Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search

In the United States, owned-and-operated television stations (frequently abbreviated as O&Os) constitute only a portion of their parent television networks, due to ownership limits imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Currently, the total number of television stations owned by any company (including a television network) can only reach a maximum of 39% of the country;[1] in the past, the ownership limit was much lower.

Contents

Distribution

At the dawn of the American TV industry, each company was only allowed to own a total of five television stations around the country. As such, when the networks launched their television operations, they found it more advantageous to put their five owned-and-operated stations in large media markets that had more households on the belief that it would result in higher revenue. In other markets, they opted to run their programming on stations through contractual arrangements, making them affiliates instead.

The five-station limit posed a problem for the DuMont Television Network, the first attempt at a "fourth" television network. Paramount Pictures owned a share of the network, and also owned KTLA in Los Angeles and WBKB (now WBBM-TV) in Chicago. Even though DuMont's programming was broadcast on other stations in those cities, the FCC considered Paramount's stations to be DuMont O&Os and thus forbade it from acquiring any more stations. This was one of the factors leading to DuMont's shutdown in 1955.

For much of the era from 1958 to 1986, the major network-owned stations were distributed as followed: ABC, CBS, and NBC each owned stations in the top three markets (New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago). Between 1958 and 1965, fourth-ranked Philadelphia housed CBS-owned WCAU-TV and NBC-owned WRCV-TV, a station which NBC acquired two years earlier through a trade with Westinghouse Broadcasting in return for NBC's stations in Cleveland. The FCC reversed the trade in 1965 and NBC regained control of the Cleveland station, which is today known as WKYC. Each network owned stations in other markets where the other networks did not: in addition to Cleveland, these were ABC's KGO-TV in San Francisco and WXYZ-TV in Detroit, NBC's WRC-TV in Washington, D.C., and CBS' KMOX-TV in St. Louis.

A company can now own any number of TV stations with a combined market reach of less than 39% of the country, but cannot own two of the four highest-rated stations in any market.[1] Still, O&Os in the United States are primarily found in large markets such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, among others. Despite that, network-owned stations can still be found in smaller markets (for example, KFSN-TV/Fresno, California is an ABC O&O, while KTBC/Austin, Texas is a Fox O&O; while WOGX/Ocala, Florida, is technically a Fox O&O, it is operated out of the studios of and serves as a semi-satellite of the network's Orlando O&O WOFL).

The FCC currently applies a discount to UHF stations, only counting half of the station's market reach when applied to ownership caps. This has allowed Fox, CBS, and especially Ion Television to own stations that cover more of the country then they would without this UHF discount. After the 2009 transition from analog to digital television, the big four networks lost this UHF discount, although the ownership of their existing stations was grandfathered in (still, some privately owned companies whose stations do not serve as O&Os of a network, such as Sinclair Broadcast Group, continue to use the UHF discount to own a large number of stations that would normally put them over the 39% market reach cap despite most stations now operating physically on the UHF band since the digital transition).

UHF vs. VHF

Early development

Local television stations in the United States were concentrated on the VHF dial (channels 2–13) in the early days of the industry. However, it soon became apparent that the 12 channels available on the VHF dial would not be sufficient to meet the demands of the growing industry. As a result, in 1952, the FCC opened up a new spectrum of frequencies on the UHF dial (channels 14–83) for terrestrial television.[2] As an incentive for companies to operate UHF stations, the FCC relaxed the ownership limit for a given entity from five to seven stations, provided that no more than five were on the VHF dial.

With this opportunity to expand its roster of O&Os, NBC bought WBUF-TV (channel 17) in Buffalo in 1955[3] and WKNB-TV (channel 30) in New Britain, Connecticut, near Hartford, in 1957, and changed WKNB's call letters to WNBC-TV (the present-day WNBC in New York City used the WRCA-TV callsign from 1954 to 1960). The network wanted to see if a UHF station could effectively compete against VHF stations, and attempted to make the stations more competitive by investing in significant equipment upgrades. However, WBUF consistently ranked behind its VHF competitors, WGR-TV (now WGRZ-TV) and WBEN-TV (now WIVB-TV). Similarly, WNBC consistently rated behind VHF competitor WNHC-TV (now WTNH). WNBC faced an additional problem as its signal was not strong enough to cover New Haven and western Connecticut (nearly all of Connecticut is part of the Hartford-New Haven market).

By the time the FCC allocated additional VHF stations to Buffalo (WKBW-TV) and Hartford (WTIC-TV, now WFSB), NBC decided its experiment was a lost cause, and put WBUF and WNBC up for sale. While it found a buyer for WNBC (which retained its NBC affiliation), there were no takers for WBUF, and it went off the air in 1958. NBC then affiliated with WGR-TV, where it remains to this day. NBC donated WBUF's license and some of its equipment to PBS member station WNED-TV, which took over the channel 17 frequency in 1959.

Similarly, CBS bought UHF stations WGTH-TV (channel 18) in Hartford[4] and WOKY-TV (channel 19) in Milwaukee in 1955, and changed their call letters to WHCT-TV and WXIX-TV, respectively. However, CBS' ratings were astonishingly low in those markets. In 1959, CBS decided to move its Hartford and Milwaukee affiliations to VHF stations WTIC-TV (channel 3) and WITI-TV (channel 6) respectively, and sold off WHCT (now WUVN) and WXIX (now WVTV) – Ironically, CBS was sent back to the UHF dial in Milwaukee following an affiliation switch in 1994, which saw WITI becoming a Fox station; the CBS affiliation moved to WDJT-TV (channel 58).

