InAmerican television in 2016, notable events included television show debuts, finales, and cancellations; channel launches, closures, and rebrandings; stations changing or adding their network affiliations; and information about controversies andcarriage disputes.
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bob Eubanks andStephanie Edwards co-host the local telecast of theRose Parade onCW affiliateKTLA/Los Angeles for the final time. The duo announced in September 2015 that they were relinquishing their hosting duties for the annual event, an assignment that dated back to 1982. | [1] |
| Full episodes ofThe Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson return to American television, airing nightly onAntenna TV, the result of an agreement between theTribune Broadcasting-owned multicast network andCarson Productions. The airings, billed simply asJohnny Carson (asNBC has ownership ofThe Tonight Show brand) consist of episodes taped inBurbank between 1972 and 1992 (90-minute episodes made from 1980 and earlier air on weekends, while 60-minute broadcasts made from 1980 onward air weeknights). This date's re-airing of the January 1, 1982, episode, which featuredEddie Murphy andMcLean Stevenson as guests, marks the first time the Carson-eraTonight Show has aired on television (outside ofa compiled clip series) since Carson's retirement in May 1992. | [2] | |
| WSVI, theABC affiliate serving theUnited States Virgin Islands, ends its affiliation with the network due to technical issues and joinsIon Television.Lilly Broadcasting, owners ofWSEE-TV inErie, Pennsylvania, which already serves as the defaultCBS affiliate in the Virgin Islands, is commissioned to provide a replacement ABC affiliate for cable viewers, and promptly importsWENY-TV inElmira, New York. | ||
| 7 | NBCUniversal formally launchesSeeso, a subscription-based,over-the-topstreaming service featuring new and classic comedy programming including stand-up comedy specials, and episodes of series such asSaturday Night Live andMonty Python's Flying Circus as well as original series, was initially available for $3.99 per month. The site soft-launched on December 3, 2015, with a one-month, web-only beta trial offered to prospective subscribers | [3] |
| More than a dozen television stations owned byCordillera Communications in theWestern andSouthern United States are removed fromDish Network in a retransmission dispute. The stations are restored on January 10 after the two sides reach an agreement. | [4][5] | |
| 9 | TheKansas City Chiefs defeat theHouston Texans in an AFC Wild Card playoff game.ESPN's coverage of the game is simulcast on sister broadcast networkABC, making it the firstNational Football League game to air on the latter network sinceSuper Bowl XL in 2006. ABC previously held the rights toMonday Night Football from 1970 until it shifted over to ESPN at the start of the2006 season. ABC is still required to air the games in both teams' primary market. | [6] |
| 12 | ABC Family rebrands asFreeform. The rebranding, the result of audience tests that revealed infrequent viewers perceived the channel as strictly family-oriented, firms the network's programming focus towardsteenagers and young adults ages 14–34 (or "becomers", as the network terms them). It also, according to network president Tom Ascheim, refutes claims that founding ownerChristian Broadcasting Network has required "Family" to permanently remain in the channel's name since its 1990 sale toInternational Family Entertainment. Freeform will maintain much of the former ABC Family's existing programming including feature films, series (includingShadowhunters, which premieres on this date),seasonal programming blocks, and religious programs (most notably weekday airings ofThe 700 Club, which CBN does require the channel to air. | [7][8] |
| 14 | TouchVision discontinues operations. Based atWeigel Broadcasting'sChicago headquarters, the service providednewsreel-style news coverage tailored to a younger demographic, offering content tomobile andtablet platforms as well as select television stations. | [9] |
| 17 | Master of None andMr. Robot are among the notable TV winners at the 21stCritics' Choice Awards, an event simulcast live onA&E,Lifetime andLMN. For the first time, the event combines categories comprising its previously separatetelevision andfilm ceremonies into a single three-hour telecast, the result of a September 2015 decision reached by theBroadcast Television Journalists Association and theBroadcast Film Critics Association. | [10][11] |
