List of United States over-the-air television networks


Throughout most of the history of television broadcasting in the United States, there were only three or four major commercial national networks that transmitted over-the-air. This group of channels, termed the "Big Three", comprises ABC, CBS, and NBC. Fox has been proposed as a fourth network; public broadcaster PBS is a non-commercial educational station. The Big Three have continued to dominate the free-to-air market after the advent of digital broadcasting.

History

From 1946 to 1956, major television networks were ABC, CBS, NBC and DuMont. From 1956 to 1986, the "Big Three" national commercial networks were ABC, CBS, and NBC. There were various attempts at establishing a fourth network, such as National Telefilm Associates's NTA Film Network, the Overmyer Network, and DuMont shareholder Paramount Pictures's Paramount Television Network. From 1954 to 1970, National Educational Television was the national clearinghouse for public TV programming; the Public Broadcasting Service succeeded it in 1970.
The transition to digital broadcasting in 2009 has allowed for television stations to offer additional programming options through digital subchannels, one or more supplementary programming streams to the station's primary channel that are achieved through multiplexing of a station's signal. A number of new commercial networks airing specialty programming such as movies, reruns of classic series and lifestyle programs have been created from companies like Weigel Broadcasting, Sinclair Broadcast Group and even owners of the major networks such as Fox Corporation, Paramount Skydance, The Walt Disney Company and Comcast. Through the use of multicasting, there have also been a number of new Spanish-language and non-commercial public TV networks that have launched.

Overview

Free-to-air networks in the U.S. can be divided into five categories:
  • Commercial networks – which air English-language programming to a general audience ;
  • Spanish-language networks – fully programmed networks which air Spanish-language programming to a primarily Latin American audience ;
  • Educational and other non-commercial broadcast networks – which air English- and some foreign-language television programming, intended to be educational in nature or otherwise of a sort not found on commercial television ;
  • Religious broadcast networks – which air religious study and other faith-based programs, and in some cases, family-oriented secular programs.
  • Shopping networks – which air live presentations of various products intended to be sold directly to the viewer.
Each network transmits its signal to numerous local affiliate television stations across the country. These affiliates broadcast the network feed, allowing programs to reach up to tens of millions of households nationwide. For the largest networks, the signal is distributed to more than 200 stations, while for the smallest networks it may be sent to only a dozen or fewer.

Major networks

More than 50 national free-to-air networks exist. Other than the non-commercial educational network PBS, which is composed of member stations, the largest terrestrial television networks are the traditional Big Three. Many other large networks exist, however, notably Fox and The CW which air original programming for two hours each night instead of three like the original "Big Three" do, as well as MyNetworkTV, which feature reruns of recent popular shows with little to no original programming, and Ion Television, which has had the same format since around 2007 but has started to pursue sports properties. Fox has just about the same household reach percentage as the Big Three, and is therefore often considered a peer to ABC, CBS, and NBC since it has also achieved equal or better ratings since the late 1990s; as of 2019, it also programs the equivalent amount of sports programming as the Big Three. Most media outlets now include Fox in what they refer to as the "Big Four" TV networks.

Commercial

All of the networks listed below operate a number of terrestrial TV stations. In addition, several of these networks are also aired on pay television services.

