Overview
In countries where most networks broadcast identical, centrally originated content to all of their stations and where most individualGlobal
A major international television network is the British Broadcasting Corporation (United States
History
Television broadcasting in the United States was heavily influenced by radio. Early individual experimental radio stations in the United States began limited operations in the 1910s. In November 1920, Westinghouse signed on "the world's first commercially licensed radio station", KDKA inRegulation
FCC regulations in the United States restricted the number of television stations that could be owned by any one network, company or individual. This led to a system where most local television stations were independently owned, but received programming from the network through aCanada
A number of different definitions of "network" are used by government agencies, industry, and the general public. Under the Broadcasting Act, a network is defined as "any operation where control over all or any part of the programs or program schedules of one or more broadcasting undertakings is delegated to another undertaking or person," and must be licensed by theEurope, Asia, Africa and South America
Most television services outside North America are national networks established by a combination of publicly funded broadcasters and commercial broadcasters. Most nations established television networks in a similar way: the first television service in each country was operated by aUnited Kingdom
The first television network in the United Kingdom was operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation (Sweden
Sweden had only one television network from 1956 until the early-1990s: the public broadcaster Sveriges Television (SVT). Commercial companies such as Modern Times Group, TV4 (Sweden), TV4, Viasat (Nordic television service), Viasat, and Discovery Communications Nordic, SBS Discovery have established TV networks since the 1980s although they initially aired exclusively on satellite. In 1991, TV4 became Sweden's first commercial television network to air terrestrially. Most television programming in Sweden is centralised except for local news updates that air on SVT2 and TV4.Netherlands
Until 1989, Netherlands Public Broadcasting was the only television network in the Netherlands, with three stations, Nederland 1, Nederland 2 and Nederland 3. Rather than having a single production arm, there are a number of public broadcasting organizations that create programming for each of the three stations, each working relatively independently. Commercial broadcasting in the Netherlands is currently operated by two networks, RTL Nederland and SBS Broadcasting, which together broadcast seven commercial stations.Russia
Soviet era
The first television network in the Soviet Union launched on 7 July 1938 when Petersburg – Channel 5 of Leningrad Television became a unionwide network. The second television network in the Soviet Union launched on 22 March 1951 when Channel One of USSR Central Television became a unionwide network. Until 1989, there were six television networks, all owned by the USSR Gosteleradio. This changed during Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika program, when the first independent television network, 2x2 (TV channel), 2×2, was launched.1990s
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, USSR Gosteleradio ceased to exist as well as its six networks. Only Channel One had a smooth transition and survived as a network, becoming Channel One (Russia), Ostankino Channel One. The other five networks were operated by Ground Zero. This free airwave space allowed many private television networks like NTV (Russia), NTV and TV-6 (Russia), TV-6 to launch in the mid-1990s.2000s
The 2000s were marked by the increased state intervention in Russian television. On 14 April 2001 NTV experienced management changes following the expulsion of former oligarchy, oligarch and NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky. As a result, most of the prominent reporters featured on NTV left the network. Later on 22 January 2002, the second largest private television network TV-6 (Russia), TV-6, where the former NTV staff took refuge, was shut down allegedly because of its editorial policy. Five months later on 1 June, TVS (Russia), TVS was launched, mostly employing NTV/TV-6 staff, only to cease operations the following year. Since then, the four largest television networks (Channel One, Russia 1, NTV and Russia 2) have been state-owned. Still, the 2000s saw a rise of several independent television networks such as REN (TV channel), REN (its coverage increased vastly allowing it to become a federal network), Petersburg – Channel Five (overall the same), the relaunched 2x2 (TV channel), 2×2. The Russian television market is mainly shared today by five major companies: Channel One, Russia 1, NTV, TNT and CTC.Brazil
The major commercial television network in Brazil is Rede Globo, which was founded in 1965. It grew to become the largest and most successful media conglomerate in the country, having a dominating presence in various forms of media including television, radio, print (newspapers and magazines) and the Internet. Other networks include Rede Bandeirantes, RecordTV, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão, SBT, RedeTV!, TV Cultura, and TV Brasil.Australia