| 18 | In a series of tweets she stated that while she had "only ever liked boys" in the past and that she was "open to liking any gender,"Girl Meets World starRowan Blanchard, 14 at the time, confirms that she isqueer, marking the first time a teenage entertainer from a currentDisney Channel television series to come out and reveal their sexual preference. | [12] |
| Almost a month after the controversy (in which he mistakenly announcedAriadna Gutiérrez ofColombia as the winner ofMiss Universe 2015 andPia Wurtzbach of thePhilippines as the first runner-up), comedian and hostSteve Harvey breaks his silence and addresses his stint as the pageant's host in a two-part special episode of hiseponymous talk show. The episodes, titled "Miss Universe: The Truth", also features exclusive interviews with Wurtzbach alongsideMiss USA 2015 winner and second runner-upOlivia Jordan in part one, and Gutiérrez in part two.I | [13] | |
| 19 | Major League Baseball reaches an agreement to expand its offerings of online game broadcasts, including team-specific packages. The agreement comes on the day a trial against MLB,Comcast, andDirecTV was to have begun. The class action lawsuit, filed by a group of fans, sought to overturn MLB's placement of territorial restrictions for "out of market" broadcasts and blackouts of "in market" games. | [14] |
| 23 | ABC begins airing a package of eight selectedNBA games on Saturday evenings under theNBA Saturday Primetime on ABC banner. The move will also see the network airing only six single Sunday afternoon games, ending thedoubleheaders that resulted in the adjustments to the scheduling of NBA broadcasts. Sister cable channelESPN will continue to air NBA telecasts on Wednesday and Friday evenings. | [15] |
| 27 | Nexstar Broadcasting Group agrees to acquireMedia General in a $4.6 billion deal. Should regulatory approval be obtained, the combined company, to be known as Nexstar Media Group, will become the largest broadcaster in terms of audience reach, owning or operating 171 full-power stations in 100 markets. The deal comes afterMeredith Corporation backs out of its deal to acquire Media General. That deal, announced in September 2015, came before Nexstar announced its own larger, unsolicited bid for Media General. | [16] |
| Sinclair Broadcast Group announces it will acquireTennis Channel in a $350 million deal. | [17] | |
| 29 | Nexstar Broadcasting Group stations in nine markets are removed fromCox Communications' cable systems at midnight due to a retransmission dispute. The stations return to Cox Cable after the two sides reach an agreement on February 4. | [18][19] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | TheNational Football League announces thatCBS andNBC will share the league'sThursday Night Football package in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Both networks will each air and produce five games andNFL Network will simulcast those games and air eight additional games exclusively. | [20] |
| KTSF 26/San Francisco's main signal transitioned from4:3 to16:9, which allowed local programming and the Cantonese and Mandarin newscasts to be broadcast inwidescreen. | [21] | |
| TheE. W. Scripps Company andTime Warner Cable quietly come to terms on a new carriage andretransmission consent contract. This is ahead of time for the formerJournal Communications stations merged into Scripps in April 2015 (whose previous agreement would have ended on July 31), and averts any threat of Scripps' NBC stations being removed from Time Warner systems during the2016 Summer Olympics. | [22] | |
| MyNetworkTV affiliateWMYD inDetroit, Michigan, changes its DT2 subchannel's affiliation fromCozi TV toAntenna TV after Antenna TV was removed fromWADL's DT4 subchannel in August 2015. Strangely, Cozi ended up on WADL's DT4 subchannel. | [citation needed] | |
| CBS affiliateWJHL-TV inJohnson City, Tennessee, affiliates itsDT2 subchannel withABC, taking theTri-Cities' ABC affiliation fromWKPT-TV. In a statement by George DeVault, president of Holston Valley Broadcasting, owners of WKPT-TV, he stated that despite negotiating in good faith with a "loyal" affiliate of ABC, and having agreed in principle on a 5-year extension, the network had chosen to explore other options, and showed a preference to being affiliated with a station owned by a larger group (WJHL-TV is owned and operated byMedia General). WKPT-TV would shut down its news operations on January 29, three days before switching toMyNetworkTV (which would take that affiliation from sister stationWAPK-CD, who in turn would take WJHL-DT2's formerMeTV affiliation). | [23] | |