English language

Spanish language/international services

Current networks

Conventional commercial networks

  • American Broadcasting Company – The nation's third-largest commercial network, ABC was originally formed from the NBC Blue Network, a radio network which the Federal Communications Commission forced NBC to sell in 1943 for anti-monopoly reasons, the ABC-TV network began broadcasting in 1948. Owned by The Walt Disney Company, ABC airs original programming, sports, and news seven days a week. It has over 200 owned-and-operated and affiliate stations, almost all of which air local newscasts.
  • CBS – The nation's second-largest commercial network, it originated as the CBS Radio Network in 1927; the CBS-TV network commenced broadcasts in 1941. Owned now by Paramount Skydance, CBS airs original programming, sports and news seven days a week. The network has over 200 owned-and-operated and affiliate stations, almost all of which air local newscasts. For most of its existence, CBS has been the nation's most watched network.
  • National Broadcasting Company – The nation's largest and oldest commercial network, the NBC-TV network was formed out of the NBC Red Network radio service, which launched in 1926; the network commenced television broadcasts in 1939. Owned by NBCUniversal, NBC airs original programming, sports and news seven days a week. It has over 200 owned-and-operated and affiliate stations, almost all of which air local newscasts.
  • Fox Broadcasting Company – The nation's fourth-largest commercial network owned by Fox Corporation, Fox was launched in October 1986 through former parent News Corporation's purchase of Metromedia earlier that year and the purchase of the 20th Century Fox film studio, originally established in 1915 as Fox Film Corporation by William Fox and merging with 20th Century Pictures in 1935, five years after founder Fox lost control. After a half-century of up and down success, the studio was bought in 1985 by News Corporation, a company founded by Australian newspaper chain mogul Rupert Murdoch. Fox airs first-run programming and sports seven days a week, programming two hours each night in primetime, along with political talk program Fox News Sunday on Sunday mornings and the optional infomercial block Weekend Marketplace on Saturday mornings. It has nearly 200 owned-and-operated and affiliate stations, almost all of which air local newscasts, with some producing newscasts in-house and others airing newscasts produced by a local affiliate of another major network.
  • The CW – The CW was originally formed by CBS Corporation and Time Warner as a replacement for The WB and UPN, both of which folded in September 2006 after 11 years of existence and whose programs formed most of its initial schedule. Nexstar Media Group, the largest owner of television stations in the country, bought a 75% stake and controlling interest in the network in 2022; Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each retain a 12.5% stake. The CW maintains approximately 100 owned-and-operated and affiliate stations in the top 100 television markets; it also has approximately 90 additional cable-only and digital subchannel affiliations in smaller TV markets through a syndication service feed known as The CW Plus. The network airs two hours of first-run programming in primetime on Monday through Sunday, as well as a three-hour children's programming block on Saturday mornings called One Magnificent Morning and some sports coverage on weekends. Unlike the larger networks, The CW does not directly own its flagship station in New York City; WPIX is instead owned by Mission Broadcasting and operated under a LMA by Nexstar. Some CW affiliates air local newscasts, most of which are produced by another station in the market though four of its affiliates produce local newscasts in-house, and some Nexstar-owned stations carry additional content from sister cable news channel News Nation.
  • MyNetworkTV – MyNetworkTV is a syndication service owned by Fox Corporation, which is also parent of the Fox network. It was hastily formed in February 2006 to provide programming for stations left out of affiliation with The CW, after CBS Corporation and Time Warner chose to shut down UPN and The WB to form that network. The network launched in September 2006 with a format of English-language telenovelas, but gradually switched to mainly low-budget programming by the end of its first year. Since it converted from a broadcast network into a syndication service in 2010, MyNetworkTV fills its two-hour primetime schedule on Monday through Fridays with reruns of drama series that originated on other broadcast and cable networks. Some MyNetworkTV affiliates air local newscasts, most of which are produced by another station in the market though three of its affiliates produce local newscasts in-house. Some affiliates also carry the nightly scheduled out of primetime to accommodate those newscasts and alternate programming, and offer MyNetworkTV as a late night offering instead. For the Fox Television Stations group, most of its stations now brand as a "Plus" station of the larger Fox O&O station if part of a duopoly.
  • Ion Television – Ion Television is a mid-sized network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company; it airs off-network repeats of recent television series for eighteen hours per day, along with sports, most notably women's sports, including the WNBA basketball on Friday nights and NWSL soccer on Saturdays. Ion is the largest English-language network that is responsible for handling nearly all programming on behalf of its affiliates, some of which run some limited local programming and overflow programming from Scripps sister stations in the same market. It has around 48 owned-and-operated and 23 affiliated stations, the majority of which were owned by former parent Ion Media; Ion is available in markets without an over-the-air affiliate via a national feed that is distributed to pay-TV providers and AVOD streaming services, along with a group of stations spun out to a separately owned Ion-only broadcast group, Inyo Broadcast Holdings. As Pax TV and i, it aired several hours a week of original programming in primetime.