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In the television industry (especially in North America), an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as O&O) usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate, whose ownership lies elsewhere other than the network it is linked to.

For example: in the Boston television market, WBZ-TV carries CBS programming, and is owned by the CBS network. As such, WBZ-TV is an O&O. On the other hand, WCVB-TV and WHDH-TV carry ABC and NBC programming respectively, but neither is owned by its parent network. As such, these two stations are considered regular affiliates.

The concept of O&O is more clearly defined in North America (and to some extent, several other countries such as Australia and Brazil), where network-owned stations had historically been the exception rather than the rule. In other parts of the world, many television networks have traditionally been mostly (or entirely) composed of O&Os, rendering a separate notion for such a concept redundant.

Usage

In the broadcasting industry the term owned-and-operated station, or commonly O&O, exclusively refers only to stations that are owned by television and radio networks. The term affiliate only applies to stations that are not owned by networks but are contracted to air programming from one of the major networks. While in fact there may be an affiliation agreement between a network and an owned-and-operated station (as suggested under "Ownership Info" on the FCC TV Query search for WABC-TV), this is not necessarily required, and may simply be a legal technicality formalizing the relationship of separate entities under the same parent company. In any event, this does not prevent a network from effectively dictating an O&O station's practices outside the scope of a normal affiliation agreement; for instance, network programming is very rarely preempted by O&Os, despite individual affiliates' rights to do so.

The term station correctly applies to the ownership of the station. For example, a station owned and operated by the ABC network is referred to as an ABC station or an ABC O&O but normally should not be referred to as an affiliate. A station not owned by ABC but contracted to air ABC’s programming is correctly referred to as an ABC affiliate; that is, the station is affiliated with ABC.

However, informally or for promotional purposes, affiliated stations (or non-O&Os) are sometimes referred to as a network station, as in “WJLA is an ABC station” even though that ABC affiliate is owned by Allbritton Communications Company. Correct formal phrasing could be, "ABC affiliate WJLA is an Allbritton station." Similarly, one may informally refer to "ABC affiliates" in regards to all stations that air ABC programming, or to "the ABC affiliation" in regards to the transfer of rights to ABC programming from an affiliate to an O&O.

Some stations that are owned by networks but air another network’s programming are referred to as an affiliate of the network they air. WWOR in New York is owned by the Fox network's parent company but airs the UPN television network. It is a UPN affiliate. With the expected Fall 2006 shutdown of UPN, however, WWOR will air in its place My Network TV, the new network owned by Fox, therefore, WWOR will be a My Network TV O&O.

The stations airing The WB television network are another exception. The ownership of The WB is shared between Warner Bros. (a subsidiary of Time Warner) and the Tribune Company. While Tribune owned stations such as WGN-TV Chicago, WPIX-TV New York and KTLA-TV Los Angeles air The WB they do not fit the standard definition of an O&O but are sometimes referred to as WB O&Os. A similar exception existed when the UPN network launched in 1996 by co-owners Chris-Craft and Viacom. Each of the companies owned a number of stations that aired the network. However, the stations were also not considered O&Os under the initial standard definition. This ambiguity ended with Viacom's buyout of Chris-Craft's share of the network in 2000, which came not long after its merger with CBS. The stations were referred to informally as UPN O&Os. Chris-Craft sold its stations to Fox.

Under the merger of the UPN and The WB networks, the new CW Television Network is to be co-owned by CBS Corporation (current owner of UPN) and Warner Bros. Entertainment. The network will launch in September 2006 on most UPN stations owned by CBS Corporation and Tribune has exchanged its ownership of The WB for affiliation on most of its stations with the new CW network. Certain UPN/WB affiliates in markets with both Tribune and CBS ownership are tentatively scheduled to become independents. The CBS-owned stations that will carry the network may be referred to as CW O&Os.

