In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an
affiliate, which is independently owned and carries network programming by contract.
The concept of an O&O is clearly defined in the United States and Canada (and to some extent, several other countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Japan), where network-owned stations had historically been the exception rather than the rule. In such places, broadcasting licenses are generally issued on a local (rather than national) basis, and there is (or was) some sort of regulatory mechanism in place to prevent any company (including a broadcasting network) from owning stations in every market in the country. In other parts of the world, many television networks were given national broadcasting licenses at launch; as such, they have traditionally been mostly (or entirely) composed of owned-and-operated stations, rendering a separate notion for such a concept redundant.
Usage of the term in the United States
In the broadcasting industry, the term "owned-and-operated station" refers exclusively to stations that are owned by television and radio networks. On the other hand, the term ''affiliate'' only applies to stations that are not owned by networks, but instead are contracted to air programming from one of the major networks. While in fact there may be an affiliation agreement between a network and an owned-and-operated station (as suggested under "Ownership Info" on the FCC TV Query search for
WABC-TV
WABC-TV (channel 7) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the ABC network. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, the station maintains studios in the Lincoln Square neig ...
), this is not necessarily required, and may simply be a legal technicality formalizing the relationship of separate entities under the same parent company. In any event, this does not prevent a network from effectively dictating an owned-and-operated station's practices outside the scope of a normal affiliation agreement; for instance, network programming is very rarely preempted by O&Os except in cases of major breaking news of interest to the O&O's viewing area, despite individual affiliates' rights to do so.
The term "station" correctly applies to the ownership of the station. For example, a station that is owned and operated by the
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company (ABC) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It is the flagship property of the ABC Entertainment Group division of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in Burbank, Calif ...
(ABC) is referred to as an "ABC station" or an "ABC O&O," but normally should not be referred to as an affiliate. Likewise, a station not owned by ABC but contracted to air the network's programming is correctly referred to as an "ABC affiliate"; that is, the station is ''affiliated'' with ABC.
However, informally or for promotional purposes, affiliated stations (or non-O&Os) are sometimes referred to as a network ''station'', as in "
WFAA
WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur-licensed Estrella TV affiliate KMPX (channel 29), w ...
is an ABC station" even though that ABC affiliate, in the
Dallas–Fort Worth market, is owned by
Tegna, Inc. A correct formal phrasing could be, "ABC affiliate WFAA is a Tegna station." Similarly, one may informally refer to "ABC affiliates" in regards to all stations (including O&Os) that air ABC programming, or to "the ABC affiliation" in regards to the transfer of rights to ABC programming from an affiliate to an O&O.
Some stations that are owned by companies that operate a network, but air another network's programming are referred to as an affiliate of the network that they carry. For example,
WBFS-TV in Miami is owned by the
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
network's parent company
Paramount Global
Paramount Global ( doing business as Paramount) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned and operated by National Amusements (79.4%) and headquartered at One Astor Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York. ...
, but has no network affiliate and airs syndicated programming; it is a
Independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
. Prior to the September 2006 shutdown of the CBS-owned
UPN television network, WBFS aired that network's programming; therefore, WBFS was a UPN ''O&O''.
The stations carrying
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
were another exception. The controlling shares in the network were held by
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
, with minority interests from the
Tribune Company
Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois.
Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...
and, for a portion of network's existence, the now-defunct
ACME Communications
ACME Communications was a U.S.-based broadcasting company that was involved in operations of television stations and programming from the late 1990s to the year of 2013.
Company profile
ACME Communications was co-founded by Chairman and origina ...
. While Tribune-owned stations such as
WGN-TV
WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...
in Chicago,
WPIX
WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship of ...
in New York City and
KTLA
KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the s ...
in Los Angeles (along with most of the ACME stations) aired programming from The WB, they did not fit the standard definition of an owned-and-operated station. A similar exception existed when UPN launched in January 1995 by co-owners
Chris-Craft and
Viacom. Each of the companies owned a number of stations that aired the network. However, the stations were also not considered O&Os under the initial standard definition. This ambiguity ended with Viacom's buyout of Chris-Craft's share of the network in 2000, which came not long after its merger with
the previous CBS Corporation. The stations were referred to informally as UPN ''O&Os'' (Chris-Craft later sold its stations to
Fox Television Stations
Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Co ...
, the subsidiary of the then
News Corporation
News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in New ...
that primarily operates
Fox's O&Os, in 2000).
Following the shutdowns of UPN and The WB,
CBS Corporation
The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, an ...
(former owner of UPN) and Warner Bros. Entertainment became co-owners of the new
CW Television Network
CW may stand for:
Science and technology
* centiwatt (cW), one hundredth of a watt
* Cω, a programming language
* CW complex, a type of topological space
* Carrier wave, in radio communications
* CodeWarrior, an integrated development environ ...
, which largely merged the programming from both networks onto the scheduling model used by The WB. The network launched in September 2006 on 11 UPN stations owned by CBS Corporation, and 15 WB affiliates owned by Tribune (which exchanged its ownership stake in The WB for affiliation agreements on most of its stations with the new CW network). Certain UPN and WB affiliates in markets where Tribune and CBS both owned stations carrying those networks either picked up a MyNetworkTV affiliation or became
independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, marke ...
s. The standard definition of an O&O again does not apply to The CW (in this case, CBS Corporation owns some of the core CW outlets, while Time Warner does not own a CW station or ''any'' station beyond
one
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
), but the CBS-owned stations that carry the network may be referred to as "CW O&Os".
Some O&Os choose to refer to themselves as "network-owned stations" instead, reflecting the fact that while they may be ''owned'' by a national network, much of the actual ''operation'' is usually left to the discretion of the local station.
Distribution
Asia-Pacific
Australia
In Australia,
Seven Network
The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...