1980s and beyond

The underperformance of early UHF O&Os (and UHF stations in general) was primarily attributed to the fact that manufacturers were not required to equip new television sets with UHF tuners until 1964, following the passage of the All-Channel Receiver Act in 1961. While the technical problems which plagued early UHF stations had largely disappeared by the 1980s with the spread of UHF tuners and (in particular) cable television, UHF stations in many television markets continued to be compared unfavorably against their VHF counterparts, often simply by virtue of viewer loyalty. As such, the "Big Three" networks (ABC, NBC and CBS) were still not inclined to acquire UHF stations as network-owned outlets; however, ABC did keep Fresno's KFSN (channel 30) after merging with Capital Cities Communications, as KFSN was the highest-ranking station in a market where all of the full-power television stations were on the UHF band.

By the time the Fox network launched in 1986, many of the nation's VHF stations were already affiliated with one of the "Big Three" networks. As a result, Fox had little choice but to affiliate with UHF stations in most markets upon its launch. The network even had UHF O&Os in markets like Chicago (WFLD/32), Houston (KRIV/26) and Dallas (KDAF/33; now a CW affiliate owned by the Tribune Company). However, by the time Fox acquired the rights to NFC football games in the early 1990s, it became convinced that the network would not be viable without more VHF affiliates. As such, in 1994, the network arranged a deal with New World Communications which saw nearly all New World stations (most of which were VHF stations) becoming Fox affiliates. Fox then acquired New World Communications outright in 1997, and those VHF stations (including one in Dallas) became Fox owned-and-operated stations in the process. The network, however, did acquire more UHF O&Os in subsequent years, including Philadelphia's WTXF/29 in 1995 and Orlando's WOFL/35 in 2002.

As a result of the New World deal, CBS lost its longtime Detroit affiliate WJBK (channel 2) to Fox. CBS then unsuccessfully sought to affiliate with other stations in the market before eventually deciding to purchase WGPR-TV (channel 62), and changed the station's callsign to WWJ-TV in 1995. The station continues to receive low ratings, and after a brief attempt at running an 11 p.m. newscast from 2001 to 2002, was the only CBS owned-and-operated station without a local news presence until 2009, when a morning newscast produced by the Detroit Free Press premiered (that program, First Forecast Mornings, was later cancelled in 2012). CBS also bought KEYE-TV (channel 42) in Austin, Texas from Granite Broadcasting Corporation in 2000, five years after that station took the CBS affiliation from KTBC (channel 7), another former New World station that switched to Fox.

NBC would not buy a UHF O&O again until 1995, when it acquired WNCN (channel 17) in Raleigh–Durham, North Carolina. It subsequently repurchased channel 30 in Hartford, now WVIT, in 1996 and bought San Diego's KNSD (channel 39) in 1997.

Currently, most American networks have at least one owned-and-operated station on a UHF frequency (which now usually corresponds to the station's physical digital channel, particularly in cases where a station previously operated on a VHF channel prior to the 2009 digital television transition). Newer networks, such as Univision and Ion Television, even have mostly UHF O&Os.

Ownership and network changes

Mergers, acquisitions and other business deals between television networks and other companies sometimes require a network to sell off an O&O in order to stay under the ownership cap. In addition, networks may choose to sell off O&Os in smaller markets in order to concentrate on their stations in larger markets, or to give themselves leeway to purchase stations in other growing markets. The following are examples of transactions involving owned-and-operated stations in the United States:

DuMont Television Network

The DuMont network found itself in financial trouble in 1954, and decided to sell off its Pittsburgh owned-and-operated station, WDTV, which was the only commercial VHF station in what was then a top ten television market in the United States. Westinghouse Electric Corporation bought the station for $6.75 million, and changed its call letters to KDKA-TV (that station is now CBS's Pittsburgh O&O).

However, even with income generated from the sale, DuMont was never able to recover from its problems, and the network shut down in 1955. Its two other owned-and-operated stations, WABD (now WNYW) in New York City and WTTG in Washington, D.C., became independent stations and remained so until 1986, when they became Fox O&Os at the network's inception.

CBS

In 1986, CBS sold its longtime owned-and-operated station in St. Louis, KMOX-TV, to Viacom (then separate from CBS). Viacom changed the station's callsign to KMOV, then sold it to Belo in 1997, in a three-way swap that also saw Viacom acquiring KSTW in Seattle–Tacoma from Cox Enterprises, and that company in return getting KIRO-TV from Belo. CBS had purchased was KOVR in Stockton, California in May 2005.

On February 7, 2007, CBS announced the sale of its owned-and-operated stations in Salt Lake City (KUTV and its satellite in St. George, Utah, KUSG) and Austin (KEYE-TV) to Four Points Media Group, a holding company owned by Cerberus Capital Management as part of a group deal which also included two CW owned-and-operated stations (WTVX in West Palm Beach and WLWC in Providence), one low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate and one low-power Azteca América affiliate (both in West Palm Beach). Six days later, CBS announced that it was swapping its O&O in Green Bay, WFRV-TV, and its satellite in Escanaba, Michigan, WJMN-TV, to Liberty Media in exchange for common CBS stock held by Liberty Media; the sale of WFRV/WJMN closed on April 18, 2007. The Four Points transaction was approved by the FCC on November 21, 2007 and was finalized on January 10, 2008.[5] In 2012, the Four Points stations were acquired by Sinclair Broadcast Group; WFRV/WJMN was sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group in 2011.