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 markets, which consisted of more households, which then translated into 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-1986, the major network O&O's were distributed as followed: ABC, CBS, and NBC each had O&O's in the top 3 (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago) markets, and each network had 2 O&O's 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.

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 still 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 #56; 2005-06), WJRT in Flint, Michigan (market #65; 2005-06) and WTVG in Toledo, Ohio (market #70; 2005-06) are ABC O&Os, while WFRV in Green Bay, Wisconsin (market #69; 2005-06) is a CBS O&O. Market 70 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 essentially a satellite of WOFL, located in Orlando, market 20.)

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 "i" network to own stations that cover much more of the country then they normally 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.

In Canada, due to the population being concentrated to fewer urban centers, as well as more lenient policies regarding media ownership (for example, an ownership cap on TV stations does not exist, except for within one DMA), many television stations have become (or gone on air as) O&Os. The Global Television Network, for instance, currently consists solely of O&Os. (The only exception is CJON in St. John’s, which carries Global programming, although it is nominally an independent station.)

In Australia, Seven Network and Network Ten own and operate their stations in the five largest metropolitan areas (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide), which together account for about half of the country's population.

Branding

A network’s O&Os often share similar branding elements among themselves, reinforcing their common identity as stations owned by the same network. This kind of sharing may also present some savings to the parent network (ie. the owner), as its O&Os can use the same graphics and music rather than to each commission its own branding package. Examples include the circle 7 logo (originally designed in the early 1960's for ABC’s aforementioned O&Os, all of which broadcast on channel 7 at the time), the “I Love Chicago, Chicago My Home” musical signature (originally used by WBBM-TV, later spread to other CBS O&Os), and the "CBS Mandate" (a set of branding guidelines currently used at several CBS O&Os).

Currently, other television station groups (e.g. Hearst-Argyle) also implement common branding packages among its stations. Some of the branding elements originally found only at the O&Os are now used by regular affiliates as well (eg. the aforementioned circle 7 logo). Nonetheless, such practices and elements can still be traced back to the O&Os, which represented the earliest television station groups under common ownership, before the emergence and proliferation of nationwide station ownership groups in the subsequent decades.

Ties to the networks

Positions at network O&Os are frequently sought after by those who wish to eventually work for a television network. Indeed, many O&Os have served as a stepping stone for television personalities at their parent networks. For example, Matt Lauer and Al Roker worked for NBC's flagship O&O in New York City, WNBC-TV, before becoming hosts on The Today Show (Due to their proximity to network studios and offices, a number of personalities at New York radio and TV stations have done assignments for both a station and a parent network at the same time.)

Whether or not one gets a job at a network obviously depends on one's abilities, and working at an O&O does not guarantee a network job down the line; however, the personality does potentially receive additional exposure to the network.

Personalities at the O&Os also occasionally take on duties at the network level alongside their existing capacities at the local level. For example, several local anchors at CTV's O&Os have filled in for Lloyd Robertson in the past on the network's national newscast; and weathercasters from CTV's Toronto and Vancouver O&Os (CFTO and CIVT, respectively) present the weather segments on CTV Newsnet.

UHF vs. VHF

Early development

In the early days of American television, it was not uncommon for a network to have at least one or two UHF O&Os. However, the FCC did not require new television sets to be equipped with UHF tuners until 1964. In such circumstances, the network typically underperformed in markets where it had UHF O&Os, and figured it was better to have its programming on a VHF station with an easily receivable signal, even if it was merely an affiliate. The network would sell or even shut down its UHF O&O once it had arranged an affiliation agreement with a VHF station in the same market.

For example, in 1955, CBS bought UHF stations WGTH-TV channel 18 in Hartford and WOKY-TV channel 19 in Milwaukee, 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 (now WFSB) 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.)

Similarly, NBC bought WBUF-TV channel 17 in Buffalo, New York in 1955 and WKNB-TV channel 30 in Hartford in 1957, and changed WKNB's call letters to WNBC-TV. (Present-day WNBC in New York City used the WRCA-TV calls 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 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 managed to retain its NBC affiliation, unlike the CBS stations), 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.