,
Nine Network
The Nine Network (stylised 9Network, commonly known as Channel Nine or simply Nine) is an Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by parent company Nine Entertainment and is one of five main free-to-air television netw ...
and
Network Ten
Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of fiv ...
each own and operate stations in the five largest
metropolitan areas
A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually ...
(
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...
,
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
,
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
and
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
). These television markets together account for two-thirds of the country's population. In addition, Seven also owns and operates its local station in regional
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
, regional
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, regional
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
ACT and
regional Western Australia and Nine owns and operates its station in
Darwin. Nine also owns and operates
NBN Television
NBN is an Australian television station based in Newcastle, Australia. The station was inaugurated on 4 March 1962 as the first regional commercial television station in New South Wales, and has since expanded to 39 transmitters throughout Nor ...
, based in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
.
The two national public broadcasters, the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-owne ...
(ABC) and
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS Wor ...
(SBS), own and operate all of their local stations.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, although public networks (i.e.
RRI and
TVRI
TVRI (, Television of the Republic of Indonesia), legally ( Public Broadcasting Institution Television of the Republic of Indonesia) is a public television network and the oldest television network in Indonesia. Its national headquarters is i ...
) own and operate all of their local stations since their early years, the trend of private networks own and operating more than one station only arose in the 2000s, as the restriction on private radio station's broadcast area was lifted and new regulations concerning network broadcasting system was in effect.
Most of the local private stations that are member of national networks are owned and operated by the same company as their parent network, though they were established as different companies. The stations typically has on-air name format
etwork name ity/province reflecting their respective network and their broadcast coverage. Due to regulations in 2002 Act on Broadcasting, currently owned-and-operated radio stations tend to air mostly local programming, while owned-and-operated television stations are allowed to air mostly network's national programming.
Japan
In Japan, commercial terrestrial television is focused on five organizations, known alternatively by either the name of their flagship Tokyo station or a network name (usually branded as a "news network" although all of these organizations provide more than just news programming).
The four largest of these –
Nippon TV
JOAX-DTV (channel 4), branded as , is the flagship station of the Nippon News Network and the Nippon Television Network System, owned-and-operated by the which is a subsidiary of the certified broadcasting holding company , itself a listed ...
(
NNN/
NNS),
Tokyo Broadcasting System
formerly is a Japanese media and licensed broadcasting holding company. It is the parent company of the television network and radio network . It has a 28-affiliate television network called JNN (Japan News Network), as well as a 34-affili ...
(
JNN),
Fuji TV
JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network S ...
(
FNN/
FNS), and
TV Asahi
JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...
(
ANN
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...
), two of four of them owned by major newspapers (Nippon TV by
The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings and TV Asahi by
The Asahi Shimbun Company
is one of the four largest newspapers in Japan. Founded in 1879, it is also one of the oldest newspapers in Japan and Asia, and is considered a newspaper of record for Japan. Its circulation, which was 4.57 million for its morning edition a ...
) and Tokyo Broadcasting System being highly affiliated with
The Mainichi Newspapers Co. despite the Mainichi's lack of ownership – each own and operate stations in the Tokyo,
Keihanshin
is a metropolitan region in the Kansai region of Japan encompassing the metropolitan areas of the cities of Kyoto in Kyoto Prefecture, Osaka in Osaka Prefecture and Kobe in Hyōgo Prefecture. The entire region has a population () of 19,302,746 ...
,
Chukyo
Chukyo can refer to:
* Emperor Chūkyō (1218-1234), 85th emperor of Japan
the city of Nagoya ( 中京 Chūkyō). Various things are named after the city:
*Chūkyō Industrial Area
*Chūkyō Metropolitan Area
*Chūkyō Television Broadcasting
*Ch ...
and
Fukuoka
is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...
metropolitan areas. These four television markets together account for more than half of the country's population. In addition, these four networks also own and operate some stations in other television markets. Most of the Japanese television stations outside the four flagship media markets have affiliates with one of those networks, therefore, they are not owned-and-operated stations. However, in the strict North American definition of "owned by the network", nearly all of those network affiliates would have been classified as owned-and-operated stations, since the networks (or in the case of Nippon TV, Tokyo Broadcasting System and TV Asahi, the newspapers who own/affiliated with them) has controlling shares in those stations. The smaller
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...
(
TXN) clearly owns and operates all of its local stations.
The public broadcaster
NHK
, also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee.
NHK operates two terrestr ...
operates two terrestrial channels,
NHK General TV
, abbreviated on-screen as NHK G, is the main television service of NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster. Its programming includes news, drama, quiz/variety shows, music, sports, anime, and specials which compete directly with the output of i ...
and
NHK Educational TV
, abbreviated on-screen as NHK E, is the second television service of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also s ...
. Both of these channels have some regional stations, all of which are owned and operated by NHK.
Philippines
In the Philippines, networks such as the former
ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...
,
GMA Network
GMA Network (Global Media Arts or simply GMA) is a Philippine free-to-air television and radio network. It is the flagship property of publicly traded GMA Network, Inc. Its first broadcast on television was on October 29, 1961. GMA Network (f ...
, and
5 own and operate almost all their local television stations, although a few affiliates also exist. As regional stations simulcast/relay almost the entire programming lineup of their parent network's flagship station (usually based in
Metro Manila
Metropolitan Manila (often shortened as Metro Manila; fil, Kalakhang Maynila), officially the National Capital Region (NCR; fil, link=no, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon), is the capital region, seat of government and one of three List of metrop ...
), the terms "network", "station" and "channel" can in practice be used interchangeably to refer to either one. Even when a network's local station features programmes that deviate from the flagship station, viewers there may be able to see the flagship station through pay-TV operators.
In addition, networks are often informally referred to using their flagship stations' terrestrial channel numbers. For example, ABS-CBN is referred to as "Channel 2" or "Dos", which corresponds to the assigned channel number of its Manila O&O
DWWX-TV
DWWX-TV, Channel 2, was the flagship VHF station of Philippine television network ABS-CBN. The station was owned and operated by ABS-CBN Corporation with its studio and transmitter located at the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Center, Sgt. Esguerra Ave ...
