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Television  &  Radio  Networks

television & radio networks and producers, A-Z DOMESTIC USA includes: A.B.C.   •   AMC Networks   •   C.B.S.   •   C.N.N.   •   Cookie Jar   •   Current TV   •   E.S.P.N.   •   Fox   •   H.B.O.   •   M.S.N.B.C.   •   MTV, Spike TV & Nickelodeon   •   N.B.C.   •   P.B.S.   •   Sony TV   •   Sundance   •   T.N.T.   •   Turner Networks   •   Univision INTERNATIONAL includes: Al Jazeera    •   B.B.C., ITV & Channel Four   •   Russia Today   •   Telemundo   •   Televisa important dates rankings links

"The only thing high-definition television will do is provide sharper pictures of the garbage."
—  George Carlin [1937-2008]

Old Time Radio Page at Spirit of America Bookstore

Magic Lantern's History of Cinema Pages
Books About Hollywood & Cinema History

Magic Lantern's TV & Radio History Pages
pioneers of radio & TV  •  early TV programs  •  links
important dates  •  old time radio  •  fiction books
music  •  videos & DVDs  •  non-fiction books

Television  &  Radio  Networks  and  Producers
{ in alphabetical order }

Television Network entry at Wikipedia
List of TV Networks by Country at Wikipedia

"The Columbia History of American Television" [2007] by Gary Edgerton Columbia Univ Press 9¾x6¾ pb [3/2009] for $24.75 Columbia Univ Press 10x7¼ hardcover [9/2007] for $50.00

"The Curse of The Mogul: What's Wrong With The World's Leading Media Companies" []
by Jonathan A. Knee, Bruce C. Greenwald, Ava Seave /1591842646/

American  Broadcasting  Corporation
Formed in October 1943 from NBC Radio's Blue Network; first TV broadcast 1948; purchased by
Capitol Cities Communications in 1985; purchased by Disney in February 1996.

Magic Lantern's Disney Studios Page / A.B.C. Section

"Beating The Odds: The Untold Story Behind The Rise of A.B.C. - The Stars, Struggles & Egos That Transformed Network Television" [1991] by Leonard H. Goldenson, with Marvin J. Wolf Scribner hardcover [2/91] out of print/many used

AfroTainment [launched 2011]

official website • entry at Wikipedia

Rainbow Media Holdings, LLC began in 1980 with Bravo Channel and Sports Channel New York; Rainbow started the Playboy Channel in 1982, and later sold its share to Playboy; Rainbow merged with N.B.C. in 1988, N.B.C. reduced its 50% share over time, Rainbow sold Bravo in 2002 to N.B.C. in trade for N.B.C.'s then-20% share; the expanded SportsChannel was merged into Fox Sports Net in 1996; Rainbow Media bought the Sundance Channel in May 2008 for $496M; Cablevision went private in July 2011 by spinning off Rainbow Media as renamed A.M.C. Networks.

official website • entry at Wikipedia

                
Magic Johnson's Aspire TV Network
The Afro-American and family-oriented ASPiRE TV Network launched in late June 2012, beginning with
service on Comcast and Time Warner Cable; the company is owned & managed by basketball star &
businessman Ervin 'Magic' Johnson.

official website • entry at Wikipedia

The Auto Channel
http://www.theautochannel.com

Azteca Amιrica [est. 2001]

official website • entry at Wikipedia

B.E.T. {Black Entertainment Television}
owned by Viacom/Paramount

The Big Ten Network was launched in 8/2007 and covers a range of sports events at the Big Ten Conference
colleges. The network is managed by the Conference and Fox Sports, and in based in Chicago.

official website • entry at Wikipedia

Blue Ant Media, Inc. of Canada
Founded after Michael MacMillan cashed out from Alliance Atlantis Communications in 2007. His first acquisition was GlassBOX Television (brands/channels include AUX, Bite, and Travel+Escape), followed by High Fidelity HDTV (four 'premium' commercial-free high-definition channels – Oasis HD, eqhd, radX, and HIFI). In 2012, Blue Ant agreed to purchase the 'bold' digital TV channel from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Blue Ant Media: official website • entry at Wikipedia
glassBOX TV: official website • entry at Wikipedia
High Fidelity HDTV: official website • entry at Wikipedia