NBC

For much of the modern television era, NBC did not have an owned-and-operated station in Philadelphia. In 1955, NBC forced Westinghouse to trade its NBC-affiliated Philadelphia cluster of KYW-AM and WPTZ-TV (channel 3) to NBC in exchange for WTAM-AM-FM and WNBK-TV in Cleveland. Westinghouse only agreed to the trade after NBC threatened not only to yank its programming from WPTZ, but also Westinghouse-owned WBZ-TV in Boston. NBC changed the callsigns of the Philadelphia stations to WRCV-AM-TV, while Westinghouse changed the Cleveland stations' callsigns to KYW-AM-FM-TV. NBC's then-ownership of Philadelphia's channel 3 was cited by CBS when it purchased its then-affiliate WCAU (channel 10) in 1958, despite FCC rules at the time barring companies from owning stations with overlapping signals, as WRCA/WRCV did.

In 1965, NBC was forced to reverse the trade on orders from the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Department of Justice. WRCV-TV's callsign was then changed to KYW-TV to match its radio cousin. When NBC regained control of the Cleveland stations, it changed their callsigns to WKYC-AM-FM-TV, because of the AM station's popularity as "KY11". It sold the radio stations in 1972, but kept WKYC-TV until 1990, when majority control of the station was sold to Multimedia, Inc. (which later merged with the Gannett Company); NBC remained minority owner of WKYC-TV until 1999. NBC continued to pursue efforts to acquire an owned-and-operated station in Philadelphia, especially when KYW became its weakest major-market affiliate for much of the 1980s. However, NBC was unsuccessful until 1995, when it won a bidding war for longtime CBS O&O WCAU-TV.

In 1997, LIN Television sold a 76% stake in Dallas-Fort Worth's KXAS-TV to NBC in exchange for 24% of San Diego's KNSD-TV; therefore, NBC owned 76% of both stations. Although this was not defined as a traditional O&O arrangement, NBC's controlling interest in the stations allowed them to be considered NBC owned-and-operated stations. In 2013, LIN pulled out of the joint venture, giving NBC 100% ownership of the two stations.[6]

In December 2001, NBC acquired an O&O in the San Francisco Bay Area, when it purchased San Jose-based KNTV from the Granite Broadcasting Corporation; the sale to NBC was finalized in April 2002. Prior to the purchase, KNTV was affiliated with ABC for most of its history, while NBC was affiliated with KRON-TV; by 2000, ABC wished for its own longtime San Francisco O&O station, KGO-TV, to exclusively serve the San Jose portion of the market and terminated its 40-year affiliation with KNTV; while KRON, which had recently been sold to Young Broadcasting, opted to end its NBC affiliation after 52 years in the wake of a dispute with NBC (which lost a bidding war for the station to Young) over the terms of the renewing the station's affiliation contract. Granite, which operated KNTV as a WB affiliate after it ended its affiliation with ABC, offered to pay NBC a then-unheard-of $37 million annually for the station to become an NBC affiliate, an offer which NBC accepted before later finalizing the outright acquisition (back in 1960, ABC allowed KNTV to be its affiliate because it agreed to not serve San Jose directly, but focus more on the Monterey Bay area, which was too far south to clearly receive KGO's over-the-air signal; KNTV also agreed to transmit at a lower power so as not to unreasonably overlap KGO's signal; upon the July 2000 termination of the affiliation agreement, ABC added KGO to cable systems in the Salinas-Monterey area to compensate for the loss of ABC programming on KNTV).

On March 19, 2008, NBC announced its intention to sell two additional O&Os: WTVJ/Miami, Florida and WVIT/New Britain-Hartford, Connecticut. On July 18 of that year, it was announced that WTVJ would be sold to Post-Newsweek Stations, the owner of Miami's local ABC affiliate WPLG. Had the FCC approved this deal, it would have resulted in the Miami market being home to the largest duopoly in the country between two "Big Three" or "Big Four" network affiliates. WVIT was later withdrawn from the selling block, as all of the offers made for that station were much lower than NBC's asking price. The sale of WTVJ also fell through due to the delay in FCC approval for the deal, and public opposition over the proposed sale of WTVJ to another major network station.

ABC

Detroit's WXYZ-TV had been an ABC owned-and-operated station from its sign-on in 1948, as WXYZ radio had been an affiliate of ABC radio's predecessor, the NBC Blue Network. However, when Capital Cities Communications acquired ABC in 1986, the combined assets of the new company exceeded the ownership limit at the time. As such, the network opted to sell WXYZ to the E. W. Scripps Company, having remained with ABC ever since then as an affiliate of the network.

During the series of network affiliation switches that was spurred by Fox's deal with New World Communications, ABC bought two stations in markets adjacent to Detroit: Toledo, Ohio's WTVG and Flint, Michigan's WJRT – specifically in order to keep some fringe suburban coverage of the network in the Detroit market, in the event that Scripps would attempt to affiliate WXYZ-TV with another network, resulting in a possible move of ABC to a lower-tier station in the market. Though WXYZ did stay with ABC after Scripps agreed to keep WXYZ affiliated with the network in exchange for affiliation deals for stations that the company owned in other cities, ABC decided to retain ownership of WTVG and WJRT.

Capital Cities also owned two CBS affiliates – Fresno's KFSN and Raleigh-Durham's WTVD – and chose to switch them both to ABC. CBS programming moved to former ABC affiliates in the two markets, WRAL-TV in Raleigh-Durham and KGPE in Fresno; WRAL has since become one of CBS's strongest affiliates.

