Television broadcaster

Not to be confused withTelevision channelorTelevision station.

"Television broadcasting" redirects here. For the technology, seeBroadcast television systems.

Atelevision broadcasterortelevision networkis atelecommunications networkfor the distribution oftelevision content,where a central operation provides programming to manytelevision stations,pay televisionproviders or, in the United States,multichannel video programming distributors.Until the mid-1980s,broadcast programmingon television in most countries of the world was dominated by a small number ofterrestrial networks.Many early television networks such as theBBC,CBS,CBC,NBCor ABCin the USandin Australiaevolved from earlier radio networks.

Overview

In countries where most networks broadcast identical, centrally originated content to all of their stations, and where most individualtelevision transmitterstherefore operate only as large "repeater stations",the terms" television network ","television channel"(a numeric identifier orradio frequency) and "television station" have become mostly interchangeable in everyday language, with professionals in television-related occupations continuing to make a differentiation between them. Within the industry, a tiering is sometimes created among groups of networks based on whether their programming is simultaneously originated from a central point, and whether the networkmaster controlhas the technical and administrative capability to take over the programming of theiraffiliatesin real-time when it deems this necessary – the most common example being during nationalbreaking newsevents.

In North America in particular, many television networks available viacableand satellite television are branded as "channels" because they are somewhat different from traditional networks in the sense defined above, as they are singular operations – they have no affiliates or component stations, but instead are distributed to the public via cable ordirect-broadcast satelliteproviders. Such networks are commonly referred to by terms such as "specialty channels"in Canada or"cable networks"in the U.S.

A network may or may not produce all of its own programming. If not,production companies(such asWarner Bros. Television,Universal Television,Sony Pictures TelevisionandTriStar Television) can distribute their content to the various networks, and it is common that a certain production firm may have programs that air on two or more rival networks. Similarly, some networks may import television programs from other countries, or use archived programming to help complement their schedules.

Some stations have the capability to interrupt the network through thelocal insertionof television commercials,station identificationsandemergency alerts.Others completely break away from the network for their own programming, a method known asregional variation.This is common where small networks are members of larger networks. The majority of commercial television stations are self-owned, even though a variety of these instances are the property of an owned-and-operated television network. The commercial television stations can also be linked with anoncommercial educationalbroadcasting agency. Some countries have launched national television networks, so that individual television stations can act as common repeaters of nationwide programs.

On the other hand, television networks also undergo the impending experience of major changes related to cultural varieties. The emergence of cable television has made available in major media markets, programs such as those aimed at American bi-cultural Latinos. Such a diverse captive audience presents an occasion for the networks and affiliates to advertise the best programming that needs to be aired.

This is explained by author Tim P. Vos in his abstractA Cultural Explanation of Early Broadcast,where he determines targeted group/non-targeted group representations as well as the cultural specificity employed in the television network entity. Vos notes that policymakers did not expressly intend to create a broadcast order dominated by commercial networks. In fact, legislative attempts were made to limit the network's preferred position.

As to individual stations, modernnetwork operations centersusually usebroadcast automationto handle most tasks. These systems are not only used forprogrammingand forvideo serverplayout,but use exactatomic timefromGlobal Positioning Systemsor other sources to maintain perfectsynchronizationwith upstream and downstream systems, so that programming appears seamless to viewers.

Global

A major international television broadcaster is the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), which is perhaps most-well known for its news agencyBBC News.Owned bythe Crown,the BBC funds itself in two ways. UK services branded under BBC are funded by thetelevision licensepaid by British residents, as a result no advertising appears on these services. The advertising-funded arm (BBC Studios) employs 23,000 people worldwide including the operation of broadcasterUKTVin the UK itself. Experimental television broadcasts were started in 1929, using an electromechanical 30-line system developed byJohn Logie Baird.Limited regular broadcasts using this system began in 1934 andan expanded service(now known asBBC Television) started fromAlexandra Palacein November 1936.

