American culture

Stations and networks

In the United States, the TV broadcast industry can be divided into two distinctive sectors: local TV stations and national TV networks.

Strictly speaking, TV stations are local in nature. There are thousands of stations in the United States; each station holds a license from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to use a specific channel in a designated area to broadcast TV programs.

The stations' programs come from three sources in most cases: in-house production (local programs), syndication (independently acquired programs), and, most importantly at most stations, TV networks.

For commercial stations, revenue is based on local advertising and network compensation (a fee received from a network in exchange for airing the network's programs and advertisements). For non-commercial stations, income is from donations, sponsorships, and government grants.

The boundaries of local media markets are drawn by ACNielsen, but also recognized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

When a station is not affiliated, i.e., does not have contractual relations to exchange airtime with programs and money with a particular network, that station is called independent. Public broadcasting stations can be considered either independent stations or stations on the PBS "network", though PBS affiliation is not as strict as commercial network scheduling.

TV networks are not bound to a specific local area. The best-known networks operate nationwide. The less-known ones are regional, or consist of alliances of groups of network affiliated or independent stations.

The major four networks have traditionally been: NBC, CBS and ABC, plus Public Broadcasting System (PBS), a special case.

In the 1990s and on, others have joined the ranks: FOX Network (Fox), Warner Brothers Network (The WB), United Paramount Network (UPN) and PAX Network.

Networks have affiliate stations in multiple local areas which carry their programs and advertisements. In many cases, the affiliation is an exclusive contract between a network and a station. As a result, if a station is an NBC affiliate, the station would not air programs from ABC, CBS or other networks.

The major exception to this rule occurs in local markets in which there are only a very small number of stations. When a station has affiliation with two networks, one would be primary affiliation and the other would be secondary affiliation. When a station has a secondary affiliation with a network, it means that the programs supplied by that network would be rescheduled (such as to late at night) rather than shown as they are received from the network.

The networks produce their own programs, and may purchase programs from independent production companies. Before the 1990s, when the Big Three commercial networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) dominated the landscape, the federal government instituted financial interest and syndication rules, which limited the Big Three's ability to produce in-house, syndicate or have financial interests in their programming. This was done for fear of a lack of voices in the US media environment. With the emergence of hundreds of cable television channels in the 1990s, this requirement was dropped.

Although stations and networks are very different entities in regulatory terms, one company may own multiple stations and a network at the same time, and make those stations affiliates of its own network. This rather common practice results in many "O&O" (owned and operated) stations. That happens in the major DMAs, like New York or Los Angeles.

Oftentimes, multiple stations are owned by a company which does not own any network. The company is called "station group owner."

Some stations act as a supplier of original contents. By distributing the programs via satellite to stations and cable operators in other areas, the stations can reach a wider audience beyond their local market. Those stations are called "super stations."