On November 3, 2010, ABC reached an agreement to sell WJRT and WTVG back to former owner SJL Broadcasting, amidst speculation that The Walt Disney Company might spin off ABC;[7] both stations retained their ABC affiliations. When the sale was completed, Fresno's KFSN (at the time ranked as the 55th largest media market) would then become the smallest English-language owned-and-operated major network station by market size (not counting satellites and semi-satellites). The sale was completed on April 1, 2011.[8]

Fox

In 1987, Fox purchased its Boston affiliate, WFXT. The network's parent company News Corporation also owned The Boston Herald, requiring Fox to obtain a temporary waiver for the station. When the waiver expired, WFXT was sold to the Boston Celtics of the NBA. The Celtics could not survive as a broadcaster, and Fox purchased WFXT a second time in 1995 after the Boston Herald was sold. It remains a Fox owned-and-operated station as of 2013.

As a result of the aforementioned Fox/New World partnership, Fox had to sell off its original O&Os in Dallas (KDAF) and Atlanta (WATL) to Renaissance Broadcasting and Qwest Broadcasting, respectively. Along with Dallas' KDFW, Atlanta's WAGA-TV became a Fox owned-and-operated station after Fox merged with New World Communications (KDAF is now a CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting; WATL, also a former WB affiliate, is now a MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by the Gannett Company).

On June 13, 2007, Fox announced its intention to sell nine of its owned-and-operated stations: WJW/Cleveland, Ohio; KDVR/Denver, Colorado; KTVI/St. Louis, Missouri; WDAF-TV/Kansas City, Missouri; WITI/Milwaukee, Wisconsin; KSTU/Salt Lake City, Utah; WHBQ-TV/Memphis, Tennessee; WBRC/Birmingham, Alabama and WGHP/Greensboro, North Carolina. On December 21 of that year, it was announced that eight of the stations – WHBQ being the only one not included – would be sold to Local TV, a broadcast holding company controlled by the private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners;[9] the sale closed on July 14, 2008.

Of the eight former Fox O&Os involved in the sale to Local TV, WBRC ended up being traded to Raycom Media on March 31, 2009 in exchange for Richmond, Virginia station WTVR. WHBQ was later withdrawn from the selling block after Fox failed to find a suitable buyer for the station, as both Local TV and Raycom both already owned stations in that market (WREG and WMC-TV, respectively) which would easily put them over the FCC's market ownership caps, and the only other buyer that might have been interested – Newport Television – already owned two stations in Memphis: WPTY-TV (now WATN-TV) and WLMT.

The WB

From January 1995 to September 2006, Time Warner and Tribune Broadcasting jointly owned The WB Television Network. Tribune initially held an 12.5% ownership interest in the network at its launch, and later increased its stake to 22%. Most of Tribune's television properties served as WB owned-and-operated-stations through this ownership stake – in fact, Tribune was the only one of the two companies involved in The WB that owned any stations aligned with network as Time Warner did not own any stations at the network's launch and would not own one until its 1996 merger with the Turner Broadcasting System, owners of Atlanta superstation WTBS. On January 24, 2006, the WB announced that it would merge with the CBS-owned United Paramount Network to form a new broadcast network called The CW Television Network. All except three of Tribune's 19 WB stations joined The CW on September 18, 2006, through ten-year affiliation agreements. Tribune does not have an ownership interest in The CW, turning most of its former WB O&Os into affiliates of the network.

UPN

UPN stations that were formerly owned by Chris-Craft Industries and those that at the end of the network's run were owned by CBS Corporation were sometimes considered owned-and-operated stations of the network, and several transactions have involved these stations. Not too long after becoming a UPN owned-and-operated station itself, San Antonio station KRRT (now KMYS) was sold to Jet Broadcasting in 1995, eventually becoming an affiliate of The WB (the station is now a CW affiliate under the ownership of Sinclair Broadcast Group).

On August 12, 2000, Chris-Craft sold its UPN stations to the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of News Corporation for $5.5 billion[10] – these stations had been stripped of their status as UPN owned-and-operated stations earlier that year due to Viacom's buyout of Chris-Craft's stake in the network, but remained with the network as affiliates. Of those stations, San Francisco's KBHK (now KBCW) was traded to the Paramount Stations Group, while Portland's KPTV was traded to the Meredith Corporation. Both KPTV and Minneapolis-St. Paul's KMSP traded their UPN affiliations with Fox affiliates in those markets that both stations became co-owned with, WFTC and KPDX respectively. Fox had acquired WFTC from Clear Channel Communications not long after the Chris-Craft purchase was finalized, while Meredith already owned KPDX at the time it purchased KPTV. The remaining UPN stations that remained under Fox ownership retained their affiliations with UPN, but were no longer O&Os of the network – giving UPN the distinction of being the only broadcast network whose stations in the three largest markets of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago were not owned-and-operated stations.

These stations became O&Os of MyNetworkTV in September 2006, which was created in response to The CW's decision to affiliate stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting and network part-owner CBS Corporation with the network instead of Fox's UPN stations. In fact, two of the former Chris-Craft stations have the distinction of being owned-and-operated stations of two networks: New York City's WWOR-TV (the second in that market after sister station WNYW, which has been an O&O of DuMont and Fox), and Los Angeles's KCOP-TV (the first in that market – or the second, if KTLA is counted due to it having been an O&O of the DuMont Television Network and The WB, the latter due to owner Tribune Broadcasting's stake in the network).