. This is applicable even if a viewer receives the network on a different channel number (either because the viewer resides in a different viewing area or receives the channel through cable or satellite).
Europe
Germany
ARD, one of Germany's public broadcasters, is actually an
umbrella organisation
An umbrella organization is an association of (often related, industry-specific) institutions who work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. In business, political, and other environments, it provides resources and ofte ...
made up of the different regional public broadcasters. This effectively renders ARD a case of where the regional stations own the network. One of ARD's channels,
Das Erste
Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the nine regional public broadcasting corporations that are member ...
, has exactly the same output across the country but each of the regional broadcasters contributes content to it. Meanwhile, each ARD-member broadcaster uses channel 3 to show its own output and lineup in the viewing areas they serve (although a common time exists for regional news bulletins at 19.30 and a simulcast of the national newscast ''
Tagesschau
(German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationalit ...
'' at 20.00
Central European time
Central European Time (CET) is a standard time which is 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
The time offset from UTC can be written as UTC+01:00.
It is used in most parts of Europe and in a few North African countries.
CE ...
). Within some regional broadcasters, further variations exist for the regional news bulletins. Viewers across Germany are able to view the different regional variations of channel 3 through free-to-air satellite, pay-TV subscription, or through the ARD media library available on ARD's website and mobile app.
United Kingdom
The
ITV network
ITV is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the ol ...
is jointly owned by the owners of the local "Channel 3" stations throughout the United Kingdom, which since 2016 have been consolidated into two companies:
ITV plc
ITV plc is a British media company that holds 13 of the 15 regional television licences that make up the ITV network (Channel 3), the oldest and largest commercial terrestrial television network in the United Kingdom.
ITV plc is listed on th ...
and
STV Group plc
STV Group plc (formerly known as Scottish Television plc, Scottish Media Group plc and SMG plc) is a media company based in Glasgow, Scotland. Beginning as a television broadcaster in 1957, the company expanded into newspapers, advertising and r ...
. This means that officially, the stations own the network, rather than the network owning stations as is the case in most of the other countries listed here. However, since the 2004 creation of ITV plc, which since 2016 has owned and operated all of the Channel 3 licences serving England, Wales, southern Scotland, Northern Ireland and the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
, most of the operations of the network have been absorbed into that entity. Moreover, the separately owned station serving northern and central Scotland (
STV) and the ITV plc-owned
UTV often
deviate significantly from the schedule of the
ITV channel
ITV Channel Television, previously Channel Television, is a British television station which has served as the ITV contractor for the Channel Islands since 1962. It is based in Jersey and broadcasts regional programme for insertion into th ...
as programmed by ITV plc. As a result of this restructuring and other changes in the relationship between ITV and STV, the Channel 3 franchises owned by ITV plc could now be considered ITV owned-and-operated stations, with STV being comparable to an affiliate.
From 1982 to 2010, a somewhat comparable situation existed for the
fourth channel allocation, with
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
broadcasting in England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, and
S4C
S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speaking ...
, operated by a
separate public authority, broadcasting in Wales. Until the
digital switchover in Wales in 2010, S4C's analogue service broadcast primarily
Welsh-language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has al ...
programming, along with English-language programming from Channel 4, often on
delay
Delay (from Latin: dilatio) may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Delay 1968'', a 1981 album by German experimental rock band Can
* '' The Delay'', a 2012 Uruguayan film
People
* B. H. DeLay (1891–1923), American aviator and ac ...
. In this sense, S4C could be considered a Channel 4 affiliate, with Channel 4's operations in the rest of the UK being similar to an O&O. Since the digital switchover, S4C has been a fully Welsh-language service, with Channel 4 available in Wales at all times on a separate digital channel.
However, S4C has some ties to the BBC even as the latter does not own the former. The licence fee, which is primarily used to fund the BBC, also partly goes to S4C. S4C's main newscast, Newyddion, is broadcast from BBC Wales' studios. Some other BBC personalities like Huw Edwards also appear regularly on S4C. S4C is also available on the BBC's iPlayer for everyone in the UK.
While
BBC One
BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
has regional output, the
BBC produces all such regional programmes itself, and in this sense all BBC "stations" are owned-and-operated; however, as with the ITV network, there are regional variations in scheduling on this channel between the
constituent countries of the UK
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK), since 1922, comprises three constituent countries and a region: England, Scotland, and Wales (which collectively make up the region of Great Britain), as well as Northern Ireland, ...
.
BBC Two
BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...
used to have a version for Scotland but on February 17, 2019, this variation was discontinued to make way for a new television channel entitled
BBC Scotland
BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland.
It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irela ...
(Scotland viewers now get the same version of BBC Two seen in England). Channel 4 offers regional advertising (as did
Channel 5 until 2015), but otherwise there are currently no regional programming variations on those channels or on any other UK-wide television channels.
Local Television Limited
Local TV Limited (formerly Made Television) is a local television network in the United Kingdom, operating eight stations serving the Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool, North Wales, Teesside and Tyne and Wear areas.
The stations ai ...
owns and operates several stations across major metro areas in the UK and is seen on Freeview channel 8. Compared to other established services, each of the owned and operated stations has more hours of content that caters to the viewing areas of such.
Unlike in the US, O&Os intended for a certain viewing area are viewable anywhere in the UK. O&Os from other viewing areas are available on Sky and Freesat and the BBC's iPlayer allows users to select the region/viewing area they are interested in and will thus give them the corresponding BBC One feed. BBC Scotland and
BBC Alba
BBC Alba is a Scottish Gaelic-language free-to-air public broadcast television channel jointly owned by the BBC and MG Alba. The channel was launched on 19 September 2008 and is on-air for up to seven hours a day with BBC Radio nan Gàidheal ...
are available across the UK through the iPlayer. UTV, the ITV O&O for Northern Ireland is available across the UK but users need to add this channel manually to their Sky or Freesat lineup.
