, a precursor to television. Early individual experimental radio stations in the United States began limited operations in the 1910s. In November 1920, in Pittsburgh, Westinghouse launched "the world's first commercially licensed radio station", KDKAKDKA (AM)
KDKA is a radio station licensed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Created by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation on November 2, 1920, it is one of the world's first modern radio stations , a distinction that has also been challenged by other stations, although it has claimed to be the first in...
. Other companies built early radio stations in Detroit, Boston, New York City, and other areas. Radio stations received permission to transmit through broadcast license
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
s obtained through the Federal Radio Commission
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission was a government body that regulated radio use in the United States from its creation in 1926 until its replacement by the Federal Communications Commission in 1934...
(FRC), a government entity created in 1926 to regulate the radio industry. With few exceptions, radio stations east of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
received official call sign
Call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In North America they are used as names for broadcasting stations...
s beginning with the letter W; those west of the Mississippi a K. The amount of programs these early stations aired was often limited, in part due to the expense of program creation. The idea of a network system which would distribute programming to many stations simultaneously, saving each station the expense of creating all of its own programs and expanding the total coverage beyond the limits of a single broadcast signal, was devised.
NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
set up the first permanent coast-to-coast radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...
in the United States by 1928, using dedicated telephone line
Dedicated line
In computer networks and telecommunications, a dedicated line is a communications cable or other facility dedicated to a specific application, in contrast with a shared resource such as the telephone network or the Internet....
technology. The network physically linked individual radio stations, nearly all of which were independent radio
Independent Radio
Independent radio indicates a radio station that is run in a manner different from usual for the country it broadcasts in. In countries where there exist government-run radio stations that served as the primary or only the variety of licensed broadcaster, the term independent radio generally means...
owned and operated station, in a vast chain, NBC's audio signal thus transmitted from station to station to listeners across the United States. Other companies, including CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and Mutual
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
, soon followed suit, each network signing hundreds of individual stations on as affiliates: stations which agreed to broadcast one network's programs.
As radio prospered throughout the 1920s and 1930s, experimental television stations, which broadcast both an audio and a video signal, began sporadic broadcasts. Experimental television station broadcast license
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
were often granted to experienced radio broadcasters, and thus advances in television technology closely followed breakthroughs in radio technology. As interest in television grew, and as early television stations began regular broadcasts, the idea of networking television signals (sending one station's video and audio signal to outlying stations) was born. However, the signal from an electronic television system, containing much more information than a radio signal (6 MHz), required a broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
transmission medium. Transmission by a nationwide series of radio relay towers would be possible but extremely expensive.
Research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
ers at the AT&T
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
Bell Telephone Laboratories patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
ed coaxial cable
Coaxial cable
Coaxial cable, or coax, has an inner conductor surrounded by a flexible, tubular insulating layer, surrounded by a tubular conducting shield. The term coaxial comes from the inner conductor and the outer shield sharing the same geometric axis...
in 1929, primarily as a telephone improvement device. Its high capacity (transmitting 240 telephone calls simultaneously) also made it ideal for long-distance television transmission, where it could handle a frequency band of 1 megahertz. German television first demonstrated such an application in 1936 by relaying televised telephone calls from Berlin to Leipzig, 180 km (111.8 mi) away, by cable.
AT&T laid the first L-carrier
L-carrier
SystemYearFrequencyCoax per cableDistance between repeatersVoice circuits per coax tubeL-119413 MHz48 miles600L-21942840 kHz416 miles360L-319508 MHz84 miles1,860L-4196717 MHz202 miles3,600L-5197257 MHz221 mile10,800L-5E197566 MHz221 mile13,200...
coaxial cable between New York and Philadelphia, with automatic signal booster stations
Repeater
A repeater is an electronic device that receives asignal and retransmits it at a higher level and/or higher power, or onto the other side of an obstruction, so that the signal can cover longer distances.-Description:...
every 10 miles (16.1 km), and in 1937 they experimented with transmitting televised motion pictures over the line. Bell Labs gave demonstrations of the New York–Philadelphia television link in 1940–1941. AT&T used the coaxial link to transmit the Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
national convention in June 1940 from Philadelphia to New York City, where it was televised to a few hundred receivers over the NBC station.
