Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States

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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 an ownership limit imposed by the Federal Communications Commission. Currently, the total number of television stations owned by any company (including a television network) can only reach a maximum of 39.5% of the country; in the past, the ownership limit was much lower.

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[edit] 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 O&Os in large media markets having more households, hence higher revenue. They opted to run their programming on affiliates instead in other markets.

The five-station limit posed a problem for DuMont, the first attempt to operate a "fourth" television network. Paramount Pictures owned a share of the network, and also owned KTLA-TV in Los Angeles and WBKB-TV (now WBBM-TV) in Chicago. Even though DuMont showed its programming 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 the 1950s to 1986, the major network O&Os were distributed as followed: ABC, CBS, and NBC each had O&Os in the top 3 markets (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago), and each network had 2 O&Os in markets where the other networks did not: these were ABC's KGO-TV in San Francisco and WXYZ-TV in Detroit, NBC's WRC-TV in Washington and WKYC-TV in Cleveland, and CBS' WCAU in Philadelphia and KMOX-TV in St. Louis. During the 1950s, the FCC allowed entities to own up to seven television stations, provided a maximum of five were VHF; this was done to try to help the ailing UHF television industry. NBC and CBS did not operate their UHF acquisitions for long before either selling them off or shutting them down.

A company can now own any number of TV stations with a combined reach of less than 39.5% of the country, but cannot own two of the top four stations in any market. 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, O&Os can still be found in smaller markets. For example, KFSN-TV in Fresno, California (market #55; 2007-08), WJRT in Flint, Michigan (market #66; 2007-08) and WTVG in Toledo, Ohio (market #72; 2007-08) are ABC O&Os, while KTBC in Austin, Texas (market #51; 2007-08) is a Fox O&O. Market 72 is essentially the lower limit for where an O&O can be found.

(While WOGX in Ocala, Florida, market 162, is technically a Fox O&O, it is operated out of the studios of WOFL, located in Orlando, market 19.)

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 the ION network to own stations that cover more of the country then they would without this UHF discount. After transition to digital TV, the big four networks will lose this UHF discount, although the ownership of their existing stations will be grandfathered in.

[edit] 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 O&Os in the US:

[edit] DuMont Television Network

The DuMont network found itself in financial trouble in 1954, and decided to sell off its O&O in Pittsburgh, WDTV, which was the only commercial VHF station in what was then the sixth largest television market in the United States. Westinghouse Electric Corporation bought the station for $6.75 million, and changed its call letters to KDKA-TV. (The 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 the next year. Its two other O&Os, WABD (now WNYW) in New York City and WTTG in Washington DC, became independent stations and remained so until 1986, when they became Fox O&Os at the network's inception.

[edit] CBS

In 1986, CBS sold its longtime O&O in St. Louis, KMOX-TV, to Viacom (then separate from CBS). Viacom changed the station's calls to KMOV, then sold it to Belo in 1997, in a three-way swap which also saw Viacom acquiring KSTW in Seattle from Cox Television, and that company in return getting KIRO-TV from Belo.

The last station CBS purchased was KOVR in Sacramento, California. The purchase was announced in December of 2004 and closed in May of 2005.

On February 7, 2007, CBS announced the sale of its O&Os in Salt Lake City (KUTV and its satellite in St. George, Utah, KUSG) and Austin (KEYE-TV) to affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management as part of a group deal which also included two CW O&Os (WTVX in West Palm Beach and WLWC in Providence), one low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate and one low-power Azteca America affiliate (both in West Palm Beach). Six days later, CBS announced that it is 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. As of June 25, 2007, CBS no longer controls the stations being sold to Cerberus, who operates the stations under the Four Points Media Group brand, even though it continued to hold the licenses for several months afterward. However, the Four Points transaction was approved by the FCC on November 21, 2007 and was finalized on January 10, 2008. [1]

[edit] NBC

For much of the modern television era, NBC did not have an O&O 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 WBZ-TV in Boston, also owned by Westinghouse. NBC renamed the Philadelphia stations WRCV-AM-TV, while Westinghouse renamed the Cleveland stations KYW-AM-FM-TV.

