Superstation

In North American broadcasting, a superstation is a terrestrial television station that has its broadcast range extended outside of their originating media market via communications satellite to multichannel television providers, including cable and direct broadcast satellite. These stations, which had no network affiliation and operated as independents, were popularized from the late 1970s to the early 1990s with offerings of reruns, movies, local play-by-play sports coverage and, in some cases, local newscasts. These signals were also popular among C-band satellite subscribers in rural areas where broadcast signals could not be picked up off-air. Superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a television station that is additionally transmitted via satellite. Further legislation, in particular the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, narrowed this definition further to specify the station must not have a network affiliation. Superstations either have an active or passive classification: active superstations intentionally seek retransmission via an outside provider, while passive superstations are involuntarily retransmitted without the station's consent. Superstation can also refer to major network affiliates uplinked by satellite to providers like Primetime 24 and Netlink USA.…

In North American broadcasting, a superstation is a terrestrial television station that has its broadcast range extended outside of their originating media market via communications satellite to multichannel television providers, including cable and direct broadcast satellite. These stations, which had no network affiliation and operated as independents, were popularized from the late 1970s to the early 1990s with offerings of reruns, movies, local play-by-play sports coverage and, in some cases, local newscasts. These signals were also popular among C-band satellite subscribers in rural areas where broadcast signals could not be picked up off-air. Superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a television station that is additionally transmitted via satellite. Further legislation, in particular the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, narrowed this definition further to specify the station must not have a network affiliation. Superstations either have an active or passive classification: active superstations intentionally seek retransmission via an outside provider, while passive superstations are involuntarily retransmitted without the station's consent. Superstation can also refer to major network affiliates uplinked by satellite to providers like Primetime 24 and Netlink USA. The television stations commonly recognized as superstations are the following: KTLA Los Angeles KTVT Dallas–Fort Worth (1984–1994) KTVU San Francisco (1978–1980) KWGN-TV Denver WGN-TV Chicago (1978–2014) WOR-TV/WWOR-TV New York (1979–1996) WPIX New York City WSBK-TV Boston WTCG/WTBS Atlanta (1976–2007) CHAN-TV Vancouver, British Columbia CHCH-TV Hamilton, Ontario CITV-TV Edmonton, Alberta "Superstation" is most closely associated with the concept's progenitor, WTCG in Atlanta. After previously extending their reach to cable systems in the southeastern United States through microwave relay, WTCG became the first television station to be uplinked to a satellite in 1976. Renamed WTBS in 1979, it promoted itself as "the Superstation" and later as "Superstation WTBS". The availability of superstations began to decline after 1990, when the FCC reinstated syndication exclusivity rules, forcing superstations to license content for national distribution or seek alternate programming from their parent stations. The distributor for WWOR's superstation feed began operating it separately as the WWOR EMI Service, WGN's feed gradually evolved into WGN America, and WTBS's feed was relaunched as TBS.

Canada

The emergence of superstations and pay television via satellite in the United States created a cross-border issue in Canada, where reception for home use in remote communities proliferated despite being illegal. When Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) chairman John Meisel threatened to prosecute people who owned an earth station, the British Columbian provincial government installed one of their own in defiance; British Columbia communications minister Pat McGeer considered the CRTC's demand "as bad as living behind the Iron Curtain". After seeking applications from Canadian common carriers to uplink Canadian signals, the CRTC awarded permits on April 14, 1981, to Canadian Satellite Communications (Cancom), the Inuit Tapirisat for Inuit-related programming, and the Dene for satellite radio. Cancom uplinked CHAN-TV (BCTV/CTV) in Vancouver, independent stations CITV-TV in Edmonton and CHCH-TV in Hamilton, Ontario, and several radio stations including the national CKO network. TCTV, a feed of CFTM-TV in Montreal with some alternate programming, was also uplinked. Cancom was authorized in 1984 to uplink WDIV-TV (NBC), WJBK-TV (CBS), WTVS (PBS) and WXYZ-TV (ABC), all in Detroit; in March 1987, United Video began marketing the Detroit uplinks to U.S. cable systems. By 1984, amid concerns satellite dishes and video tape recorders were driving television viewers away from Canadian content, the CRTC—now chaired by former Cancom head André Bureau —considered authorizing the Cancom stations to be available in cable systems across Canada. The proposal was seen as a needed financial boost to Cancom, who initially expected to break-even by 1989. The CBC, CTV, TVA and the Global Television Network urged a delay amid concerns these stations would engage in bidding wars for imported U.S. programs. The CRTC approved the proposal on March 22, 1985, with Bureau saying the move was necessary to help address the added influence of American superstations. By April 4, the CRTC authorized WTBS, WGN-TV, WPIX and WOR-TV for distribution on cable systems alongside BET and Satellite Program Network, a move meant to dissuade unlicensed satellite use. The Atlanta feed of WTBS was authorized for uplink instead of the superstation feed, thus, when WTBS separated from TBS in 2007, the CRTC re-authorized WPCH-TV for distribution instead. The Detroit network affiliates were also exclusively authorized for national distribution, resulting in cable subscribers in Winnipeg, Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Regina, Saskatchewan, to view only them instead of local over-the-air U.S. network affiliates. After the Canadian government and the U.S. State Department agreed to a system for royalty fees, the FCC and CRTC jointly authorized WTBS and WGN-TV to be available on cable systems across Canada. WSBK-TV was awarded authorization to be uplinked on April 29, 1991, despite The Sports Network arguing WSBK's sports coverage would directly compete against them. KTLA was authorized on July 17, 1991, and KWGN was granted authorization on July 22, 1997. When WJBK switched affiliations to Fox in December 1994, Cancom replaced it with WTOL, the CBS affiliate in Toledo, Ohio. WJBK's removal came despite the CRTC allowing Fox stations to be imported on cable systems, as Fox was still deemed an "optional service" in larger markets. In smaller markets, WUHF in Rochester, New York, was uplinked for Fox programming. In 1998, WWJ-TV, which replaced WJBK as Detroit's CBS outlet, replaced WTOL on Cancom. The CRTC authorizes five of the six designated American superstations for carriage on domestic multichannel television providers. Under CRTC rules first implemented on October 26, 1983, all authorized American superstations typically are received mainly through a subscription to one or more domestic premium channels; this was to help domestic programming services, particularly independently-owned and specialty services. Superstations included in Section "B" of the CRTC's Part II eligible services list are mandated to be packaged with premium services; however, under a related rule that allows for one superstation of the provider's choice to be carried on a non-premium tier, some television providers have chosen to offer either TBS/WPCH-TV, WGN-TV or WSBK in a specialty tier.

Notes

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1373348839 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.