Two kinds of owners
Behind the screen is a structure that viewers rarely see. In the United States, a “network” is a company that supplies programs, while the stations that show them are often owned by someone else. The arrangement between the two is called affiliation, and the stations involved are known as network affiliates. A local station signs an agreement with a network to broadcast its programs, usually in set time periods, and in return it receives programming it does not have to produce and, historically, payments for carrying commercials. The station keeps some of the advertising time for local sale, and it produces its own local news and other programs.
Local owners are not simply passive. They choose which network to join, if any, and they can decide not to air a particular program, a choice known as preemption. They also carry responsibilities under their license to serve the local community. This arrangement gave the local station real bargaining power, and it explains why national and local interests have often been in tension.
Rules for the airwaves
Regulation is a major part of the story. The United States Federal Communications Commission licenses stations and has long held that they must serve “the public interest, convenience and necessity,” in the words of the law. Over time it adopted rules intended to prevent networks from gaining too much power over stations. In the early 1940s, it adopted rules on network affiliation agreements and required NBC to divest one of its two radio networks, which led to the creation of ABC. Other rules limited how many stations one owner could hold, and limited the amount of a station’s time that a network could claim.
In 1970, the FCC adopted rules that restricted networks’ financial interests in the programs they showed and their role in syndication, the resale of programs to local stations. A related rule from 1971, the Prime Time Access Rule, took a half hour of the early evening away from network control to give local stations the chance to schedule their own or syndicated programs. These rules were relaxed or ended in the 1990s, after which networks and production companies combined more often. The details of these rules were complex and changed over time, and lawyers and economists have argued over their effects.
The limits of broadcast channels
For about three decades after the 1950s, American viewers in most areas could receive only a handful of channels: the three major networks, a few independent stations, and perhaps a public channel. This was a result of the spectrum available and how it was assigned, as the number of VHF and UHF channels that could be used in a given area without interference was limited. UHF stations, with weaker signals and harder reception, struggled in early years.
The result was a shared experience. When a popular program ran, a large share of the audience could be watching the same thing at the same time, and the networks’ “prime time” schedule attracted very large audiences by later standards.
Public television
Not all channels were commercial. Some American educational stations were licensed starting in the 1950s, and the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967 created the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Public Broadcasting Service, set up in 1969, started service in 1970 as a network of member stations. Public stations get money from a mix of government funds, donations and sponsorship, depending on the country and period.
Other nations have a more central role for public broadcasters. In Britain, the BBC is funded by a license fee, and a second public-service channel, Channel 4, was added in 1982 on a different financing model. Countries around the world use various mixes of public, commercial and state broadcasting.
Cable and satellite
Cable television, which began as a way to bring distant signals to places with poor reception, expanded greatly from the 1970s. A key change came when communications satellites began to distribute programs to cable systems. HBO, which began in 1972 as a pay service, started using satellite delivery in 1975, and ESPN, CNN and other channels followed in the late 1970s and 1980s, according to the commonly cited dates. Cable operators could offer dozens of channels, then hundreds.
Rules affected the competition. The FCC at times limited cable systems’ ability to carry distant stations to protect local broadcasters, then relaxed those limits. Must-carry rules, adopted in various forms, required cable systems to include local broadcast stations. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 revised many of the earlier rules in the United States and was followed by further changes in ownership.
Direct broadcast satellite in the 1990s created another competitor, and the networks’ share of the audience fell as viewers had more choices. In the 2000s, streaming over the internet added yet another route, and programs are now available, even on smartphones, in many ways that do not depend on a local station.
The affiliate model today
Local affiliates remain important, especially for local news, weather and sports. Networks and station groups continue to negotiate over fees, with disputes sometimes causing channels to disappear from a cable or satellite service. Viewers see the result as a blackout, which is a reminder that the contracts behind the channels matter. The network structure, built for radio in the 1920s and adapted for television in the 1940s and 1950s, has been stretched but not abandoned.