Television
About 1,700 television stations operate in the United States.
One out of four stations is a public station. Many stations
are affiliated with a major network—NBC, CBS, ABC or
Fox—although a few stations, called independents, are not
affiliated with any network. More than 90 percent of the
homes in the United States are wired for cable or satellite
delivery. To differentiate cable and satellite TV from
network television, cable and satellite television services are
now lumped together in one category, called subscription
television.
TV network income is declining while income to cable
operators and satellite companies for subscription services
is increasing, so all the television networks also
have invested heavily in subscription TV programming.
The nation’s largest cable operator, Comcast Corp., also
owns the E! Entertainment cable network. In 2008, AT&T
began offering subscription television services using fiber
cable through its U-verse system. Total television industry
revenue—including cable, satellite and fiber delivery—is
expected to grow steadily in the next decade.