Owned-and-operated television stations in the United States

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 (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.

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 in Los Angeles and WBKB (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 1958 to 1986, the major network O&Os were distributed as followed: ABC, CBS, and NBC each owned stations in the top three markets (New York, Los Angeles, 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 WKYC-TV. 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 reach of less than 39% of the country, but cannot own two of the top four 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, O&Os can still be found in smaller markets. For example, KFSN-TV in Fresno, California is an ABC O&O, while KTBC in Austin, Texas is a Fox O&O. While WOGX in Ocala, Florida, is technically a Fox O&O, it is operated out of the studios of WOFL, located in Orlando.

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 the transition to digital TV, the big four networks will lose this UHF discount, although the ownership of their existing stations will be grandfathered in.

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. Hence, 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. (Present-day WNBC in New York City used the WRCA-TV calls from 1954 until 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 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 O&Os; 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 full-power TV 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 3 networks. Hence, 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 station 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. (See Fox affiliate switches of 1994.) Fox then bought out New World Communications in 1997, and those VHF stations (including one in Dallas) became Fox O&Os in the process. The network, however, did acquire more UHF O&Os in subsequent years, e.g. Philadelphia's WTXF/29 (acquired in 1995) and Orlando's WOFL/35 (acquired 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 town before eventually deciding to purchase WGPR-TV channel 62, and changed the station's calls to WWJ-TV in 1995. The station continues to receive low ratings, and after a brief attempt at running an 11pm newscast from 2001 to 2002, was the only CBS O&O without a local news presence until 2009, when a morning newscast produced by the Detroit Free Press premiered. CBS also bought KEYE-TV channel 42 in Austin, Texas from Granite Broadcasting in 2000, five years after the station gained the CBS affiliation from KTBC channel 7, another former New World station which 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 O&O on the UHF dial. Newer networks, such as Univision and ION, 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 O&Os in the US:

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 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. (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.

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-Tacoma from Cox Television, and that company in return getting KIRO-TV from Belo.

The last station CBS purchased was KOVR in Stockton, California. The purchase was announced in December 2004 and closed in May 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, which 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.^[5] As of mid-March 2009, the Four Points Media stations are managed by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group.

CBS also owns two independent stations: KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and KTXA in Fort Worth, Texas. It also owns two MyNetworkTV affiliates, WSBK-TV in Boston and WBFS-TV in Miami.

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 Westinghouse-owned WBZ-TV in Boston. NBC renamed the Philadelphia stations WRCV-AM-TV, while Westinghouse renamed the Cleveland stations KYW-AM-FM-TV. NBC's then-ownership of Philadelphia's channel 3 was cited by CBS when it purchased its then-affiliate WCAU/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 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 1990, when majority control of the station was sold to Multimedia, Inc. (which later merged with Gannett). NBC remained minority owner of WKYC-TV until 1999.

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.^[6] 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.^[7] That sale was finalized on June 26, 2006. WCMH has since become one of two hub facilities for Media General's stations.

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. 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.

One of the last stations NBC purchased was KNTV, based in San Jose, California, which currently serves the entire San Francisco Bay Area. It became a full NBC owned-and-operated station in April 2002. Prior to the purchase, KNTV was owned by Granite Broadcasting and affiliated with ABC for most of its history, while NBC was affiliated with KRON; by 2000, ABC wished for its own longtime San Francisco O&O station, KGO-TV, to exclusively serve the San Jose portion of the viewing area and terminated its 40-year affiliation with KNTV, while KRON, which had recently been sold, declined to maintain its NBC affiliation after 52 years in the wake of a dispute with NBC (which lost a bidding war with new owners Young Broadcasting) over the terms of the affiliation renewal. Soon after, Granite, which was operating KNTV as a WB affiliate after ABC programming left it, offered to pay NBC a then-unheard-of $37 million annually for KNTV 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 the KGO over-the-air signal; KNTV also agreed to transmit at 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.)