| 3 | With advancing age and health issues limiting his abilities to run the company, 92-year-oldSumner Redstone steps down as executive chairman atCBS Corporation. CEOLeslie Moonves is named Redstone's successor, while his daughterShari Redstone retains her role as vice chairman. Redstone will retain a title of chairman emeritus at CBS, the same title he acquires on February 4 atViacom, whose board namesPhilippe Dauman to succeed him as its executive chairman.I | [24][25] |
| 7 | Super Bowl 50, in which theDenver Broncos defeat theCarolina Panthers, attracts 111.9 million viewers toCBS' English-language broadcast, the third most watched program in TV history. The game is also simulcast in Spanish onESPN Deportes. | [26][27] |
| 12 | Univision andDonald Trump confirm that they reached a confidential out-of-court settlement in a breach-of-contract lawsuit Trump filed against Univision. The Spanish-language broadcaster had backed out of its commitment in 2015 to air theMiss USA pageant in light of comments Trump expressed in the early days of hispresidential campaign regardingillegal immigration to the United States. The comments resulted in a major fallout with celebrities, sponsors, and other pageant backers, includingNBCUniversal, which exited from its joint venture with Trump in theMiss Universe Organization (Trump would buy out NBCU's stake and later sell the full organization toWME/IMG). | [28] |
| 13 | Kanye West performs two songs from his albumThe Life of Pablo onSaturday Night Live, before announcing the release of his album exclusively onTidal at the conclusion of his second performance. While the exclusivity window was believed to be permanent, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April. | [29][30] |
| 15 | Kendrick Lamar andTaylor Swift are among the notable winners at the58th Grammy Awards. The show airs onCBS, which offers an option for Pacific and Mountain time zone stations to air the broadcast live, allowing the event to air live in all time zones for the first time ever. | [31][32] |
| 17 | ABC announces that its entertainment president,Paul Lee, has left the network.Channing Dungey is immediately tapped as Lee's successor, becoming the first African-American to head programming at a major broadcast network. | [33] |
| 28 | MSNBC confirms it has parted ways with on-air hostMelissa Harris-Perry. The move comes two days after it was revealed that Harris-Perry, in an e-mail to co-workers, voiced frustration over recent pre-emptions of hereponymous weekend show for expandedelection coverage, editorial control of her show, and lack of communication from network executives over those issues. | [34] |
| Spotlight (best picture) andMad Max: Fury Road (six awards) are among the notable winners at the88th Academy Awards.Chris Rock hosts theABC telecast, an event that faced controversy coming in over the absence of minorities in the major acting categories for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, despiteHawaii being five hours behind theEastern Time Zone,KITV/Honolulu (under their new ownership ofSJL Broadcasting) ends its practice of tape-delaying theAcademy Awards to prime time and, for the first time, joins the rest of the ABC affiliates in airing the Oscars live as it happens, 3:30 PM local time.time | [35][36] | |
| 29 | Raleigh-area stationsWRAL-TV andWNCN swap their network affiliations, with WRAL joiningNBC and WNCN joiningCBS. The switch comes after management of theCapitol Broadcasting-owned WRAL could not meet what it called "one-sided"reverse compensation demands from CBS. | [37] |
| H2,History's secondary network, becomesViceland, a lifestyle channel aimed at millennials which will include programming about music, cooking, sports, technology and hard-hitting documentaries. The change comes afterA&E Networks purchased a 10% stake inVice Media, Inc. in August 2014. | [38] | |