NBC had earlier demonstrated an inter-city television broadcast on February 1, 1940, from its station in New York City to another in Schenectady, New York
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 66,135...
by General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
relay antennas, and began transmitting some programs on an irregular basis to Philadelphia and Schenectady in 1941. Wartime priorities suspended the manufacture of television and radio equipment for civilian use from April 1, 1942 to October 1, 1945, temporarily shutting down expansion of television networking. However, in 1944 a short film, "Patrolling the Ether
Patrolling the Ether
Patrolling the Ether is a short film made in 1944 depicting amateur radio operators aiding the Federal Communications Commission in monitoring the airwaves for Nazi spy transmissions. It is notable as the first film ever broadcast simultaneously on more than one television station; on 10 April...
", was broadcast simultaneously over three stations as an experiment.
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications corporation headquartered in Whitacre Tower, Dallas, Texas, United States. It is the largest provider of mobile telephony and fixed telephony in the United States, and is also a provider of broadband and subscription television services...
made its first postwar addition in February 1946, with the completion of a 225 miles (362.1 km) cable between New York City and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, although a blurry demonstration broadcast showed that it would not be in regular use for several months. The DuMont Television Network
DuMont Television Network
The DuMont Television Network, also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont, Du Mont, or Dumont was one of the world's pioneer commercial television networks, rivalling NBC for the distinction of being first overall. It began operation in the United States in 1946. It was owned by DuMont...
, which had begun experimental broadcasts before the war, launched what Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
called "the country's first permanent commercial television
Commercial Television
Commercial Television was the third free-to-air broadcast television station in Hong Kong. It first went on air in 1975, and ceased transmissions in 1978.-History:...
network" on August 15, 1946, connecting New York with Washington. Not to be outdone, NBC launched what it called "the world's first regularly operating television network" on June 27, 1947, serving New York, Philadelphia, Schenectady and Washington. Baltimore and Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
were added to the NBC television network in late 1947. DuMont and NBC would be joined by CBS and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
in 1948.
In the 1940s, the term "chain broadcasting" was used when discussing network broadcasts, as the television stations were linked together in long chains along the East Coast. But as the television networks expanded westward, the interconnected television stations formed great television networks of connected affiliate television stations. In January 1949, with the signon of DuMont's WDTV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
in Pittsburgh, the midwest and east-coast networks were finally connected by coaxial cable (with WDTV showing the best shows of all four networks)http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10136/1058239-426.stm. By 1951, the four networks stretched from coast to coast, carried on the new microwave radio relay network of AT&T Long Lines. Only a few local TV stations remained independent of the networks.
Originally, each of the four major television networks only broadcast a few hours of programs a week to their affiliate stations, mostly between the hours of 7 and 10 PM when most viewers were watching television. Most of a television station's programs were still locally-produced. As the networks increased the number of programs they aired, however, officials at the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
grew concerned that local television might disappear altogether. Eventually, the federal regulator enacted the Prime Time Access Rule
Prime Time Access Rule
The Prime Time Access Rule was instituted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1970 to restrict the amount of network broadcast programming that a local television station, Owned-and-operated station by or affiliated with a television network may air during "prime time"...
, which restricted the amount of time that the networks could air programs; officials hoped the rules would foster the development of quality local programs, but in practice, most local stations did not want to bear the burden of producing many of their own programs, and instead chose to purchase programs from independent producers. Sales of television programs to individual local stations is called broadcast syndication, and today nearly every television station in the United States obtains syndicated programs in addition to network-produced fare.
The Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
network, part of Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
's News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, was launched on October 9, 1986. In the 2006–2007 television season
2006-07 United States network television schedule
The following article details the developing fall prime time schedules for the United States six major English language broadcast networks. Following are lists of what programs have been either renewed or canceled by their networks, the new programs picked up by the networks, and a schedule grid...
, The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
was launched by the merger of The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
and the UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
network.
Late in the 20th century, cross-country microwave radio relays were replaced by fixed-service satellites. Some terrestrial radio relays remained in service for regional connections.