In 1965, NBC was forced to reverse the trade on orders from the FCC and Justice Department. WRCV-TV was then renamed KYW-TV to match its radio cousin. When NBC regained control of the Cleveland stations, it renamed them 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 1989, when majority control of the station was sold to Multimedia, Inc. (which later merged with Gannett). NBC remained minority owner of WKYC-TV until 2001.

NBC continued to pursue efforts to acquire an O&O 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 (see below).

In 1997, LIN Television sold 76% of KXAS-TV to NBC in exchange for 24% of KNSD-TV. Therefore, NBC owns 76% of both stations. Although the arrangement is not defined as a traditional O&O arrangement, NBC's controlling interest in the stations allows them to be considered NBC O&Os.

In January 2006, NBC announced its intention to sell four of its O&Os: WCMH in Columbus, Ohio; WVTM in Birmingham, Alabama; WNCN in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; and WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island. [2] On April 6 of the same year, it was announced that the stations would be sold to Media General in a $600 million dollar deal. [3] On June 26, 2006, Media General closed on all four stations. [4]

On March 19, 2008, NBC announced its intention to sell two additional O&Os: WTVJ in Miami, Florida and WVIT in New Britain/Hartford, Connecticut. No new buyer(s) have been announced yet.

One of the last stations NBC purchased was KNTV, which currently serves the entire Bay Area. It became a full NBC owned-and-operated station on 30 April 2002. Prior to the purchase, KNTV can mostly be received through San Jose, CA, owned by Granite and affiliated with ABC while NBC was affiliated with KRON.

[edit] ABC

Detroit’s WXYZ had been an ABC O&O since it signed on in 1948, as WXYZ radio had been an affiliate of ABC radio's predecessor, the NBC Blue Network. However, when ABC merged with Capital Cities Communications 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. Since 1986 WXYZ-TV has continued as Detroit's ABC affiliate.

[edit] Fox

In 1987, Fox purchased its Boston affiliate, WFXT. Its parent News Corp also owned The Boston Herald, and so Fox got 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 so, after the Boston Herald was sold, Fox purchased WFXT a second time in 1995. It remains a Fox O&O to this day.

As a result of the Fox/New World partnership mentioned above, 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 became a Fox O&O after Fox bought out New World. KDAF is now a CW affiliate owned by Tribune. WATL, also a former WB affiliate, is now a MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Gannett.

On June 13, 2007, Fox announced its intention to sell nine of its O&Os: WJW in Cleveland, Ohio; KDVR in Denver, Colorado; KTVI in St. Louis, Missouri; WDAF-TV in Kansas City, Missouri; WITI in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; KSTU in Salt Lake City, Utah; WHBQ-TV in Memphis, Tennessee; WBRC in Birmingham, Alabama; and WGHP in Greensboro, North Carolina. On December 21 of that year, it was announced that eight of the stations -- all except WHBQ -- would be sold to Local TV, a broadcast holding company controlled by the private equity firm Oak Hill Capital. [5] At this point it is unknown whether some or all of the eight stations will retain their Fox affiliations once Local TV takes over.

[edit] The WB

From January 1995 to September 2006, Tribune Broadcasting was a partner in The WB Television Network, along with the Warner Bros. division of Time Warner. Tribune held an initial 12.5 percent ownership in the network at its launch, and later increased its stake to 22 percent; most of Tribune's television properties were WB owned and operated stations. On January 24, 2006, the WB announced that it would merge with the CBS-owned United Paramount Network to form a new programming service called the CW. All but three of Tribune's WB stations joined the CW on September 18, 2006, through ten-year agreements. Tribune does not have an ownership interest in the CW, turning most of it's former WB O&O's into affiliates of the network. On late March 2008 Tribune announced that San Diego affiliate KSWB would convert to Fox in August of that year; it is unknown if Tribune will use a digital subchannel on KSWB-DT to fulfill the CW agreement or have it nullified so the network could move to another station in the market.

