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110-448: The American Independent Network was one of the first major attempts at building a commercial television network consisting of low-powered television stations. Started by Don Shelton, Randy Moseley, and Lyn Snyder, it was similar to the older Channel America (and its successor, America One (A1) ), and was the foundation for Urban America TV (UATV) . In 2000, several stations sold by USA Networks to Univision carried AIN for about

220-510: A 50% stake of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment in 1996 for $ 75 to $ 100 million, and included distribution rights to then-new BGE programming such as Alright Already , and does not include older BGE programs that was grandfathered by the Columbia TriStar distribution agreement, such as The Larry Sanders Show for HBO , NewsRadio and Just Shoot Me! for NBC , and The Steve Harvey Show for The WB . They considered buying

330-569: 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 15 August 1946, connecting New York City with Washington. Not to be outdone, NBC launched what it called "the world's first regularly operating television network" on 27 June 1947, serving New York City, Philadelphia, Schenectady and Washington. Baltimore and Boston were added to

440-467: A central point, and whether the network master control has the technical and administrative capability to take over the programming of their affiliates in real-time when it deems this necessary – the most common example being during 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 from traditional networks in

550-493: A company owned by John Landis had reupped its contract at both MCA TV, MTE and Universal Television, three of the encompassing TV units of MCA via the MCA TV Group. In 1994, Universal Television made a financing partnership with ABC to help them fund the show Blue Skies . In 1996, MCA was reincorporated as Universal Studios. Around the same time, Universal was acquired by Joseph A. Seagram and Sons and later acquired

660-541: A consolidation of each respective network's higher-rated programs onto one schedule); MyNetworkTV , a network formed from affiliates of UPN and The WB that did not affiliate with The CW, launched at the same time. FCC regulations in the United States restricted the number of television stations that could be owned by any one network, company or individual . This led to a system where most local television stations were independently owned, but received programming from

770-427: A deal with NBC Productions to develop long-form telemovies and miniseries, as well as television series. In the late 1980s, NBC Productions attempted to enter the film business, but it was proven unsuccessful, after the failure of the film Codename: Emerald . In 1987, NBC Productions provided funding for a feature film that starred Cassandra Peterson as her Elvira character, which raised $ 5–6 million by NBC to fund

880-607: A deal with the studio. Also that year, longtime Universal executives Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly left the studio to start out 25C Productions, a production company affiliated with Warner Bros. Television . The origins of USA Cable Entertainment are traced back to the 1980s when it was founded as USA Network Productions to produce content for the USA Networks. In 1996, it was rebranded to USA Studios, and in 1999 to USA Networks Productions, and later on reincorporated as USA Cable Entertainment on December 24, 1999. Stephen Chao

990-431: A film released originally by Paramount Pictures , whose pre-1950 theatrical sound feature film library was sold to MCA in 1958. Wagon Train was the only Revue-produced TV show ever to finish an American television season in first place. In 1962, MCA Inc. acquired Decca Records , including the film studio Universal-International Pictures (later renamed as Universal Pictures ). The following year, in 1963, Revue Studios

1100-527: A first-look agreement with Chelsea Handler in March 2018. Both production units signed that same year in August an overall agreement with Eddie Schmidt. In November 2018, Ahr became president of alternative and reality group, NBC Entertainment. Ahr was replaced as the studio's president in August 2019 by Toby Gorman, last the interim CEO of Magical Elves. From Endemol Shine North America, Georgie Hurford-Jones

1210-540: A government entity that was created in 1926 to regulate the radio industry. With some exceptions, radio stations east of the Mississippi River received official call signs beginning with the letter "W"; those west of the Mississippi were assigned calls beginning with a "K". The number of programs that these early stations aired was often limited, in part due to the expense of program creation. The idea of

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1320-547: A joint venture between Time Warner and the Tribune Company , and the United Paramount Network ( UPN ), formed through a programming alliance between Chris-Craft Industries and Paramount Television (whose parent, Viacom , would later acquire half and later all of the network over the course of its existence). In September 2006, The CW was launched as a "merger" of The WB and UPN (in actuality,

1430-521: A large amount of syndicated programming. Other networks are dedicated to specialized programming, such as religious content or programs presented in languages other than English, particularly Spanish. The largest television network in the United States, however, is the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS ), a non-profit, publicly owned, non-commercial educational service. In comparison to the commercial television networks, there

1540-536: A large number of channels, as does UKTV . Sweden had only one television network from 1956 until the early-1990s: the public broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). Commercial companies such as Modern Times Group , TV4 , Viasat , and SBS Discovery have established TV networks since the 1980s although they initially aired exclusively on satellite. In 1991, TV4 became Sweden's first commercial television network to air terrestrially. Most television programming in Sweden