Latin America
Argentina
Argentina's public broadcaster
TV Pública and
Encuentro
Encuentro ( en, "Encounter") is an Argentine television channel owned and operated by the Argentine Ministry of Education. It began broadcasting in 2007 through cable television operators in the country. It airs as an independent channel and al ...
owns and operates all of its stations. However, commercial broadcasters like (
Telefe
Telefe (acronym for Televisión Federal) is a television station located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The station is owned and operated by Paramount Global through Televisión Federal S.A. Telefe is also one of Argentina's six national televisio ...
,
El Trece
Channel 13 (known by its current brand name El Trece, stylized as eltrece) is an Argentine free-to-air television network and the flagship station of the network of the same name, located in the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires. It is owned by ...
and América TV) have private affiliates outside
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
.
Brazil
In Brazil, government regulations limit the number of stations a television network can own. As a result, the five major television networks (
TV Globo
TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...
,
RecordTV
RecordTV (), formerly known as Rede Record, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In 2010, it was elected by the adver ...
,
SBT
sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala and Java projects, similar to Apache's Maven and Gradle.
Its main features are:
*Native support for compiling Scala code and integrating with many Scala test frameworks
*Continuous compilation, te ...
,
Rede Bandeirantes
Rede Bandeirantes (, ''Bandeirantes Network''), or simply known as Band (), is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It began broadcasting on May 13, 1967 on VHF channel 13 in São Paulo. Its founder was businessman João Saad with t ...
and
RedeTV!) tend to have O&Os only in the country's two largest cities,
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
,
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...
and
Brasilia, and rely heavily on affiliates to distribute the networks' programming to other areas of the country. Some markets (such as
Brasilia,
Belo Horizonte
Belo Horizonte (, ; ) is the sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population around 2.7 million and with a metropolitan area of 6 million people. It is the 13th-largest city in South America and the 18th-largest in the Americas. The metropol ...
,
Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
, and
Recife
That it may shine on all (Matthew 5:15)
, image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg
, mapsize = 250px
, map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco
, pushpin_map = Brazil#South Am ...
) also have O&Os from one or more networks; for instance, Globo and RedeTV own and operate their stations in Recife, while SBT, RecordTV, and Rede Bandeirantes do not. Smaller television networks, including (
TV Cultura
TV Cultura or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian public television network headquartered in São Paulo and a part of Father Anchieta Foundation, a non-profit foundation funded by the São Paulo State Government. It focuses on educational and ...
,
TV Gazeta
Rede Gazeta (), also known as TV Gazeta or only Gazeta (in English, (the) Gazette Network) is a Brazilian television network based in São Paulo.
History
TV Gazeta was founded in 1970 in São Paulo. It is part of Cásper Líbero Foundation. I ...
and TV Diário Nordeste), typically only have one owned-and-operated station.
Chile
The major Chilean television networks currently own and operate all of their stations.
Canal 13 had an affiliate in northern Chile,
Telenorte, until it disaffiliated from the network in 1989.
Mexico
Due to the lack of an ownership cap in Mexico, some Mexican television networks own and operate all of their stations; a few media companies, such as
Grupo Televisa
Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...
and
Azteca own multiple stations in several markets that each carry programming from the various networks that it also owns (or in the case of Televisa, shoehorn
programs cherrypicked from its various networks onto one station). However, there are privately owned local stations that still exist, which broadcast programming originating from the stations located in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...
.
Peru
In 1974, Telecentro was created as a division of ENRAD (Empresa Nacional de Radiodifusión), a state controlled company used to operate all of the country's radio and television stations. However, private broadcasters still owned the broadcast stations. When satellite transmission links were introduced in Peru in 1989, many affiliates had become repeaters of the main stations based in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
.
North America
Canada
In Canada, due to the population being concentrated to fewer urban centres (compared to the United States), as well as more lenient policies regarding media ownership (for example, an ownership cap on television stations does not exist, except for within one
media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...
), many television stations have become (or began operation as) O&Os. For instance,
CTV
CTV may refer to:
Television
* Connected TV, or Smart TV, a TV set with integrated internet
North America and South America
* CTV Television Network, a Canadian television network owned by Bell Media
** CTV 2, a secondary Canadian televisio ...
and
Global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
currently own and operate an overwhelming majority of their local stations (most of which are located in major urban centres); the few affiliates are located in smaller regional markets like
Lloydminster
Lloydminster is a city in Canada which has the unusual geographic distinction of straddling the provincial border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. The city is incorporated by both provinces as a single city with a single municipal administrati ...
and
Thunder Bay
Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its populati ...
.
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...
, with its role as the publicly funded broadcaster, has at least one O&O in every single
province
A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...
, as well as
CBC North
CBC North ( iu, ᓰᐲᓰ ᐅᑭᐅᖅᑕᖅᑐᒥ, lit=CBC Northwest, translit=, SiiPiiSii Ukiuqtaqtumi; cr, ᓰᐲᓰ ᒌᐌᑎᓅᑖᐦᒡ, label=cr, SiiPiiSii Chiiwetinuutaahch; french: Radio-Canada Nord) is the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora ...
serving the three territories as well as northern Quebec. While the majority of Canadians are served by CBC owned-and-operated stations, the CBC previously had some privately owned affiliates. The number of these particularly decreased in the early 2000s, however, and as of January 2017, no private CBC affiliates remain (the last such station disaffiliated in September 2016), and stations that have left the network since the mid-2000s have generally not been replaced. Indeed, the public broadcaster shut down most of its own TV rebroadcast transmitters in 2012, and now relies instead on cable and satellite carriage of its O&Os in regions outside the largest markets.
The CBC's main French-language network,
Ici Radio-Canada Télé
Ici Radio-Canada Télé (formerly known as Télévision de Radio-Canada) is a Canadian French-language free-to-air television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as Société Radio-Canada), the national pu ...