Regulation
Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) regulations in the United States restricted the number of television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s that could be owned by any one network, company or individual (Concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership
Concentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
). This led to a system where most local television stations were independently owned, but received programming from the network through a franchising
Franchising
Franchising is the practice of using another firm's successful business model. The word 'franchise' is of anglo-French derivation - from franc- meaning free, and is used both as a noun and as a verb....
contract, except in a few big cities that had network owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
s (O&O) and independent stations. In the early days of television, when there were often only one or two stations broadcasting in an area, the stations were usually affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
d with several networks and were able to choose which television program
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
s to air. Eventually, as more stations were license
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
d, it became common for each station to be affiliated with only one network and carry all of the "prime-time" network programs. Local stations occasionally break from regularly scheduled network broadcast programming however, especially when there is local breaking news
Breaking news
Breaking news, also known as a special report or news bulletin, is a current event that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming and/or current news in order to report its details. Many times, breaking news is used after the news network has already reported on this story...
(e.g. severe weather
Severe weather
Severe weather phenomena are weather conditions that are hazardous to human life and property.- Examples Include :Severe weather can occur under a variety of situations, but three characteristics are generally needed: a temperature or moisture boundary, moisture, and , instability in the...
). Moreover, when stations return to network programming from commercial breaks, the station identification
Station identification
Station identification is the practice of radio or television stations or networks identifying themselves on air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name...
is displayed in the first few seconds before switching to the network's logo.
Another FCC regulation, the Prime Time Access Rule
Prime Time Access Rule
The Prime Time Access Rule was instituted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1970 to restrict the amount of network broadcast programming that a local television station, Owned-and-operated station by or affiliated with a television network may air during "prime time"...
, restricted the number of hours of network programming that could be broadcast on the local affiliate stations. This was done to encourage the development of local programming
Local programming
The term Local Programme, Local Programming, Local Content or Local Television refers to a television programme made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or television market...
, and to give local residents access to broadcast time. More often, the result included a substantial amount of syndicated programming, usually consisting of old movies, independently produced and syndicated shows, and rerun
Rerun
A rerun or repeat is a re-airing of an episode of a radio or television broadcast. The invention of the rerun is generally credited to Desi Arnaz. There are two types of reruns—those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Reruns can also be, as the...
s of network programs. Occasionally, these shows were presented by a local host, especially in programs that showed cartoons and short comedies intended for children. See list of local children's television series (United States).
Canada
A number of different definitions of "network" are used by government agencies, industry, and the general public.Under the Broadcasting Act, a network is defined as "any operation where control over all or any part of the programs or program schedules of one or more broadcasting undertakings is delegated to another undertaking or person" and must be licensed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).
Only four national over-the-air television networks are currently licensed by the CRTC: the government-owned CBC
CBC Television
CBC Television is a Canadian television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster.Although the CBC is supported by public funding, the television network supplements this funding with commercial advertising revenue, in contrast to CBC Radio which are...
(English) and Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada
Télévision de Radio-Canada is a Canadian French language television network. It is owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, known in French as Société Radio-Canada. Headquarters are at Maison Radio-Canada in Montreal, which is also home to the network's flagship station, CBFT-DT...
(French), French-language private network TVA
TVA (TV network)
TVA is a privately owned French language television network in Canada. The network is currently owned by Groupe TVA Inc. , a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media...
, and a network focused on Canada's indigenous peoples, APTN
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network
Aboriginal Peoples Television Network is a Canadian broadcast and cable television network. APTN airs and produces programs made by, for and about Aboriginal Peoples...
. A third French-language service, V, is licensed as a provincial network within Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, but not nationally.
Currently, licensed national or provincial networks must be carried by all cable systems (in the country or province, respectively) with a service area above a certain population threshold, as well as all satellite providers. However, they are no longer necessarily expected to achieve over-the-air coverage in all areas (APTN, for example, only has terrestrial coverage in parts of northern Canada).
In addition to these licensed networks, the two main private English-language over-the-air services, CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
and Global
Global Television Network
Global Television Network is an English language privately owned television network in Canada, owned by Calgary-based Shaw Communications, as part of its Shaw Media division...
, are also generally considered to be "networks" by virtue of their national coverage, although they are not officially licensed as such. CTV was previously a licensed network, but relinquished this licence in 2001 after acquiring most of its affiliates, making operating a network licence essentially redundant (per the above definition).
