2020 in American television
In American television in 2020, notable events included television show debuts, finales, and cancellations; channel launches, closures, and re-brandings; stations changing or adding their network affiliations; and information about controversies and carriage disputes.
Television shows
Shows changing networks
Shows returning in 2020
The following shows returned with new episodes after being canceled or previously ending their run:| Show | Last aired | Type of return | Previous channel | New/returning/same channel | Return date | Source |
| Supernanny | 2011 | Revival | ABC | Lifetime | January 1 | |
| Steve | 2019 | Revival | First-run syndication | Facebook Watch | January 6 | |
| Party of Five | 2000 | Reboot | Fox | Freeform | January 8 | |
| The Biggest Loser | 2016 | Reboot | NBC | USA Network | January 28 | |
| Manhunt | 2017 | Revival | Discovery Channel | Spectrum Originals | February 3 | |
| XFL | 2001 | Reboot | NBC/TNN/UPN | ESPN/ABC/Fox/FS1 | February 8 | |
| The Soup | 2015 | Revival | E! | same | February 12 | |
| Disney's Fairy Tale Weddings | 2018 | New season | Freeform | Disney+ | February 14 | |
| Extreme Makeover: Home Edition | 2012 | Revival | ABC | HGTV | February 16 | |
| Star Wars: The Clone Wars | 2014 | New season | Netflix | Disney+ | February 21 | |
| Forensic Files | 2011 | Revival | Court TV/TruTV | HLN | February 23 | |
| Bride & Prejudice | 2016 | Revival | FYI | Lifetime | February 26 | |
| Opry | 2009 | New season | GAC | Circle | February 26 | |
| Vice News Tonight | 2019 | Revival | HBO | Vice on TV | March 4 | |
| Amazing Stories | 1987 | Reboot | NBC | Apple TV+ | March 6 | |
| Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey | 2014 | New season | Fox/National Geographic | same | March 9 | |
| The Wall | 2018 | New season | NBC | same | March 15 | |
| One Day at a Time | 2019 | New season | Netflix | Pop/TV Land/CBS | March 24 | |
| Vice | 2018 | New season | HBO | Showtime | March 29 | |
| 12 oz. Mouse | 2018 | New season | Adult Swim | same | April 1 | |
| Singled Out | 2019 | Reboot | MTV/YouTube | Quibi | April 6 | |
| Punk'd | 2015 | Reboot | BET | Quibi | April 6 | |
| Celebrity Ghost Stories | 2014 | Revival | LMN | A&E | April 8 | |
| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | 2019 | New season | First-run syndication | ABC | April 8 | |
| Club MTV | 1992 | Special | MTV | same | April 25 | |
| Parks and Recreation | 2015 | Special | NBC | same | April 30 | |
| CBS Sunday Movie | 2006 | Revival | CBS | same | May 3 | |
| Reno 911! | 2009 | Revival | Comedy Central | Quibi | May 4 | |
| Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt | 2019 | Special | Netflix | same | May 12 | |
| Sell This House | 2011 | Revival | A&E | FYI | May 18 | |
| True Life | 2017 | Special | MTV | same | June 9 | |
| Search Party | 2017 | New season | TBS | HBO Max | June 25 | |
| Adventure Time | 2018 | Specials | Cartoon Network | HBO Max | June 25 | |
| Nick News | 2015 | Revival | Nickelodeon | same | June 29 | |
| Unsolved Mysteries | 2010 | Revival | Spike | Netflix | July 1 | |
| The Baby-Sitters Club | 1990 | Reboot | HBO | Netflix | July 3 | |
| 30 Rock | 2013 | Special | NBC | same | July 16 | |
| Happy Endings | 2013 | Special | ABC | Sony Pictures Television YouTube channel | July 20 | |
| The Fugitive | 2001 | Reboot | CBS | Quibi | August 3 | |
| Eco-Challenge | 2002 | Revival | USA Network | Amazon Prime Video | August 14 | |
| Tyler Perry's House of Payne | 2012 | Revival | TBS | BET | September 2 | |
| A.P. Bio | 2019 | New season | NBC | Peacock | September 3 | |
| Becoming | 2016 | Revival | Disney XD | Disney+ | September 18 | |
| Way Too Early | 2016 | Revival | MSNBC | same | September 21 | |
| Dr. 90210 | 2008 | Revival | E! | same | September 28 | |
| Weakest Link | 2003 | Revival | First-run syndication | NBC | September 29 | |
| 16 and Pregnant | 2014 | Revival | MTV | same | October 6 | |
| The West Wing | 2006 | Special | NBC | HBO Max | October 15 | |
| Supermarket Sweep | 2003 | Revival | PAX | ABC | October 18 | |
| MDA Telethon | 2014 | Revival | ABC | YouTube Live | October 24 | |
| Mickey Mouse | 2019 | Revival | Disney Channel | Disney+ | November 18 | |
| Animaniacs | 1998 | Revival | Kids' WB | Hulu | November 20 | |
| I Love New York | 2008 | Special | VH1 | same | November 23 | |
| Hollywood Exes | 2014 | Special | VH1 | same | November 24 | |
| Saved by the Bell | 1993 | Revival | NBC | Peacock | November 25 |
Entering syndication in 2020
A list of programs that have accumulated enough episodes or seasons to be eligible for off-network syndication and/or basic cable runs.| Show | Seasons | In Production | Notes | Source |
| Schitt's Creek | 6 | No |
Television stations
Subchannel launches
Stations changing network affiliation
Major affiliation changes
| Date | Market | Station | Channel | Prior affiliation | New affiliation | Notes | Source |
