# What are your local "Big 4" TV network channels? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 27, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767 "2015-02-27T14:42:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/1 "2015-02-27T14:42:44Z")
The number your local ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates self-identify as, NOT what channel number they are through your cable box. For example, in DC they are: NBC - 4 FOX - 5 ABC - 7 CBS - 9 In Baltimore they are: ABC - 2 NBC - 11 CBS - 13 FOX - 45 (which is strange to me, because when I was a kid, the first three were the the same channels but different networks: NBC was 2, CBS was 11, and ABC was 13) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/2 "2015-02-27T15:35:33Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > The number your local ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX affiliates self-identify as, NOT what channel number they are through your cable box. What they call themselves and the channel number are the same here: CBS 2 (on channel 2) NBC 4 (on channel 4) FOX 5 (on channel 5) ABC 7 (on channel 7) ---
**Author:** ![boffking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/858c86/32.png) [@boffking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boffking)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/3 "2015-02-27T15:49:54Z")
Nbc- 6 abc- 8 cbs- 13 fox- 23 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/4 "2015-02-27T15:51:31Z")
NBC - 3 ABC - 5 FOX - 8 CBS - 19 It used to be 3/5/8 : NBC/ABC/CBS forever, and FOX came in with their channel 19, and at some point in the 2000s CBS and FOX switched places. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/5 "2015-02-27T17:33:59Z")
Minneapolis/St Paul area: 4: CBS 5: ABC 9: Fox 11: NBC ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/6 "2015-02-27T17:36:29Z")
Nashville: ABC - 2 NBC - 4 CBS - 5 Fox - 6 PBS - 8 (In my opinion, PBS is part of the Big 4 and Fox is not.) ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/7 "2015-02-27T17:39:01Z")
CBS - 2 NBC - 4 ABC - 7 Fox - 11 ---
**Author:** ![txtumbleweed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/278dde/32.png) [@txtumbleweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txtumbleweed)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/8 "2015-02-27T18:04:13Z")
Fort Worth / Dallas FOX - 4 NBC - 5 ABC - 8 CBS - 11 PBS - 13 ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/9 "2015-02-27T21:37:22Z")
ATL: Fox - 5 CBS - 46 ABC - 2 or 11 NBC - 2 or 11 Never can remember them all. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/10 "2015-02-27T21:43:32Z")
Providence ABC - 6 NBC - 10 CBS - 12 FOX - 64 Boston ABC - 5 NBC - 7 CBS - 4 FOX - 25 ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/11 "2015-02-27T21:58:46Z")
What’s on channel 1? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/12 "2015-02-27T22:36:46Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > What’s on channel 1? > **[Channel 1 (North American TV)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_1_(North_American_TV))** > > In North American broadcast television frequencies, channel 1 was a former broadcast (over-the-air) television channel which was removed from service in 1948. > During the experimental era of TV operation, Channel 1 was moved around the lower VHF spectrum repeatedly, with the entire band displaced upward at one point due to an early 40 MHz allocation for the FM broadcast band. After FM was moved to its current frequencies in 1946, TV Channel 1's last assigned band was 44 to 50 MHz. This allocation... ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/13 "2015-02-27T23:23:34Z")
Indianapolis: CBS - 4 ABC - 6 NBC - 13 PBS - 20 Fox - 59 CBS just switched to Channel 4 at the beginning of 2015. Prior to that, it had been on Channel 8 for years, and Channel 4 was The CW. The two channels swapped affiliations as of January 1, 2015. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2015, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/14 "2015-02-27T23:58:20Z")
Tucson: KVOA 4 - NBC KGUN 9 - ABC KMSB 11 - FOX KOLD 13 - CBS The rest: KUAT 6 - PBS KTTU 18 - MyNTV KWBA 58 - The CW ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/15 "2015-02-28T00:11:06Z")
Chicago: 2 - CBS - WBBM 5 - NBC - WMAQ 7 - ABC - WLS 32 - Fox - WFLD (Fox is 12 on all the cable providers in Chicago.) The main PBS station is 11 (WTTW), but there is also 20 (WYCC) and 56 (WYIN), but the last is northwest Indiana, technically. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/16 "2015-02-28T01:53:35Z")
I believe CBS 2 ABC 4 NBC 11 FOX I totally forget ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/17 "2015-02-28T02:04:07Z")
I live in the middle of two cities, so we have 8. Buffalo ABC 7 NBC 2 CBS 4 Fox 29 Rochester ABC 13 NBC 10 CBS 8 FOX I have no idea ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/18 "2015-02-28T02:29:12Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > What they call themselves and the channel number are the same here: > > CBS 2 (on channel 2) > NBC 4 (on channel 4) > FOX 5 (on channel 5) > ABC 7 (on channel 7) I grew up north of NYC so I had no idea what an ‘affiliate’ was. CBS & channel 2, NBC & channel 4, ABC & channel 7 etc. were completely synonymous in day-to-day speech. Because they were the network feeds they were always literally WCBS, WNBC and WABC and were never called anything else, and being a kid I thought it was the same everywhere! The first time I saw a TV Guide edition that wasn’t for my area I was totally confused! Before it was Fox, channel 5 was WNEW, a major independent station, same as channel 11’s WPIX and channel 9’s WWOR (which was usually just called WOR). WNEW changed to WNYW and became Fox. Later 11 became The WB and 9 UPN before they merged into The CW. Having only had cable (or satellite) for nearly forty years I don’t really know where The CW necessarily is channel-wise. But every local cable company has always kept the networks on the same cablebox number (except for Fox which moved from 5 to 6 for some reason). Anyone who grew up in the tri-state area (NY, NJ & CT) probably remembers the same… ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/19 "2015-02-28T04:47:17Z")
San Francisco: Fox 2 CBS 5 ABC 7 NBC - I think it’s 11; technically it’s a San Jose station. For a long time, San Francisco’s NBC affiliate was channel 4, but they got into some sort of argument with NBC over not showing network programming and NBC pulled the affiliation. Also, the main PBS station is 9 Sacramento: NBC 3 ABC 10 CBS 13 (IIRC, ABC and CBS were reversed until CBS lost the NFC half of NFL rights to Fox in 1994) Fox 40 PBS 6 ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767/20 "2015-02-28T04:55:18Z")
Seattle ABC-4 NBC-5 CBS-7 PBS-9 FOX-13 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-local-big-4-tv-network-channels/713767.md?page=2)