Viacom/CBS sold off several UPN owned-and-operated stations during the network's final five years. Mercury Broadcasting bought Wichita's KSCC (now KMTW) in 2001 (the station is now owned by Deerfield Media under a local marketing agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group), and Houston's KTXH and Washington, D.C.'s WDCA were sold to Fox that same year (as part of the aforementioned swap with KBHK, both are now owned-and-operated stations of MyNetworkTV). In 2005, Indianapolis' WNDY-TV and Columbus' WWHO were sold to LIN TV; in 2006, Oklahoma City's KAUT was sold to The New York Times Company (who later sold its entire television group to Local TV), and in 2008, New Orleans station WUPL was sold to Belo.

The CW

Because of CBS Corporation's ownership stake in The CW Television Network, stations owned by the company that carry programming from the network can be considered O&Os. In February 2007, as part of the aforementioned group deal that included two of CBS's O&Os, CBS Corporation sold its CW owned-and-operated stations in West Palm Beach, Florida (WTVX) and Providence (WLWC) to Cerberus Capital Management's Four Points Media Group.

In June 2010, CBS announced the sale of its Norfolk, Virginia CW O&O WGNT to Local TV, the owner of that market's CBS affiliate WTKR (as well as seven former Fox O&O stations). This would create the second station duopoly in that market (the first involved NBC affiliate WAVY-TV and Fox affiliate WVBT, respectively, both owned by LIN TV). As part of the deal, Local TV would take over the operations of WGNT through a time brokerage agreement while the deal awaited FCC approval. Until the sale closed on August 4, WGNT was the smallest station by market size to be owned by CBS following the Four Points Media Group deal. The sale of WGNT also made Baltimore's WJZ-TV the smallest station by market size still owned by CBS.

Other networks

In 1999, not long after Ion Television launched as Pax TV, its parent company Paxson Communications sold its Dayton, Green Bay and Decatur O&Os – WDPX, WPXG and WPXU, respectively – to ACME Communications; the stations later changed their respective callsigns to WBDT, WCWF and WBUI. All three stations then became primary affiliates of The WB (though they retained secondary affiliations with Pax until 2005); the stations are now CW affiliates (WBDT and WCWF were sold to LIN TV, while WBUI was sold to GOCOM Media).

Two years later, in 2001, Pax sold its Little Rock owned-and-operated station KYPX to Equity Broadcasting, who switched the station's affiliation to The WB as KWBF (that station is now MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV, owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group). In 2003, Pax sold its Albuquerque O&O, KAPX, to TeleFutura; that station has since changed its callsign to KTFQ. That same year, Paxson Communications sold Shreveport's KPXJ to KTBS, Inc. (owner of the station's ABC-affiliated LMA partner KTBS); that station became a UPN affiliate and is also now an affiliate of The CW.

Multiple networks

Philadelphia's WCAU-TV had been a CBS owned-and-operated station starting in 1958. However, after CBS announced its alliance with Westinghouse in 1995, the network chose to affiliate with Westinghouse's KYW-TV, Philadelphia's longtime NBC affiliate. After a bidding war, WCAU was sold to NBC. KYW became a CBS owned-and-operated station after Westinghouse's merger with CBS a few months later.

As part of the same deal, NBC in turn transferred its own O&O stations in Denver (KCNC-TV) and Salt Lake City (KUTV) to Westinghouse/CBS, and those stations became CBS O&Os after Westinghouse merged with CBS. NBC and CBS also swapped transmitting facilities in Miami between the then-weaker CBS-owned WCIX (channel 6, now WFOR-TV, channel 4) and the then-stronger NBC-owned WTVJ (channel 4), now on the weaker channel 6 signal under the same calls.

Stations that have been O&Os of more than one major network

This includes future O&Os, and also counts stations aligned with UPN, The WB and The CW.
Station Networks station served as an O&O
CBS and Fox KTTV 11/Los Angeles
WJBK-TV 2/Detroit
DuMont and CBS KDKA-TV 2/Pittsburgh
WBBM-TV 2/Chicago
DuMont and Fox WNYW 5/New York City
WTTG 5/Washington, D.C.
DuMont and The WB KTLA 5/Los Angeles
Fox, UPN and MyNetworkTV WFTC 29/Minneapolis/St. Paul
Fox and The WB KDAF-TV 33/Dallas-Fort Worth
WATL 36/Atlanta
WNOL-TV 38/New Orleans
NBC and CBS KCNC-TV 4/Denver
KUTV 2/Salt Lake City
KYW-TV 3/Philadelphia
CBS and NBC WCAU-TV 10/Philadelphia
WTVJ 6/Miami
UPN and Fox KMSP-TV 9/Minneapolis-St. Paul
KPTV 12/Portland
UPN and The CW KBCW-TV 44/San Francisco
KMAX-TV 31/Sacramento
KSTW 11/Tacoma-Seattle
WKBD 50/Detroit
WPCW 19/Jeanette-Pittsburgh
WPSG 57/Philadelphia
WTOG 44/St. Petersburg-Tampa
WUPA 69/Atlanta
UPN and MyNetworkTV KCOP-TV/Los Angeles
KTXH 20/Houston
KUTP 45/Phoenix
WDCA 20/Washington, D.C.
WPWR-TV 50/Gary-Chicago
WRBW 65/Orlando
WUTB 24/Baltimore
WWOR-TV 9/New Jersey-New York City

O&O stations of the major TV networks in the United States

ABC

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Chicago, Illinois WLS-TV 7 1948
Durham-Raleigh-Fayetteville, North Carolina WTVD 11 1986
Fresno, California KFSN-TV 30 1986
Houston, Texas KTRK-TV 13 1986
Los Angeles, California KABC-TV 7 1948
New York City, New York WABC-TV 7 1948
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WPVI-TV 6 1986
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California KGO-TV 7 1949

