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Curated playlist

English-language television stations in the United States

  • PBSPBS carried the 1973 Senate Watergate hearings gavel to gavel and alone rebroadcast them in prime time.
  • Fox NewsFox News Channel launched in 1996 without New York City or Los Angeles and had to pay cable systems to carry it.
  • HBOHBO's very first broadcast, in 1972, was a hockey game. Only 365 subscribers in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania saw it.
  • NickelodeonNickelodeon began as one channel showing a single program, Pinwheel. It ran fourteen hours a day on an Ohio cable test.
  • MTVMTV's first image was Moon landing footage with its logo on the flag.
  • CNNCNN was the first television channel to offer news around the clock. It launched in Atlanta on June 1, 1980.
  • History ChannelA 2017 History Channel documentary on Amelia Earhart was undone in about half an hour of Google searching.
  • Disney Jr.Disney Jr. took over the channel slot of a soap opera network. Soapnet gave way to a preschool channel in March 2012.
  • Cartoon NetworkCartoon Network began with a film library Ted Turner kept after a deal collapsed.
  • NBA TVNBA TV began in 1999 as little more than a scores ticker. It was built to promote the league's League Pass game package.
  • SyfySyfy's first screen message honored Isaac Asimov and Gene Roddenberry, who died before launch.
  • USA NetworkUSA Network began in 1977 as a sports channel named for Madison Square Garden.
  • Disney ChannelDisney Channel went live on April 18, 1983, as a premium cable extra.
  • NFL NetworkIn February 2015, NFL Network reached approximately 71.1 million American households. By June 2023, that number had fallen to 51.5 million. The channel is a pay television network devoted entirely to American football, and its shrinking…
  • CNBCCNBC began as a low-budget satellite channel showing old movies and instructional programs.
  • Disney XDDisney XD's name doesn't actually mean anything. A Disney executive said the letters were chosen because X looked cool.
  • NFL RedZoneNFL RedZone jumps to any game the moment a team crosses the 20-yard line. One host runs every Sunday game.

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