Americans: Please explain the concept of a TV network to me

[Voyager]

@Thudlow_Boink

I think the commercials that run during a network TV show are a mixture of national and local (i.e. some “come with” the program, but there’s also time allotted for the local station to insert its own ads and promos). But I’m sure someone else with more expert knowledge will come along.

In a similar complication, residuals are paid to actors in shows or commercials according to a complex formula with different rates for network shows/ads, local shows/ads and cable shows/ads. I knew this like 20 years ago, I’m positive it has changed greatly since.

[Wendell_Wagner]

This article lists American TV networks:

List of United States over-the-air television networks

I think most Americans would say that there are six American broadcast networks, each of which has a couple hundred stations associated with them:

ABC
CBS
NBC
PBS
Fox
The CW

(Well, assuming that an American knows what broadcast TV is. A lot of children these days have grown up with nothing but cable. Sometimes they don’t even understand the concept of broadcast TV.)

ABC, CBS, and NBC have all been around for essentially the entire history of American TC. They were each associated with existing radio networks that decided to get into TV broadcasting. There was a fourth network called DuMont that began at the same time but which folded in 1956. There was a fifth network, even more obscure than DuMont, which was called Paramount which also folded in 1956. PBS, which is the only noncommercial network of these six, was created in 1970. There was a predecessor to it called NET which did a limited version of what it does. Fox began in 1986. The CW was created in 2006 by putting together two other networks called UPN and The WB.

These are the major networks in the sense that they are broadcast by stations that cover at least 95% of the American population. They don’t all produce programs that as much of the day. Fox and the CW only cover a limited amount of the day. I think that PBS also only covers a limited amount of the day.

For most younger Americans, there is only a vague sense of the difference between a broadcast network and a cable channel, since most Americans have cable.

[Acsenray]

@Wendell_Wagner

These are the major networks in the sense that they are broadcast by stations that cover at least 95% of the American population. They don’t all produce programs that as much of the day. Fox and the CW only cover a limited amount of the day. I think that PBS also only covers a limited amount of the day.

PBS doesn’t cover day parts. It has no network schedule. That’s because, as I said before, PBS is not really a network. It’s a program distributor. Its member stations (not affiliates) don’t have the same kinds of obligations that an affiliate has to a network.

[Wendell_Wagner]

You’re creating your own definition for network. There’s nothing wrong with that, but lots of people have a different definition of network. Most Americans have no problem with saying that PBS is the TV network for public broadcasting. Similarly, although Fox and The CW only do a limited amount of the day, most Americans would say that they are networks.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Aquadementia

You know how there are McDonalds restaurants everywhere?
They are all individually owned, but they are all McDonalds.

McDonalds exercises a far greater degree of control over its franchisees than any US TV network. You sure as hell can’t tell them you don’t feel like serving Big Macs anymore or that your employees are all going to wear bikinis, though the franchise agreement allows some flexibility in whether you participate in promotions or serve certain menu items.

[friedo]

@Little_Nemo

ABC was only a radio network in 1943. It didn’t do any television broadcasting until 1948.

Some might argue that we should go back to the founding of the company rather than when they began broadcasting television. But even if that’s the case, DuMont predated ABC - the company had been founded in 1931.

:eek:you’re right. DuMont Network predated ABC television. Who knew? (I guess you did.)

[friedo]

@Wendell_Wagner

You’re creating your own definition for network. There’s nothing wrong with that, but lots of people have a different definition of network. Most Americans have no problem with saying that PBS is the TV network for public broadcasting. Similarly, although Fox and The CW only do a limited amount of the day, most Americans would say that they are networks.

I think a reasonable definition of a network is that there has to be a broadcast feed which the affiliates retransmit live at least some of the time. PBS doesn’t really do that. It’s essentially a big non-profit program syndicate.

[johnpost]

what makes a network?

distribution, production, logo/branding, news gathering?

some of the entities are more network than others depending on what you include.

[Schnitte]

@Exapno_Mapcase

Generally speaking, the network reserves commercial time for itself during its own programming. Those commercials are national or regional and will be seen at the same time everywhere in the coverage area. Commercials are purchased from the network by advertising agencies, which pays a rate commensurate with the expected number of people that might see it. The ratings that everybody talks about incessantly are there solely to set prices for commercials. They are measured in six-minute blocks so that ads can be priced and placed accordingly. For continuing programming, the network sets a guaranteed minimum of viewers and may have to do “givebacks” if that number isn’t reached. (If the show is an unexpected hit, the network loses potential money but raises rates as soon as the contract ends.) Givebacks may be a return of money or more usually additional free airings of the commercial or a later one. Programs with no commercials do not have ratings unless specially commissioned: PBS doesn’t have program ratings technically. The affiliates get none of this money.

However, some of the commercial time may be held back for local stations to sell individually. If a local station doesn’t run the network show, then it gets to sell all the commercial time. This is the prime revenue source for affiliates. The commercials can be from national firms or local ones. Stations contract with the ratings firms, Nielsen is the most famous but others have appeared over the years, to do local versions. Ratings “books” are broken down by every conceivable demographic so that commercials can be appropriately targeted.

That’s very informative, thanks Exapno.

[Acsenray]

@Wendell_Wagner

You’re creating your own definition for network. There’s nothing wrong with that, but lots of people have a different definition of network. Most Americans have no problem with saying that PBS is the TV network for public broadcasting. Similarly, although Fox and The CW only do a limited amount of the day, most Americans would say that they are networks.

I’m not creating my own definition. I have worked at a local public TV station and I know people who have worked at PBS. Everyone in the public TV business agrees that PBS is not a network.