, is the only French-language network in Canada that has O&Os located outside
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
. The network maintains an O&O in each province except in
Atlantic Canada
Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundla ...
, where
CBAFT (based in
Moncton
Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" because of ...
, New Brunswick) previously served the entire region via relay transmitters (and remains available on cable/satellite). The territories likewise now receive programming through cable/satellite carriage of out-of-province O&Os, usually
CBFT
CBFT-DT (channel 2) is a television station in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, serving as the flagship station of the French-language service of Ici Radio-Canada Télé. It is owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French ...
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
.
The other two French-language networks –
Noovo
Noovo is a Canadian French-language terrestrial television network owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The network has five owned-and-operated and three affiliated stations throughout Quebec, although it can also be seen over-the-a ...
and
TVA – only have O&Os (and, for that matter, affiliates) within Quebec (privately owned Radio-Canada affiliates were only found within Quebec as well, the last affiliated station shut down in 2021).
Along with the major networks, some media conglomerates also run second-tier
television system
In Canada, a television system is a group of television stations which share common ownership, branding and programming, but which for some reason does not satisfy the criteria necessary for it to be classified as a television network under Cana ...
s (e.g.,
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sports ...
's
Omni Television
Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multicultur ...
and
Bell Media
Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies.
Establishment (2011–13)
On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...
's
CTV 2
CTV 2 is a Canadian English-language television system owned by the Bell Media subsidiary of BCE Inc. The system consists of four terrestrial owned-and-operated television stations (O&Os) in Ontario, one in British Columbia and two regional cab ...
). These systems share the same parent companies as most of their local stations, and such stations can be considered O&Os as well. For example, all of CTV Two's local stations are owned by Bell Media. On the other hand,
Canwest
Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...
's
E! added a few private affiliates not owned by Canwest in Western Canada prior to its demise in 2009; those affiliates have since joined Rogers'
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television ...
network.
United States
In the United States, unlike Canada's O&O-heavy geography, the
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...
(FCC) currently mandates that the total number of television stations owned by any company (including a television network) can only reach a maximum market coverage of 39% of the country. Given this restriction, television networks only have O&Os in a fraction of the 210 designated market areas around the country (the remainder of the markets are served by affiliates that are owned by other media companies). Periodically, networks may sell O&Os to comply with this FCC restriction.
O&Os tend to be found in large urban centers such as
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
,
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, and
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, and other markets that are typically among the 10 largest in the U.S. (such as the
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area G ...
,
Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex
The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchor ...
, and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
), although they have also been found in markets as small as
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea le ...
(DMA No. 69, 2006–07) and
Toledo, Ohio
Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Ohio, Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnat ...
(DMA No. 76, 1995–2011) in the past. Some networks (such as
Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...
) and non-commercial religious television networks (such as the
Trinity Broadcasting Network
The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California, until March 3, 2017, when it sold its ...
and
Daystar) own the vast majority of their stations, with only a few privately owned outlets carrying their programming (in the case of TBN and Daystar, both networks own their stations directly and through subsidiary licensees, such as
Community Educational Television
Community Educational Television, Inc. (CET) is a subsidiary of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) which owns six TBN-affiliated television stations in Texas and Florida, all on channels allocated for non-commercial educational broadcasting as ...
for TBN and Word of God Fellowship for Daystar).
Owned-and-operated stations used to be common in the
days of network radio, however beginning in the 1980s, these radio networks began to be broken up. For all intents and purposes, NBC no longer exists as a radio network, beyond brand licensing and distribution agreements with
Dial Global
Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming.
The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The company ...
for
NBC Sports Radio
NBC Sports Radio was a sports radio network that debuted on September 4, 2012. The network content was produced by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and distributed by Westwood One, which is the corporate successor to the remains of ...
content. ABC was previously non-existent as well, until 2015 when it relaunched an in-house radio network after
Cumulus Media Networks
Cumulus Media Networks was an American radio network owned and operated by Cumulus Media. From 2011 until its merger with Westwood One, it controlled many of the radio assets formerly belonging to the American Broadcasting Company (ABC), which ...
, the then-owners and distributors of the
ABC News Radio
ABC News Radio is the news radio service of ABC Audio, a division of ABC News in the United States. Formerly known as ABC Radio News, ABC News Radio feeds, through Skyview Networks, five minute newscasts on the hour and news briefs at half-pas ...
brand, replaced the ABC News brand with
Westwood One News (via
CNN). CBS's radio stations are now a separate company (
CBS Radio
CBS Radio was a radio broadcasting company and radio network operator owned by CBS Corporation and founded in 1928, with consolidated radio station groups owned by CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting/Group W since the 1920s, and Infinity Broad ...
) from its broadcast service. In the late 1990s, the ''original''
CBS Radio Network
CBS News Radio, formerly known as CBS Radio News and historically known as the CBS Radio Network, is a radio network that provides news to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by Paramount Global. ...
was reassigned to then-corporate sibling
Westwood One
Westwood One is an American radio network owned by Cumulus Media. The company syndicates talk, music, and sports programming.
The company takes its name from an earlier network also named Westwood One, a company founded in 1978. The compan ...
via a series of complicated transactions, absorbing the former
Mutual and NBC Radio Network, the original NBC Radio (which General Electric spun off in 1987 after its merger with RCA) in the process. Westwood One was spun off in 2007 and merged into Dial Global in 2011, with the new company taking on the Westwood One (current), Westwood One name. Today, CBS maintains separate distribution agreements between Westwood One (for CBS Radio News and its sports play-by-play packages, most notably NFL on Westwood One Sports, the NFL and the NCAA) and Cumulus Media (for CBS Sports Radio).