Launched in September 2011, the Bounce TV broadcast network is 'skewed toward Afro-American viewers',
with a 24/7 mix of movies, sports, documentaries and original programming; founders include Martin Luther King III
and Andrew Young; already made deals for content with N.B.C.U. TV, Sony Pictures TV, Image Entertainment
& Codeblack Entertainment; based in Atlanta, Georgia.
Added 7/2012: multi-year contracts with Walt Disney Studios, Miramax, and M.G.M. Domestic Television.

official website • entry at Wikipedia

C.B.C. & Radio Canada

C.B.S. {Columbia Broadcasting System}
Launched on 18 September 1927 with 16 radio stations; launched TV network on 1 July 1941.
official website • entry at Wikipedia

owned by C.B.S.
http://www.simonandschuster.com/
http://www.simonandschuster.com/kids
http://imprints.simonandschuster.biz/simon-spotlight

In April 2013, C.B.S. bought an undefined stake in new TV-streaming company Syncbak, which uses technology to deliver broadcast-TV signals to
tablets & smartphones; not yet launched; other investors include the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Electronics Association.

	"C.B.S.: Reflections In A Bloodshot Eye" [1975] by {C.B.S. historian} Robert Metz Playboy Press mass pb [1975] out of print/many used Penguin/Signet mass pb [8/76] out of print/used Playboy Press 9¼x6¼ hardcover [1975] out of print/used
	"C.B.S.: The First 50 Years" [1998] by Tony Chiu Stoddart 11¾x10 hardcover [5/98] out of print/used

C.N.N. {Cable News Network}
Launched in June 1980

                 
Comedy Central

            
The  Cookie Jar  Group
The Cookie Jar Company was founded in 2004 by Michael Hirsch & Toper Taylor in Toronto, Ontario, Canada to produce & distribute children's television. The Cookie Jar library has 6,000 episodes of children's TV, and they own all or part of D.i.C. Entertainment (comic books) [est. 1971, merged 2008], KidsCo international TV [launched 2007], C.P.L.G. (Copyright Promotions Licensing Group) rights management [est. 1974, purchased 2008], Jaroo free online videos, and other entities. Their stars include "Care Bears", "Gerald McBoing Boing", "Inspector Gadget", "Strawberry Shortcake", "Caillou", "Magi-Nation", "Sonic Hedgehog", and "Spider Riders".

official website • entry at Wikipedia

        

Current TV national cable & satellite channel was founded in May 2004 and launched in August 2005 by Al Gore, Jr. and Joel Hyatt; Comcast owns a 10% share. A short-lived experimental partnership with Yahoo! ran from September to December in 2006. Current TV launched on Dish Network in January 2007, and in Italy via satellite in May 2008. Changes in mid-2009 included hiring Mark Rosenthal (ex-MTV) as CEO and altering the content format. After Keith Olberman left MSNBC, he moved his "Countdown" program to Current TV, launching in June 2011. In August 2011, veteran TV exec David Bohrman was named president of Current TV; he will oversee the network’s new programming division and work closely with Olbermann. Bohrman & Olberman are based in New York City; the network's operations are headquartered in San Francisco.

official website • entry at Wikipedia

The CW Network (WB & UPN)

DuMont Television Network [1946-56]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuMont_Television_Network

	"The DuMont Television Network: What Happened? - A Significant Episode In The History of Broadcasting" [2002] by Ted Bergmann & Ira Skutch Rowman & Littlefield / Scarecrow 8¾x6¼ hardcover [4/2002] out of print/used
	"The Forgotten Network: DuMont & The Birth of American Television" [2004] by David Weinstein Temple Univ Press pb [3/2006] for $19.95 Temple Univ Press 9x6¼ hardcover [5/2004] for $37.49

