Owned and operated station
From Freepedia
In the television industry (especially in North America), an owned and operated station (frequently abbreviated as O&O) is a television station that is owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a TV 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) than in other parts of the world, as many television networks in other places are largely composed of O&Os, rendering a separate notion for such a concept redundant.
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Usage
Even though the term “owned and operated” is frequently used outside the television industry to refer to a business that is actually managed by its owners, its usage within the industry is normally restricted to the definition identified at the beginning of the article. As such, even though WCVB-TV, for instance, is technically owned-and-operated by Hearst-Argyle Television, it is generally not identified as a “Hearst-Argyle O&O”. In short, the term generally applies only to network-owned stations.
Also, the terms “O&O” and “affiliate” are, by definition, mutually exclusive; an O&O cannot also be an affiliate at the same time. However, in casual usage, the distinction between the two is often blurred, and an O&O might be referred to as an affiliate. (By extension, an O&O’s parent network might also be referred to as its affiliation.) An affiliate, however, is seldom referred to as an O&O unless the speaker actually (mistakenly) thinks the station in question is owned by its parent network.
The status of some stations carrying WB programming, then, becomes a rather peculiar situation. The WB network technically does not own any TV stations. However, the Tribune Company, which holds a stake in the network, does own some stations that carry the network’s programming (eg. WPIX in New York City, KTLA in Los Angeles, and so on). While those stations are not officially O&Os according to the standard definition, some still consider them as such.
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 (later WBBM) 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.
Even as ownership limits have been gradually raised (a company can now own any number of TV stations with a combined reach of less than 39.5% of the country), 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, WJRT in Flint, Michigan (market #65; 2004-05), WTVG in Toledo, Ohio (market #70; 2004-05) and KFSN in Fresno, California (market #59; 2004-05) are ABC O&Os, while WFRV in Green Bay, Wisconsin (market #69; 2004-05) 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 the much more highly-populated Orlando, market 20.)
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 went on air as) O&Os. The Global Television Network, for example, 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.)
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 for ABC’s O&Os on channel 7) and the “I Love Chicago, Chicago My Home” musical signature (originally used by WBBM-TV, later spread to other CBS O&Os).
Currently, other television station groups (eg. 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 O&O in New York City (WNBC-TV) before becoming hosts on The Today Show. 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.
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 rare, such changes have happened in the past to some O&Os, often as a result of mergers and corporate deals. Some examples:
- In 1955, CBS bought WGTH-TV, channel 18 in Hartford, Connecticut, and rneamed it WHCT-TV. However, CBS' ratings were astonishingly low in Hartford because television manufacturers were not required to have UHF tuners at the time. In 1959, CBS decided to move its Hartford affiliation to WTIC-TV, an independent station on channel 3. CBS figured it was better to have its programming on a VHF station, even if it was merely an affiliate. Channel 3 has been the Hartford CBS station since then, and changed its calls to WFSB in 1974, while channel 18 has gone through a series of owners and format changes. It is now Spanish station WUVN.
- For much of the modern television era, NBC had an O&O in every top-five market except the fourth market, Philadelphia. In 1955, NBC forced Westinghouse Electric Corporation 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 to yank its programming from WBZ-AM-FM-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. Channel 3 was then renamed KYW-TV to match its radio cousin, but NBC continued to pursue efforts to get an O&O in Philadelphia, especially when KYW became its weakest major-market affiliate for much of the 1970s and 1980s. However, NBC was unsuccessful until 1995, when it won a bidding war for longtime CBS O&O WCAU-TV (see below). 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.
- 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. WXYZ is still Detroit's ABC station.
- Philadelphia’s WCAU-TV had long been a CBS O&O. However, after CBS announced its alliance with Westinghouse in the mid-1990s, the network chose to affiliate with Westinghouse’s KYW-TV, Philadelphia's longtime NBC affiliate. After a bidding war, WCAU was sold to NBC. After Westinghouse and CBS merged a few months later, KYW became a CBS O&O.
- 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.
- In 1995,CanWest Global, owner of the Global Television Network purchased the television assets of the WIC group, which included CHAN-TV in Vancouver and CHEK in Victoria. At the time, Global's Vancouver affiliate was CKVU. 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.
- In 2003, Pax sold its Albuquerque affiliate, KAPX, to Telefutura. The station is now called KTFQ.
Reference
- 210 Designated Market Areas - Nielsen's estimate of TV households in each market area in the United States, and associated rankings
External links
United States
- ABC-owned Television Stations - List of ABC O&Os
- Viacom Television Stations Group - List of CBS and UPN O&Os
- NBC Universal: Company Overview - List of NBC and Telemundo O&Os
- Fox Television Stations, Inc. - List of Fox O&Os and Fox-owned UPN/independent stations
Canada
- CTV.ca: Local Stations - List of CTV O&Os
