In the United States, for most of the history of broadcasting, there were only four major national broadcasting networks. From 1946-1956 these were ABC, CBS, NBC, and the DuMont Television Network. After that and until 1969, the national networks were ABC, CBS, NBC, and NET. After 1969 and until 1986, the four main national networks were ABC, CBS, NBC, and PBS. The ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American radio and television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... The DuMont Television Network was the first licensed American television network, beginning operation in 1946 and predating CBS, NBC, and ABC as networks. ... National Educational Television (NET) was an educational television network in the USA from 1952 until 1969. ... PBS re-directs here; for alternate uses see PBS (disambiguation) PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ...

Today, more than 20 nation-wide broadcasting networks exist, although some of these are admittedly quite small. Other than PBS, which has the largest number of affiliates, the largest broadcast networks remain the traditional Big Three Television Networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC). Many other large networks exist, however, notably Fox, UPN, and the WB. PBS re-directs here; for alternate uses see PBS (disambiguation) PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ... The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional broadcast (over the air) TV networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC. NBC and CBS were founded as radio networks in the 1930s. ... The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox, is a television network in the United States. ... The official logo for UPN. UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) is a television network in the United States, owned by Viacom Inc. ... The WB Television Network is a television network in the United States, founded as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...

Broadcast networks in the United States can be divided into four categories:

• Commercial broadcasting networks (which air English-language programming to a general audience).

• Educational (non-commercial) broadcasting networks (which air English-language programming to an audience for the purpose of learning).

• Religious broadcasting networks.

• Spanish-language broadcasting networks.

Each network sends its signal to many local TV stations across the country. These local stations then air the 'network feed', and 103,000,000 viewers across the country tune in. In the case of the largest networks, the signal is sent to over 200 TV stations. In the case of the smallest networks, the signal may be sent to just a dozen or fewer stations.

Analog over-the-air television channels are numbered 2 through 69, and occupy the following frequencies: Analog television encodes picture information by varying the voltages and/or frequency of the signal. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ...

• 54–88 MHz (Channels 2-6) VHF
• 174–216 MHz (Channels 7-13) VHF
• 470–806 MHz (Channels 14-69) UHF

See list of local television stations in North and Central America. A megahertz (MHz) is one million (106) hertz, a measure of frequency. ... Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m). ... Very high frequency (VHF) is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz (wavelength 10 m) to 300 MHz (wavelength 1 m). ... This article is about the radio frequency. ... United States List of television stations in Alabama List of television stations in Alaska List of television stations in Arizona List of television stations in Arkansas List of television stations in California List of television stations in Colorado List of television stations in Connecticut List of television stations in Delaware...

Table of Broadcast Networks

All of the networks listed below operate a number of terrestrial television stations. In addition, several of these networks are additionally aired on cable and satellite services.

(*) Although ABC, NBC, and CBS were founded prior to 1946, those companies did not begin continuous over the air TV broadcasting until that year. PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ... The ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... The official logo for UPN. UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) is a television network in the United States, owned by Viacom Inc. ... The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox, is a television network in the United States. ... The WB Television Network, casually referred to as The WB, is a television network in the United States, founded as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ... i: Independent Television, or simply i, is a broadcast and cable television network first broadcast on August 31, 1998 under the name PAX. The network is primarily owned by Paxson Communications, although NBC Universal also has a 32% share. ... America One is a minor over-the-air television network in the United States. ... Urban America Television is a minor over-the-air television broadcast network in the United States. ... The Trinity Broadcasting Network, or TBN, is the worlds largest Christian television network, with a larger U.S. viewership than its three main competitor networks combined. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) is a broadcast ministry related to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. ...

(**) Although founded in 1970, the Cornerstone Television Network did not begin even limited broadcasts until 1979.

(***) Though the company was founded prior to 1993, the Unity Broadcasting Network operated just one O&O station and had no affiliates. In 1993, the company added 3 additional low-power stations and became a "network."

(****) Date at which WHTV acquired two additional stations.