El Rey Cable Network
Announced 5/2013: English-language cable network targeting Latinos; headed by Robert Rodriguez and set to launch
on Comcast in December 2013; hired Scott Sassa (ex-Hearst) as vice chair.

company website • entry at Wikipedia

E.S.P.N. {Entertainment Sports Programming Network}

Announced 3/2012: The E.S.P.N. book "Those Guys Have All The Fun" has been optioned
for a feature film by producer Michael De Luca

Fox Television
Fox News Channel launched in October 1996

Announced 1/2013: News Corp. may split its successful FX Network into two, with the new FXX Network focusing
more on twentysomethings & comedy; the new network could replace Fox Soccer.

In late December 2014, Fox News Channel decided to play hardball and not negotiate for renewed carriage on the Dish Satellite Network, so when the contract expired,
Dish removed Fox from its scheduling. Fox's audience dropped 45% (1.65 million in 2013 versus 939,000 same week in 2014).

        
Free Speech TV Network launched in 1995; based in Denver, Colorado. The channel is available via DirecTV and Dish Network and delivers
programming 24 hours each day, of which seven hours is live news coverage. Programs and commentators include Thom Hartmann,
"Democracy Now!" with Amy Goodman, "Al Jazeera English News", and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders.
company website • entry at Wikipedia

Gas Station TV Network provides brand and local & national advertising, sports & finance news, and
local weather, delivered to drivers at the pump on a four-minute loop; headquarters in Michigan.

company website • no entry at Wikipedia

        
H.B.O. {Home Box Office Network}

        

The HDNet cable and satellite channel launched in September 2001, and shows only high-definition television programming, in any and all genres. The sibling channel HDNet Movies also launched in September 2001, and shows feature films in HD converted from 35mm prints or originally shot in HD video. "All films are shown uncut and commercial-free." Announced 1/2012: Dallas billionaire entertainment entrepreneur Mark Cuban has struck a deal with sports & concerts conglomerate A.E.G. (Anschutz Entertainment Group) and talent agency C.A.A. (Creative Artists Agency) to rebrand HDNet as AXS TV (pronounced access), under the management of radio & TV personality & producer Ryan Seacrest, beginning this summer. The channel’s programming will rely heavily on live lifestyle & live entertainment fare, leveraging the music assets of A.E.G., the stable of talent at C.A.A., and Seacrest's many connections.

HDNet: official website {redirects} • entry at Wikipedia
HDNet Movies: official website • entry at Wikipedia
AXS.tv [launched 7/2012]: official website • entry at Wikipedia

M.S.N.B.C.

                 
The M.T.V. (Music Television) Networks are owned by Viacom/Paramount; channels include Spike TV,
Nickelodeon, and Tres: MTV, Musica y Mas (formerly MTV Tres), a cable network targeting the Hispanic
members of the millennial generation

Announced 2012: Brett Ratner is in talks to adapt & direct the book "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored
Story of The Music Video Revolution" by Craig Marks & Rob Tannenbaum as a feature film.

Mutual Broadcasting System [1934-99]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_Broadcasting_System

        
N.B.C.  Universal  Television
National Broadcasting Company was founded in September 1926, and launched in November 1926
with 24 radio stations. When M.C.A. took control of Universal in 1962, they merged their Revue Studios
[1943-63] into Universal's TV division; the M.C.A. TV division [1951-2004] was folded into Universal TV
in the 1990s. General Electric bought Universal in 2004 and merged N.B.C.'s operations into Universal's,
creating a broadly-integrated production, distribution & broadcast division.
N.B.C. Universal Television entry at Wikipedia
National Broadcasting Company (N.B.C.) entry at Wikipedia
http://www.nbcnews.com/