Former owned-and-operated stations

Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Detroit, Michigan WXYZ-TV 7 1948–1986 ABC affiliate owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
Flint-Bay City-Saginaw, Michigan WJRT-TV 12 1995–2010 ABC affiliate owned by SJL Communications
Toledo, Ohio WTVG 13 1995–2010 ABC affiliate owned by SJL Communications

CBS

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Alexandria, Minnesota KCCO-TV 7
(satellite of WCCO-TV)		 1992
Baltimore, Maryland WJZ-TV 13 1995
Boston, Massachusetts WBZ-TV 4 1995
Chicago, Illinois WBBM-TV 2 1953
Denver, Colorado KCNC-TV 4 1995
Detroit, Michigan WWJ-TV 62 1995
Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas KTVT 11 1999
Los Angeles, California KCBS-TV 2 1951
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida WFOR-TV 4 1989
Minneapolis-St. Paul WCCO-TV 4 1992
New York City, New York WCBS-TV 2 1941
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania KYW-TV 3 1995
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania KDKA-TV 2 1995
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California KPIX-TV 5 1995
Stockton-Sacramento-Modesto, California KOVR 13 2005
Walker, Minnesota KCCW-TV 12
(satellite of WCCO-TV)		 1992

Former owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Austin, Texas KEYE-TV 42 1999–2007 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Green Bay, Wisconsin WFRV-TV 5 1991–2007 CBS affiliate owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Hartford, Connecticut WUVN 18 1955–1959 Univision affiliate owned by Entravision Communications
Los Angeles, California KTTV 11[n1 1] 1949–1950 Fox O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Marquette, Michigan WJMN-TV 3
(satellite of WFRV)		 1991–2007 CBS affiliate owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WCAU-TV 10 1958–1995 NBC O&O owned by NBCUniversal
Providence, Rhode Island WPRI-TV 12 1995–1996 CBS affiliate owned by LIN Television
Salt Lake City, Utah KUTV 2 1995–2007 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
St. Louis, Missouri KMOV 4 1958–1986 CBS affiliate owned by Belo
Washington, D.C. WUSA-TV 9[n1 2] 1950–1954 CBS affiliate owned by the Gannett Company

CW

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Atlanta, Georgia WUPA 69 2006
Detroit, Michigan WKBD-TV 50 2006
Jeannette-Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania WPCW 19 2006
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WPSG 57 2006
Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California KMAX-TV 31 2006
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California KBCW 44 2006
Seattle-Tacoma, Washington KSTW 11 2006
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, Florida WTOG 44 2006

Former owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Norfolk, Virginia WGNT 27 2006–2007 CW affiliate owned by Local TV
Providence, Rhode Island WLWC 28 2006–2007 CW affiliate owned by OTA Broadcasting, LLC
West Palm Beach, Florida WTVX 34 2006–2007 CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group

Fox

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Atlanta, Georgia WAGA-TV 5 1997
Austin, Texas KTBC 7 1997
Boston, Massachusetts WFXT 25 1987–1991, 1995–
Chicago, Illinois WFLD 32 1986
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KDFW-TV 4 1997
Detroit, Michigan WJBK 2 1997
Houston, Texas KRIV 26 1986
Los Angeles, California KTTV 11 1986
Memphis, Tennessee WHBQ-TV 13 1995
Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota KMSP-TV 9 2001
New York City, New York WNYW 5 1986
Ocala-Gainesville, Florida WOGX 51
(semi-satellite of WOFL, Orlando, FL)		 2002
Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Florida WOFL 35 2002
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WTXF-TV 29 1995
Phoenix, Arizona KSAZ-TV 10 1997
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Sarasota, Florida WTVT 13 1997
Washington, D.C. WTTG 5 1986

Future owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since Notes
Charlotte, North Carolina WJZY 46 2013 Currently a CW affiliate; station will become a Fox O&O on July 1, 2013

Former owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Atlanta, Georgia WATL 36 1993–1994 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by the Gannett Company
Birmingham, Alabama WBRC 6 1996–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Raycom Media
Cleveland, Ohio WJW 8 1997–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KDAF 33 1986–1995 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Denver, Colorado KDVR 31 1995–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Greensboro-High Point-Winston-Salem, North Carolina WGHP 8 1996–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Kansas City, Missouri WDAF-TV 4 1997–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Milwaukee, Wisconsin WITI 6 1997–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota WFTC 29 2001–2002 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Portland, Oregon KPTV 12 2001–2002 Fox affiliate owned by the Meredith Corporation
Salt Lake City, Utah KSTU 13 1990–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV
St. Louis, Missouri KTVI 2 1997–2008 Fox affiliate owned by Local TV

MyNetworkTV

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Bemidji, Minnesota KFTC 26
(satellite of WFTC, Minneapolis, MN)		 2006
Charlotte, North Carolina-Rock Hill, South Carolina WMYT-TV 55 2013
Chicago, Illinois-Gary, Indiana WPWR-TV 50 2006
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KDFI-TV 27 2006
Houston, Texas KTXH 20 2006
Los Angeles, California KCOP-TV 13 2006
Minneapolis-St. Paul WFTC 29 2006
Orlando-Daytona Beach, Florida WRBW 65 2006
Phoenix, Arizona KUTP 45 2006
Secaucus, New Jersey-New York City, New York WWOR-TV 9 2006
Washington, D.C. WDCA 20 2006