United States

See also:List of United States over-the-air television networks

Television in the United Stateshad long been dominated by theBig Three television networks,theAmerican Broadcasting Company(ABC),CBS(formerly the Columbia Broadcasting System) and the National Broadcasting Company (NBC); however, theFox Broadcasting Company(Fox), which launched in October 1986, has gained prominence and is now considered part of the "Big Four". The Big Three provide a significant number of programs to each of their affiliates, includingnewscasts,prime time,daytimeandsportsprogramming, but still reserve periods during each day where their affiliate can airlocal programming,such as local news orsyndicated programs.Since the creation of Fox, the number of American television networks has increased, though the amount of programming they provide is often much less: for example,The CWonly provides fifteen hours of primetime programming each week (along with three hours on Saturdays), whileMyNetworkTVonly provides ten hours of primetime programming each week, leaving their affiliates to fill time periods where network programs are not broadcast with a large amount of syndicated programming. Other networks are dedicated to specialized programming, such asreligiouscontent or programs presented in languages other than English, particularly Spanish.

The largest television network in the United States, however, is the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), a non-profit, publicly owned,non-commercial educationalservice. In comparison to thecommercial televisionnetworks, there is no central unified arm of broadcast programming, meaning that each PBSmember stationhas a significant amount of freedom to schedule television shows as they consent to. Some public television outlets, such as PBS, carry separatedigital subchannelnetworks through their member stations (for example,Georgia Public Broadcasting;in fact, some programs airing on PBS were branded on other channels as coming from GPB Kids andPBS World).

This works as each network sends its signal to many local affiliated television stations across the country. These local stations then carry the "network feed", which can be viewed by millions of households across the country. In such cases, the signal is sent to as many as 200+ stations or as little as just a dozen or fewer stations, depending on the size of the network.

With the adoption ofdigital television,television networks have also been created specifically for distribution on the digital subchannels of television stations (including networks focusing on classic television series and films operated by companies likeWeigel Broadcasting(owners ofMovies!andMe-TV) andNexstar Media Group(owners ofRewind TVandAntenna TV), along with networks focusing on music, sports and other niche programming).

Cableand satellite providers pay the networks a certain rate per subscriber (the highest charge being forESPN,in which cable and satellite providers pay a rate of more than $5.00 per subscriber to ESPN). The providers also handle the sale ofadvertisinginserted at the local level during national programming, in which case the broadcaster and the cable/satellite provider mayshare revenue.Networks that maintain ahome shoppingorinfomercialformat may instead pay the station or cable/satellite provider, in abrokeredcarriage deal. This is especially common withlow-powertelevision stations, and in recent years, even more so for stations that used this revenue stream to finance their conversion to digital broadcasts, which in turn provides them with several additional channels to transmit different programming sources.

History

Television broadcasting in the United States was heavily influenced by radio. Early individual experimental radio stations in the United States began limited operations in the 1910s. In November 1920,Westinghousesigned on "the world's first commercially licensed radio station",KDKAinPittsburgh,Pennsylvania.Other companies built early radio stations in Detroit,Boston,New York City and other areas. Radio stations received permission to transmit throughbroadcast licensesobtained through theFederal Radio Commission(FRC), a government entity that was created in 1926 to regulate the radio industry. With some exceptions, radio stations east of theMississippi Riverreceived officialcall signsbeginning with the letter "W"; those west of the Mississippi were assigned calls beginning with a "K". The number of programs that these early stations aired was often limited, in part due to the expense of program creation. The idea of a network system which would distribute programming to many stations simultaneously, saving each station the expense of creating all of their own programs and expanding the total coverage beyond the limits of a single broadcast signal, was devised.

NBCset up the first permanent coast-to-coast radio network in the United States by 1928, usingdedicated telephone linetechnology. The network physically linked individual radio stations, nearly all of which wereindependentlyowned and operated, in a vast chain, NBC's audio signal thus transmitted from station to station to listeners across the United States. Other companies, includingCBSand theMutual Broadcasting System,soon followed suit, each network signed hundreds of individual stations on as affiliates: stations which agreed to broadcast programs from one of the networks.

As radio prospered throughout the 1920s and 1930s, experimental television stations, which broadcast both an audio and a video signal, began sporadic broadcasts. Licenses for these experimental stations were often granted to experienced radio broadcasters, and thus advances in television technology closely followed breakthroughs in radio technology. As interest in television grew, and as early television stations began regular broadcasts, the idea of networking television signals (sending one station's video and audio signal to outlying stations) was born. However, the signal from an electronic television system, containing much more information than a radio signal, required a broadband transmission medium. Transmission by a nationwide series of radio relay towers would be possible but extremely expensive.