| Tribune Media announces that it will review various "strategic alternatives" to increase the company's value to shareholders, which include a possible sale of the entire company and/or select assets, or the formation of programming alliances or strategic partnerships with other companies, due to the decrease in its stock price since its August 2014 spin-off ofTribune Publishing and a $385 million revenue write-down for the 2015 fiscal year, partly due to original scripted programming expenditures forWGN America since it converted the cable network from asuperstation in 2014. In addition to WGN America, Tribune Media's assets include 42 television stations (two of which are operated undershared services agreements with Dreamcatcher Broadcasting), regional cable news channelChicagoland Television and a 30% stake inFood Network (which is majority owned by Scripps Interactive). | [39] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | Four Spanish language networks owned byUnivision Communications (Univision,UniMás,Galavisión andUnivision Deportes) are removed byAT&T U-verse nationwide due to a carriage dispute. The Univision-owned networks were re-added by the provider on March 24, 2016, following the signing of a new retransmission agreement with the broadcaster. | [40][41] |
| 15 | Dish Network suesNBCUniversal for breach of contract in reply to their ongoing carriage dispute. Three days later, it announced it will continue to carry NBCU's channels for another 10 days while seeking arbitration from the FCC. | [42][43] |
| 23 | Georgia'ssupreme court overturns a lower court injunction that preventedGray Television from combining operations ofAugustaNBC affiliateWAGT with its ownWRDW-TV (CBS). Gray acquired WAGT as part of its purchase ofSchurz Communications' broadcast properties, a deal theFCC approved on the condition that Gray and Schurz terminate WAGT'sshared services andjoint sales agreements withMedia General-ownedABC affiliateWJBF. Media General won the injunction on February 26, which was 10 days after Gray took over WAGT, arguing their agreements to operate WAGT were still in force until their expiration in 2020. The FCC on March 10 launches an investigation into Media General's actions in the matter, with Media General agreeing on July 14 to pay a $700,000 fine. | [44][45] [46][47] |
| 28 | OK!TV is rechristenedCelebrity Page. The retitling of the program is the result of a change in content partners for the Unconventional Studios-produced,Trifecta-distributed entertainment news program, fromAmerican Media (parent ofOK! magazine) to theMeredith Corporation, whose lifestyle print magazines will provide content for the show. It returns Meredith content to television syndication ten months after the broadcasting and publishing company's national version of theBetter Show was canceled. | [48] |
| GeorgiaGovernorNathan Deal announces he will veto a bill passed by the state'slegislature that would allow businesses in the state to deny services based on their religious beliefs. The legislation,HB 757, referred to as the Free Exercise Protection Act), faced opposition and boycott threats from several studios, producers, and media companies involved in the state's TV industry, who contend that the bill would allow discrimination against those in theLGBT community. | [49][50] | |
| A cross-show, cross-network meeting ofDC Universe characters takes place, asBarry Allen (Grant Gustin ofThe CW'sThe Flash) travels intoNational City's dimension to team withKara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) in the "Worlds Finest" episode ofCBS'Supergirl. It's the firstcrossover involving a CW series character on a CBS program. BothFlash andSupergirl are produced byWarner Bros. Television andDC Entertainment. Their parent company,Warner Bros., owns The CW equally with CBS.Supergirl would move to The CW before the start of its second season. | [51] | |
| 29 | TheFCC commences an incentive auction to acquire broadcast spectrum used by television stations. The two-phase process, which is expected to conclude by autumn, began with a "reverse auction" on May 31, participating stations (about 1,800 in 150 markets that transmit onUHF channels 30 to 51 are eligible) are offered bids from the FCC to sell part or all of their bandwidth, with price estimates descending in each round. A "forward auction" followed on August 16, in which the repurposed spectrum will be sold to telecommunications providers, at escalating bids, to upgrade and expand their wireless broadband andWi-Fi networks. Stations that opt to sell their bandwidth will be given the option to cease or continue operations (those choosing the latter can enter into an agreement with another station's owner to share a digital channel). Most stations that remain in operation will be subsequently reassigned to lower channel numbers, with their vacated frequencies reallocated for wireless use. Revenue to be accrued from the sale/repurposing of spectrum is projected to be as much as $60 billion, with most of the proceeds going to the broadcasters. | [52] |