1650-438: A larger area, often an entire state, and become full-time affiliates to one specific metropolitan network. As well as these free-to-air channels, there are others on Australia's Pay television network Foxtel . New Zealand has one public network, Television New Zealand (TVNZ), which consists of two main networks: TVNZ 1 is the network's flagship network which carries news, current affairs and sports programming as well as

1760-555: A long-term domestic sales deal with Studios USA for the library. Universal got a 45% share in USA Networks Inc. Greg Meidel initially resigned and was rehired as chairman and CEO of Studios USA, only to leave in June 1998. In 1999, USA Networks formed its own film and home media divisions when they acquired October Films and several production and distribution assets of PolyGram Filmed Entertainment for $ 200 million. Most of

1870-456: A method called "broadcast syndication", and today nearly every television station in the United States obtains syndicated programs in addition to network-produced fare. 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. After the failure and shutdown of DuMont in 1956, several attempts at new networks were made between

1980-679: A million dollars a year for a decade. That same year, a jingle composed by Juan García Esquivel and Stanley Wilson was introduced at the end of its productions, which was used in some form until the 80s. Revue produced later seasons of The Jack Benny Program for CBS and NBC and in co-operation with Jack Benny 's J and M productions Checkmate , General Electric Theater and Alfred Hitchcock Presents for CBS, Studio 57 for DuMont Television Network , and westerns such as Tales of Wells Fargo , The Restless Gun and Laramie for NBC, as well as Wagon Train for NBC and ABC. The first two seasons of NBC's The Virginian , based on

2090-464: A national basis. Currently, licensed national or provincial networks must be carried by all cable providers (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,

2200-541: A network system which would distribute programming to many stations simultaneously, saving each station the expense of creating all of their own programs and expandingus transmitted from station to station to listeners across the United States. Other companies, including CBS and the Mutual Broadcasting System , soon followed suit, each network signed hundreds of individual stations on as affiliates: stations which agreed to broadcast programs from one of

2310-480: A network unit for long-form television movies and drama series, which was a rebranding from the former UK-based ITC Entertainment television division of PolyGram. It was headed up by Bob Sanitsky, who headed the combined syndication and network divisions. In 1998, it signed a deal with Meg Ryan and her Prufock Pictures to set up her projects at the studio. In early 1999, shortly after Seagram and Universal completed their deal to acquire PolyGram, PolyGram Television

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2420-488: A network, becoming Ostankino Channel One . The other five networks were operated by Ground Zero. This free airwave space allowed many private television networks like NTV and TV-6 to launch in the mid-1990s. The 2000s were marked by the increased state intervention in Russian television. On 14 April 2001 NTV experienced management changes following the expulsion of former oligarch and NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky . As

2530-499: A non-exclusive production agreement. In 1995, NBC launched a partnership with television director James Burrows to create 3 Sisters Entertainment , who produced series for the network. Out of these five, the most successful out of the venture were Will & Grace and Caroline in the City (co-produced and owned by CBS Productions ). Later that year, NBC Productions was however folded into NBC's entertainment division. In 1996,

2640-401: A rate of more than $ 5.00 per subscriber to ESPN). The providers also handle the sale of advertising inserted at the local level during national programming, in which case the broadcaster and the cable/satellite provider may share revenue . Networks that maintain a home shopping or infomercial format may instead pay the station or cable/satellite provider, in a brokered carriage deal. This

2750-502: A result, most of the prominent reporters featured on NTV left the network. Later on 22 January 2002, the second largest 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 employing NTV/TV-6 staff, only to cease operations the following year. Since then, the four largest television networks (Channel One, Russia 1, NTV and Russia 2) have been state-owned. Still,

2860-568: A revival of the 1951 series Dragnet . In 1967, Grant Tinker , formerly employee of NBC was hired to join the studio. He held the position for two years, until he left in 1969 to join 20th Century-Fox Television , and later that year, had to start MTM Enterprises . He subsequently left Fox in 1971 due to conflicts with running MTM. During the 1970s and 1980s, Uni TV produced shows such as Baretta , The Rockford Files , Murder, She Wrote , Miami Vice , The Equalizer , The Incredible Hulk , Battlestar Galactica , Buck Rogers in

2970-491: A second channel, BBC 2 (with the original service being renamed BBC 1 ). A second national commercial network was launched Channel 4 , although Wales instead introduced a Welsh-language service, S4C . These were later followed by the launch of a third commercial network, Channel 5 . Since the introduction of digital television, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 each introduced a number of digital-only channels. Sky operates

3080-468: 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. The first television network in the United Kingdom

3190-508: A single company (as is the case with the BBC), each local area had a separate television channel that was independently owned and operated, although most of these channels shared a number of programmes, particularly during peak evening viewing hours. These channels formed the ITV network . When the advent of UHF broadcasting allowed a greater number of television channels to broadcast, the BBC launched

