Superstation

===Evolution and decline; the remaining superstations===
Even though superstations remained reasonably popular among cable and satellite subscribers, in no small part because of team-based sports broadcasts, various changes to the television industry beginning in the 1990s—especially the proliferation of cable-originated program services and the resultant increase in original programming produced by many cable channels—as well as existing distant signal policies—such as the syndication exclusivity rules—precipitated the decline in their viability. As early as 1986, with the launch of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a handful of the intrastate superstations – such as [[KMSP-TV]] (channel 9, now a Fox owned-and-operated station) in [[Minneapolis]]–[[Saint Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], [[KSHB-TV]] (channel 41, now an NBC affiliate) in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]] and [[WKBD-TV]] (channel 50, now a CW owned-and-operated station) in Detroit—that continued to maintain reasonable out-of-market distribution after the March 1983 copyright royalty increase had terminated their carriage agreements with cable providers beyond their home markets because of the presence of local independent stations that were able to serve as prospective Fox affiliates in many of the areas within the imported stations' remaining distribution footprint. Additional decline in the availability of intrastate superstations came in the mid-1990s, when many of the remaining regional superstations let their carriage agreements expire or terminated them outright amid [[1994–96 United States broadcast TV realignment|local network affiliation shuffles]] that caused stations such as KTVT, KSTW and [[KPHO-TV]] (channel 5, now a CBS affiliate) in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] taking on affiliations with one of the [[Big Three television networks|Big Three]] networks (ABC, CBS or NBC), as contractual and federal restrictions prevented them from maintaining regional distribution upon becoming major network affiliates.

Very few of these stations reduced their distribution as a result of taking affiliations with either the United Paramount Network ([[UPN]]) or [[The WB|The WB Television Network]]. In fact, in December 1993, [[WarnerMedia|Time Warner]] permitted Tribune Broadcasting and United Video to have WGN-TV—which initially had intended to maintain a limited, if any, relationship with the network—act as a de facto national feed for The WB to cover smaller and mid-sized markets where extra time was needed for the network to fill absences in local affiliate coverage. (The Tribune Company held minority ownership in The WB from August 1995 until the founding of successor The CW in January 2006, when the company relinquished its interest to avoid partially shouldering The WB's shutdown expenses.) Station management had expressed concerns over the potential negative impacts fulfilling commitments to the network's soon-to-be-expanded program offerings would have on its sports broadcast rights and, by association, its national distribution; Time Warner rectified those issues by agreeing to reduce the network's initial schedule to one night per week (from two) in exchange for leasing airtime on the WGN national feed.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=WB network signs WGN-TV|author=Joe Flint|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=[[Reed Business Information|Cahners Business Information]]|page=14|date=December 6, 1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=WGN Affiliation for New Network|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-12-04-9312040167-story.html|author=J. Linn Allen|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Publishing|date=December 4, 1993|access-date=April 30, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Tribune's Network Tie Could Bench Its Sports|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4198193.html|author=Greg Burns|newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times|publisher=Adler & Shaykin|via=HighBeam Research|date=November 3, 1993|access-date=July 20, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328132823/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4198193.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Tribune buys into Warner Bros. Network|author=Steve Coe|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|page=14|date=August 21, 1995}}</ref> WGN carried the full WB programming schedule—including the [[Kids' WB]] children's program block, which was not carried by the WGN Chicago signal until 2004—nationwide from the network's January 1995 launch until October 1999, when carriage of the network (outside Chicago) was discontinued upon mutual agreement between Time Warner and Tribune/United Video to limit programming conflicts with The WB's initial charter affiliates and other local broadcast and [[The WB 100+ Station Group|cable-only]] affiliates that joined the network over the previous four years.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=WB affils cheer end of WGN feed|author=Michael Stroud|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|page=29|date=February 1, 1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=WGN Drops WB, Adds Movies, Sitcoms|url=https://www.multichannel.com/news/wgn-drops-wb-adds-movies-sitcoms-148648|author=Linda Moss|periodical=Multichannel News|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=September 20, 1999|access-date=June 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150328150223/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-55897252.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 28, 2015}}</ref> In direct contrast, WWOR (owned at the time by network parent [[BHC Communications|Chris-Craft/United Television]]) restricted availability of UPN programming to its New York-area signal,<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Salhany's back and U/P's got her|author=Steve McClellan|periodical=Broadcasting|publisher=Broadcasting Publications Inc.|page=18|date=September 19, 1994}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Two Networks Not So Easy to Find Locally|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-1995-01-09-9501070040-story.html|author=Bill Keveney|newspaper=[[Hartford Courant]]|publisher=Tribune Publishing|date=January 9, 1995|access-date=April 30, 2019}}</ref> believed to be the result of a network non-duplication claim filed by non-equity network partner [[Paramount Television]] that prohibited Eastern Microwave from using the WWOR EMI Service as a national UPN feed. The downside of the Paramount decision was that, from January 1995 until over-the-air [[digital subchannel|digital multicasting]] became viable in the first half of the 2000s, it left most or all UPN programming unavailable in some mid-sized and most smaller markets where the network was not able, at least initially, to gain even secondary affiliate clearances.

