The first shows that aired were not really meant for the general pubic.  It was not until after the first long distance broadcast, occurring on April 7^th of 1927, that the BBC began broadcasting to the public; and by 1930 was airing a regular schedule of programs.  This network was the dominant network in its country (the United Kingdom) and until the mid-1980s most countries had only a few networks that dominated the broadcasts.  Like BBC, stations such as NBC and CBS sprung from previous radio networks.

Particularly in the United States and Canada, many television channels are labeled as networks but are not networks in the true sense because they are not part of any affiliations or component stations.  However, in countries such as the United States where most of the content from television networks are broadcast from a central location to all of their individual stations and, “where most individual transmitters, therefore, operate only as large ‘repeater stations’ the terms such as television network,television channel, and television station have become interchangeable in everyday language (1). More or less, the true definitions that distinguish between them have become only jargon to people and officials that work in the television industry.  That said, the technical definition of a television network is a network that distributes television content from a central location to several different television stations.

These networks may produce all or some of its own programming.  If they do not produce all of it themselves, they can choose from material that has been sent to them from other private production studios.  They can also import television programs from other countries or even use archived material to fill air time.  Some networks are even set up so that the headquarters can interrupt a local station’s broadcast if they feel the need to broadcast something of greater importance.  The most common example of this occurring is when there is breaking news, usually of national importance or interest.

In the United States, there have primarily been three predominate television networks; CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System), NBC (National Broadcasting Company), and ABC (American Broadcasting Company).  However, in more recent years FOX (Fox Broadcasting Company) has gained notoriety.  The “big three” provide the majority of programming to their affiliate stations, but also allow certain time periods during the day when they can air either local programming or syndicated programs of their own choosing. The network that allows the most freedom for their affiliates would probably be the non-profit network PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).  It also happens to be the largest network in the United States.

By 1928, NBC had created “the first permanent coast-to-coast radio network, using dedicated telephone line technology” (1).  They knew that it would be possible to transmit an electronic television signal, but that it required a much more expensive broadband transmission system due to the amount of extra information contained in the signal. But, in 1929 AT&T patented the coaxial cable.  Although, they intended to use it as a way to improve the telephone system, its ability to carry more information at once made it ideal for long distance television transmission.

Next: Network News and Programming continued