3300-446: A small number of stations still operating as affiliates. 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 television licensing fee, and most of them later established

3410-406: 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 MHz. German television first demonstrated such an application in 1936 by relaying televised telephone calls from Berlin to Leipzig , 180 km (110 mi) away, by cable. AT&T laid

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3520-441: A television station in the United States is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Television network A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television content , where a central operation provides programming to many television stations , pay television providers or, in the United States, multichannel video programming distributors . Until

3630-717: A third party company (for example, the TV2 programme Shortland Street is produced by South Pacific Pictures ). The networks produce their own news and current affairs programs, with most of the content filmed in Auckland. Universal Television It was formerly known by various names, including Revue Studios , Universal Pictures Television Department , Universal-International Television , Studios USA Television LLC , Universal Studios Network Programming , Universal Network Television , Universal Domestic Television , NBC Universal Television Studio , and Universal Media Studios . It

3740-531: A unionwide network. Until 1989, there were six television networks, all owned by the USSR Gosteleradio. This changed during Mikhail Gorbachev 's Perestroika program, when the first independent television network, 2×2 , was launched. Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, USSR Gosteleradio ceased to exist as well as its six networks. Only Channel One had a smooth transition and survived as

3850-565: A year while Univision got their second network, TeleFutura , ready to launch on the stations. AIN merged with Hispano Television Ventures in early 2000, forming Hispanic Television Network (HTVN). The new company operated both HTVN and AIN, but the majority of the company's attention was focused on HTVN. HTVN went off the air in 2003, while AIN went off the air two years earlier in 2001, and turned into Urban America Television, with most AIN affiliates either going independent or switching to other networks, like A1 or UATV. This article about

3960-488: Is TV3 , which competes directly with both TVNZ broadcast networks. MediaWorks also operates a second network, FOUR , which airs mostly imported programmes with children's shows airing in the daytime and shows targeted at teenagers and adult between 15 and 39 years of age during prime time. MediaWorks also operates a timeshift network, TV3 + 1, and a 24-hour music network, C4 . All television networks in New Zealand air

4070-503: Is also known as Open 4 Business Productions in copyright in certain television series produced by them since 2009. Re-established in 2004, both NBC Studios and the original Universal Television are predecessors of the current Universal Television, formerly known as NBC Universal Television Studio and Universal Media Studios. Revue Productions (later known as Revue Studios ) was founded in 1943 by MCA Inc. to produce live radio shows and also produced "Stage Door Canteen" live events for

4180-523: Is centralised except for local news updates that air on SVT2 and TV4. Until 1989, Netherlands Public Broadcasting was the only television network in the Netherlands, with three stations, Nederland 1 , 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

4290-418: Is especially common with low-power television stations, and in recent years, even more so for stations that used this revenue stream to finance their conversion to digital broadcasts, which in turn provides them with several additional channels to transmit different programming sources. Television broadcasting in the United States was heavily influenced by radio. Early individual experimental radio stations in

4400-407: Is explained by author Tim P. Vos in his abstract A Cultural Explanation of Early Broadcast , where he determines targeted group/non-targeted group representations as well as the cultural specificity employed in the television network entity. Vos notes that policymakers did not expressly intend to create a broadcast order dominated by commercial networks. In fact, legislative attempts were made to limit

4510-548: Is no central unified arm of broadcast programming, meaning that each PBS member station has a significant amount of freedom to schedule television shows as they consent to. Some public television outlets, such as PBS, carry separate digital subchannel networks through their member stations (for example, Georgia Public Broadcasting ; in fact, some programs airing on PBS were branded on other channels as coming from GPB Kids and PBS World ). This works as each network sends its signal to many local affiliated television stations across

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4620-544: Is the British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC ), which is perhaps most-well known for its news agency BBC News . Owned by the Crown , the BBC funds itself in two ways. UK services branded under BBC are funded by the television license paid by British residents, as a result no advertising appears on these services. The advertising-funded arm ( BBC Studios ) employs 23,000 people worldwide including

4730-703: Is the company's president since 2000. The company was best known for producing Monk and the 2003 miniseries Battlestar Galactica , which spawned a reboot in 2004. The same year, following the NBC Universal merger, the USA Cable Entertainment name was retired and was replaced with the NBC Universal Television Studio name. In 2008, the studio, then renamed Universal Media Studios , spun off its cable production division, including shows previously produced under

4840-1059: The Big Three television networks , the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), CBS (formerly the Columbia Broadcasting System) and the National Broadcasting Company ( NBC ); however, the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), which launched in October 1986, has gained prominence and is now considered part of the "Big Four". The Big Three provide a significant number of programs to each of their affiliates, including newscasts , prime time, daytime and sports programming, but still reserve periods during each day where their affiliate can air local programming , such as local news or syndicated programs . Since