Former owned-and-operated stations

Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Baltimore, Maryland WUTB 24 2006–2013 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group

NBC

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Chicago, Illinois WMAQ-TV 5 1948
Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas KXAS-TV 5 1997
New Britain-Hartford-New Haven, Connecticut WVIT 30 1956–1959, 1997–
Los Angeles, California KNBC 4 1949
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida WTVJ 6 1989
New York City, New York WNBC 4 1941
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WCAU 10 1995
San Diego, California KNSD 39 1996
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California KNTV 11 2002
Washington, D.C. WRC-TV 4 1947

Former owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Birmingham, Alabama WVTM-TV 13 1996–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Media General
Cleveland, Ohio WKYC-TV 3 1947–1999 NBC affiliate owned by the Gannett Company
Columbus, Ohio WCMH 4 1996–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Media General
Denver, Colorado KCNC-TV 4 1986–1995 CBS O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Goldsboro-Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville, North Carolina WNCN 17 1996–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Media General
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania KYW-TV 3 1955–1965 CBS O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Providence, Rhode Island WJAR-TV 10 1996–2006 NBC affiliate owned by Media General
Salt Lake City, Utah KUTV 2 1994–1995 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group

Telemundo

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Manchester-Boston, Massachusetts WNEU 60[n1 3] 2002
Chicago, Illinois WSNS-TV 44[n1 4] 1996
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KXTX-TV 39 2001
Denver, Colorado KDEN-TV 25 2006
Douglas, Arizona K28EY 28
(repeater of KHRR)		 N/A
Fresno, California KNSO 51[n1 3] 2003
Galveston-Houston, Texas KTMD 47 1997
Las Vegas KBLR 39 2005
Linden, New Jersey-New York City, New York WNJU 47 1984
Los Angeles, California KVEA 52 1985
Fort Lauderdale-Miami-West Palm Beach, Florida WSCV 51 1987
Phoenix, Arizona KTAZ 39 2002
Salinas-Monterey, California K15CU 15
(repeater of KSTS)		 N/A
Salt Lake City, Utah KEJT-LP 50 N/A
San Antonio, Texas KVDA 60[n1 3] 1989
San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, California KSTS 48 1984
San Juan, Puerto Rico WKAQ-TV 2 1987
Tucson, Arizona KHRR 40 2002

Former owned-and-operated station

City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Fort Worth-Dallas, Texas KFWD 52 1988–2002 MundoFox affiliate owned by HIC Broadcasting

UniMas

Current owned-and-operated stations

City of license/Market Station Owned since
Albuquerque, New Mexico KTFQ-DT 14[n1 1] 2003
Atlanta, Georgia WUVG-DT2 34.2 2002
Austin, Texas KTFO-CD 31 2002
Bakersfield, California KBTF-CD 31
KTFB-CA 4[n1 5]		 N/A
Boston, Massachusetts WUTF-DT 66[n1 1] 2002
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KSTR-DT 49 2002
Denver, Colorado KTFD-DT 14 2005
Douglas, Arizona KFTU-CD 18
(repeater of KFTU-DT)		 N/A
Fresno, California KTFF-DT 61 2003
Houston-Alvin, Texas KFTH-DT 67 2002
Joliet-Chicago, Illinois WXFT-DT 60 2002
Los Angeles, California KFTR-DT 46 2002
Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida WAMI-DT 69 2002
Modesto-Sacramento-Stockton, California KTFK-DT 64 2003
Newark-New York City, New York WFUT-DT 68 2002
Orlando-Daytona Beach-Melbourne, Florida WOTF-DT 43[n1 6] 2002
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WFPA-CA 65[n1 7] 2002
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina WTNC-LD 26 N/A
Phoenix-Flagstaff, Arizona KFPH-DT 13 2002
San Antonio-Blanco, Texas KNIC-DT 17[n1 8] 2006
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California KFSF-DT 66 2002
San Juan-Caguas, Puerto Rico WLII-DT 11[n1 9] 2005
Smithtown-New York City, New York WFTY-DT 67
(satellite of WFUT-DT)		 2002
Tucson, Arizona KFTU-DT 3 2002
Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida WFTT-DT 50 2002

Univision

Current owned-and-operated stations

O&O stations of defunct major television networks in the United States

DuMont Television Network

This list does not include stations that did not carry DuMont programming that the FCC ruled to be DuMont O&Os due to Paramount Pictures's financial interest.
City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
New York City, New York WNYW 5 1946–1956 Fox O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania KDKA-TV 2 1949–1954 CBS O&O owned by CBS Television Stations
Washington, D.C. WTTG 5 1946–1956 Fox O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Los Angeles, California KTLA 5 1947-1956 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Company

