Television station and network

A television station is a commercial business or organization that transmits video content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's surface to television sets.

A television network is a network that provides television programming to many television stations.

Today, more than fifty national broadcasting networks exist in the US. The largest broadcast television networks are the traditional Big Three television networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). Many other large networks exist, however, notably Fox and The CW which air original programming for two hours each night instead of three like the original "Big Three" do.

By ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, The CW -Wikipedia

In 1928, WRGB (then W2XB) was started as the world's first television station. It broadcast from the General Electric facility in Schenectady, New York. It was popularly known as "WGY Television".

CBS's New York City station, W2XAB, began broadcasting the first regular seven-day television schedule in the United States on July 21, 1931. The station's first broadcast featured New York Mayor Jimmy Walker, Kate Smith, and George Gershwin. W2XAB was an experimental station, and its broadcasts were limited to a small area of New York City. However, it is considered to be the first television station in the United States to broadcast a regular schedule of programs.

W2XAB was eventually granted a commercial license and became WCBS-TV on July 1, 1941. WCBS-TV is now one of the most-watched television stations in the United States. It is owned by the CBS Corporation and is affiliated with the CBS television network.

The world's first public television service was started from the BBC station at the Alexandra Palace, in North London, on November 2, 1936. Two competing systems, Marconi-EMI's 405-line system and John Logie Baird's 240-line system, were installed, each with its own broadcast studio and were transmitted on alternate weeks until the 405-line system was chosen in 1937. 

Alexandra Palace continued as the BBC's main transmitting center for London until 1956, interrupted only by the Second World War when the transmitter found an alternative use jamming German bombers' navigation systems. 

Alexandra Palace Wikipedia

NBC inaugurated its regularly scheduled television service in New York City in 1939, broadcasting President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New York World's Fair opening day ceremonial address.

RCA, originally the Radio Corporation of America, sold the NBC Blue radio network to Edward Noble for $8-million in 1943. Noble renamed the network the American Broadcasting Company, ABC. 

KTLA, Channel 5, in Hollywood, began operation as the first commercial television station west of the Mississippi River in 1947.

Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opened in Montreal in 1952.

The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston in 1953.

Commercial television came to the United Kingdom when the television channel ITV went live for the first time on September 22, 1955 breaking the BBC's monopoly. The launch night broadcast to around 100,000 homes began at 7.15pm, with a four-minute trailer announcing "Commercial television is here!" The channel then showed a five-minute opening film about London and the history of British broadcasting. ITV then moved to a live broadcast from London’s Guildhall, where a gala dinner was being held to celebrate the start of independent television. The rest of ITV's schedule that night included an hour of drama excerpts, a variety show, a boxing fight, and news broadcasts. A five-minute religious program called Epilogue brought the night to a close at 11pm.

The first ever advert broadcast on ITV was for Gibbs toothpaste.

The world's first all-color tv station debuted in Chicago on April 15, 1956, when WMAQ-TV (also known as NBC Channel 5) became the world's first TV station to broadcast exclusively in color. The first color telecast from the station on that date was Wide, Wide World, which was transmitted to 110 NBC stations across the country. 

CNN was launched on June 1, 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a cable news channel. CNN is widely credited with introducing the concept of 24-hour news coverage. Its services are available to more than 1.5 billion people in over 212 countries and territories.

NBC, Fox, and ABC, who are seemingly TV rivals, are also co-owners of Hulu. 30% each, plus 10% owned by TBS.

Source BT