Superstation
Superstation is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a broadcast television signal—usually a commercially licensed station—that is retransmitted via communications satellite or microwave relay to multichannel television providers over a broad area beyond its primary terrestrial signal range.
Outside of their originating media market, superstations are often treated akin to a conventional basic cable channel. Although six American television stations—none of which has widespread national distribution beyond home satellite or regional cable coverage—still are designated under this classification, these stations were primarily popularized between the late 1970s and the 1990s, in large part because of their carriage of sporting events from local professional sports franchises and theatrical feature films, offerings that were common of the time among independent stations that composed the superstation concept. These signals were also popular among C-band satellite subscribers in rural areas where broadcast signals could not be picked up off-air.
Individual radio stations have also been redistributed via satellite as superstations through cable radio services offered by television providers and standalone satellite radio services. In other parts of North America, the definition of what may constitute even a de facto superstation varies depending on the country and the overall availability of the distributed stations.
Definition
In its most precise meaning, per an amended definition under the Copyright Act of 1947, the Federal Communications Commission in the United States defines a superstation as a "television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the , that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier." Superstations may fall into one of two classifications, based on the factoring of their extended reach for advertising and program acquisition purposes:- Active superstations – Television stations that intentionally seek retransmission of their signal outside of their home market through an arrangement with a common satellite carrier firm, and markets the added distribution to program suppliers and advertisers; these stations target their programming and purchase advertising aimed at a national or regional audience, in addition to selling localized advertising viewable only on the originating broadcast feed;
- Passive superstations – Television stations that make little or no acknowledgement of their superstation status in on-air and other marketing avenues; the station's signal is involuntarily redistributed without prior formal consent by a satellite carrier, which handles national advertising, marketing and some programming services for the cable-originated feed in lieu of the station's licensee, which itself maintains a neutral or obstinate stance toward the expanded distribution. Locally, the "passive superstation" prioritizes programming and advertising for their originating market, charging rates for such acquisitions and sales accordingly. The station may receive supplementary revenue from federal royalty payments for licensee-copyrighted programs, but subscriber fees paid by cable systems for the use of their signals are distributed to the common carrier.
- " is not owned or operated by or affiliated with a television network that, as of January 1, 1995, offered interconnected program service on a regular basis for 15 or more hours per week to at least 25 affiliated television licensees in ten or more states;"
- " on May 1, 1991, was retransmitted by a satellite carrier and was not a network station at that time; and
- " was, as of July 1, 1998, retransmitted by a satellite carrier under the statutory license of Section 119 of Title 17, United States Code."
While the FCC defines "superstation" as a term, it does not prohibit its use by others outside of that scope; for example, primary ABC/subchannel-only CW affiliate KYUR in Anchorage, Alaska had collectively branded itself and its network of repeater stations as "Alaska's SuperStation" from 1996 to 2011. Some Spanish language networks like Telemundo and Univision may only have one station within an entire state that serves the largest city in their market and is distributed statewide via cable; one such case is Telemundo affiliate WYTU-LD in Milwaukee, which maintains cable distribution throughout Wisconsin via Charter Spectrum, along with extended coverage on low-power stations in Rockford, Illinois, and South Bend, Indiana, providing it broad coverage resembling a regional superstation though not marketing itself as such. The term has been used by many other television and radio stations, but none of these operations is a superstation as defined by the FCC and solely use the term for marketing purposes. Similarly, the "superstation" term has also been occasionally stretched within the broadcasting industry to encompass major network affiliates imported by satellite common carriers to C-band and direct broadcast satellite providers—through packages such as Primetime 24 and its associated "Denver 5" tier, and the Netlink-distributed A3 package—that could not receive locally based network stations prior the implementation of the Satellite Television Extension and Localization Act in 1999.
United States
Early television superstations
In the early days of television broadcasting, most large media markets – primarily those ranked among the top 20 in Arbitron and Nielsen estimates – had, by standards of the period, a sizeable number of television stations. Generally, these markets had three VHF stations that operated as affiliates of the then dominant television networks – NBC, ABC, and CBS; one or more public television stations – which usually were member stations of National Educational Television and its later successor, the Public Broadcasting Service ; one or more UHF stations; and in the largest markets, at least one VHF station without a network affiliation. These independent stations generally relied on syndicated reruns of current or defunct network shows, classic theatrical feature films and some variety of local programming – such as news programs, children's programming or sporting events – to fill their broadcast schedules. Because of the available population reach of the region, most mid-sized and smaller media markets often had only the basic three network-affiliated stations, with imported network affiliates often serving as default outlets where one or more networks were not available locally.Early community antenna television systems were restricted from retransmitting distant signals to communities no more than approximately from the closest signal, which was a detriment to many small communities, especially sparsely populated areas of the Western United States, that were too distant from any receivable signal. As CATV system capacity increased from three channels to five during the early 1950s, several communities in the Western U.S. began incorporating CATV systems using microwave relay systems that made it possible to retransmit broadcast signals over great distances. In September 1956, Columbia Television Co. in Pendleton, Oregon began using a microwave relay unit operated by Inland Microwave Co. to import three Spokane, Washington television stations, ABC affiliate KREM-TV, CBS affiliate KXLY-TV and NBC affiliate KHQ-TV, to its subscribers. Building on this, other cable and CATV systems in smaller municipalities and rural areas sought a foothold by "importing" broadcast television signals from larger nearby or distant cities for their customers, extending their reach beyond their normal coverage area. Anxious for more viewers, the stations assisted by relaying their signals by wire or microwave transmission.
Within a few years, many other microwave-capable CATV system operators began to import out-of-market television signals based on program offerings they thought would appeal to their subscribers. Except for areas that were far enough out of a signal's reach to make this an unviable option, these systems selected major-market independent stations that aired popular feature films and local sports events. In 1962, Oneonta, New York-based Eastern Microwave Inc. – a company that was developed after a technician employed with the parent CATV system observed the operations of Montana-based microwave-to-CATV firm Western Microwave – was founded to relay the signals of WPIX, WNEW-TV and WOR-TV to Oneonta Video and other CATV systems in surrounding areas. Eastern Microwave began distributing WOR-TV and either WPIX or WNEW in March 1965 to three Upstate New York cable systems. Other microwave firms were also developed to relay independent television stations to cable systems, including H&B Microwave, which began retransmitting the signal of WGN-TV in Chicago to subscribers of the Dubuque TV-FM Cable Company in Dubuque, Iowa; WGN's signal soon began to be imported via microwave to other CATV systems throughout the Midwest.
Because of changes to cable television regulations in the 1960s and 1970s, carriage of out-of-market independent stations increased significantly, allowing for the development of the first true "regional superstations." By way of the microwave connections, Ted Turner began allowing the signal of Atlanta, Georgia independent station WTCG – which he purchased from station founder and fellow Atlanta-based entrepreneur Jack Rice Jr. in December 1969 in a $3-million all-stock transaction – to be distributed into other parts of the Southeastern United States. Two major independent station operators began extending coverage of their stations throughout their respective home states and even surrounding states. Gaylord Broadcasting began allowing its independents—WUAB in Lorain–Cleveland, WVTV in Milwaukee, KSTW in Tacoma–Seattle, KTVT in Fort Worth–Dallas and KHTV in Houston—to be distributed to cable systems in their respective regions, as did the Christian Broadcasting Network's Continental Broadcasting Network unit for two of its religious-secular hybrid independents, WYAH-TV in Virginia Beach and KXTX-TV in Dallas–Fort Worth.