UPN

UPN was co-founded by United Television / Chris-Craft Television and Paramount Pictures in January 16, 1995.
City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Atlanta, Georgia WUPA 69 1995–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Baltimore, Maryland WUTB 24 1998–2000 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Boston, Massachusetts WSBK-TV 38 1995–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by CBS Corporation
Columbus, Ohio WWHO 53 1995–2005 CW affiliate owned by Manhan Media and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KTXA 21 1995–2000 Independent station owned by CBS Corporation
Houston, Texas KTXH 20 1995–2000 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Indianapolis, Indiana WNDY-TV 23 1999–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by LIN Media
Los Angeles, California KCOP-TV 13 1995–2000 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Miami, Florida WBFS-TV 33 1995–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by CBS Corporation
Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota KMSP-TV 9 1995-2001 Fox O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
New Orleans-Slidell, Louisiana WUPL 54 1995–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Belo
Norfolk, Virginia WGNT 27 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Local TV
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma KPSG 43 1998–2005 Independent station owned by Local TV
Orlando, Florida WRBW 65 1996–2000 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Phoenix, Arizona KUTP 45 1995–2000 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WPSG 57 1995–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Pittsburgh-Jeannette, Pennsylvania WNPA-TV 19 1998–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Portland, Oregon KPTV 12 1995–2000 Fox affiliate owned by the Meredith Corporation
Providence, Rhode Island WLWC 28 1997–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Sacramento, California KMAX-TV 31[n1 8] 1998–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
San Antonio, Texas KRRT 35 1995–1996 CW affiliate owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group
San Francisco, California KBHK-TV 44 1995–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Seattle-Tacoma, Washington KSTW 11 1997–2006 CW O&O owned by CBS Corporation
Secaucus, New Jersey-
New York City, New York		 WWOR-TV 9 1995–2000 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
Washington, D.C. WDCA 20 1995–2000 MyNetworkTV O&O owned by Fox Television Stations
West Palm Beach, Florida WTVX 34 1997–2006 CW affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Wichita, Kansas KMTW 36 2000–2001 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Deerfield Media and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group

The WB

All WB O&Os were owned by Chicago-based Tribune Company.
City of license/Market Station Years of ownership Current status
Atlanta, Georgia WATL 36 1999–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by the Gannett Company
Boston, Massachusetts WLVI 56 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Sunbeam Television
Chicago, Illinois WGN-TV 9 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas KDAF 33 1997–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Denver, Colorado KWGN-TV 2 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting and operated by Local TV
Hartford-New Haven-Waterbury, Connecticut WCCT-TV 20 2001–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Houston, Texas KHCW 39 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Indianapolis, Indiana WTTV 4 2003–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Los Angeles, California KTLA 5 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Miami, Florida WSFL-TV 39 1997–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
New Orleans, Louisiana WNOL 38 2000–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
New York City, New York WPIX 11 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania WPHL-TV 17 1995–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Portland-Salem, Oregon-Vancouver, Washington KRCW-TV 32 2003–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
San Diego, California KSWB-TV 69 1996–2006 Fox affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Seattle-Tacoma, Washington KTWB 22 1999–2006 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting
St. Louis, Missouri KPLR-TV 11 1995–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting and operated by Local TV
Washington, D.C. WDCW 50 1999–2006 CW affiliate owned by Tribune Broadcasting

References

  1. ^ a b FCC's Review of the Broadcast Ownership Rules. Accessed online May 28, 2009.
  2. ^ The UHF-TV Morgue
  3. ^ The UHF-TV Morgue: WBUF-TV, Channel 17, Buffalo, NY
  4. ^ The UHF-TV Morgue: WHCT-TV, Channel 18, Hartford, Connecticut
  5. ^ CBS Corporation Completes Sale of Local TV Stations in Cerberus, CBS press release, January 10, 2008.
  6. ^ "LIN exits NBC joint venture, plans reorg". RBR.com. Retrieved February 13, 2013. 
  7. ^ Broadcasting & Cable: "EXCLUSIVE: Disney to Sell Two Stations", November 3, 2010.
  8. ^ Exclusive: New GMs For Former ABC O&Os in Flint, Toledo, Broadcasting & Cable, March 31, 2011.
  9. ^ News Corporation Announces Sale of Eight Television Stations to Oak Hill Capital Partners, News Corporation press release, December 22, 2007. Accessed online May 28, 2009.
  10. ^ Hofmeister, Sallie (August 12, 2000). "News Corp. to Buy Chris-Craft Parent for $5.5 Billion, Outbidding Viacom". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 March 2011. 
  1. ^ a b c Station was co-owned by CBS in a joint venture with the Los Angeles Times.
  2. ^ Station was co-owned by CBS in a joint venture with The Washington Post.
  3. ^ a b c NBCUniversal holds the license to this station, although it is operated by ZGS Communications.
  4. ^ This station was jointly owned by Ensaness Communications from 1996 to 2003.
  5. ^ KBTF-CD's signal is rebroadcast on the third digital subchannel of co-owned Univision outlet KUVI-DT (virtual channel 45.3, digital channel 45).
  6. ^ a b Univision Communications holds the license to this station, though it is operated by Entravision Communications.
  7. ^ WFPA-CA's signal is rebroadcast on the second digital subchannel of co-owned Univision outlet WUVP-DT (virtual channel 65.2, digital channel 29).
  8. ^ a b KNIC-DT is the only UniMás station to be built and signed on by Univision Communications.
  9. ^ WLII was operated by Univision Communications under a local marketing agreement with Raycom Media from 2002 to 2005, when Univision purchased the station.
  10. ^ KABE's signal is repeated on second digital subchannel of co-owned MyNetworkTV affiliate KUVI-DT (digital subchannel 45.2, UHF digital channel 45).
  11. ^ Univision was carried as a secondary affiliation prior to Univision Communications purchased the station.
  12. ^ This station was operated by Univision Communications under a local marketing agreement with Raycom Media from 2002 to 2005, when Univision purchased the station.
  13. ^ This station was operated by Univision Communications under a local marketing agreement with Raycom Media from 2002 to 2005, when Univision purchased the station.
  14. ^ Univision was formerly affiliated with co-owned WMDO-CA from 2002 to 2005, WFDC was affiliated with Telefutura during that timeframe.

External links