1980s and beyond

With the spread of UHF tuners and (in particular) cable television, the technical problems which plagued early UHF television stations had largely disappeared by the 1980s. Despite that, in many television markets, UHF stations continued to carry a sort of stigma with them, and VHF stations continued to receive higher ratings, often simply by virtue of viewer loyalty. As such, the "Big 3" 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. It should be noted that Fresno is an all UHF market, the highest ranking such market

As many VHF stations in the United States were already affiliated with one of the Big 3 networks, the Fox network had little choice but to affiliate with UHF stations in most markets upon its launch in 1986. The network even had UHF O&Os in markets like Chicago (WFLD/32), Houston (KRIV/26) and Dallas (KDAF/33; now a WB 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. 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, eg. 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-TV 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, is currently the only CBS O&O without a local news presence. 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 an 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. Some, such as Univision and i, even have mostly UHF O&Os.

Ownership and network changes

In general, an O&O is very unlikely to experience changes in its ownership, since it is often a significant source of revenue for its owner; and since its owner is also its parent network, the chances for an O&O to ever switch networks are also rather low.

However, in instances where the network finds an O&O no longer financially viable, it may choose to sell the station to a new owner (as was the case with the aforementioned early UHF O&Os). Even profitable O&Os might be sold off, often as a result (or in anticipation) of mergers and corporate deals. In addition, a network might decide to sell some of its O&Os and use the money raised to (at least temporarily) alleviate financial problems. Depending on the new owner, the station might continue to carry programming from the same network, affiliate with another network, or even become another network's O&O.

The following are examples of transactions involving O&Os:

United States

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.

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.

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 the station was sold to Multimedia, Inc. (which later merged with Gannett).

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 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. 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. June 26 2006, Media General closed on all four stations. [http://www.mediageneral.com/press/2006/june26_06.htm" target="_blank" >*

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.

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. Both KDAF and WATL are now WB affiliates owned by Tribune; however, Gannett is purchasing WATL from Tribune, pending regulatory approval.

UPN
As aforementioned, UPN stations formerly owned by Chris-Craft and those currently owned by CBS Corp. are sometimes considered O&Os, and several transactions in the past 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 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&O's 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 will become O&O's of Fox's new network My Network TV, as UPN and The WB will merge into The CW, and Fox announced none of their UPN stations would join The CW. In fact, Chris-Craft's former NYC station, WWOR-TV, will be the second area station to have been an O&O of 2 major networks (after sister WNYW), and its former LA station, KCOP, will be the first (second if counting KTLA) station in its area to be O&O'ed by 2 networks.

Other networks

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.

Complete list of stations that have been O&O's of more than one major network
this includes future O&O's, 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 ant 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 current UPN O&O's that will join the CW
*These stations were considered DuMont O&O's by the FCC, whether one can count these stations is questionable

Canada

  • Vancouver’s CKVU was originally a Global O&O. However, in 2000, its parent company CanWest Global purchased the television stations from the WIC group, which included CHAN-TV in Vancouver and CHEK in Victoria. The CRTC does not allow any single company to own more than two stations in a Canadian television DMA, so Global had to sell one of the stations. It opted to keep CHAN due to its higher ratings and network of rebroadcasters that reaches 97% of British Columbia. CKVU was eventually sold to CHUM Limited, and has since been re-branded as a Citytv station.

Australia

  • Perth's NEW-10 went on the air in 1988 as a Network Ten O&O. However, the station was sold off the next year as the network faced financial problems. The network (under CanWest Global) re-acquired the station in 1995, and NEW-10 has remained a Ten O&O ever since.

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

ABC

CBS

FOX

NBC

References

External links

United States

Canada

Broadcasting | Television terminology

Owned and operated

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Owned-and-operated station".

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