ABC

Detroit’s WXYZ 7 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.

Later during the affiliate switches of 1994 ABC bought WTVG in Toledo, Ohio and Flint, Michigan's WJRT in the markets adjacent to Detroit, specifically to keep some fringe suburban coverage of Detroit in case WXYZ/Scripps would attempt to affiliate with another network and leave ABC on a lower-tier station in the market. Though WXYZ did stay with ABC after Scripps agreed to keep WXYZ with ABC in exchange for affiliation deals for other stations in other cities, ABC decided to retain ownership of WTVG and WJRT.

Capital Cities also owned some CBS affiliates and chose to keep them, and affiliate them with ABC. Hence, the earlier-mentioned KFSN/30 and WTVD/11 in Raleigh/Durham, NC. CBS moved to the former ABC affiliates in each market, WRAL-TV/5 in Raleigh/Durham and KGPE/47 in Fresno. WRAL has since become one of CBS's strongest affiliates.

On November 3, 2010, it was reported in Broadcasting & Cable that ABC reached an agreement to sell WJRT and WTVG, its thirty two smallest O&Os, back to former owner SJL Broadcasting, amidst speculation that The Walt Disney Company might spin off ABC.^[8] Both stations were expected retain their ABC affiliations. When the sale was completed, ABC-owned KFSN-TV in Fresno, California (Nielsen DMA #55, 2010-11) would then become the smallest-market O&O of any of the major English-language networks (not counting satellites and semi-satellites). The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. ^[9]

Fox

In 1987, Fox purchased its Boston affiliate, WFXT. Its parent News Corp 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 O&O to this day.

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 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 Partners,^[10] with the sale closing on July 14, 2008. Of those eight former Fox O&Os, WBRC was swapped to Raycom Media on March 31, 2009 for a station in Richmond, Virginia. 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 already own stations in that market which would easily put them over ownership caps, and the only other purchaser which might be interested already owns two stations in Memphis.

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 its former WB O&O's into affiliates of the network. In late March 2008 Tribune announced that San Diego affiliate KSWB-TV would switch its network affiliation to Fox in August of that year. The future status of the CW affiliation in San Diego remained unclear until early July when the network named the soon-to-be-displaced Fox affiliate, Tijuana-licensed XETV, as its new affiliate.

UPN

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, then MyNetworkTV, and now The CW 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.

• Viacom/CBS sold off several UPN O&Os in the network's final five years. Mercury Broadcasting bought Wichita's KSCC (now KMTW) in 2001 (a newly-launched station, LMA'd to Clear Channel Communications at the time, and now to Newport Television), and Houston's KTXH and Washington's WDCA were sold to Fox in the same year (as part of the aforementioned swap with KBHK). In 2005, Indianapolis' WNDY-TV and Columbus' WWHO were sold to LIN TV; Oklahoma City's KAUT was sold to The New York Times Company (who has since sold its entire television group to Local TV), and WUPL in New Orleans was sold to Belo. In September 2006, KTXH and WDCA became My Network TV O&Os.

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.

In June 2010, CBS announced the sale of its Norfolk, Virginia The CW station WGNT to Local TV, the owner of that market's CBS affiliate WTKR (as well as seven of the former Fox O&O stations listed above). This would create the second duopoly operation in that market (the first has been NBC and Fox affiliates WAVY-TV and 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-market station owned by CBS since the Four Points Media group deal. The sale also made WJZ-TV in Baltimore the smallest-market full-service station still owned by CBS.

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, WCWF 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 (however, WBDT and WCWF are in the process of being sold to LIN TV). Two years later (2001), it sold its Little Rock O&O KYPX to Equity Broadcasting, who switched its affiliation to The WB as KWBF. That station is now MyNetworkTV affiliate KARZ-TV, owned by the Nexstar Broadcasting Group (who also controls the former CBS-owned stations now owned by Four Points Media). In 2003, Pax sold its Albuquerque O&O, KAPX, to TeleFutura. That station now broadcasts under the KTFQ callsign. Also, that year, it sold KPXJ in Shreveport to LMA partner KTBS, and that station became a UPN affiliate and like the three stations sold to ACME above, is now a CW affiliate.

