TV channels United States

American television is a layered system: national cable news above, local affiliate stations in every market below, and alongside them the shopping networks, the faith broadcasters, the government channels and the community-access screens that give cities their own voice.

The Cable News Networks

CNN News - the Cable News Network founded by Ted Turner in 1980 - was the channel that turned news into a round-the-clock format. Fox News has broadcast from its New York headquarters since 1996, CNBC covers the markets from Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, and the network news divisions of the broadcast giants are all present: ABC News, CBS News and NBC News. The field is completed by Cheddar News, Newsmax TV, Bloomberg Quicktake and LiveNOW from FOX, the free streaming news feed of Fox Television Stations, while News 12 New York pioneered regional cable news for the New York metro area and KRON4 produces more local newscasts in San Francisco than almost any station in the country.

The Local Affiliates

Local television is where the American system lives. Some stations carry decades of history: KTLA 5 News in Los Angeles was the first commercially licensed station in the western United States, on air since 22 January 1947, and WGN TV has broadcast from Chicago since April 1948, its call letters honouring the Chicago Tribune's old slogan. WJLA - ABC 7 News has served Washington since October 1947, WDIV Local 4 was Michigan's first television station, and WMAR 2 News was Maryland's first commercial station. WFMJ TV-21 in Youngstown remains a rarity - a locally owned station, in the Maag family since its 1953 sign-on. Affiliates of every network appear market by market: KGO-TV and KRON4 in the Bay Area, FOX 5 New York and PIX11 in Manhattan, WFAA in Dallas-Fort Worth, KMOV in St. Louis, KARE 11 in Minneapolis-St. Paul, 9 News KUSA and 7NEWS - KMGH in Denver, KTNV Channel 13 in Las Vegas, Hawaii News Now in Honolulu, WDSU in New Orleans and dozens more from Sioux City to Binghamton.

Washington and the States on Screen

C-SPAN is America's public affairs network, funded by the cable industry and carrying the unfiltered business of Congress since 1979. NASA Television is the space agency's own video service, now streaming on NASA+, with a dedicated Media Channel feed of raw mission coverage. State legislatures have their screens too: TVW covers Washington state government from Olympia, HTV - House Television broadcasts the Minnesota House from Saint Paul, and LEX TV carries Lexington's merged city-county government. City halls are on air as well - SFGovTV in San Francisco, GOV-TV 16 in Albuquerque, RTN Channel 11 and Channel 2 Kansas City - and UN Web TV brings the United Nations, including its Security Council coverage, from New York. TV Martí is the US government's Spanish-language broadcaster to Cuba, named for José Martí.

City Screens, Campuses and Community Access

Public-access television gives residents the camera. The MNN channels of the Manhattan Neighborhood Network - the largest community media centre in the country - carry New Yorkers' own productions across Community, Culture, HD and Spirit feeds. Austin Public runs its own channels under the Austin Film Society, Seattle Channel and Boston City TV are their cities' own screens, LA Cityview 35 and LA 36 cover Los Angeles, and Olelo Community Media does the same for Oahu. Municipal and county channels reach from Mesa Channel 11 in Arizona to Kern County TV, Fairfax Channel 16 and ICTN in Irving, Texas. Universities run their own services - UCTV for the University of California, BYUtv from Brigham Young University, GMU-TV from George Mason - and PBS members such as WFSU in Tallahassee and KLRN in San Antonio keep public television on the air.

Shopping Television

Retail broadcasting is an American invention with its own shelf here. QVC runs alongside QVC2, QVC3 and QVC In the Kitchen, while HSN broadcasts live from St. Petersburg, Florida, with HSN2 as its second channel. ShopHQ sells from Eden Prairie, Minnesota, Jewelry Television has specialised in gemstones from Knoxville, Tennessee since 1993, and Gem Shopping Network and Global Mall TV complete the field.

Faith Broadcasting

Religious television has deep American roots. CBN - the Christian Broadcasting Network - was founded by Pat Robertson in 1960 and still produces from Virginia Beach, with a separate CBN News Channel. EWTN, the Eternal Word Television Network founded by Mother Angelica in 1981, is the world's largest Catholic media network, and Catholic TV broadcasts from outside Boston. The Seventh-day Adventist media family is fully represented: 3ABN, 3ABN Latino, 3ABN Kids, 3ABN International, Amazing Facts and Hope Channel. CTN - the Christian Television Network - began with WCLF in Tampa Bay in 1979, and TCT, Total Christian Television, started as a single Cincinnati station the same decade. Arabic, Persian and Assyrian Christian broadcasting appears through Al Karma TV, ABN TV, Al-Fady TV and Mohabat TV; Islamic channels include GuideUS TV and Salaam TV; and the Scientology Network carries its own documentaries.

Kids, Spanish-Language and Diaspora Screens

Nickelodeon is the kids' network that built children's television into a genre - the home of SpongeBob SquarePants and PAW Patrol - with TCT Kids and 3ABN Kids serving younger viewers from a faith perspective. Spanish-language broadcasting runs from Telemundo 47, the Telemundo flagship in New York, through CTNi and TBN Enlace to Vision TV and Miami TV Latino. Diaspora communities have their own screens as well: Lao Champa TV for Lao-Americans, Tin TV, Andisheh TV and Ganj e Hozour TV for the Iranian community in Los Angeles, Revere with Ghanaian music and culture, and Royal Time TV as an independent international network.