| 30 | CBS announces an affiliation deal withWWAY/Wilmington, NC to move its programming to the station'sDT2 subchannel on January 1, 2017 (The move will not affect WWAY's primary affiliation withABC; the DT2 channel currently carriesThe CW). CBS will move from low-poweredWILM-LD (owned byCapitol Broadcasting Company, which dropped CBS fromWRAL-TV/Raleigh on February 29). | [53] |
| WTAE-TV/Pittsburgh dismisses news anchor Wendy Bell after she posts material on her officialFacebook page considered stereotypical of African-Americans in the aftermath of a mass shooting inWilkinsburg, PA that claimed five lives. In the post, which was later taken down, Bell described the killers, who were yet to be identified or arrested, as "young black men" who the criminal justice system was familiar with and who "have multiple siblings from multiple fathers and their mothers work multiple jobs." Management for theABC-affiliated WTAE and parent companyHearst Television said Bell's comments displayed an "egregious lack of judgment" and "were inconsistent with the company's ethics and journalistic standards." Bell, who had been an 18-year veteran of WTAE, claims she was referring to black-on-black crime in general and didn't get a "fair shake" from the station. | [54] | |
| 31 | In the wake of aHollywood Reporter investigation into "pay-to-play" casting workshops,ABC Studios dismissesCriminal Minds casting director Scott David. David, who had been with theCBS series since its 2005 debut, was profiled as one of several proprietors of acting workshops, David's being The Actors Link, that charge actors to perform scenes for and gain advice from those directly involved in the casting of TV projects — in essence, paying a fee to audition. Such a practice has been deemed illegal under a 2009California law known as TheKrekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act that has never been fully enforced by local officials. | [55] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Nexstar-ownedLafayette, Louisiana, duopoly ofKLAF-LD (NBC) andKADN (Fox) launch a news department, beginning with three weekday and two Saturday and Sunday newscasts on KLAF, and a weeknight-only prime time newscast on KADN. A weekday morning newscast on KLAF subsequently debuted on April 4. The programs on KLAF-LD replace news simulcasts fromBaton Rouge sister stationWVLA-TV, which KLAF had carried since it became Lafayette's NBC affiliate on July 1, 2015, while the KADN newscast replaces a five-minute news summary that previously aired on the station. The launch of the news department follows the physical expansion and equipment upgrade of the KLAF/KADN studios in Lafayette. | [56][57] |
| John McMurray, a meteorologist atWJRT-TV/Flint/Tri-Cities (whose reports were also syndicated on several Michigan radio stations, earning him the nickname "Michigan's Weatherman"), retires after 47 years on the air. | [58] | |
| 4 | Fox affiliateWZDX/Huntsville, Alabama, debuts its in-house news department with the relaunch of its nightly 9:00 p.m. newscast, which expands from 30 to 60 minutes. The change followed the April 3 termination of a news share agreement withCalkins Media-ownedWAAY-TV that – since it took over production of the program from theIndependent News Network in September 2009 – saw the ABC affiliate produce news content for WZDX (which was acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group as part of its 2013 purchase ofGrant Broadcasting System II), as well as Nexstar's $3.3 million renovation of the station's studio facility in northern Huntsville. | [59][60] |
| TheVillanova Wildcats defeat theNorth Carolina Tar Heels 77–74 in theNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, which aired on cable television for the first time ever as part of a deal which will see the championship alternate betweenTBS andCBS. | [61][62] | |
| CBS began taping back-to-back seasons of the long-running reality game showSurvivor atMamanuca Islands,Fiji one month apart starting withMillennials vs. Gen X, beginning a tradition of taping at the island as its new permanent location, as confirmed by the hostJeff Probst prior to the airing of the35th installment. | [63][64] | |