4950-539: The Bill Williams Western series, The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951–1955). It produced Bachelor Father (1957–1962), for "Bachelor Productions", Edmond O'Brien 's syndicated crime film Johnny Midnight , based on a fictitious New York City actor-turned- private investigator . Another of its offerings was the 52-episode Crusader , the first Brian Keith series, on CBS from 1955–1956. Another western produced by Revue and starring Audie Murphy

5060-480: The Multimedia Entertainment and USA Network . Also that year, Universal Television collaborated with Warner Bros. Television to develop the series Spy Game for ABC , with Universal alumnus Sam Raimi and Robert Tapert of Renaissance Pictures, and Warner alumnus John McNamara producing the series, but it didn't last long, as it only lasted one season on the air. Universal purchased

5170-553: The Nine Network ; while their equivalents on VHF channels 7 and 10 respectively formed the Seven Network and Network 10 . Until 1989, areas outside 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

5280-577: The United Service Organizations (USO) during World War II. Revue was re-launched as MCA's television production subsidiary in 1950. The partnership of NBC and Revue extends as far back as September 6, 1950, with the television broadcast of Armour Theatre , based on radio's Stars Over Hollywood . MCA bought the Universal Studios backlot in 1958 and renamed it Revue Studios. Following its merger with Decca Records ,

5390-579: The Universal Pictures library, they are part of the company's television unit, Universal Television. During the 1970s and 1980s, MCA TV, the syndication company, had a production shop that produced shows like Probe , which aired on ABC. MCA Television Entertainment (or MTE for short) was founded in 1989 as the telemovie and cable division of Universal Television. It primarily dealt with made-for-TV movies, and television shows like Dream On that were made for cable networks like HBO . It

5500-510: The "prime-time" programs that the network offered. Local stations occasionally break from regularly scheduled network programming however, especially when a breaking news or severe weather situation occurs in the viewing area. Moreover, when stations return to network programming from commercial breaks , station identifications are displayed in the first few seconds before switching to the network's logo. A number of different definitions of "network" are used by government agencies, industry, and

5610-567: The 1950s and the 1970s, with little success. The Fox Broadcasting Company , founded by the Rupert Murdoch -owned News Corporation (now owned by Fox Corporation ), was launched on 9 October 1986 after the company purchased the television assets of Metromedia ; it would eventually ascend to the status of the fourth major network by 1994. Two other networks launched within a week of one another in January 1995: The WB Television Network,

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5720-465: The 2000s saw a rise of several independent television networks such as REN (its coverage increased vastly allowing it to become a federal network), Petersburg – Channel Five (overall the same), the relaunched 2×2 . The Russian television market is mainly shared today by five major companies: Channel One, Russia 1, NTV, TNT and CTC. The major commercial television network in Brazil is Rede Globo , which

5830-491: The 25th Century , Knight Rider , The A-Team , Simon & Simon and Magnum, P.I. , many of which received critical acclaim and several TV movie spin-offs after their cancellations. In 1980, Bud Austin has received a production contract with Universal Television to produce television series. One of the more notable contracts was writer/producer Dick Wolf , whose Universal association began in 1986 with Miami Vice , then writing for several more shows before creating

5940-510: The Brillstein-Grey productions, such as the upcoming Work with Me , and the existing Brillstein-Grey shows Just Shoot Me! and The Steve Harvey Show . In 2001, NBC had an option agreement with Universal Network Television to keep Just Shoot Me! on the air to 2003. In June 2002, Universal Studios Network Television was also merged with Studios USA Network Television around the same time. In 2003, writer John Ridley signed

6050-578: The CRTC: government-owned CBC Television (English) and Ici Radio-Canada Télé (French), French-language private network TVA , and APTN , a network focused on Indigenous peoples in Canada . A third French-language service, Noovo (formerly V), is licensed as a provincial network within Quebec , but is not licensed or locally distributed (outside of carriage on the digital tiers of pay television providers) on

6160-549: 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 major networks of connected affiliate stations. In January 1949, with

6270-492: The Netherlands is currently operated by two networks, RTL Nederland and SBS Broadcasting , which together broadcast seven commercial stations. The first television network in the Soviet Union launched on 7 July 1938 when Petersburg – Channel 5 of Leningrad Television became a unionwide network. The second television network in the Soviet Union launched on 22 March 1951 when Channel One of USSR Central Television became

6380-738: The Prairie . NBC Films was later sold to Worldvision Enterprises due to the 1970 fin-syn rules initiated by the Nixon Administration; today, the shows of that company are now owned by Paramount Global , syndicated by its CBS Studios subsidiary CBS Media Ventures . In the 1980s, NBC produced Punky Brewster , which was popular among viewers. NBC's production output was primarily on television movies and miniseries. NBC's other television series output were Sara and Roomies ; both of them were unsuccessful. In 1985, Michael Filerman through his Michael Filerman Productions company signed