Smaller groups of stations with common branding are often categorized by industry watchers as television system
Television system
A television system is a Canadian term for a group of television stations which share common ownership, branding, and programming, but are not considered a full television network....
s, although the public and the broadcasters themselves will often refer to them as "networks" regardless. Some of these systems, such as CTV Two, Citytv
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
, and the now-defunct E!, essentially operate as mini-networks, but have reduced geographical coverage. Others, such as Omni
OMNI Television
Omni Television, corporately styled as OMNI Television, is a Canadian television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications. It consists of the company's conventional television stations in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta which are licensed as multicultural stations...
or CTS
Crossroads Television System
Crossroads Television System, or CTS, is a privately held Canadian television system.CTS airs predominantly Christian-based religious programming, most notably 100 Huntley Street, The Michael Coren Show and LIFE Today with James & Betty Robison, as well as other religious and faith based...
, have similar branding and a common programming focus, but schedules may vary significantly from one station to the next.
Most local television stations in Canada are now owned and operated
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
directly by their network, with only a very few affiliate
Affiliate
An affiliate is a commercial entity with a relationship with a peer or a larger entity.- Corporate structure :A corporation may be referred to as an affiliate of another when it is related to it but not strictly controlled by it, as with a subsidiary relationship, or when it is desired to avoid...
s still operating.
Europe, Asia, Africa and South America
Most television services outside North America are national networks established by a combination of publicly funded broadcasters and commercial broadcasters. Most nations established television networks in a similar way: the first television service in each country was operated by a public broadcaster, often funded by a TV licensing fee, and most of them later established a second or even third station providing a greater variety of content. Commercial television services also became available when private companies applied for television broadcasting licenses. Often, each new network would be identified with their channel number, so that individual stations would often be numbered One, Two, Three, and so forth.United Kingdom
The first television network in the United Kingdom was provided by the BBC, but commercial broadcasting was established in order to create a second television network. Rather than creating a single network with local stations owned and operated by a single company (as is the case with the BBC), each local area had a separate television station independently owned and operated, although most of these stations shared a number of programmes. Gradually, each of these stations formed the ITVITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
Network.
When UHF television allowed a greater number of television stations to broadcast, the BBC launched a second network, BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
(and the original service was later renamed BBC One
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
). A fourth nationwide commercial network was launched, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
, although Wales introduced a Welsh-language service instead, S4C
S4C
S4C , currently branded as S4/C, is a Welsh television channel broadcast from the capital, Cardiff. The first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking audience, it is the fifth oldest British television channel .The channel - initially broadcast on...
. A fifth network, currently called Channel 5, was later launched. Since the introduction of digital television, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 each introduced a number of digital-only channels. The large amount of remaining channels are operated by satellite and virgin media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
cable only BSkyB and free to view UKTV
UKTV
UKTV is a digital cable and satellite television network, formed through a joint venture between BBC Worldwide, a commercial subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Scripps Networks Interactive, spun off from The E.W Scripps Company in 2008...
who operate a number of channels including Dave, GOLD
GOLD
GOLD may refer to:* GOLD, an IEEE program designed to garner more student members at the university level * GOLD is an open source BNF parser* GOLD, Gathered or linked data, in the staging tables of a data warehouse...
, Watch, yesterday and other more specific channels
Netherlands
Until 1989, Netherlands Public Broadcasting was the only television network in the Netherlands, with three stations, Nederland 1Nederland 1
Nederland 1 is the first national television station in the Netherlands, it was launched on 2 October 1951. It provides public broadcasting and currently exists next to sister channels Nederland 2 and 3. The several broadcasting organisations of the Publieke Omroep deliver programmes. A wide...
, Nederland 2
Nederland 2
Nederland 2 is a Dutch television channel, one of three alongside Nederland 1 and Nederland 3. It was established in October 1964 and tends to broadcast sports, light entertainment, news and current affairs programming....
and Nederland 3
Nederland 3
Nederland 3 is the third and youngest of the terrestrial television channels operated by the Dutch public-broadcasting organization NPO in the Netherlands and carries programs provided by member-based non-profit broadcasting associations. It is oriented towards children, youth and innovative...
. Rather than having a single production arm, there are a number of public broadcasting organizations that create programming for each of the three stations, each working relatively independently. Commercial broadcasting in the Netherlands is currently operated by two networks, RTL Nederland
RTL Nederland
RTL Nederland is a subsidiary of the RTL Group. The media company is located in Hilversum. Although the licences of it tv-stations RTL 4, RTL 5, RTL 7 and RTL 8 are officially Luxembourgish, the company targets the Dutch market...
and SBS Broadcasting, which together broadcast seven commercial stations.