| 5 | TheStarz Inc. channels undergo a brand reformatting, asStarz introduces a new universal logo for its channels and Encore is renamedStarz Encore to unify the brand identity for the group's two flagshippremium cable channels. The extension of the Starz brand to Encore (which ironically launched Starz in 1994, as part of its themedmultiplex) will also include the addition of repeats of Starz original programming on some of the latter's channels. The Starz reformat also corresponds with the launch of the network'sover-the-top/TV Everywhere service equivalent toHBO Now andShowtime's OTT service for mobile devices anddigital media players simply known as Starz, and the merger of Encore andMoviePlex content from their individual apps – Encore Play and MoviePlex Play – into that service. | [65][66] |
| 7 | Trent Harmon was named the winner of the15th installment ofAmerican Idol, whileLa'Porsha Renae is runner-up. The finale is notable on showcasing performances by past winners and finalists as it marked the final season (entitledThe Farewell Season) to be aired onFox after 15 years of air;American Idol would go for a year hiatus and air its succeedingsixteenth season under the new network ofABC nearly two years later on March 11, 2018, following an announcement on November 6, 2017. | [67][68] |
| 11 | Calkins Media announces that the company will sell its three television stations (all of which are ABC affiliates) toRaycom Media. Raycom will acquireWWSB/Sarasota andWTXL-TV/Tallahassee, Florida, outright, while its partner companyAmerican Spirit Media will acquire the license assets of WAAY-TV/Huntsville, Alabama, with Raycom likely operating it under an outsourcing agreement with its existing NBC affiliate in that market,WAFF. | [69] |
| 12 | Al Jazeera America ceases programming with a three-hour retrospective special. Lauded for its journalism since its August 2013 launch, the network was plagued by persistently low ratings (particularly during prime time), lack of tanglible cable carriage, and internal controversies. A limited number of the approximately 700 staffers laid off by the shutdown of AJAM and its website, which went into archive-only mode on February 26, may be transferred to its sister network, theQatar-basedAl Jazeera English. | [70][71] [72] |
| 14 | After 11 years,USA Network retires its "Characters Welcome" slogan in favor of a new brand positioning, "We the Bold", that encapsulates the network's evolved programming strategy. | [73] |
| 17 | TheSunday edition ofNBC'smorning news/talk showToday makes a revamp with the debut ofSunday Today with Willie Geist. The newly reformatted program, anchored by the weekday show's third-hour anchorWillie Geist, provides news coverage and in-depth profiles of the people and ideas shaping American culture, such as a behind-the-scenes look at theBroadwaymusicalHamilton seem in the premiere. The new format brings it into line with its rival,CBS News Sunday Morning where Geist's fatherBill has been a longtime contributor. | [74][75] |
| 20 | Saying in a statement that they are "an inclusive company,"ESPN dismissesCurt Schilling for unacceptable conduct after he shares a photo onFacebook deemed critical oftransgender people. It is the latest in a series of controversial political statements made by the formerMajor League Baseball pitcher turned ESPN analyst. | [76] |
| 21 | With the sudden passing ofPrince at hisPaisley Park Studios complex/home on this date,TV Guide changed their background logo from red to purple, joining the local media outlets in theMinneapolis–Saint Paul market, along with other businesses based in the area, in honor of the musician.[77] In addition,MTV also changed its logo to purple and suspended its regular programming to air Prince's videos and movies as a tribute to being a core artist on the channel during its days as a non-stop music video channel. Two days later,Jimmy Fallon hosted a retrospectiveSaturday Night Live special titled "Goodnight Sweet Prince" featuring Prince's past performances on the show, as well as a compilation of clips of "The Prince Show", in whichFred Armisen as Prince andMaya Rudolph asBeyoncé hosted a talk show together. | [78][79] [80] |
| 25 | KICU-TV/San Jose rebrands from "TV 36" to "KTVU Plus." The new branding for theFox-ownedindependent station reflects KICU's relationship to itsFox-affiliatedBay Area sister stationKTVU/Oakland and includes an expansion of KTVU-produced news programming on KICU. | [81] |