WWOR—although it technically never gave up its superstation status—ceased distributing a national cable feed on December 31, 1996, a move made by [[Advance Publications#Former and defunct divisions|Advance Entertainment Corporation]] (which assumed ownership of corporate cousin Eastern Microwave Inc. and its satellite distribution rights to WWOR and WSBK-TV earlier in 1996) to avoid having to pay an increased royalty fee for the first six months of 1997 that the Copyright Royalty Tribunal instituted on January 1, 1997. To the consternation of many cable systems because of how it marketed the action, weeks before the WWOR EMI Service was to be discontinued, [[Discovery Communications|Discovery Networks]] quickly purchased the feed's satellite transponder slot from Advance Entertainment to expand distribution of the fledgling [[Animal Planet]] network. About 12.5&nbsp;million cable subscribers (most of which resided east of the [[Mississippi River]]) lost access to WWOR's programming as a consequence.<ref name="variety-wwor">{{cite web|title=Animal Eats WWOR|url=https://variety.com/1996/scene/vpage/animal-eats-wwor-1117436170/|author=John Dempsey|periodical=Variety|publisher=Cahners Business Information|date=December 30, 1996|access-date=April 30, 2019}}</ref><ref name="b&c-wwor">{{cite web|title=N.Y.'s WWOR loses super status; satellite distributor discontinues service contract with television station|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19009914.html|author=Jim McConville|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=January 6, 1997|access-date=February 24, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105151525/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19009914.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 5, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Discovery dogs WWOR; Animal Planet gets leg up on Open Slots |url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19193323.html|author=Charles Paikert|periodical=Multichannel News|publisher=Cahners Business Information|via=HighBeam Research|date=January 6, 1997|access-date=February 24, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105151531/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19193323.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 5, 2012}}</ref> Amid outcry from satellite dish owners, less than one week after the EMI Service feed was discontinued, the National Programming Service, LLC (NPS) subsidiary of carrier firm [[All American Direct]] uplinked the station's New York-area broadcast feed on a separate satellite transponder for exclusive distribution by satellite providers; since syndication exclusivity rules did not apply to home dish providers at the time, the NPS-delivered feed featured all syndicated and UPN network programs that could be seen by viewers in the New York City market. (Because of this, select cable providers picked up the NPS feed to serve as a default UPN programming source in markets where no local UPN affiliate existed, either due to the lack of a standalone fifth or sixth secular commercial station for an exclusive affiliation – particularly through the loss of affiliate clearances to The WB, as was the case in certain markets affected by that network's 1997 agreement with the [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] – or the lack of a secondary clearance with an existing commercial network station.) The NPS-delivered feed was discontinued in 1999 to repurpose the transponder to distribute the national feed of Pax TV (now [[Ion Television]]), though [[Dish Network]] continues to distribute WWOR nationwide {{as of|2019|lc=y}}, primarily in areas that do not have a local MyNetworkTV affiliate.