6490-753: The USA Cable Entertainment name, to Universal Cable Productions (now Universal Content Productions ). NBC Television Network's production division was founded in 1947 by RCA ( NBC 's former parent company). One of its first productions was the children's television program Howdy Doody . In 1955, NBC acquired production company Kagran Corporation, and by 1956, changed its company name to California National Productions (CNP) and became its syndication and merchandising division. The company also brought several NBC-aired programs, like The Adventures of Hiram Holliday and The Lawless Years , as well as non-NBC programs like The Silent Service and Philip Marlowe , but none of them were successful. The company's first hit

6600-622: The USA Network and Sci-Fi Network cable channels along with series such as Law & Order . Additionally, the company would own the HSN , the Ticketmaster Group and several television stations. Universal Television's production and distribution unit was renamed Studios USA . Universal held on to its 50% share of Brillstein-Grey Entertainment , PolyGram 's international channels and the rights to its television library while signing

6710-611: The United States began limited operations in the 1910s. In November 1920, Westinghouse signed on "the world's first commercially licensed radio station", KDKA in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania. Other companies built early radio stations in Detroit, Boston , New York City and other areas. Radio stations received permission to transmit through broadcast licenses obtained through the Federal Radio Commission (FRC),

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6820-482: The company was renamed NBC Studios. The company had returned to producing hit programs like The Pretender , Profiler , Providence , Ed , Las Vegas and Crossing Jordan . In 2004, NBC Studios was merged with Universal Network Television to form NBC Universal Television Studio. NBC Universal Television Studio was formed in 2004 from NBC Studios and Universal Network Television after NBC and Universal merged. On June 14, 2007, NBC Universal Television Studio

6930-461: The company's on-screen logo) is a television production company launched by Universal Television in 2016. The unit reports to Universal Studio Group chairman Pearlena Igbokwe . The studio was founded in June 2016 under president Meredith Ahr. In July 2016, the studio's first program, World of Dance was announced by NBC. The studio sold its first show to another channel In Search Of... to History . The studio, as did Universal TV, signed

7040-399: The country. These local stations then carry the "network feed", which can be viewed by millions of households across the country. In such cases, the signal is sent to as many as 200+ stations or as little as just a dozen or fewer stations, depending on the size of the network. With the adoption of digital television , television networks have also been created specifically for distribution on

7150-440: The creation of Fox, the number of American television networks has increased, though the amount of programming they provide is often much less: for example, The CW only provides fifteen hours of primetime programming each week (along with three hours on Saturdays), while MyNetworkTV only provides ten hours of primetime programming each week, leaving their affiliates to fill time periods where network programs are not broadcast with

7260-503: The digital subchannels of television stations (including networks focusing on classic television series and films operated by companies like Weigel Broadcasting (owners of Movies! and Me-TV ) and Nexstar Media Group (owners of Rewind TV and Antenna TV ), along with networks focusing on music, sports and other niche programming). Cable and satellite providers pay the networks a certain rate per subscriber (the highest charge being for ESPN , in which cable and satellite providers pay

7370-546: The federal regulator enacted the Prime Time Access Rule , which restricted the amount of time that the networks could air programs; officials hoped that 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 are done through

7480-440: The film. In 1988, NBC started a deal with Peter Engel that resulted in the creation of Good Morning, Miss Bliss and eventually producing a number of teen shows. In early 1990, NBC had struck a development deal with musician/producer Quincy Jones and his Quincy Jones Entertainment company. Also the same year, NBC signed a deal with Jay Tarses for his production company. By 1990, NBC returned to producing hit programs with

7590-614: The first L-carrier coaxial cable between New York City and Philadelphia , with automatic signal booster stations every 10 miles (16 km), and in 1937 it experimented with transmitting televised motion pictures over the line. Bell Labs gave demonstrations of the New York–Philadelphia television link in 1940 and 1941. AT&T used the coaxial link to transmit the Republican National Convention in June 1940 from Philadelphia to New York City, where it

7700-606: The four major television networks originally only broadcast a few hours of programs a week to their affiliate stations, mostly between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time , when most viewers were watching television. Most of the programs broadcast by the television stations were still locally produced. As the networks increased the number of programs that they aired, however, officials at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) grew concerned that local television might disappear altogether. Eventually,

7810-573: 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 three national over-the-air television networks are currently licensed by

7920-473: The hit Law & Order franchise. In 1987, Universal Television, which by then, was the leading producers in prime time television programming, decided to have six pilots committed for network production value, plus three series for the 1987–88 season, which included development deals with people who already contracted with Universal. In 1990, MCA/Uni TV began the Law & Order franchise. In 1991, Tom Thayer

