Flagship (television)
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A flagship station is the main station of a television network.
The term dates to the early days of television, when CBS, ABC and NBC relied on their affiliate stations for the lion's share of programming. In those days, New York City was the major production center for programs originating on the East Coast, and Los Angeles was the major production center for programs originating on the West Coast. Also, New York was home to the network feeds for the eastern three-fourths of the country, while Los Angeles was home to the feeds for the Pacific Time Zone, Alaska and Hawaii. Conseqently, the networks' New York stations became known as the "East Coast flagships" of their respective networks, and the networks' Los Angeles stations became known as the "West Coast flagships." All of the major networks (or their parent companies) were headquartered in New York, so the New York stations were considered the overall flagships of the networks.
Programming became more centralized in the 1960s. However, the term was retained for the networks' New York and Los Angeles stations, as New York and Los Angeles were and still are the largest television markets in the country and the stations in those markets were owned and operated by the networks. Also, the networks set up operations centers in New York (for the East Coast feed) and Los Angeles (for the West Coast feed).
When Fox Broadcasting Company launched in 1987, it set up only one network operations center, in Los Angeles. However, Fox' parent, News Corporation, is headquartered in New York, which is why Fox' New York O&O, WNYW, is considered the network's overall flagship while KTTV in Los Angeles is considered the West Coast flagship.
However, for some networks, flagship status is somewhat ambigiuous. For example, when UPN was founded in 1995, its New York station, WWOR-TV, and its Los Angeles station, KCOP-TV, were owned by Chris-Craft Industries, part-owner of the network along with Viacom (which had just recently purchased UPN co-founder Paramount Pictures). In 1999, however, Viacom bought full control of UPN from Chris-Craft. As a result, UPN's largest O&O became WPSG in Philadelphia, while its largest O&O on the West Coast is KBCW in San Francisco. However, WWOR is still considered UPN's flagship station while KCOP is considered the network's West Coast flagship. This was why some cast doubt on UPN's future a year later when Fox bought most of Chris-Craft's television interests, including WWOR and KCOP.
Similar questions surround the CW Television Network, set to launch in September 2006 as a merger of UPN and The WB. The two largest stations in the network will be WPIX in New York and KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, both current WB stations. WPIX was considered The WB's flagship, while KTLA was considered The WB's West Coast flagship. Both are owned by Tribune Company, part-owner of The WB along with Time Warner (owner of Warner Bros.). However, Tribune will not have an ownership stake in the new CW, a partnership between CBS Corporation (which owns the former Viacom's broadcasting interests) and Warner Bros. The CW's largest O&O will be WPSG in Philadelphia, owned by CBS Corporation.
The term is also used for stations that operate satellite stations in other cities. For example, KSNW in Wichita, Kansas is the flagship station of the Kansas State Network, a chain of NBC affiliates in western Kansas.
[edit] Current flagship stations in the United States
| Network | East Coast flagship | West Coast flagship |
|---|---|---|
| ABC | WABC-TV New York | KABC-TV Los Angeles |
| CBS | WCBS-TV New York | KCBS-TV Los Angeles |
| NBC | WNBC New York | KNBC Los Angeles |
| Fox | WNYW New York | KTTV Los Angeles |
| The CW | WPIX New York City or WPSG-TV Philadelphia | KTLA-TV Los Angeles or KBCW San Francisco |
| My Network TV | WWOR-TV New York | KCOP-TV Los Angeles |
[edit] Current flagship stations in Canada
| Network | East Coast flagship | West Coast flagship |
|---|---|---|
| CBC | CBLT-TV Toronto | CBUT-TV Vancouver, British Columbia |
| SRC | CBFT-TV Montreal, Quebec | CBUFT-TV Vancouver |
| TVA | CFTM-TV Montreal | None at this time (Time-shifted on cable/satellite services) |
| TQS | CFJP-TV Montreal | None at this time |
| CTV | CFTO-TV Toronto | CIVT-TV Vancouver |
| Global | CIII-TV Toronto | CHAN-TV Vancouver |
| CH | CHCH-TV Hamilton, Ontario/Toronto | CHEK-TV Victoria, British Columbia/Vancouver |
| Citytv | CITY-TV Toronto | CKVU-TV Vancouver |
| A-Channel | CFPL-TV London, Ontario | CIVI-TV Victoria/Vancouver |
| OMNI Television | CFMT-TV Toronto | CHNU-TV Surrey, British Columbia/Vancouver |