Soviet era
The first television network of Soviet Union appeared on 4 November 1967 when the Channel One of USSR Central Television became all-union one. Until 1989 there were six TV channels, all owned by the USSR Gosteleradio. This changed during Gorbachev's PerestroikaPerestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
when the first independent television network, 2×2, was launched.
1990s
Following a breakup of the Soviet Union, USSR Gosteleradio ceased to exist as well as its six channels. Only Channel One had a smooth transition to the Ostankino Channel OneChannel One (Russia)
Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...
and the network itself survived. The other 5 networks were Ground Zero. This free airwave space allowed many private television networks like NTV and TV-6 to appear in the mid-1990s.
2000s
2000s were marked by the increased state intervention in Russian Television. On 14 April 2001 NTV television channel had its management changed following the expulsion of former oligarchOligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
and the founder of NTV Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Gusinsky
Vladimir Aleksandrovich Gusinsky is a Russian media baron, is known as the founder of Media-Most holding that included Most Bank, the NTV channel, the newspaper Segodnya and magazines.-Life and career:Gusinsky was born in Moscow....
. As a result most of the star reporters left the channel. Later, on 22 January 2002, the second biggest private television network TV-6, where the former NTV staff took refuge, was shut down allegedly because of its editorial policy. Five months later, on 1 June TVS
TVS (Russia)
TVS was a private Russian television network which was shut down by the Press Ministry of Russia on June 22, 2003.-Creation:On January 11, 2002, a separate Russian television channel, TV-6 lost a court battle over bankruptcy and was placed into liquidation by a unanimous decision of thirteen...
was launched, mostly consisting of NTV/TV-6 staff, only to stop airing 1 year later. Since then four biggest TV networks (Channel one, Russia 1, NTV and Russia 2) are state-owned.
Still, 2000s saw a rise of several independent TV networks like REN (its coverage increased vastly allowing it to become federal channel), Petersburg — Channel Five (overall the same), the relaunched 2×2 and others. Now the TV audience is mainly shared by 5 leading companies: Channel one, Russia 1, NTV, TNT and CTC.
Australia
Australia has two national public networks, the ABCABC Television
ABC Television is a service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation launched in 1956. As a public broadcasting broadcaster, the ABC provides four non-commercial channels within Australia, and a partially advertising-funded satellite channel overseas....
and SBS. The ABC operates eight stations as part of its main network ABC1
ABC1
ABC1 was a United Kingdom based television channel from Disney using the branding of the Disney owned American network, ABC.The channel initially launched exclusively on the British digital terrestrial television platform Freeview on 27 September 2004. On 10 December 2004 it was launched on...
, one for each state and territory, as well as three digital-only channels, ABC2
ABC2
ABC2 is a national public television channel in Australia. Launched on 7 March 2005, it is the responsibility of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's television division, and is available nationally to digital television viewers in Australia...
, ABC3
ABC3
-Future shows:Programming confirmed for future broadcast will include:* After School Care * Bindi's Boot Camp * Bushwacked! * Dance Academy * Dancing Down Under...
and ABC News 24
ABC News 24
ABC News 24 is an Australian 24-hour news channel launched and owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The channel replaced the former ABC High Definition simulcast of ABC1 and commenced broadcasting at 7:30pm 5:30 on Thursday, 22 July 2010.-Pre-launch:The ABC announced in January 2010...
. SBS currently operates two stations, SBS One and SBS Two.
The first commercial networks in Australia involved commercial stations in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
, and later Perth
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
, sharing programming, with each network forming networks based on their allocated channel numbers: TCN-9 Sydney, GTV-9 Melbourne, QTQ-9 Brisbane, NWS-9 Adelaide and STW-9 Perth together formed the Nine Network
Nine Network
The Nine Network , is an Australian television network with headquarters based in Willoughby, a suburb located on the North Shore of Sydney. For 50 years since television's inception in Australia, between 1956 and 2006, it was the most watched television network in Australia...