English-language American commercial over-the-air television networks

• America One (a successor to Channel America) A small network comprised of 76 local stations, A1 airs many old films and a few original shows.
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (formerly NBC Blue) The nation's third-largest commercial network, ABC has over 200 affiliate stations and airs original programming seven days a week.
• NBC (originally National Broadcasting Company) (formerly NBC Red) The nation's largest commercial network, NBC has over 200 affiliate stations and airs original programming seven days a week.
• CBS (originally Columbia Broadcasting System) The nation's second-largest commercial network, CBS has over 200 affiliate stations and airs original programming seven days a week. CBS's audience is composed primarily of older viewers.
• Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox) The nation's fourth-largest commercial network, Fox has nearly 200 affiliate stations and airs original programming seven days a week. Fox broadcasts to a younger audience than the "Big Three".
• Omni Broadcasting Network (OBN) A very small network composed of low-power TV stations in around 20 areas.
• i A mid-sized network which airs original family-oriented programming a few days a week. i's affiliates number roughly around 100.
• The WB Television Network (WB) A mid-sized network, the WB airs original programming most of the week. It has around 150 affiliate stations, and broadcasts to a mainly teenaged audience.
• Urban America Television (UATV) (a successor to the American Independent Network, AIN) A small network with 60 affiliate stations, UAT airs original programming mixed with old films.
• UPN (originally Paramount Television Service and United Paramount Network) A mid-sized network, UPN broadcasts to a younger audience. The network has over 150 affiliate stations.

...additionally, several of the cable-oriented theme channels (e.g. music or shopping channels) have obtained broadcast clearances, usually on low-power stations, in many markets. Among these are Home Shopping Network or HSN, and ShopNBC. A television network is a distribution network for television content whereby a central operation provides programming for many television stations. ... America One is a minor over-the-air television network in the United States. ... Channel America was the first United States terrestrial broadcast television network to be intentionally assembled out of LPTV, or low-power television licensees, in the early- and mid-1980s. ... The ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American radio and television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... The Fox Broadcasting Company, usually referred to as just Fox, is a television network in the United States. ... i: Independent Television, or simply i, is a broadcast and cable television network first broadcast on August 31, 1998 under the name PAX. The network is primarily owned by Paxson Communications, although NBC Universal also has a 32% share. ... The WB Television Network, casually referred to as The WB, is a television network in the United States, founded as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ... Urban America Television is a minor over-the-air television broadcast network in the United States. ... The official logo for UPN. UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) is a television network in the United States, owned by Viacom Inc. ... The Home Shopping Network (HSN) is a mostly 24-hour shopping network that is seen on pay-cable, satellite, and selected broadcast channels in the USA. History Launched by Lowell Bud Paxson and Roy Spear in 1982 as the Home Shopping Club, a regional cable channel, and expanded into the... ShopNBC is a cable shopping network, owned by NBC Universal. ...

The WB, UPN and i are sometimes called "netlets" because they do not currently have the affiliate reach of the larger networks. UATV and America-1 are even smaller networks, many of whose affiliates take their program offers out of pattern, which is to say they schedule them at their own convenience. Several of the religious broadcasting networks also have out-of-pattern clearance arrangement with their broadcast affiliates, notably FamilyNet, Trinity Broadcasting Network, and World Harvest Television. And, of course, the Public Broadcasting Service also allows its member stations to run their programs out of pattern. The Trinity Broadcasting Network, or TBN, is the worlds largest Christian television network, with a larger U.S. viewership than its three main competitor networks combined. ... PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ...

Nicknames of major American networks are as follows:

• ABC: "Alphabet network"
• NBC: "Peacock network" (after the network's peacock logo)
• CBS: "Tiffany network" or "Eye network" (for the network's high-toned reputation and eye logo, respectively)
• WB: "Frog network" (after network mascot Michigan J. Frog)

The ABC Circle logo, designed by Paul Rand in 1962. ... The National Broadcasting Company or NBC is an American television broadcasting company based in New York Citys Rockefeller Center. ... Peacock re-directs here; for alternate uses see Peacock (disambiguation). ... CBSs first color logo, which debuted in the fall of 1965. ... The WB Television Network, casually referred to as The WB, is a television network in the United States, founded as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ... Michigan J. Frog is an animated cartoon character who first debuted in the Looney Tunes cartoon One Froggy Evening (1955). ...

Non-English language American commercial over-the-air television networks

• Azteca America (AZT) (Spanish language network)

• ImaginAsian (Asian-oriented network)

• TeleFutura (TFT) (Spanish language network)

• Telemundo (TDO) (Spanish language network)

• Univisión (UVN) (Spanish language network)

TV Azteca is a Mexican television network. ... ImaginAsian is a television network that premiered in 2004 and which focuses on entertainment featuring people of East Asian and South Asian descent. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

American non-commercial television networks

Public/cultural/educational noncommercial

• Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) (the largest public broadcasting network, somewhat decentralized, in the U.S.) PBS also has 24-hour/7-day program feeds that some broadcast (both analog and digital) stations affiliate with, for some or all of their dayparts: PBS-X (which has Eastern and Pacific Time feeds, and was originally conceived as a cable channel for areas not served by PBS stations), PBS-XD (created for carriage on home satellite services, such as DirecTV and Dish Network, with primetime programming largely delayed by one day so as not to compete too directly with local PBS affiliates), PBS YOU or "Your Own University" (devoted largely to adult education, crafts, and public-affairs programming), PBS KIDS (devoted to PBS's very popular children's programming), and PBS DT2, PBS's HDTV feed of high-definition and letterboxed standard-definition programming.