	"Brought To You In Living Color: 75 Years of Great Moments In Television & Radio From N.B.C." [2002] by Marc Robinson Wiley & Sons 10¼x10¼ pb [10/2003] for $29.95 Wiley & Sons 10¾x10¾ hardcover [3/2002] for $0.00
	"N.B.C.: America's Network" [2007] Edited by Michele Hilmes Univ CA Press 8¾x5¾ pb [8/2007] for $18.21 Univ CA Press 9x6¼ hardcover [8/2007] for $60.00

"The Last Great Ride: [] by Brandon Tartikoff, Charles Leerhsen, Steve Oney

       
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/

Si TV was founded in 2004 as an English-language, Latino-targeted cable channel; name changed to nuvoTV in 2011;
Jennifer Lopez joined as co-owner in September 2012.

official website • entry at Wikipedia

‘Oiwi Television Network • From Hawai'i, For The World
http://www.oiwi.tv/

The Outdoor Channel

O.W.N. {Oprah Winfrey Network}
Oprah Winfrey announced the end of her daily TV show after 25 years (September 1986 to May 2011) and a new TV channel, which launched January First 2011. Original management did not do well, so Oprah took over in late 2011; ratings are now going up. Announced 12/2012: O.W.N. has signed Atlanta-based Tyler Perry to write, direct & exec-produce two new scripted series: the drama "The Haves and The Have Nots", and the multicamera comedy "Love Thy Neighbor", set at Love’s Diner.

  
Pivot TV - The Network For Millennials
Announced 3/2013 and launched 8/2013: Participant Media's Pivot TV - The Network For Millennials will replace Halogen TV and the
Documentary Channel (giving Pivot an initial subscriber base of 40 million homes). Content will include original programming – Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s
"Hitrecord On TV!" and Meghan McCain’s "Raising McCain" talk show – as well as acquired shows such as "Friday Night Lights".

official website • entry at Wikipedia

P.B.S. {Public Broadcasting System}

ReelzChannel bills themselves as 'TV about movies'; launched from Minneapolis, Minnesota in September 2006;
operations moved to Q Studios in Albuquerque, New Mexico in May 2009

official website • entry at Wikipedia

RFD-TV  [est. 12/2000]

TV producer R.H.I. Entertainment was founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi, Sr. to make TV movies & miniseries, mostly for Hallmark TV. Hallmark Cards purchased R.H.I. in 1994, and Robert Halmi, Jr. (with other top executives & investment firm Kelso & Co.) acquired the company in 2006; the financing proved to be unmanageable when worldwide ad rates plunged 22% in 2008. R.H.I. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy 10 December 2010; creditors will trade an 85% ownership stake in the company for $309 million in debt, with the remaining 15% retained by president & CEO Robert Halmi, Jr. Announced late March 2012: R.H.I. Entertainment board chair Gabriel de Alba said at Cannes that the TV development, production & distribution company is being rebranded as Sonar Entertainment under CEO Stewart Till, based in New York City.

official company website • company entry at Wikipedia

Scripps Networks Interactive

The E.W. Scripps Company was founded in 1922 as a newspaper chain; they founded HGTV (Home & Garden Television Network) in 1994. After adding several other networks, the company split in July 2008, with the cable channels forming Scripps Networks Interactive, based in Knoxville, Tennessee. Channels include the Cooking Channel {formerly Fine Living}, D.I.Y. Network, Food Network, Great American Country Television [est. 1995], HGTV, and the Travel Channel. Expansion in 2013 will launch 52 series for the 2013-14 season.

official company website • company entry at Wikipedia
http://www.amazon.com/HGTV-Magazine-1-year/dp/B007Q4WWLI/

Sony Television Networks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Pictures_Television

domestic channels:
Cine Sony Television
FunimationNow (95% stake) streams Japanese anime and Japanese/Asian cinema/TV titles
Game Show Network (joint venture with AT&T's WarnerMedia)
GetTV [est. Feb 2014] Classic Movies & TV Shows https://www.get.tv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn7nJfIklaA [0.30] ad for gettv
Sony Crackle digital streaming platform
Sony Movie Channel

international channels
Animax [est. 1998] based in Japan, operating across the Asian, African & South American continents
AXN television network [est. 1997]
CSC Media Group [acquired in August 2014]
Film1 [acquired in July 2015shutting down in August 2019]
Sony ONE
Sony Channel
Sony GEM
Sony Movies4Men
Sony Pictures Networks subsidiary based in India
Viasat 3 & Viasat 6 [acquired in February 2015] in Hungary