[edit] UPN

As aforementioned, UPN stations formerly owned by Chris-Craft and those that at the close of the network were owned by CBS Corporation were sometimes considered O&Os, and several transactions have involved these stations:

  • Not too long after becoming a UPN O&O itself, KRRT (now KMYS) in San Antonio was sold to Jet Broadcasting in 1995, eventually becoming a WB, and now MyNetworkTV, affiliate under Sinclair ownership.
  • Upon Chris-Craft's exit from the television industry, its UPN stations were sold to the Fox Television Stations Group. Of those stations, San Francisco's KBHK (now KBCW) was traded to CBS Corporation, while Portland's KPTV was traded to Meredith Corporation, and is now a Fox affiliate. KMSP in Minneapolis-St. Paul then traded its UPN affiliation to WFTC for that station's Fox affiliation. Fox had acquired WFTC not long after the Chris-Craft purchase was finalized. The remaining UPN stations kept by Fox retained their UPN affiliations, but were no longer O&Os of the network - giving UPN the dubious distinction of being the only broadcast network whose stations in the three largest markets of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago were not O&Os. These stations became O&Os of Fox's new network My Network TV, as UPN and The WB closed down order to launch The CW, and Fox announced none of their UPN stations would join The CW. In fact, Chris-Craft's former NYC station, WWOR-TV, is the second area station to have been an O&O of 2 major networks (after sister WNYW), and its former LA station, KCOP, is the first (second if counting KTLA) station in its area to be O&Oed by 2 networks.

[edit] The CW

As mentioned above, CBS's sale of some of its stations to Cerberus Capital Management included its CW stations in West Palm Beach, Florida (WTVX) and Providence (WLWC); as aforementioned, CBS-owned CW affiliates can be considered O&Os.

[edit] Other networks

  • In 1999, not long after Pax was launched, its parent company sold its Dayton, Green Bay and Decatur O&Os — WDPX, WPXG and WPXU, respectively — to ACME Communications. The stations now broadcast under the WBDT, WIWB and WBUI callsigns, respectively. All three then became primarily WB affiliates (though they retained a secondary affiliation with Pax until 2005), and are now CW affiliates. Four years later, in 2003, Pax sold its Albuquerque O&O, KAPX, to TeleFutura. That station now broadcasts under the KTFQ callsign.

[edit] Multiple networks

Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV had long been a CBS O&O. 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 O&O after the merger of Westinghouse and CBS a few months later.

As part of the same deal, NBC in turn transferred its own O&Os in Denver (KCNC-TV) and Salt Lake City (KUTV) to Westinghouse, and those stations became CBS O&Os after Westinghouse merged with CBS.

[edit] Complete list of stations that have been O&Os of more than one major network

this includes future O&Os, and also counts UPN and WB
  • KCNC Denver (NBC and CBS)
  • KCOP Los Angeles (UPN and My Network TV)
  • KDAF Dallas/Fort Worth (Fox and WB)
  • KDKA Pittsburgh (DuMont and CBS)
  • KMSP Minneapolis/St. Paul (UPN and Fox)
  • KTLA Los Angeles (DuMont and WB)*
  • KTXH Houston (UPN and My Network TV)
  • KUTP Phoenix (UPN and My Network TV)
  • KUTV Salt Lake City (NBC and CBS)
  • KYW Philadelphia (NBC and CBS)
  • WATL Atlanta (Fox and WB)
  • WBBM Chicago (DuMont and CBS)*
  • WCAU Philadelphia (CBS and NBC)
  • WDCA Washington (UPN and My Network TV)
  • WFTC Minneapolis/St. Paul (Fox and My Network TV)
  • WNYW New York City (DuMont and Fox)
  • WRBW Orlando (UPN and My Network TV)
  • WTTG Washington (DuMont and Fox)
  • WUTB Baltimore (UPN and My Network TV)
  • WWOR New York City (UPN and My Network TV)
  • All CW O&Os were UPN O&Os before UPN's closure and The CW's launch.

*These stations were considered DuMont O&Os by the FCC, whether one can count these stations is questionable

[edit] O&O stations of the four major networks in the United States

ABC

CBS

Fox

NBC

1Stations being sold to Local TV; announced December 21, 2007

2Repeater of KDVR

3Station put up for sale by Fox (along with the eight stations being sold to Local TV); announced June 13, 2007. No new buyer named yet.

476% owned by NBC Universal while 24% owned by LIN Television.

5Stations put up for sale by NBC Universal; announced March 19, 2008. No new buyer(s) named yet.

[edit] Additional notes

The largest market without an O&O from each of the 4 major networks are as follows:

The smallest markets with an O&O from a major network:

**Process of being sold.

[edit] References

[edit] External links