PBS’s member stations, in exchange for their annual fees, get a feed of programs from which they they can broadcast any individual show at any time of day on any day of the week or not at all. That’s not how a TV network works. That’s a distributor or syndicator.

[Thudlow_Boink]

@Acsenray

I’m not creating my own definition. I have worked at a local public TV station and I know people who have worked at PBS. Everyone in the public TV business agrees that PBS is not a network.

PBS’s member stations, in exchange for their annual fees, get a feed of programs from which they they can broadcast any individual show at any time of day on any day of the week or not at all. That’s not how a TV network works. That’s a distributor or syndicator.

Out of curiosity (and with no dog in this particular fight) I did some very basic research. Apparently, PBS doesn’t refer to itself as a network judging from its own website. Sites like Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica, however, clearly and unambiguously refer to PBS as a network, though they definitely make the point that PBS has “member stations” and doesn’t work the same way the commercial broadcast networks work.

[johnpost]

there are likely legal technicalities involved. what PBS is allowed to do or behave would have restrictions that the commercial networks don’t have.

there might be similar functions that have to be done differently.

[Wendell_Wagner]

Again, most Americans would say that PBS is a TV network.

[friedo]

@Wendell_Wagner

Again, most Americans would say that PBS is a TV network.

Most Americans would say the moon is made of cheese if you ask them. That’s hardly a high standard for correctness.

[Wendell_Wagner]

Besides the fact that most Americans would not say that the moon is made of green cheese, they would say that PBS is a network. You claim that TV professionals use a different definition of the term. Fine. That’s not the definition that most Americans use.

[Acsenray]

@Wendell_Wagner

Besides the fact that most Americans would not say that the moon is made of green cheese, they would say that PBS is a network. You claim that TV professionals use a different definition of the term. Fine. That’s not the definition that most Americans use.

In a thread about how the business of television works in America, it’s the professional definition of “network” that is the relevant one.

[Captain_Amazing]

@Wendell_Wagner

Again, most Americans would say that PBS is a TV network.

Most Americans are wrong, though. PBS isn’t a network by any reasonable standard of “network”.

[doreen]

@Wendell_Wagner

Besides the fact that most Americans would not say that the moon is made of green cheese, they would say that PBS is a network. You claim that TV professionals use a different definition of the term. Fine. That’s not the definition that most Americans use.

I don’t know about that. I’m not a TV professional and I don’t consider PBS a network. In my definition a network is not just a group of stations that show some of the same programs at various times - it’s a group of stations that for the most part show the same program on a particular day at one time per time zone. There may be local pre-emptions (for sports, news or other local events) from time to time and in the past some stations have refused to carry individual programs , but if the CBS schedule calls for a particular episode of “The Big Bang Theory” to be shown on Thursday at 8pm in the Eastern time zone, it will be shown Thursday at 8 pm in NYC, in Boston, in Philadelphia etc. You will not find a CBS station showing a different episode at 10 pm on Wednesday or 9 pm Friday. Ads for the show and the CBS website will say Thursday at 8 or at 8/7 (for the other time zones).On the other hand, if I want to watch “This Old House”, magazine ads and such will say “Check your local listings”- the NYC station doesn’t show the same episode at the same time/day as the Long Island station which doesn’t show it the same time/day as the Albany station, etc. Even going to the PBS website results in being asked for your zipcode and TV provider to get the airtimes. Networks do not regularly show the same episode of a program multiple times per week- but PBS stations often do.

PBS is much more like a syndicator or distributor- I can probably watch "Judge Judy" or  "Dr Phil" in just about any part of the US. But like PBS shows, they are shown at different times on different stations. Basically, if I can travel across the country and know that the morning news and prime-time schedule will be the same as my home station's, it's a network.

[Acsenray]

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does KCPT occasionally broadcast programs at a different time (or on a different day) than the national PBS schedule or not broadcast them at all?

There are a number of reasons that KCPT may choose to broadcast a program at a different time than what is published for the national PBS schedule. One of the most basic reasons is simply that PBS schedules are based on the Eastern time zone, whereas the KCPT service area is on Central time. So some KCPT programs air here in the Kansas City region one hour behind the PBS broadcast.

Many of the other reasons for broadcast differences are all based on the fact that KCPT is a PBS member station, not an affiliate network station like ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, WB, or UPN. Some differences are obvious, like the fact that we do not have commercials. However, what many people do not realize is that PBS is not a network at all, but rather a television service. Networks pay their affiliate stations to carry national programming and therefore require that they run the shows at the same time everywhere. Alternatively, PBS stations pay for PBS programming, and since the individual stations own the broadcast rights, they have more autonomy in scheduling.

Some PBS material, called common carriage, is carried by all stations. Examples of common carriage programs are Frontline and PBS NewsHour. PBS and various public television producers do provide an abundance of material to stations, but the majority of member stations choose to broadcast a vibrant mix of local and regional programs rather than a schedule filled with 100 percent national shows. KCPT, like most stations, also chooses to time-shift some national programs (either by hour or by day) in order to create the best schedule we can for the Kansas City region.

Other programs that PBS offers are completely optional and do not fall into common carriage. For these shows, KCPT may broadcast some on the same day as the national schedule, but others we may record and save for a later broadcast, or not show them at all. The reasons for these decisions vary, but all are based on careful review of the show and how it might be received in the Kansas City market.

[Really_Not_All_That_Bright]

@Wendell_Wagner

Besides the fact that most Americans would not say that the moon is made of green cheese, they would say that PBS is a network. You claim that TV professionals use a different definition of the term. Fine. That’s not the definition that most Americans use.

Most Americans think electrocution means electrical shock. Many think dolphins are fish. In a GQ thread where people are talking about specific definitions, it doesn’t make sense to insist on laypersons’ corruptions.