The Sundance Channel

Magic Lantern's The Sundance Companies Page

The Tennis Channel [launched May 2003]
official website • Wikipedia

The Ski Channel VOD sports network [launched Dec 2008]
official website • Wikipedia

The Surf Channel VOD sports network [launched Sept 2012]
official website • Wikipedia

T.B.S. Networks {Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.}
Divisions include C.N.N., H.L.N., T.B.S., T.N.T., Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang,
truTV, and TCM (Turner Classic Movies)

the leading U.S. Spanish-language network

  
YouTube TV is a for-fee live-streaming broadcast TV service that was launched in February 2017 in five metro areas: Los Angeles, San Francisoc Bay, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia ('with more areas soon'). Cost is $35/month, for six accounts per household; contents derived from ABC, CBS, The CW, Fox, and NBC – as well as 40 cable channels.
official website • entry at Wikipedia

Ziv Productions / Ziv Television [1937-1962]

Cincinnati entertainment entrepreneur Frederick W. Ziv [1905-2001] developed & sold syndicated radio programs, including two versions of the "Boston Blackie"" radio program [Summer 1944 and April 1945 to October 1950], "Cisco Kid" radio program [1942–55], and "Easy Aces" [reruns of 1930-45 radio shows]. The company set up a television division in 1948 and pioneered the filming of series episodes in color. The "Cisco Kid" TV series ran for 156 episodes from 1950 to 1956 (all in color, although color TV sets were not available); the "Boston Blackie" tv series ran from September 1951 to May 1953 (second season in color); other Ziv TV series included "Bat Masterson" [1958-61]; "Highway Patrol" [1955-59] starring Broderick Crawford; "I Led Three Lives" [1953-56]; "Sea Hunt"; and "Tombstone Territory" [1957-59]. Many of the shows are distributed today by M.G.M. Televison, and many episodes have fallen into the public domain.

official company website • TV company entry at Wikipedia

International  Television  &  Radio  Networks

ABC Australia
50 Years of Western Australia TV

Al Jazeera

ARD & ZDF Germany

B.B.C., I.T.V. & Channel Four

B.B.C. America

CCTV China

IBA & IETV Isreal

Islam Channel TV based in London, U.K.
official website • entry at Wikipedia

Islamic TV based in Bangladesh
official website • entry at Wikipedia

New Delhi Television Limited
India’s oldest and largest news network
official website • entry at Wikipedia

N.H.K. Japan

Maori Television in New Zealand

R.A.I. Italy

Russia Today digital TV network  [est. 12/2005]
Russia Today 24-hour online English-language news feed

