Curated playlist
Television networks 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.
- ESPNESPN is based in Bristol, Connecticut, because a zoning rule banned rooftop satellite dishes.
- 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.
- Amazon FreeveeAmazon Freevee's first name lasted only five months. The free, ad-supported service had three names in six years.
- CNNCNN was the first television channel to offer news around the clock. It launched in Atlanta on June 1, 1980.
- American Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company began as a forced sale in 1943.
- History ChannelA 2017 History Channel documentary on Amelia Earhart was undone in about half an hour of Google searching.
- CBSIn 1951, CBS introduced its Eye logo, inspired by a hex sign and a Shaker drawing.
- Cartoon NetworkCartoon Network began with a film library Ted Turner kept after a deal collapsed.
- NBCNBC's peacock was introduced in 1956 to promote color broadcasting. The network itself began in 1926 as a radio venture.
- 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.
- Disney XDDisney XD's name doesn't actually mean anything. A Disney executive said the letters were chosen because X looked cool.
- Fox Broadcasting CompanyFox launched in 1986 with a Joan Rivers talk show and mostly weak UHF stations. It topped CBS in 2008.