| January 1 | Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | WORA | 5.1 | Telemundo | ABC | On June 27, 2019, WORA-TV announced that it would end an affiliation agreement with WKAQ-TV by December 31, leaving Telemundo without a western affiliate after more than four years. Later, Hemisphere Media Group, the owners of WAPA-TV, announced that Telemundo would air on a subchannel of WNJX-TV by January 1, 2020. On December 18, WORA-TV announced that it would move ABC programming to channel 5.1 on January 1, with the Televisión Española news channel 24H airing on 5.2 from that date on. | |
| January 28 | Harlingen/McAllen/ Brownsville, Texas | KGBT-TV | 4.1 | CBS | Temporarily silent | With Nexstar Media Group acquiring the non-license assets of KGBT from Sinclair Broadcast Group through the settlement of Tribune Media's 2018 lawsuit against Sinclair, Nexstar—which assumed the rights to KGBT's programming and news operation—decides to move KGBT's CBS schedule to a subchannel on the KVEO spectrum; the move results in KGBT ending its affiliation with CBS after 66 years and its main channel going temporarily silent until replacement programming is added. KVEO's former subchannel affiliations with Estrella TV, Court TV Mystery and Grit also move to the KGBT spectrum to accommodate additional bandwidth needed for KVEO to transmit the former KGBT CBS programming feed on its DT2 subchannel. | |
| January 28 | Harlingen/McAllen/ Brownsville, Texas | KGBT-TV | 4.4 | New subchannel | Estrella TV | With Nexstar Media Group acquiring the non-license assets of KGBT from Sinclair Broadcast Group through the settlement of Tribune Media's 2018 lawsuit against Sinclair, Nexstar—which assumed the rights to KGBT's programming and news operation—decides to move KGBT's CBS schedule to a subchannel on the KVEO spectrum; the move results in KGBT ending its affiliation with CBS after 66 years and its main channel going temporarily silent until replacement programming is added. KVEO's former subchannel affiliations with Estrella TV, Court TV Mystery and Grit also move to the KGBT spectrum to accommodate additional bandwidth needed for KVEO to transmit the former KGBT CBS programming feed on its DT2 subchannel. | |
| January 28 | Harlingen/McAllen/ Brownsville, Texas | KGBT-TV | 4.5 | New subchannel | Grit | With Nexstar Media Group acquiring the non-license assets of KGBT from Sinclair Broadcast Group through the settlement of Tribune Media's 2018 lawsuit against Sinclair, Nexstar—which assumed the rights to KGBT's programming and news operation—decides to move KGBT's CBS schedule to a subchannel on the KVEO spectrum; the move results in KGBT ending its affiliation with CBS after 66 years and its main channel going temporarily silent until replacement programming is added. KVEO's former subchannel affiliations with Estrella TV, Court TV Mystery and Grit also move to the KGBT spectrum to accommodate additional bandwidth needed for KVEO to transmit the former KGBT CBS programming feed on its DT2 subchannel. | |
| January 28 | Harlingen/McAllen/ Brownsville, Texas | KGBT-TV | 4.6 | New subchannel | Court TV Mystery | With Nexstar Media Group acquiring the non-license assets of KGBT from Sinclair Broadcast Group through the settlement of Tribune Media's 2018 lawsuit against Sinclair, Nexstar—which assumed the rights to KGBT's programming and news operation—decides to move KGBT's CBS schedule to a subchannel on the KVEO spectrum; the move results in KGBT ending its affiliation with CBS after 66 years and its main channel going temporarily silent until replacement programming is added. KVEO's former subchannel affiliations with Estrella TV, Court TV Mystery and Grit also move to the KGBT spectrum to accommodate additional bandwidth needed for KVEO to transmit the former KGBT CBS programming feed on its DT2 subchannel. | |
| January 28 | Harlingen/McAllen/ Brownsville, Texas | KVEO-TV | 23.2 | Estrella TV | CBS | With Nexstar Media Group acquiring the non-license assets of KGBT from Sinclair Broadcast Group through the settlement of Tribune Media's 2018 lawsuit against Sinclair, Nexstar—which assumed the rights to KGBT's programming and news operation—decides to move KGBT's CBS schedule to a subchannel on the KVEO spectrum; the move results in KGBT ending its affiliation with CBS after 66 years and its main channel going temporarily silent until replacement programming is added. KVEO's former subchannel affiliations with Estrella TV, Court TV Mystery and Grit also move to the KGBT spectrum to accommodate additional bandwidth needed for KVEO to transmit the former KGBT CBS programming feed on its DT2 subchannel. | |