Australia has two national public networks, ABC Television (Australian TV network), ABC Television and SBS Television, SBS. The ABC operates eight stations as part of its main network ABC TV (Australian TV channel), ABC TV, one for each Australian state, state and territory, as well as three digital-only networks, ABC Kids (Australia), ABC Kids / ABC TV Plus, ABC Me and ABC News (Australian TV channel), ABC News. SBS currently operates six stations, SBS (Australian TV channel), SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World Movies, SBS Food, NITV and SBS WorldWatch. The first commercial networks in Australia involved commercial stations that shared programming in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and later Perth, Western Australia, Perth, with each network forming networks based on their allocated channel numbers: TCN-9 in Sydney, GTV-9 in Melbourne, QTQ-9 in Brisbane, NWS-9 in Adelaide and STW-9 in Perth together formed the Nine Network; while their equivalents on Very high frequency, VHF channels 7 and 10 respectively formed the Seven Network and Network 10. Until 1989, areas outside these main cities had access to only a single commercial station, and these rural stations often formed small networks such as Prime Television. Beginning in 1989, however, television markets in rural areas began to aggregate, allowing these rural networks to broadcast over a larger area, often an entire state, and become full-time affiliates to one specific metropolitan network. As well as these Free-to-air channels, there are others on Australia's Pay television network Foxtel.New Zealand
New Zealand has one public network, Television New Zealand (TVNZ), which consists of two main networks: TVNZ 1 is the network's flagship network which carries news, current affairs and sports programming as well as the majority of the locally produced shows broadcast by TVNZ and imported shows. TVNZ's second network, TV2 (New Zealand), TV2, airs mostly imported shows with some locally produced programs such as ''Shortland Street''. TVNZ also operates a network exclusive to pay television services, TVNZ Heartland, available on providers such as Sky Network Television, Sky. TVNZ previously operated a non-commercial public service network, TVNZ 7, which ceased operations in June 2012 and was replaced by the timeshift channel TV One Plus 1. The network operated by Television New Zealand has progressed from operating as four distinct local stations within the four main centers in the 1960s, to having the majority of the content produced from TVNZ's Auckland studios at present. New Zealand also has several privately owned television networks with the largest being operated by MediaWorks New Zealand, MediaWorks. MediaWorks' flagship network is TV3 (New Zealand), TV3, which competes directly with both TVNZ broadcast networks. MediaWorks also operates a second network, Four (New Zealand), FOUR, which airs mostly imported programmes with children's shows airing in the daytime and shows targeted at teenagers and adult between 15 and 39 years of age during prime time. MediaWorks also operates a timeshift network, TV3 + 1, and a 24-hour music network, C4 (TV channel), C4. All television networks in New Zealand air the same programming across the entire country with the only regional deviations being for local advertising; a regional news service existed in the 1980s, carrying a regional news programme from TVNZ's studios in New Zealand's four largest cities, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. In the 1960s, the service operated at the time by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was four separate television stations – AKTV2 in Auckland, WNTV1 in Wellington, CHTV3 in Christchurch and DNTV2 in Dunedin – which each ran their own newscast and produced some in-house programmes, with other shows being shared between the stations. Programmes and news footage were distributed via mail, with a programme airing in one region being mailed to another region for broadcast the following week. A network was finally established in 1969, with the same programmes being relayed to all regions simultaneously. From the 1970s to the 1990s, locally produced programmes that aired on TV One and TV2 were produced out of one of the four main studios, with TVNZ's network hub based in Wellington. Today, most locally produced programmes that are aired by both TVNZ and other networks are not actually produced in-house, instead they are often produced by a third party company (for example, the TV2 programme ''Shortland Street'' is produced by South Pacific Pictures). The networks produce their own news and current affairs programs, with most of the content filmed in Auckland. New Zealand also operates several regional television stations, which are only available in individual markets. The regional stations will typically air a local news programme, produce some shows in-house and cover local sports events; the majority of programming on the regional stations will be imported from various sources.Philippines
In the Philippines, in practice, the terms "network," "station" and "channel" are used interchangeably as programming lineups are mostly centrally planned from the networks' main offices, and since provincial/regional stations usually just relay the broadcast from their parent company, parent network's flagship (broadcasting), flagship station (usually based in the Mega Manila area). As such, networks made up of VHF stations are sometimes informally referred to by their over-the-air channel number in the Mega Manila area (for example, Channel 2 or ''Dos'' for ABS-CBN, Channel 13 or ''Trese'' for Intercontinental Broadcasting Corporation, IBC, Channel 5 or ''Singko'' for TV5 (Philippines), TV5, Channel 9 or ''Nueve'' for Radio Philippines Network and Channel 7 or ''Siyete'' for GMA Network), while some incorporate their channel numbers in the network's name (for example, Associated Broadcasting Company, TV5, Studio 23 and Net 25, which respectively broadcast on VHF channel 5, and UHF channels 23 and 25). Unlike the United States, where networks receive programmes produced by various production companies, the two largest networks in the Philippines produce all of their prime time programmes. Other networks adopt block-time programming, which uses programming arrangements similar to the relationship between a U.S. network and station.See also
* Broadcast network * Cable television in the United States * Concentration of media ownership * List of television networks by country * Parent company * Skypath * Television systemReferences
{{TV production Television networks, * Television terminology, Network