However, new radio networks have cropped up with their own owned-and-operated networks. iHeartMedia owns many stations in the top 100 U.S. markets, and in turn feeds them with programming, either from corporate subsidiary Premiere Radio Networks or List of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia, via internal distribution; in particular, this is done with their talk radio station portfolio. Voicetracking purposes are handled either by internal methods or through their List of programming syndicated by iHeartMedia#Premium Choice, Premium Choice format menus, the latter of which is geared towards small and medium-market stations with air talent selected from stations in larger markets.
Cumulus Media often does the same with its own stations and broadcast service known as Cumulus Media Networks. The Walt Disney Company, which sold off ABC Radio in 2007 to Citadel Broadcasting (which was merged into Cumulus in 2011) still owns the ESPN Radio network. ESPN Radio has only a few owned-and-operated stations in mostly major markets. Until 2021, Disney also owned the Radio Disney network, and almost all of Radio Disney's outlets prior to its transition to a mainly digitally distributed service in 2014 (leaving Los Angeles flagship KRDC (AM), KDIS as the network's only remaining O&O until 2017, when it became affiliated with spin-off network ''Radio Disney Country'').
Most religious radio networks, such as Salem Communications, Moody Radio, the Bible Broadcasting Network, and Air 1/K-Love, own and operate all of their stations. The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is not allowed to own or operate any of its stations by way of its ownership model, as its individual Network affiliate#Member stations, member stations own the network instead.
Branding
![Eyewitness News in New York City](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Eyewitness_News_in_New_York_City.jpg)
A network's O&Os often share similar branding elements among themselves, reinforcing their common identity as stations owned by the same network; for example, a common shared element among O&O stations involves identifying themselves by combining the name of their parent network with the station's channel number (such as "CBS 2," which is uniformally used by CBS O&Os KCBS-TV in Los Angeles, WCBS-TV in New York City and WBBM-TV in Chicago), which started to become a normal mode of branding in the mid-1990s (beforehand, O&Os of certain networks – such as CBS and NBC – incorporated the network's logo into their own while verbally being referred under a more genericized channel branding). This kind of sharing may also present some savings to the parent network (i.e., the owner), as its O&Os can use the same graphics and music rather than to have each station commission their own individual branding package. Examples include the circle 7 logo (originally designed in 1962 for ABC's aforementioned O&Os, all of which at the time had broadcast on VHF channel 7) and the "I Love Chicago (Chicago My Home)" musical signature for local newscasts (originally used by WBBM-TV, and later spread to other CBS O&Os). Fox also has a set of Fox Broadcasting Company#Station standardization, branding guidelines for both its O&Os and affiliates. Supposedly, NBC and ABC also have branding guidelines for its affiliates, but not as extreme as CBS or Fox; since the 2013–14 season, however, when ABC unveiled an updated version of its logo, all of the network's affiliates are now required to use the ABC circle logo as a part of the station's own logo, which must additionally be approved by the network for use.
Networks in Canada took corporate branding to its logical conclusion; references to local call signs and channel numbers have almost completely been eliminated from the O&Os except during station sign-on and sign-off sequences (although some O&Os may occasionally refer to their channel numbers in passing).
In the UK, the similar O&O branding elements are prevalent in the continuity sequences, especially when a national BBC News bulletin on BBC One is introduced. In here the regional announcer tells viewers "This is BBC One [name of region]", as well who will present the national and regional news bulletin. The fonts and graphics styles used in the national news bulletins are mirrored in the regional news bulletins. The format and order of segments of the regional bulletins are almost exactly the same as each other. This is also applicable to the weather segments.
In Sweden where Sveriges Television (Sveriges Television, SVT) owns and operates all its stations, the regional news programme segments have identical graphics elements to each other and to the main national programmes they are either part of (e.g. Morgonstudion) or follow (e.g. Rapport and Aktuellt). For instance, during Morgonstudion, rather than a in-studio presenter stepping in to present the regional news, that segment is a montage of the top regional news reports.
Currently, other television station groups (such as Hearst Television) also implement common branding practices among its stations (even when affiliated with different networks). Some of the branding elements are now used by stations that are not O&Os or even affiliates of a certain network (such as Sunbeam Television's WHDH (TV), WHDH in Boston and WSVN in Miami using a variation of the circle 7 logo, and ABC affiliate KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa using CBS' "I Love Chicago" motif). Likewise, network affiliates may also license graphics packages for use on their newscasts and imaging from their networks to reduce the costs of licensing imaging from other parties; though it has been reduced in usage than in the past, many affiliate stations also license the network's imaging for their entertainment program and news promotions. Nonetheless, such practices and elements can still be traced back to the O&Os, which represented the earliest television station groups under common ownership, before the emergence and proliferation of national station ownership groups in the subsequent decades.
Ties to the networks and sister O&Os
![May 2009 9 Channel Nine Court](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/May_2009_9_Channel_Nine_Court.jpg)
Positions at network O&Os are frequently sought after by those who wish to eventually work for a television network. Indeed, many O&Os have served as a stepping stone for television personalities at their parent networks. For example, former ''Today'' and ''NBC Nightly News'' presenter Tom Brokaw used to work for NBC's Los Angeles O&O, KNBC, before moving to the network while Matt Lauer and Al Roker worked for NBC's flagship O&O in New York City, WNBC, WNBC-TV, before becoming hosts on ''Today (U.S. TV program), Today''. Additionally, Roker had begun his career with NBC at former O&O WKYC-TV in Cleveland, known as a "farm team, farm station" which developed talent for the larger O&O stations and network (although, until after it ended following Multimedia (media company), Multimedia's purchase of controlling interest in the station in 1990, this strategy left WKYC as a longtime also-ran in the Cleveland market due to heavy staff turnover). Roker's predecessor as the ''Today'' show's weatherman, Willard Scott, was an on-air personality at WRC-TV, NBC's O&O in Washington, D. C., before going to New York in 1980. Another example is ''BBC London News'' presenter Emily Maitlis, who joined BBC News 24 and BBC Two's ''Newsnight'' in 2006. Although working at an O&O does not guarantee a network job down the line, the on-air presenter or correspondent does potentially receive additional exposure to the network and often a larger audience given that O&Os are often found in the largest media markets. wikt:behind the scenes, Behind-the-scenes personnel at an O&O station may also be promoted to a higher network-level position. Emmy Award-winning videotape editor Walter Balderson, for example, began his career in television as an engineer at WRC-TV in Washington before eventually becoming NBC's videotape editor for ''The Huntley–Brinkley Report'', as well as other NBC network shows in New York.