• Annenberg/CPB Channel A 24-hour/7-day feed of mostly adult-educational programming that is offered to broadcast stations and cable systems for carriage; many of the broadcast affiliates play its programming in overnights. It shares some programming with PBS YOU

• Deutsche Welle (DW TV) A German noncommercial television service which provides some English-language news programming to public broadcasting stations, and whose programming feed can be seen on a small number of independent public-broadcasting stations for part of their broadcast day.

PBS logo The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is a non-profit public broadcasting television service with 349 member TV stations in the United States. ... Public broadcasting (also known as public service broadcasting or PSB) is the dominant form of broadcasting around the world, where radio, television, and potentially other electronic media outlets receive funding from the public. ... PBS-X (also known as PBS Schedule X or PBS-Xtra) is 24-hour alternate network from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) that provides a mixed variety of programming selected from PBS regular network service. ... DirecTV is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that broadcasts digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States and the rest of the Americas. ... The Dish Network is a direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service that broadcasts digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, owned by Echostar Communications Corporation. ... High-definition television (HDTV) means broadcast of television signals with a higher resolution than traditional formats (NTSC, SECAM, PAL) allow. ... This article is about wide video formats. ... The new Deutsche Welle building in Bonn Deutsche Welle or DW is the international broadcaster of Germany, utilising shortwave and satellite for radio and television broadcasts. ...

Religious

• Cornerstone Television

• Daystar Television Network

• FamilyNet

• Golden Eagle Broadcasting (Oral Roberts University)

• Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) (ecumenical Christian)

• 3 Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN) (Seventh-day Adventist)

• Total Living Network (TLN)

• Unity Network (5 low-power stations)

• World Harvest Television (WHT)

The Daystar Television Network is a small broadcast and cable television network in the United States. ... The Avenue of Flags at the main entrance to campus Oral Roberts University or ORU, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, is the largest charismatic Christian university in the world. ... The Trinity Broadcasting Network, or TBN, is the worlds largest Christian television network, with a larger U.S. viewership than its three main competitor networks combined. ... The word ecumenical comes from a Greek word that means pertaining to the whole world. ... The Seventh-day Adventist Church, or SDA for short, is an evangelical Christian denomination that grew out of the prophetic Millerite movement in the United States during the middle part of the 19th century. ...

Defunct American television networks

• American Independent Network - commercial network, predecessor to UATV

• DuMont Television Network - commercial network, 1946–1956

• Hughes Television Network (HTN) - Started by billionaire Howard Hughes - Active in the '60s and '70s.

• National Educational Television (NET) - Educational network, 1952–1969, predecessor to PBS

• Overmyer Network - commercial network, 1967; also the United Network, not to be confused with UPN.

• Spanish International Network (SIN) - non-English language commercial network, 1961–1986, predecessor to Univisión

• Channel America - first commercial network intentionally made up of low-power stations, a model for Pax and AIN/UATV, and the predecessor of America One.

• TVS Television Network

The DuMont Television Network was the first licensed American television network, beginning operation in 1946 and predating CBS, NBC, and ABC as networks. ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1956 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An American television network, created by billionaire Howard Hughes. ... Howard Hughes standing in front of a Boeing Army Pursuit Plane, Inglewood, California, 1940s. ... National Educational Television (NET) was an educational television network in the USA from 1952 until 1969. ... 1952 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... The Overmyer Network was the product of a failed attempt to create a fourth national television network in the United States. ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1961 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1986 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Channel America was the first United States terrestrial broadcast television network to be intentionally assembled out of LPTV, or low-power television licensees, in the early- and mid-1980s. ... The TVS Television Network was one of several occasional national television networks that sprang up in the early 1960s to take advantage of the establishment of independent (mostly UHF) television stations and relaxation of the AT&T long line usage rates. ...

See also

• Lists of television channels
• Television in the United States
• List of United States cable and satellite television networks
• List of television stations in the U.S. by call sign (initial letter K)
• List of television stations in the U.S. by call sign (initial letter W)