8030-490: 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, required a broadband transmission medium. Transmission by a nationwide series of radio relay towers would be possible but extremely expensive. Researchers at AT&T subsidiary Bell Telephone Laboratories patented coaxial cable in 1929, primarily as

8140-443: The majority of the locally produced shows broadcast by TVNZ and imported shows. TVNZ's second network, TV2 , airs mostly imported shows with some locally produced programs such as Shortland Street . TVNZ also operates a network exclusive to pay television services, TVNZ Heartland , available on providers such as Sky . TVNZ previously operated a non-commercial public service network, TVNZ 7 , which ceased operations in June 2012 and

8250-565: The manufacture of television and radio equipment for civilian use from 1 April 1942 to 1 October 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-mile (362 km) cable between New York City and Washington, D.C., although

8360-665: The mid-1980s, broadcast programming on television in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number of terrestrial networks . Many early television networks such as the BBC , CBC , PBS , PTV , NBC or ABC in the US and in Australia evolved from earlier radio networks. In countries where most networks broadcast identical, centrally originated content to all of their stations, and where most individual television transmitters therefore operate only as large " repeater stations ",

8470-577: The network for their own programming, a method known as regional variation . This is common where small networks are members of larger networks. The majority of commercial television stations are self-owned, even though a variety of these instances are the property of an owned-and-operated television network. The commercial television stations can also be linked with a noncommercial educational broadcasting agency. Some countries have launched national television networks, so that individual television stations can act as common repeaters of nationwide programs. On

8580-530: The network through a franchising contract, except in a few major cities that had owned-and-operated stations (O&O) of a network and independent stations. In the early days of television, when there were often only one or two stations broadcasting in a given market, the stations were usually affiliated with multiple networks and were able to choose which programs would air. Eventually, as more stations were licensed, it became common for each station to be exclusively affiliated with only one network and carry all of

8690-490: The network's preferred position. As to individual stations, modern network operations centers usually use broadcast automation to handle most tasks. These systems are not only used for programming and for video server playout , but use exact atomic time from Global Positioning Systems or other sources to maintain perfect synchronization with upstream and downstream systems, so that programming appears seamless to viewers. A major international television broadcaster

8800-704: The network. NBC developed and produced several shows internally like Kentucky Jones , Captain Nice and T.H.E. Cat . By 1966, the company had output talent deals with Sheldon Leonard , Bob Finkel , Norman Felton and David Dortort . The next big project was The High Chaparral , which was a hit among viewers throughout its four-season run, only to be axed in 1971 due to the rural purge . Throughout its partnership with Sheldon Leonard, they produced three shows Accidental Family , My Friend Tony and My World and Welcome to It , but none of them were successful. In 1974, NBC produced its next big hit Little House on

8910-458: The networks. As radio prospered throughout the 1920s and 1930s, experimental television stations, which broadcast both an audio and a video signal, began sporadic broadcasts. Licenses for these experimental stations 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,

9020-488: The new shows produced under the Studios USA name bombed after only one or two seasons; only Law & Order: Special Victims Unit , Law & Order: Criminal Intent and The District were deemed to be big hits. Although the latter two were cancelled, in 2011 and 2004 respectively, the former is still an ongoing show. In 2000, Clyde Phillips has signed an overall deal with the studio to develop scripts made for

9130-582: The next. Citytv originally began operating as a television system in 2002 when CKVU-TV in Vancouver started to carry programs originating from CITY-TV in Toronto and adopted that station's "Citytv" branding, but gradually became a network by virtue of national coverage through expansions into other markets west of Atlantic Canada between 2005 and 2013. Most local television stations in Canada are now owned and operated directly by their network, with only

9240-522: The operation of broadcaster UKTV in the UK itself. Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1929, using an electromechanical 30-line system developed by John Logie Baird . Limited regular broadcasts using this system began in 1934 and an expanded service (now known as BBC Television ) started from Alexandra Palace in November 1936. Television in the United States had long been dominated by

9350-463: The other 50% after selling its own TV unit to Barry Diller in 1998. Universal sold its stake in BGE in 1999 and BGE was renamed as Brad Grey Television, though Universal continued to co-produce Just Shoot Me! and The Steve Harvey Show until their cancellations. EMKA, Ltd. is the holding company responsible for a majority of the pre-1950 Paramount Pictures sound library. As an official part of

9460-410: The other hand, television networks also undergo the impending experience of major changes related to cultural varieties. The emergence of cable television has made available in major media markets, programs such as those aimed at American bi-cultural Latinos. Such a diverse captive audience presents an occasion for the networks and affiliates to advertise the best programming that needs to be aired. This

