In the broadcasting industry (especially in North America), a 'network
affiliate' (or 'affiliated station') is a local broadcaster which carries some
or all of the programme line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned
by a company other than the owner of the network. This distinguishes such a
station from an owned-and-operated station (O&O), which is owned by its parent
network. In the United States, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations limit
the number of network-owned stations as a percentage of total market size. As
such, networks tend to have O&Os only in the largest media markets (eg. New York
City and Los Angeles), and rely on affiliates to carry their programming in
other markets. However, even the largest markets may have network affiliates in
lieu of O&Os. For instance, Tribune Broadcasting's WPIX serves as the New York
City affiliate for the CW Television Network, which does not have an O&O in that
market. On the other hand, several other TV stations in the same market — WABC
(ABC), WCBS (CBS), WNBC (NBC), WNYW (Fox) and WWOR-TV (MyNetworkTV) — are
O&Os. In Canada, the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission
(CRTC) has significantly more lenient rules regarding media ownership. As such,
most television stations, regardless of market size, are now O&Os of their
respective networks, with only a few true affiliates remaining. The Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation originally relied on a large number of privately-owned
affiliates to disseminate its radio and television programming. However, since
the 1960s, most of the CBC Television affiliates have been replaced by network
owned and operated stations or retransmitters. CBC Radio stations are now
entirely O&O. While network-owned stations will normally carry the full programming schedule
of the originating network, an affiliate is independently-owned and typically
under no obligation to do so. Affiliated stations often buy supplementary
programming from another source, such as a syndicator or another television
network which does not have coverage in the station's broadcast area, in
addition to the programming they carry from their primary network affiliation.
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