Television Networks

What constitutes a "television network"? In the past, this descriptor was applied to those national companies that supplied programming to "over-the-air" local broadcast outlets. The expansion of cable television in the 1980's provided a new outlet for television programming and the growth of "cable" networks. Direct satellite distribution popularized in the 1990's provided an additional distribution outlet. The growth of high-speed access on the Internet in the past decade now opens yet another distribution outlet. Most of the networks listed below still reserve the bulk of their programming for their primary distribution affiliate. However, there are now some new "Internet only" networks that provide all of their programming on-line. For a list of those networks, visit the Internet Program Providers page.