, while their equivalents on VHF channels 7 and 10 formed the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
and Network Ten
Network Ten
Network Ten , is one of Australia's three major commercial television networks. Owned-and-operated stations can be found in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth, while affiliates extend the network to cover most of the country...
respectively. Until 1989, areas outside of these main cities had access to only a single commercial station, and these rural stations often formed small networks such as Prime Television
Prime Television
PRIME7 is an Australian television network owned by Prime Media Group Limited. Prime Television launched on 17 March 1962 as CBN/CWN in Orange and Dubbo, New South Wales, and has since expanded to cover regional New South Wales, Victoria and the Australian Capital Territory as a Seven Network...
. Beginning in 1989, however, television markets in rural
Rural
Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
areas began to aggregate, allowing these rural networks to broadcast over a larger area, often an entire state, and become full-time affiliates to one specific metropolitan network.
Philippines
In the Philippines, in practice, the terms network, station and channel are used interchangeably as programming line-ups are mostly centrally planned from the networks' main offices, and since provincial/regional stations usually just relay the broadcast from their parent companyParent company
A parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...
network's flagship station (usually based in the Mega Manila
Mega Manila
Mega Manila is the term used for the regions of Central Luzon, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and Metro Manila. It is frequently used in the press, advertising, television and radio...
area). Hence VHF networks are sometimes informally referred to by the channel number they are seen on terrestrial TV in the Mega Manila
Mega Manila
Mega Manila is the term used for the regions of Central Luzon, CALABARZON, MIMAROPA and Metro Manila. It is frequently used in the press, advertising, television and radio...
area (e.g. Channel 2 or Dos for ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN
ABS–CBN Corporation is a Philippine-based media conglomerate. It is the Philippines' largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The corporation was the merger of Alto Broadcasting System which at that time owned by James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino, and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network ...
, Channel 5 or Singko for TV5
Associated Broadcasting Company
The Associated Broadcasting Company, Inc is a television network in the Philippines, with main broadcast facilities and transmitter located at 762 Quirino Highway, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City. The network was previously known as the , Associated Broadcasting Company remains the legal...
, and Channel 7 or Siyete for GMA Network
GMA Network
GMA Network is a major commercial television & radio network in the Philippines. GMA Network is owned by GMA Network, Inc. a publicly listed company...
) while some networks have the channel numbers in their name (e.g. TV5
Associated Broadcasting Company
The Associated Broadcasting Company, Inc is a television network in the Philippines, with main broadcast facilities and transmitter located at 762 Quirino Highway, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City. The network was previously known as the , Associated Broadcasting Company remains the legal...
, Studio 23
Studio 23
Studio 23 is a Filipino television network owned by the ABS-CBN Corporation. The network is named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV, which is carried on UHF channel 23...
and Net 25 which are seen on channels 23 and 25 respectively).
Unlike the US where networks get programmes from various production houses, the two largest networks in the Philippines produce all their prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
programmes except for Asianovelas. Other networks adopt block-time programming whose programming arrangements are similar to the relationship between a US network and station. And also Philippines has network wars in which the fans of the 2 major networks defend their favorite channel, or when the 2 major networks produce similar and rival programming, and example of this, is when an ABS-CBN fan tells an insult on GMA (usually being called cheap), and a GMA fan would answer and make another insult (usually the answer is that ABS-CBN is mayabang (arrogant in English), and an exchange of insults would occur, usually on social networking sites, especially Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. In terms of programming, for example, after the launch of Showtime, GMA launched Diz Iz It!
Diz Iz It!
Diz Iz It! was a Filipino pre-noontime variety show produced by the Television And Production Exponents Inc. of Malou Fagar and Tony Tuviera and GMA Network...
, but was cancelled due to the former's popularity, and the latter was called a copycat and cheap. But the real definition of the network wars is that the 3 networks battle for ratings supremacy.
See also
- Cable television in the United StatesCable television in the United StatesCable television in the United States is a common form of television delivery, generally by subscription. Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948, with subscription services in 1949. Data by SNL Kagan shows that as of 2006 about 58.4% of all American homes subscribe to...
- Concentration of media ownershipConcentration of media ownershipConcentration of media ownership refers to a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media...
- List of television networks by country
- Parent companyParent companyA parent company is a company that owns enough voting stock in another firm to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors; the second company being deemed as a subsidiary of the parent company...
- Television systemTelevision systemA television system is a Canadian term for a group of television stations which share common ownership, branding, and programming, but are not considered a full television network....