Telemundo Mexico

Televisa Mexico

Ten Network Holdings, Ltd.
third-ranked Australian commercial broadcaster

TF1 France

http://www.witbn.org/

Important  Dates  in  the  History of  Network  Radio  &  Television 1900 Aug 25: Russian scientist Constantin Perskyi coined the term 'television' in a paper read in Paris, France, to describe still photographs transmitted over wires. 1919 Oct 17: Creation of the Radio Corporation of America. 1924 Feb 8: First coast-to-coast radio broadcast. 1926 Sept 9: The National Broadcasting Company was founded by Radio Corporation of America. 1926 Nov 15: Launch of the National Broadcasting Company, with a network of 24 radio stations. 1927 Sept 18: Launch of the Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System [later CBS] with a network of 16 radio stations. 1927 Sept 23: Invention of electronic scanning devices for television broadcast and receiving by Philo T. Farnsworth. 1928 Dec 23: National Broadcasting Company set up a permanent coast-to-coast radio network. 1932 Dec 25: The British Broadcasting Company inaugurated the Empire Service {forerunner of B.B.C. World Service). 1934 June 19: The Federal Communications Commission was created, replacing the Federal Radio Commission. 1934 Aug 25: First public demonstration of electronic scanning television by Philo T. Farnsworth at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA. 1939: R.C.A. began selling the first commercial television receivers. 1941 July 1: First ever TV ad, for Bulova Watches, on W.N.B.T. New York City. 1943 Oct 14: Radio Corporation of America completed sale of its NBC Blue Network for $8 million to businessman Edward J. Noble; soon renamed the American Broadcasting Company. 1946 Oct 30: R.C.A. publicly demonstrated an all-electronic system of color TV, on a 15x20-inch screen. 1947 Jan 22: Station W6XYZ in Los Angeles, CA changed call letters to KTLA-TV 5, the first commercial TV west of Chicago. 1948: The United States leaped from fewer than 200,000 TV sets to 975,000 TV sets by the end of the year. 1948 Feb 16: First nightly television news broadcast, "The Camel Newsreel Theatre" on NBC-TV, showing Fox-MovieTone newsreels narrated by John Cameron Swayze. 1951 June 25: First commercial color television broadcast - CBS transmitted a one-hour special program from New York City to four other cities. 1952 Sept 6: Canadian television broadcasting began in Montreal, PQ. 1953 Dec 17: First national broadcasts of R.C.A./N.T.S.C. color television, on C.B.S. at 6:15 pm and on N.B.C. at 6:30 pm. 1962 April 24: Massachusetts Institute of Technology achieved the first satellite relay of a television signal, between Camp Parks, CA and Westford, MA. 1970 Sept 21: "NFL Monday Night Football" debuted on ABC-TV. 1974: Two-thirds of U.S. homes had color TV sets. 1976 Dec: Media mogul Ted Turner originated the 'superstation' cable channel concept by transmitting via satelite from WTCG-TV in Atlanta, Georgia; Turner Broadcasting later sold to Time Warner. 1980 June 1: Debut of C.N.N. {Cable News Network}. 1996 Oct 10: Time Warner purchased and merged with Turner Broadcasting. 1996 Oct 17: Launch of the Fox News Channel. 2009 June 12: The end of analog television broadcasting in the U.S., the final switch-over to digital broadcast TV. 2009 Dec 2: Cable giant Comcast announced its offer for 51% ownership of NBC-Universal broadcast TV network. JM's detailed chronology of early U.S. television history, 1875-1968

Television  Network  Rankings

The graph above shows Monthly Hours Delivered to U.S. Households in January 2015. (Not much reason to update this every month, as the data will vary only slightly over time:
this is merely an indicator of the current situation.) The red bar on the right is for Netflix, with 41M subscribers and 60 hours delivered for the month. Starting on the left side
are Fox (31 hours), Disney (30 hours), NBCU (30 hours), Time Warner (22½ hours), Viacom (21 hours), Discovery (18 hours), CBS (17½ hours), A&E (12 hours),
Scripps (7½ hours), Univision (7Ό hours), AMC (4½ hours), and Crown Media (2½ hours), with all other channels delivering a combined 18½ hours.

Television  &  Radio  Links

Museum of Broadcast Communications [est. 1987] in Chicago, IL
"TV History: The First 75 Years" website
Early Television Museum/Foundation in Hilliard, Ohio
F.C.C. History of Television pages

History of Cinema Page
Books About Hollywood & Cinema History

see also Magic Lantern's History of Radio & Television Pages

on history page one: top of page • pioneers of radio & TV • early TV programs •
links • important dates • old time radio • fiction books • music

on history page two: top of page • videos & DVDs • non-fiction books

Online sales in association with  

Current Filmmakers  |   XXth Century Directors  |   Early Filmmakers
Foreign Cinema  |   Favorite Films (and Why)  |   The Movie Industry Page
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Film Festivals & Orgns  |   Reference & Technical  |   Film Businesses Page

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