9570-502: The public and the broadcasters themselves will often refer to them as "networks" regardless. Some of these systems, such as CTV 2 and the now-defunct E! , essentially operate as mini-networks, but have reduced geographical coverage. Others, such as Omni Television or the Crossroads Television System , have similar branding and a common programming focus, but schedules may vary significantly from one station to

9680-899: The same programming across the entire country with the only regional deviations being for local advertising; a regional news service existed in the 1980s, carrying a regional news programme from TVNZ's studios in New Zealand's four largest cities, Auckland, Wellington , Christchurch and Dunedin . In the 1960s, the service operated at the time by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was four separate television stations – AKTV2 in Auckland, WNTV1 in Wellington, CHTV3 in Christchurch and DNTV2 in Dunedin – which each ran their own newscast and produced some in-house programmes, with other shows being shared between

9790-562: 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 or direct-broadcast satellite providers. Such networks are commonly referred to by terms such as " specialty channels " in Canada or " cable networks " in the U.S. A network may or may not produce all of its own programming. If not, production companies (such as Warner Bros. Television , Universal Television , Sony Pictures Television and TriStar Television ) can distribute their content to

9900-519: The sign-on of DuMont's WDTV in Pittsburgh, the Midwest and East Coast networks were finally connected by coaxial cable (with WDTV airing the best shows from all four networks). 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 television stations remained independent of the networks. Each of

10010-560: The sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , which starred Will Smith , in one of the first TV roles. Also that same year, NBC Productions partnered with Group W Productions to develop a syndicated program House Party . In 1991, NBC produced another syndicated show, this time, out of the WMAQ-TV studios, Johnny B...On the Loose , in partnership with Viacom Enterprises . In 1993, Perry Simon left NBC to start his own production company with

10120-624: The stations. Programmes and news footage were distributed via mail, with a programme airing in one region being mailed to another region for broadcast the following week. A network was finally established in 1969, with the same programmes being relayed to all regions simultaneously. From the 1970s to the 1990s, locally produced programmes that aired on TV One and TV2 were produced out of one of the four main studios, with TVNZ's network hub based in Wellington. Today, most locally produced programmes that are aired by both TVNZ and other networks are not actually produced in-house, instead they are often produced by

10230-547: The studio. On December 17, 2001, Vivendi Universal agreed to acquire USA's entertainment assets for an estimated $ 10.3 billion; the transaction closed on May 8, 2002. Under the deal, Barry Diller became chairman of Vivendi Universal Entertainment. USA Networks is currently known as IAC . Shortly afterwards, Studios USA Television was merged with Universal Studios Network Television, producers of NBC's sitcom Just Shoot Me! to form Universal Network Television. In 1997, PolyGram created not only its syndication unit, but

10340-430: 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 television-related occupations continuing to make a differentiation between them. Within the industry, a tiering is sometimes created among groups of networks based on whether their programming is simultaneously originated from

10450-763: The then-parent of Universal Pictures , the studio backlot name was changed back to Universal. In 1963, MCA formed Universal City Studios to merge the motion picture and television arms of Universal Pictures and Revue Studios, and Revue was officially renamed Universal Television in 1963. During the early years of television, Revue was responsible for producing and distributing many television programs. These included Leave It to Beaver , which ran for only one season on CBS before going to ABC from 1958 until 1963. In addition, Revue also made Alan Hale Jr. 's Biff Baker, U.S.A. (1952–1953) and all three of Rod Cameron 's syndicated series, City Detective (1953–1955), State Trooper (1956–1959), and Coronado 9 (1960–1961) and

10560-545: 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 license in 2001 after acquiring most of its affiliates, making operating a network license essentially redundant (per the above definition). Smaller groups of stations with common branding are often categorized by industry watchers as television systems , although

10670-471: The various networks, and it is common that a certain production firm may have programs that air on two or more rival networks. Similarly, some networks may import television programs from other countries, or use archived programming to help complement their schedules. Some stations have the capability to interrupt the network through the local insertion of television commercials, station identifications and emergency alerts . Others completely break away from

10780-462: Was Whispering Smith (NBC, 1959/61), based on the 1948 Alan Ladd movie of the same name . Leave It to Beaver was produced first by George Gobel's Gomalco Productions, then by Kayro Productions on a back lot at Revue Studios from 1958 to 1963. McHale's Navy was also produced by Revue from 1962 to 1966. In December 1958, MCA/Revue purchased Universal Studios' 367-acre backlot to produce television series, then leased it back to Universal for

10890-512: Was absorbed into Universal's TV and Networks division (which consisted of Universal's international television operations). Universal would sell the ITC film and television library to Carlton Communications , and the pre-1996 film library to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Shortly afterwards, PolyGram Television was then retained by Universal, opting Bob Sanitsky out of the unit. Universal however then launched Universal Studios Network Programming to inherit