Researchers atAT&TsubsidiaryBell Telephone Laboratoriespatentedcoaxial cablein 1929, primarily as a telephone improvement device. Its high capacity (transmitting 240 telephone calls simultaneously) also made it ideal for long-distance television transmission, where it could handle a frequency band of 1 MHz.German television first demonstrated such an application in 1936 by relaying televised telephone calls fromBerlintoLeipzig,180 km (110 mi) away, by cable.

AT&T laid the firstL-carriercoaxial cable between New York City andPhiladelphia,with automaticsignal booster stationsevery 10 miles (16 km), and in 1937 it experimented with transmitting televised motion pictures over the line.Bell Labs gave demonstrations of the New York–Philadelphia television link in 1940 and 1941. AT&T used the coaxial link to transmit theRepublican National Conventionin June 1940 from Philadelphia to New York City, where it was televised to a few hundred receivers over the NBC station W2XBS (which evolved intoWNBC) as well as seen in Schenectady, New York via W2XB (which evolved intoWRGB) via off-air relay from the New York station.

NBC had earlier demonstrated an inter-city television broadcast on 1 February 1940, from its station in New York City to another inSchenectady,New York byGeneral Electricrelay antennas, and began transmitting some programs on an irregular basis to Philadelphia and Schenectady in 1941. Wartime priorities suspended the manufacture of television and radio equipment for civilian use from 1 April 1942 to 1 October 1945, temporarily shutting down expansion of television networking. However, in 1944 a short film, "Patrolling the Ether",was broadcast simultaneously over three stations as an experiment.

The DuMont Television Network in 1949. DuMont's network of stations stretched from Boston to St. Louis. These stations were linked together via AT&T'scoaxial cablefeed, allowing the network to broadcastlive televisionprogramming to all the stations at the same time. Stations not yet connected receivedkinescoperecordings via physical delivery.

AT&T made its first postwar addition in February 1946, with the completion of a 225-mile (362 km) cable between New York City and Washington, D.C., although a blurry demonstration broadcast showed that it would not be in regular use for several months. TheDuMont Television Network,which had begun experimental broadcasts before the war, launched whatNewsweekcalled "the country's first permanent commercial television network" on 15 August 1946, connecting New York City with Washington.Not to be outdone, NBC launched what it called "the world's first regularly operating television network" on 27 June 1947, serving New York City, Philadelphia, Schenectady and Washington.Baltimoreand Boston were added to the NBC television network in late 1947. DuMont and NBC would be joined by CBS andABCin 1948.

In the 1940s, the term "chain broadcasting" was used when discussing network broadcasts,as the television stations were linked together in long chains along theEast Coast.But as the television networks expanded westward, the interconnected television stations formed major networks of connected affiliate stations. In January 1949, with the sign-on of DuMont'sWDTVin Pittsburgh, theMidwestandEast Coastnetworks were finally connected by coaxial cable (with WDTV airing the best shows from all four networks).By 1951, the four networks stretched from coast to coast, carried on the newmicrowave radio relaynetwork ofAT&T Long Lines.Only a few local television stations remainedindependentof the networks.

Each of the four major television networks originally only broadcast a few hours of programs a week to their affiliate stations, mostly between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m.Eastern Time,when most viewers were watching television. Most of the programs broadcast by the television stations were still locally produced. As the networks increased the number of programs that they aired, however, officials at theFederal Communications Commission(FCC) grew concerned that local television might disappear altogether. Eventually, the federal regulator enacted thePrime Time Access Rule,which restricted the amount of time that the networks could air programs; officials hoped that the rules would foster the development of quality local programs, but in practice, most local stations did not want to bear the burden of producing many of their own programs, and instead chose to purchase programs from independent producers. Sales of television programs to individual local stations are done through a method called "broadcast syndication", and today nearly every television station in the United States obtains syndicated programs in addition to network-produced fare.

Late in the 20th century, cross-country microwave radio relays were replaced by fixed-service satellites. Some terrestrial radio relays remained in service for regional connections.