| July 31 | Anchorage, Alaska | KYES-TV | 5.1 | MyNetworkTV | CBS | Earlier in 2020, GCI/Denali Media Holdings, the majority cable provider for the state of Alaska, announced that it would sell its broadcast holdings to focus on other areas, in particular providing data, mobile, video, voice and managed services. On July 31, Denali announced the sale of KTVA's non-license assets, including its news operation and CBS affiliation, to Gray Television, owners of NBC affiliate KTUU-TV and what had been MyNetworkTV affiliate KYES-TV. Denali retains ownership of the KTVA license since Gray cannot legally own and/or operate the station. The KTVA assets were transferred to KYES-TV the same day, while KTVA temporarily simulcasted KYES-TV for the benefit of viewers until it wound down its news operation on August 28, with KTUU taking some of KTVA's former staff for a combined "Alaska's News Source" operation between KTUU and KYES. KYES's former primary schedule and MyNetworkTV schedule was shifted to a newly created fourth subchannel. KTVA went dark on September 3, 2020, as GCI looks for a sale partner. | |
| July 31 | Anchorage, Alaska | KYES-TV | 5.4 | New subchannel | MyNetworkTV | Earlier in 2020, GCI/Denali Media Holdings, the majority cable provider for the state of Alaska, announced that it would sell its broadcast holdings to focus on other areas, in particular providing data, mobile, video, voice and managed services. On July 31, Denali announced the sale of KTVA's non-license assets, including its news operation and CBS affiliation, to Gray Television, owners of NBC affiliate KTUU-TV and what had been MyNetworkTV affiliate KYES-TV. Denali retains ownership of the KTVA license since Gray cannot legally own and/or operate the station. The KTVA assets were transferred to KYES-TV the same day, while KTVA temporarily simulcasted KYES-TV for the benefit of viewers until it wound down its news operation on August 28, with KTUU taking some of KTVA's former staff for a combined "Alaska's News Source" operation between KTUU and KYES. KYES's former primary schedule and MyNetworkTV schedule was shifted to a newly created fourth subchannel. KTVA went dark on September 3, 2020, as GCI looks for a sale partner. | |
| July 31 | Anchorage, Alaska | KTVA | 11.1 | CBS | Dark | Earlier in 2020, GCI/Denali Media Holdings, the majority cable provider for the state of Alaska, announced that it would sell its broadcast holdings to focus on other areas, in particular providing data, mobile, video, voice and managed services. On July 31, Denali announced the sale of KTVA's non-license assets, including its news operation and CBS affiliation, to Gray Television, owners of NBC affiliate KTUU-TV and what had been MyNetworkTV affiliate KYES-TV. Denali retains ownership of the KTVA license since Gray cannot legally own and/or operate the station. The KTVA assets were transferred to KYES-TV the same day, while KTVA temporarily simulcasted KYES-TV for the benefit of viewers until it wound down its news operation on August 28, with KTUU taking some of KTVA's former staff for a combined "Alaska's News Source" operation between KTUU and KYES. KYES's former primary schedule and MyNetworkTV schedule was shifted to a newly created fourth subchannel. KTVA went dark on September 3, 2020, as GCI looks for a sale partner. | |
| November 2 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KDLT-TV | 46.2 | Antenna TV | Fox | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KDLT-TV | 46.3 | New subchannel | Antenna TV | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KDLT-TV | 46.4 | New subchannel | Cozi TV | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KTTW | 7.1 | Fox | Dark | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Sioux Falls, South Dakota | KTTW | 7.2 | Cozi TV | This TV | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Mitchell, South Dakota | KDLV | 5.2 | The CW Plus | Fox | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Mitchell, South Dakota | KDLV | 5.3 | MeTV | ABC | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Huron, South Dakota | KTTM | 12.1 | Fox | Dark | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | Huron, South Dakota | KTTM | 12.2 | Cozi TV | This TV | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | - | - | - | - | - | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | - | - | - | - | - | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. | |
| November 2 | - | - | - | - | - | Earlier in September, Independent Communications, owner of KTTW and its Huron satellite station KTTM announced it sell the non-license assets of the station along with the studio space, its translators, the Fox affiliation and the Cozi TV subchannel to Gray Television, parent of NBC affiliated station KDLT-TV and its Mitchell satellite station KDLV and ABC affiliated station KSFY-TV; ending its 33 years affiliation with the network on November 2. After the sale, a local company plans to buy the stations and they carry This TV on the second subchannel for the interim while the main channel went temporary dark. To accompany the Fox and Cozi TV programming, KDLT had moved the Antenna TV subchannel to 46.3 and KDLV meanwhile moves the KSFY signal to 5.3, displacing The CW Plus and MeTV affiliations. |