Presenters and other staff at the O&Os also occasionally take on duties at the network level, alongside their existing capacities at the local level. For example, several local anchors at CTV's O&Os have filled in for Lloyd Robertson in the past on the network's national newscast ''CTV National News''; and weathercasters from CTV's Toronto and Vancouver O&Os (CFTO-DT and CIVT-DT, respectively) present the weather segments on CTV News Channel (Canada), CTV News Channel. A number of personalities at New York City radio and television stations have also done assignments for both a station and a parent network at the same time, due to their proximity to network studios and offices. Likewise, presenters from the network appear on some of their O&O stations' local news bulletins. For instance in the UK, the ''ITV Lunchtime News'' presenter also presents the ''ITV News London'' bulletin that immediately follows. Another example is BBC's ''Breakfast'', which broadcasts from Media City Salford Quays, the home of BBC North West (serving greater Manchester and Liverpool); ''BBC North West Tonight'' Presenter Roger Johnson presents some Sunday editions of ''Breakfast''.
Parts of a network's operations may also be co-located with one or more of its O&Os. For example, production of Global's national newscast ''Global National'' is controlled from its Vancouver O&O CHAN-DT, while CTV's network headquarters are co-located with CFTO at 9 Channel Nine Court in Scarborough, Toronto, Scarborough, Ontario (the address refers to CFTO's over-the-air channel number). NBC's national network operations in both New York City and Los Angeles are housed in the same facilities as their local stations in the respective cities, WNBC and KNBC, and both of these O&Os are considered Flagship (broadcasting), flagship stations of the network (conversely, NBC's affiliate news service NBC News Channel is based out of the studios of WCNC-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte, North Carolina, which the network maintains an affiliation with but has never owned). Moreover, NBC's Washington O&O, WRC-TV, had previously housed the network's Washington bureau from which ''Meet the Press'' and some MSNBC programmes originate from. In the UK, some BBC regional offices (e.g. BBC Bristol, BBC Wales/Cymru, BBC Scotland) are credited for producing some BBC programmes like ''Dr Who'', ''Question Time'', and ''Bargain Hunt'', and the BBC's flagship morning programme ''Breakfast'' shares the same studio as BBC's Northwest Tonight, the BBC's newscast for the region encompassing Manchester, Liverpool, and surrounding areas. In Germany, some programmes that air on ARD's national channel Das Erste are produced by regional stations that are members of the ARD network. The co-location of network facilities at O&Os may also facilitate the production of promo shoots that feature both an O&O show and a network show. For instance, the lead presenters of an O&O's late-night news show may shoot a promo in the same studio with the host of the parent network's late-night talk show. Similarly, a network may thus also show promotional posters/billboards for the programmes of the O&O station it is co-located with along that network's office/studio corridors.
In the US, during the early stages of breaking news in an O&O's market that may be of potential national interest, its sister O&Os elsewhere may rely on a correspondent working for the former to provide on-air updates. In addition, the news websites of major networks have local news sections and rely on their O&Os for that. Likewise, the ABC News app on Apple TV has a local news section with video reports prepared by its different O&Os. In connection, the O&Os share their content on each other's website (e.g. content originating from KABC-TV Los Angeles are occasionally posted on WABC-TV New York).
Ownership and network changes
In general, an O&O is very unlikely to experience changes in its ownership, since it is often a significant source of revenue for its owner; and since its owner is also its parent network, the chances for an O&O to ever switch networks are also rather low – unless the station is, on the rare chance, sold to another network.
However, in instances where the network finds an O&O to be no longer financially viable, it may choose to sell the station to a new owner or, in severe cases, simply close the station. Even profitable O&Os might be sold off, often as a result (or in anticipation) of mergers and corporate deals, especially ones which put the network over the ownership limit in its local jurisdiction (e.g., the aforementioned 39% ownership cap in the United States imposed by the FCC). In addition, a network might decide to sell some of its O&Os and use the money raised to (at least temporarily) alleviate financial problems. Depending on the new owner, the station might continue to carry programming from the same network, affiliate with another network, or even become another network's O&O.
The following are examples of transactions involving O&Os:
Australia
* STW-9 in Perth and QTQ-9 in Brisbane became O&Os of the Nine Network in 1987, when the parent company of both stations, Bond Media (headed by Alan Bond (businessman), Alan Bond), purchased the network. After that company's collapse, STW-9 was sold to Sunraysia Television and remained a Nine Network affiliate; it later came under the ownership of WIN Television until Nine Entertainment Co. bought the station in 2013, and turned STW-9 into a Nine O&O once again. QTQ-9, meanwhile, always remained a Nine O&O during that time.
* NEW-10 in Perth signed on the air in 1988 as a Network Ten O&O. However, the station was sold off the next year as the network faced financial problems. The network – under CanWest Global ownership – re-acquired the station in 1995, and NEW-10 has remained a Ten O&O ever since.
Canada
* CKVU-TV in Vancouver was purchased by CanWest Global in 1988, subsequently becoming part of that company's CanWest Global System (renamed the Global Television Network in 1997, as part of a national expansion of that brand outside what became the new network's Paris, Ontario, Paris, Ontario flagship CIII-DT, CIII-TV). However, in 2000, CanWest purchased the television stations of Western International Communications (WIC), which included CHAN-DT, CHAN-TV in Vancouver and CHEK-TV in Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) does not allow any single company to own more than two stations serving the same market that broadcast in the same language; as a result, Global had to sell one of the stations. It opted to keep CHAN as that station had much higher ratings than CKVU, as well as a network of rebroadcasters that reach 97% of British Columbia. CKVU was eventually sold to CHUM Limited, and became part of the City (TV network), Citytv television system (now simply known as City, which has since been re-classified as a television network).