After the failure and shutdown of DuMont in 1956, several attempts at new networks were made between the 1950s and the 1970s, with little success. TheFox Broadcasting Company,founded by theRupert Murdoch-ownedNews Corporation(now owned byFox Corporation), was launched on 9 October 1986 after the company purchased the television assets ofMetromedia;it would eventually ascend to the status of thefourth major networkby 1994. Two other networks launched within a week of one another in January 1995:The WBTelevision Network, a joint venture betweenTime Warnerand theTribune Company,and the United Paramount Network (UPN), formed through a programming alliance betweenChris-Craft IndustriesandParamount Television(whose parent,Viacom,would later acquire half and later all of the network over the course of its existence). In September 2006,The CWwas launched as a "merger" of The WB and UPN (in actuality, a consolidation of each respective network's higher-rated programs onto one schedule);MyNetworkTV,a network formed from affiliates of UPN and The WB that did not affiliate with The CW, launched at the same time.

Regulation

FCC regulations in the United States restricted thenumber of television stations that could be owned by any one network, company or individual.This led to a system where most local television stations were independently owned, but received programming from the network through afranchisingcontract, except in a few major cities that hadowned-and-operated stations(O&O) of a network and independent stations. In the early days of television, when there were often only one or two stations broadcasting in a given market, the stations were usually affiliated with multiple networks and were able to choose which programs would air. Eventually, as more stations were licensed, it became common for each station to be exclusively affiliated with only one network and carry all of the "prime-time" programs that the network offered. Local stations occasionally break from regularly scheduled network programming however, especially when abreaking newsorsevere weathersituation occurs in the viewing area. Moreover, when stations return to network programming fromcommercial breaks,station identifications are displayed in the first few seconds before switching to the network's logo.

Canada

Main articles:Television systemandTelevision in Canada

A number of different definitions of "network" are used by government agencies, industry, and the general public. Under theBroadcasting Act,a network is defined as "any operation where control over all or any part of the programs or program schedules of one or more broadcasting undertakings is delegated to another undertaking or person",and must be licensed by theCanadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission(CRTC).

Only three national over-the-air television networks are currently licensed by the CRTC: government-ownedCBC Television(English) andIci Radio-Canada Télé(French), French-language private networkTVA,andAPTN,a network focused onIndigenous peoples in Canada.A third French-language service,Noovo(formerly V), is licensed as a provincial network withinQuebec,but is not licensed or locally distributed (outside of carriage on thedigital tiersof pay television providers) on a national basis.

Currently, licensed national or provincial networks must be carried by all cable providers (in the country or province, respectively) with a service area above a certain population threshold, as well as all satellite providers. However, they are no longer necessarily expected to achieve over-the-air coverage in all areas (APTN, for example, only has terrestrial coverage in parts of northern Canada).

In addition to these licensed networks, the two main private English-language over-the-air services,CTVandGlobal,are also generally considered to be "networks" by virtue of their national coverage, although they are not officially licensed as such. CTV was previously a licensed network, but relinquished this license in 2001 after acquiring most of its affiliates, making operating a network license essentially redundant (per the above definition).

Smaller groups of stations with common branding are often categorized by industry watchers astelevision systems,although the public and the broadcasters themselves will often refer to them as "networks" regardless. Some of these systems, such asCTV 2and the now-defunctE!,essentially operate as mini-networks, but have reduced geographical coverage. Others, such asOmni Televisionor theCrossroads Television System,have similar branding and a common programming focus, but schedules may vary significantly from one station to the next.Citytvoriginally began operating as a television system in 2002 whenCKVU-TVin Vancouver started to carry programs originating fromCITY-TVin Toronto and adopted that station's "Citytv" branding, but gradually became a network by virtue of national coverage through expansions into other markets west ofAtlantic Canadabetween 2005 and 2013.

Most local television stations in Canada are now owned and operated directly by their network, with only a small number of stations still operating as affiliates.

Europe, Asia, Africa and South America

Most television services outside North America are national networks established by a combination of publicly funded broadcasters and commercial broadcasters.Most nations established television networks in a similar way: the first television service in each country was operated by apublic broadcaster,often funded by a television licensing fee, and most of them later established a second or even third station providing a greater variety of content. Commercial television services also became available when private companies applied for television broadcasting licenses. Often, each new network would be identified with their channel number, so that individual stations would often be numbered "One", "Two", "Three" and so forth.

United Kingdom

See also:Television in the United Kingdom

The first television network in the United Kingdom was operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). On 2 November 1936 the BBC opened the world's first regular high-definition television service, from a 405 lines transmitter at Alexandra Palace. The BBC remained dominant until eventually on 22 September 1955, commercial broadcasting was established to create a second television network. Rather than creating a single network with local channels owned and operated by a single company (as is the case with the BBC), each local area had a separate television channel that was independently owned and operated, although most of these channels shared a number of programmes, particularly during peak evening viewing hours. These channels formed theITV network.