[[TBS (TV network)|TBS]], the national version of WTBS, evolved into a hybrid superstation on January 1, 1998. Upon undertaking the operational conventions of a traditional basic cable service, the national channel—which, following a series of name alterations between 1987 and 1996, was known at the time as TBS Superstation—began to collect subscriber fees and, as it was now effectively exempt from the 1976 Copyright Act's signal modification restrictions, began offering systems the ability to lease advertising time to participating providers for the sale and [[local insertion|insertion]] of local commercials. The TBS cable channel, however, retained the WTBS signal as its originating feed and continued to simulcast almost all of the programming seen in the Atlanta market (except for Atlanta-targeted advertisements, and customary weekend morning blocks of public affairs and syndicated educational programs intended to fulfill FCC public service and [[Children's Television Act]] requirements that were shown exclusively on WTBS).<ref>{{cite magazine|title=TBS to go basic, Braves or no|author=Steve McClellan|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|page=11|date=April 21, 1997}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|title=Counting down to the new TBS|author=Donna Petrozzello|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=Cahners Business Information|pages=100–101|date=December 8, 1997}}</ref> As a byproduct of a [[Major League Baseball on TBS|national broadcast deal]] reached between Turner/Time Warner and Major League Baseball that granted TBS rights to carry regular season and postseason games involving various MLB teams (ending its team-specific focus on games involving the Atlanta Braves that traced before it achieved national distribution), TBS eventually gave up its superstation status altogether on October 1, 2007, when the TBS cable channel and WTBS formally separated their programming schedules and branding. The former Atlanta broadcast feed concurrently changed its call letters to WPCH-TV (rebranding as "Peachtree TV") and began targeting its programming exclusively toward its home market, limiting its distribution within North America (outside the Atlanta market) to Canadian television providers that were already receiving the station prior to the TBS split.<ref>{{cite news|title=WTBS to become Peachtree TV|url=http://atlanta.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2007/06/25/daily32.html?surround=lfn|newspaper=Atlanta Business Chronicle|publisher=[[American City Business Journals]]|date=June 27, 2007|access-date=January 11, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|title=Turner Pressroom<!-- Bot generated title -->|url=http://www.turnerinfo.com/newsitem.aspx?P=TBS&CID01=aa8051cc-f1f4-4b7f-ad1d-ce2809be3b6f|website=[[Turner Broadcasting System]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012050942/http://www.turnerinfo.com/newsitem.aspx?P=TBS&CID01=aa8051cc-f1f4-4b7f-ad1d-ce2809be3b6f|archive-date=October 12, 2007}}</ref>

The separation of TBS from its founding Atlanta parent left the WGN national feed – which became known as Superstation WGN in November 2002 and then as [[WGN America]] in May 2008 – as the last remaining superstation to be transmitted nationwide through all multichannel television distribution methods, whereas the other six remaining superstations are available only through satellite television. Into the 2000s, WGN America increasingly relied less on WGN-TV program simulcasts as fewer syndicated programs seen on the Chicago feed were able to be given national "full-signal" clearances, opting to plug holes in the schedule with more "SyndEx-proof" syndicated programs. (Programming shared between the national and local WGN feeds in later years consisted of a limited number of syndicated programs and selected feature films; most Chicago Cubs and White Sox baseball and select Bulls basketball games; select local news and public affairs programs; and certain local and syndicated [[television specials|specials]].) The channel also chose not to carry newscasts and Chicago-originated lifestyle and entertainment programs that WGN-TV added to its schedule as the station began to better emphasize news and other locally produced content starting in 2008. Following the Tribune Company's emergence from [[Chapter 11, Title 11, United States Code|Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection]] amid a debt-laden 2007 [[leveraged buyout]] by real estate investor [[Sam Zell]] and subsequent takeover by three [[private equity firm]]s ([[Oaktree Capital Management]], [[JPMorgan Chase]] and [[Angelo, Gordon & Co.]]), Tribune unveiled plans to turn WGN America into a conventional basic cable network incorporating original programming content, to increase the channel's visibility and stave off potential defections from television providers because of the expense of paying increasing copyright fees to transmit programs now readily available elsewhere. (Through this conversion, WGN America began phasing out all local news and sports programming simulcast with the Chicago signal, concluding with the removal of its morning and midday newscasts from WGN America's lineup on December 15, 2014.