* After purchasing the WIC stations, Canwest started a parallel system, first known as CH, and later as E!, for the WIC stations in areas overlapping existing Global stations (such as the aforementioned CHEK). However, in the midst of financial difficulties, Canwest stated in 2009 that "a second conventional TV network [was] no longer key to the long-term success" of the company, and the five E! O&Os subsequently faced various outcomes: CHCH-DT, CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton and CJNT-DT, CJNT-TV in Montreal were sold to Channel Zero Inc., Channel Zero and were converted into Independent station (North America), independent stations; CHBC-DT, CHBC-TV in Kelowna became a Global owned-and-operated station; CHCA-TV in Red Deer, Alberta, Red Deer closed down on August 31, 2009; and CHEK-TV in Victoria was sold to a consortium of station employees and local investors for $2, and now operates as an independent station.
* Shortly after purchasing the Global network following Canwest's bankruptcy in 2010, Shaw Communications realigned a small station it already owned, CTV affiliate CJBN-TV in Kenora, with Global. However, the station retained its local branding and continued to be managed by Shaw's Kenora cable operation. When Shaw sold its Shaw Media arm to Corus Entertainment in 2016, CJBN was not included in the sale. CJBN thus transitioned from a Global O&O to an affiliate; however, both Shaw and Corus are controlled by the family of JR Shaw, which means that CJBN was thereafter considered a ''de facto'' Global O&O. Shaw ultimately decided to close CJBN entirely later in 2016.
United States
* In December 1993, the National Football League awarded Fox the broadcast contract to televise games from the National Football Conference. As a result, it agreed to purchase a 20% stake in New World Pictures#New World Communications, New World Communications. Many of the television stations that were owned by New World were located in major NFC markets, and 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment, switched to Fox between September 1994 and September 1996 (including two – WGHP in Greensboro, North Carolina, Greensboro, North Carolina and WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama – that ended up being turned over to a blind trust before they were acquired by Fox directly, due to ownership conflicts caused by New World's concurrent purchases of stations owned by Taft Broadcasting, Citicasters and Hearst Television, Argyle Communications). New World Communications would be acquired by Fox in July 1996, making them owned-and-operated stations when the merger was finalized in January 1997.
* In July 1994, Westinghouse Broadcasting (also known as Group W), the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric (1886), Westinghouse, announced a deal to affiliate three of its stations with CBS. While WBZ-TV in Boston and WJZ-TV in Baltimore switched to CBS (from NBC and ABC, respectively) on January 2, 1995, the affiliation swap involving KYW-TV was delayed in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...
when it was discovered that a cash sale of WCAU to NBC would have resulted in huge taxes that were required to be paid on top of it. NBC traded ownership of KCNC-TV in Denver, Colorado, KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah and the WFOR-TV, VHF channel 4 allocation in Miami to Group W to solve the problem, with the two O&O swaps and the Miami channel swap taking place on September 10 of that year. Westinghouse merged with CBS in August 1995,
resulting in these stations becoming owned-and-operated by CBS, with Group W becoming CBS Corporation by early 1997 (KUTV would later be sold to Four Points Media Group in 2008). As a result of the merger, CBS was required to sell former ABC affiliate WPRI in Providence, Rhode Island (which was sold to CBS in the spring of 1995 and swapped affiliations with WLNE-TV on the day the affiliation swap was completed) due to a significant signal overlap with WBZ-TV.
** In December 2015, NBC announced it would not renew its affiliation with Sunbeam Television-owned affiliate WHDH (TV), WHDH (which gained its affiliation as part of the aforementioned Group W/CBS affiliation deal in an affiliation swap with WBZ-TV) once its affiliation contract with the network expired on December 31, 2016.
Initially, NBCUniversal wanted to transfer NBC network programming to WNEU-TV, which had a decent signal that covered the New Hampshire portion of the market, but was only receivable over-the-air in the northern areas of Boston.
Sunbeam's owner, Edmund Ansin, Ed Ansin, told the ''Boston Globe'' that "No network has elected to give up such a strong station and go to a startup station," after having disclosed that he had rejected a $200 million offer to sell WHDH to NBC in September 2015, leading the network to threaten to shift its programming to WNEU; however, he still predicted that NBC would remain on channel 7.
NBCUniversal later announced that it would acquire Telemundo affiliate WTMU-LD (which would change its callsign to WBTS-LD) in August 2016; the sale of WTMU would be completed in November of that year. On October 18, 2017, NBC agreed to purchase WYCN-CD,
a Nashua, New Hampshire-based Class A television service, Class A station that had also sold its frequency rights as part of the spectrum auction.
Previous owner OTA Broadcasting then entered into a channel sharing agreement with the WGBH Educational Foundation to carry WYCN-CD's signal over WGBX-TV to serve as the full market simulcast for WBTS-LD once NBC acquired WYCN's license.
The sale of WYCN-CD to NBC was completed on January 18, 2018;
On August 8, 2019, WBTS and WYCN swapped call signs, with channel 8 becoming WYCN-LD and channel 15 changing to WBTS-CD.
WYCN-LD Call Sign History
/ref> On August 31, 2019, WYCN-LD shut down its RF channel 46 transmitter; that October, it moved to channel 36, relocated its transmitter to Norton, Massachusetts, switched from NBC to Telemundo, and changed its city of license to Providence, leaving WBTS-CD as Boston's sole NBC station.
See also
* Concentration of media ownership
References
{{Reflist
Network owned-and-operated television stations, •
Television terminology