11000-604: Was also a producer of first-run syndication programming for the Hollywood Premiere Network , which was distributed by MCA's own syndication arm MCA TV , as well as KCOP-TV in Los Angeles and WWOR-TV in New York, such as They Came from Outer Space , Shades of L.A. and She-Wolf of London , but it only lasted one season from 1990 to 1991, but it didn't last long. In 1990, Michael Landsbury

11110-438: Was eventually renamed to Studios USA Pictures in 1998, and merged into USA Cable Entertainment in 1999. MCA Television Entertainment was also a collective branding for their units owned and operated by MCA, and it absorbed Universal Family Entertainment and Universal Cartoon Studios in 1996. USA Networks Inc. was founded by Barry Diller when he bought Universal's major television assets in February 1998. Among its assets were

11220-1486: Was founded in 1965. It grew to become the largest and most successful media conglomerate in the country, having a dominating presence in various forms of media including television, radio, print (newspapers and magazines) and the Internet. Other networks include Rede Bandeirantes , RecordTV , SBT , RedeTV! , TV Cultura , and TV Brasil . Australia has two national public networks, ABC Television and SBS . The ABC operates eight stations as part of its main network ABC TV , one for each state and territory, as well as three digital-only networks, ABC Kids / ABC TV Plus , ABC Me and ABC News . SBS currently operates six stations, SBS , SBS Viceland , SBS World Movies , SBS Food , NITV and SBS WorldWatch . The first commercial networks in Australia involved commercial stations that shared programming in Sydney , Melbourne , Brisbane , Adelaide and later Perth , with each network forming networks based on their allocated channel numbers: TCN-9 in Sydney, GTV-9 in Melbourne, QTQ-9 in Brisbane, NWS-9 in Adelaide and STW-9 in Perth together formed

11330-544: Was named president of the Universal Television arm. In 1993, former Warner Bros. Television senior vice president of production employee Steven J. Papazian joined Universal Television as vice president of production. In 1992, Universal Television signed a deal with several newer talent, plus some returning and existing talent that were offered at the studio, including Ivan Reitman , David Burke , John Leekley and R.J. Stewart. In 1993, St. Clare Entertainment,

11440-466: Was named vice president of series programs, Angela Mancuso as vice president of production, and Michael Houbrick was named assistant director of publicity, at the studio. One of the most notable clients of MTE was Papazian-Hirsch Entertainment, who produced a bulk of these television movies and series for the studio. In 1996, it was renamed as Universal Television Entertainment (or UTE for short) to align with MCA's rebranding as Universal Studios. It

11550-431: Was operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation ( BBC ). On 2 November 1936 the BBC opened the world's first regular high-definition television service, from a 405 lines transmitter at Alexandra Palace. The BBC remained dominant until eventually on 22 September 1955, commercial broadcasting was established to create a second television network. Rather than creating a single network with local channels owned and operated by

11660-641: Was reincorporated as the original iteration of Universal Television . Since then, they have made many contributions to television programming, including the production of the first television film ( See How They Run from 1964), the first wheel series ( The Name of the Game from 1968), the first rotating series with an umbrella title (1969's The Bold Ones ) and the first two-part television movie ( Vanished from 1971). Uni TV (also commonly known as MCA/Universal) also co-produced many shows with Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited , such as Emergency! , Adam-12 and

11770-539: Was renamed Universal Media Studios (UMS) as the unit would be also developing entertainment for the web. On July 21, 2009, Universal Cable Productions was split off from UMS and placed into NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group division. On September 12, 2011, Universal Media Studios was renamed to Universal Television. In October 2019, Universal Television was transferred from NBC Entertainment to NBCUniversal Content Studios. Universal Television Alternative Studio ( "Universal Television Alternative" according to

11880-441: Was replaced by the timeshift channel TV One Plus 1. The network operated by Television New Zealand has progressed from operating as four distinct local stations within the four main centers in the 1960s, to having the majority of the content produced from TVNZ's Auckland studios at present. New Zealand also has several privately owned television networks with the largest being operated by MediaWorks . MediaWorks' flagship network

11990-726: Was televised to a few hundred receivers over the NBC station W2XBS (which evolved into WNBC ) as well as seen in Schenectady, New York via W2XB (which evolved into WRGB ) via off-air relay from the New York station. NBC had earlier demonstrated an inter-city television broadcast on 1 February 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

12100-526: Was the television show Bonanza , which aired from 1959 to 1973 on the NBC television network. Its follow-up project that was produced independently was Outlaws , a western from 1960 to 1962. The third independently produced NBC show, The Americans , which aired only in 1961, lasted a few episodes, and bombed after only one season. In 1961, California National changed its name to NBC Films, and in 1963, launched NBC Productions to continue producing its existing show Bonanza , and develop newer projects for

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