When the advent ofUHFbroadcasting allowed a greater number of television channels to broadcast, the BBC launched a second channel,BBC 2(with the original service being renamedBBC 1). A second national commercial network was launchedChannel 4,althoughWalesinstead introduced a Welsh-language service,S4C.These were later followed by the launch of a third commercial network,Channel 5.Since the introduction of digital television, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 each introduced a number of digital-only channels.Skyoperates a large number of channels, as doesUKTV.

Sweden

Sweden had only one television network from 1956 until the early-1990s: the public broadcasterSveriges Television(SVT). Commercial companies such asModern Times Group,TV4,Viasat,andSBS Discoveryhave established TV networks since the 1980s although they initially aired exclusively on satellite. In 1991, TV4 became Sweden's first commercial television network to air terrestrially. Most television programming in Sweden is centralised except for local news updates that air onSVT2and TV4.

Netherlands

Until 1989,Netherlands Public Broadcastingwas the only television network in the Netherlands, with three stations,Nederland 1,Nederland 2andNederland 3.Rather than having a single production arm, there are a number of public broadcasting organizations that create programming for each of the three stations, each working relatively independently. Commercial broadcasting in the Netherlands is currently operated by two networks,RTL NederlandandSBS Broadcasting,which together broadcast seven commercial stations.

Russia

See also:Television in Russia

Soviet era

The first television network in theSoviet Unionlaunched on 7 July 1938 when Petersburg – Channel 5 of Leningrad Television became a unionwide network. The second television network in theSoviet Unionlaunched on 22 March 1951 when Channel One of USSR Central Television became a unionwide network. Until 1989, there were six television networks, all owned by the USSR Gosteleradio. This changed duringMikhail Gorbachev'sPerestroikaprogram, when the first independent television network,2×2,was launched.

1990s

Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, USSR Gosteleradio ceased to exist as well as its six networks. Only Channel One had a smooth transition and survived as a network, becomingOstankino Channel One.The other five networks were operated by Ground Zero. This free airwave space allowed many private television networks likeNTVandTV-6to launch in the mid-1990s.

2000s

The 2000s were marked by the increased state intervention in Russian television. On 14 April 2001 NTV experienced management changes following the expulsion of formeroligarchand NTV founderVladimir Gusinsky.As a result, most of the prominent reporters featured on NTV left the network. Later on 22 January 2002, the second largest private television networkTV-6,where the former NTV staff took refuge, was shut down allegedly because of its editorial policy. Five months later on 1 June,TVSwas launched, mostly employing NTV/TV-6 staff, only to cease operations the following year. Since then, the four largest television networks (Channel One, Russia 1, NTV and Russia 2) have been state-owned.

Still, the 2000s saw a rise of several independent television networks such asREN(its coverage increased vastly allowing it to become a federal network), Petersburg – Channel Five (overall the same), the relaunched2×2.The Russian television market is mainly shared today by five major companies: Channel One, Russia 1, NTV, TNT and CTC.

Brazil

See also:Television in Brazil

The major commercial television network in Brazil isRede Globo,which was founded in 1965. It grew to become the largest and most successful media conglomerate in the country, having a dominating presence in various forms of media including television, radio, print (newspapers and magazines) and the Internet.

Other networks includeRede Bandeirantes,RecordTV,SBT,RedeTV!,TV Cultura,andTV Brasil.

Australia

See also:Television in Australia

Australia has two national public networks,ABC TelevisionandSBS.The ABC operates eight stations as part of its main networkABC TV,one for eachstateand territory, as well as three digital-only networks,ABC Kids/ABC TV Plus,ABC MeandABC News.SBS currently operates six stations,SBS,SBS Viceland,SBS World Movies,SBS Food,NITVandSBS WorldWatch.

