In smaller markets, that was often true, but not so in the bigger markets.
My family moved from Chicago to Green Bay in 1975, when I was 10. Green Bay did only have the 4 (CBS, ABC, NBC, PBS), while Chicago, at that time, had at least 8 – the four networks, plus 3 independent stations broadcasting in English (channels 9, 26, and 32), and another independent station which broadcast in Spanish (channel 44, IIRC).
Actually South Africa did have black and white TV, but the black and the white had to be shown on different screens.
I can’t find a cite, but I remember recent rumours that the BBC were going to bring back overnight shutdown in order to save money.
With the ever-increasing popularity of on-demand services, I wonder if stations will start to reduce their broadcasting hours?
boom boom!
I was going to make the same joke differently but hey.