<ref>{{cite web|title=WGN news loses national platform|url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/02/05/wgn-9-p-m-news-loses-national-platform|author=Robert Feder|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Publishing|date=February 5, 2014|access-date=February 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name=ccb-wgnanosports>{{cite news|title=WGN America to drop Chicago sports|url=http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20140530/NEWS01/140539978/wgn-america-to-drop-chicago-sports|author=Lynne Marek|newspaper=[[Crain's Chicago Business]]|publisher=[[Crain Communications]]|date=May 30, 2014|access-date=June 27, 2014}}</ref>) WGN's superstation status ended (in the United States) on December 16, 2014, when all remaining simulcasts of the Chicago station's local news, public affairs and sports programming were removed from its schedule and the first carriage agreements that shifted WGN America from limited to expanded basic tiers (involving [[Comcast Cable|Comcast Xfinity]] systems in Chicago and four other major markets) went into effect.<ref name="feder-wgnacomcast">{{cite news|title=WGN America comes home to Chicago|url=http://www.robertfeder.com/2014/12/15/wgn-america-comes-home-to-chicago/|author=[[Robert Feder]]|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Publishing|date=December 15, 2014|access-date=January 11, 2015}}</ref><ref name="b&c-wgnacomcast">{{cite news|title=WGN America Converts to Cable in Five Markets|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/wgn-america-converts-cable-five-markets/136444|author=Kent Gibbons|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=December 16, 2014|access-date=January 11, 2015}}</ref> WGN-TV would eventually be made available throughout the United States once again in the spring of 2015, when antenna manufacturer [[Channel Master]] included the Chicago-area feed among the initial offerings on its short-lived [[Internet television|over-the-top streaming service]] LinearTV.<ref name="b&c-channelmaster">{{cite web|title=CES: Channel Master DVR to Pipe in Linear OTT|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/technology/ces-channel-master-dvr-pipe-linear-ott/136765|author=Jeff Baumgartner|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=January 6, 2015|access-date=September 9, 2015}}</ref>

The five remaining "true" superstations—WPIX, KTLA, KWGN-TV, WWOR-TV and WSBK-TV—are carried on some rural cable providers and via satellite through Dish Network and C-Band systems. Since the 1988 syndication exclusivity rules were implemented, [[WKAQ-TV]] (channel 2) in [[San Juan, Puerto Rico|San Juan]] and [[WAPA-TV]] (channel 4) in [[Guaynabo|Guaynabo, Puerto Rico]] have been the only American television stations to achieve superstation status, although neither fits the legal criteria of a superstation as defined by the FCC. WKAQ's signal became available in the mainland United States in 2001, when Telemundo Group converted its Telemundo Internacional cable channel—which began as a [[United States cable news|cable news channel]] under the name Telenoticias in 1994—into a national feed of the station, branded as [[Telemundo Puerto Rico (TV channel)|Telemundo Puerto Rico]]; the feed is available in the contiguous United States through select cable providers and via satellite on Dish Network and [[DirecTV]]. [[LIN Media|LIN Television Corp.]] began distributing a direct-to-satellite national feed of WAPA-TV, [[WAPA America]], on September 1, 2004, through DirecTV's Para Todos Spanish-language tier; WAPA America is also available through select cable providers and on Dish Network.<ref>{{cite press release|title=WAPA-America Debuts on DIRECTV PARA TODOS Programming Service|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20040823005215/en/WAPA-America-Debuts-DIRECTV-PARA-TODOS-Programming-Service|website=[[DirecTV|DirecTV, Inc.]]|publisher=The DirecTV Group Inc.|via=[[Business Wire]]|date=August 23, 2004|access-date=April 30, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite press release|title=Leading Puerto Rican Channel, WAPA America, Launches on DISH Network|url=https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leading-puerto-rican-channel-wapa-america-launches-on-dish-network-129525678.html|website=WAPA America|via=Business Wire|date=September 9, 2011|access-date=April 30, 2019}}</ref> (Unlike the five superstations licensed within the U.S. mainland, WAPA's programming is generally "SyndEx-proof" as its schedule consists of domestically produced programs and acquired programming not widely available on broadcasters elsewhere within the Continental United States.) Since its inception in 1994, Dish Network has offered an [[a la carte cable television|a la carte]] tier of all five aforementioned mainland superstations to subscribers outside of the stations' respective home markets. The tier continued to be sold for many years following the 1999 passage of the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act, despite concerns expressed by representatives for former Dish parent [[EchoStar]] that prevalent program blackouts caused by requests from local broadcast licensees made under SHVIA syndication exclusivity and sports blackout provisions could force it to drop the five mainland superstations from its lineup. Indeed, such requests have led Dish Network to stop offering one or more of the stations in some markets in recent years, culminating in Dish ceasing all future sales of the superstation tier on September 19, 2013. (A grandfathering waiver exists for subscribers who purchased the tier prior to the cut-off date, allowing them to continue receiving the superstation package barring they ever cancel their subscription to the tier or to Dish Network.)<ref>{{cite web|title=Dish to stop superstation subscriptions|url=https://freetvblog.com/2013/09/10/dish-to-stop-superstation-subscriptions/|website=Free TV Blog|date=September 10, 2013|access-date=April 30, 2019}}</ref>