The first commercial networks in Australia involved commercial stations that shared programming inSydney,Melbourne,Brisbane,Adelaideand laterPerth,with each network forming networks based on their allocated channel numbers:TCN-9in Sydney,GTV-9in Melbourne,QTQ-9in Brisbane,NWS-9in Adelaide andSTW-9in Perth together formed theNine Network;while their equivalents onVHFchannels 7 and 10 respectively formed theSeven NetworkandNetwork 10.Until 1989, areas outside these main cities had access to only a single commercial station, and these rural stations often formed small networks such asPrime Television.Beginning in 1989, however, television markets in rural areas began to aggregate, allowing these rural networks to broadcast over a larger area, often an entire state, and become full-time affiliates to one specific metropolitan network.

As well as thesefree-to-airchannels, there are others on Australia'sPay televisionnetworkFoxtel.

New Zealand

See also:Television in New Zealand

New Zealand has one public network,Television New Zealand(TVNZ), which consists of two main networks:TVNZ 1is the network's flagship network which carries news, current affairs and sports programming as well as the majority of the locally produced shows broadcast by TVNZ and imported shows. TVNZ's second network,TV2,airs mostly imported shows with some locally produced programs such asShortland Street.TVNZ also operates a network exclusive to pay television services,TVNZ Heartland,available on providers such asSky.TVNZ previously operated a non-commercial public service network,TVNZ 7,which ceased operations in June 2012 and was replaced by thetimeshift channelTV One Plus 1. The network operated by Television New Zealand has progressed from operating as four distinct local stations within the four main centers in the 1960s, to having the majority of the content produced from TVNZ'sAucklandstudios at present.

New Zealand also has several privately owned television networks with the largest being operated byMediaWorks.MediaWorks' flagship network isTV3,which competes directly with both TVNZ broadcast networks. MediaWorks also operates a second network,FOUR,which airs mostly imported programmes with children's shows airing in the daytime and shows targeted at teenagers and adult between 15 and 39 years of age during prime time. MediaWorks also operates a timeshift network, TV3 + 1, and a 24-hour music network,C4.

All television networks in New Zealand air the same programming across the entire country with the only regional deviations being for local advertising; a regional news service existed in the 1980s, carrying a regional news programme from TVNZ's studios in New Zealand's four largest cities, Auckland,Wellington,ChristchurchandDunedin.

In the 1960s, the service operated at the time by the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation was four separate television stations – AKTV2 in Auckland, WNTV1 in Wellington, CHTV3 in Christchurch and DNTV2 in Dunedin – which each ran their own newscast and produced some in-house programmes, with other shows being shared between the stations. Programmes and news footage were distributed via mail, with a programme airing in one region being mailed to another region for broadcast the following week. A network was finally established in 1969, with the same programmes being relayed to all regions simultaneously. From the 1970s to the 1990s, locally produced programmes that aired on TV One and TV2 were produced out of one of the four main studios, with TVNZ's network hub based in Wellington. Today, most locally produced programmes that are aired by both TVNZ and other networks are not actually produced in-house, instead they are often produced by a third party company (for example, the TV2 programmeShortland Streetis produced bySouth Pacific Pictures). The networks produce their own news and current affairs programs, with most of the content filmed in Auckland.

New Zealand also operates several regional television stations, which are only available in individual markets. The regional stations will typically air a local news programme, produce some shows in-house and cover local sports events; the majority of programming on the regional stations will be imported from various sources.

Philippines

See also:Television in the Philippines

In the Philippines, in practice, the terms "network", "station" and "channel" are used interchangeably as programming lineups are mostly centrally planned from the networks' main offices, and since provincial/regional stations usually just relay the broadcast from theirparentnetwork'sflagshipstation (usually based in theMega Manilaarea). As such, networks made up of VHF stations are sometimes informally referred to by their over-the-air channel number in the Mega Manila area (for example, Channel 4 orKwatroforPeople's Television Network,Channel 2 orDosforABS-CBN,Channel 9 orNueveforRadio Philippines Network,Channel 7 orSiyeteforGMA Network,Channel 13 orTreseforIBCand Channel 5 orSingkoforTV5), while some incorporate their channel numbers in the network's name (for example,TV5,Studio 23andNet 25,which respectively broadcast on VHF channel 5, and UHF channels 23 and 25).

Unlike the United States, where networks receive programmes produced by various production companies, the two largest networks in the Philippines produce all of their prime time programmes. Other networks adopt block-time programming, which uses programming arrangements similar to the relationship between a U.S. network and station.

See also

• Broadcast network
• Cable television in the United States
• Concentration of media ownership
• List of television networks by country
• Holding company
• Skypath
• Television system