Multiple networks

Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV had been a CBS O&O since 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 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/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/6 (now WFOR-TV/4) and the then-stronger NBC-owned WTVJ/4, now on weaker channel 6 under the same calls.

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)
• WJBK Detroit (CBS and FOX)
• WKBD Detroit (FOX, UPN, and The CW)
• WMYD Detroit (The WB 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-TV 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

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

ABC

Chicago: WLS-TV (channel 7) Durham, North Carolina: WTVD (channel 11) Fresno, California: KFSN-TV (channel 30) Houston: KTRK-TV (channel 13) Los Angeles: KABC-TV (channel 7) New York City: WABC-TV (channel 7) Philadelphia: WPVI-TV (channel 6) San Francisco: KGO-TV (channel 7)

CBS

Baltimore: WJZ-TV (channel 13) Boston: WBZ-TV (channel 4) Chicago: WBBM-TV (channel 2) Detroit: WWJ-TV (channel 62) Denver: KCNC-TV (channel 4) Fort Worth: KTVT (channel 11) Los Angeles: KCBS-TV (channel 2) Miami: WFOR-TV (channel 4) Minneapolis: WCCO-TV (channel 4) New York City: WCBS-TV (channel 2) Philadelphia: KYW-TV (channel 3) Pittsburgh: KDKA-TV (channel 2) San Francisco: KPIX (channel 5) Stockton, California: KOVR (channel 13)

Fox

Atlanta: WAGA-TV (channel 5) Austin, Texas: KTBC-TV (channel 7) Boston: WFXT (channel 25) Chicago: WFLD-TV (channel 32) Dallas: KDFW-TV (channel 4) Detroit: WJBK (channel 2) Houston: KRIV (channel 26) Los Angeles: KTTV (channel 11) Memphis: WHBQ-TV (channel 13) Minneapolis: KMSP-TV (channel 9) New York City: WNYW (channel 5) Ocala, Florida: WOGX (channel 51) Orlando: WOFL (channel 35) Philadelphia: WTXF-TV (channel 29) Phoenix: KSAZ-TV (channel 10) Tampa: WTVT (channel 13) Washington, D.C.: WTTG (channel 5)

NBC

Chicago: WMAQ-TV (channel 5) Fort Worth: KXAS-TV (channel 5)1 Los Angeles: KNBC (channel 4) Miami: WTVJ (channel 6) New Britain, Connecticut: WVIT (channel 30) New York City: WNBC (channel 4) Philadelphia: WCAU-TV (channel 10) San Diego: KNSD (channel 39)1 San Jose, California: KNTV (channel 11) Washington, D.C.: WRC-TV (channel 4)

¹76% owned by NBC Universal while 24% owned by LIN Television.

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, CT
5. ^ CBS Corporation Completes Sale of Local TV Stations in Cerberus, CBS press release, January 10, 2008.
6. ^ WCMH put on selling block by NBC, Business First of Columbus, January 9, 2006. Accessed online May 28, 2009.
7. ^ Media General buys 4 stations in $600M deal, Associated Press via St. Petersburg Times, April 7, 2006. Accessed online May 28, 2009.
8. ^ Broadcasting & Cable: "EXCLUSIVE: Disney to Sell Two Stations", November 3, 2010.
9. ^ Exclusive: New GMs For Former ABC O&Os in Flint, Toledo Broadcasting & Cable March 31, 2011
10. ^ 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.

External links

• ABC-owned Television Stations - List of ABC O&Os
• CBS Television Stations - List of CBS and CW O&Os
• NBC Universal: Company Overview - List of NBC and Telemundo O&Os
• Fox Television Stations, Inc. - List of Fox and MyNetwork TV O&Os