| 26 | The Department of Justice and the FCC approves the merger betweenTime Warner Cable andCharter Communications, including Charter's acquisition ofBright House Networks. The finalized deal is subject to conditions, including requirements for Charter to refrain from implementing usage-based billing, nor use its dominant position to hinder online video services (including a prohibition on interconnection fees). Charter would formally complete the transactions on May 18, becoming the second-largest cable provider in the U.S. On the same day, Time Warner and Charter both rebrand as Spectrum. | [82][83] [84][85] |
| 27 | Core Media Group – the parent of19 Entertainment, the production company behindAmerican Idol andSo You Think You Can Dance – files forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the wake of falling profits and the ratings decline ofIdol that resulted in the series ending its 15-year run. Among the parties who Core owes money to include $3.37 million to creatorSimon Fuller and an additional $398 million to third parties, including Tennenbaum Capital Partners and Crestview Media Investors. | [86] |
| 28 | After setting his own car on fire, a 25-year-old man dressed in a panda costume andsurgical mask who claimed to have a bomb strapped to his chest enters the lobby of the facility housingSinclair Broadcast Group'sBaltimoreflagship stations,WBFF (Fox),WNUV (The CW) andWUTB (MyNetworkTV), and demands them to broadcast his message about the U.S. space program, resulting in the evacuation of staff from the studio complex. After exiting the studios, the man is later shot and wounded by police, who discover that the supposed bomb was in fact a flotation device filled with aluminum foil-wrapped chocolate candy bars with wiring attached to them. | [87] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | General Hospital and theLive hosting team ofKelly Ripa andMichael Strahan are among the notable winners at the43rd Daytime Emmy Awards. The ceremony has an online-only broadcast for the second time in three years, one year after a successful conventional telecast onPop. | [88][89] |
| 2 | The Loud House premieres onNickelodeon and becomes the number-one children's animated series on television within its first month on the air. | [90] |
| 6 | Network Knowledge, a member network of fourPBS stations (three full-power outlets and onetranslator) servingCentral Illinois, drastically reduces its broadcast schedule over-the-air to offer 12 to 13 hours of programming a day (weekdays from 10:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. and weekends from 10:00 a.m.-11:00 p.m.), as part of money-saving efforts enacted to account for theIllinois state budget stand-off, along with other further reductions in donor revenue and production contracts. The regional network continues to provide a 24-hour schedule over local cable providers andAT&T U-verse through a direct fiber optic link toComcast (the schedule reduction also affects satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network, which both receive the signals of the Network Knowledge stations through the OTA feed). | [91] |
| 7 | A revampedweekend edition ofCBS'evening newscast debuts. Titled theCBS Weekend News and anchored byReena Ninan (on Saturdays) andElaine Quijano (on Sundays), the newscast draws from the resources of the network's online news channel,CBSN. | [92] |
| 9 | NBC Sports confirms thatMike Tirico will join the network effective July 1, becoming its lead play-by-play announcer for the late half of the season ofThursday Night Football, which is shared withNFL Network. He officially joins the network on July 14 as part the network's coverage ofThe Open Championship. Tirico had been a 25-year veteran ofESPN, where he covered various sports in an anchor or announcer capacity, most notably play-by-play onMonday Night Football since 2006. Tirico will be succeeded in the ESPNMNF booth bySean McDonough. However, the NFL officially nixes the plan for Tirico to announceTNF games on August 20, claiming that contract language for NBC to carry the late half games specifies that the network's top team ofAl Michaels andCris Collinsworth are required to announce the games without a possibility of substitution, despite their commitments toSunday Night Football. | [93][94] [95] |
| 12 | CBS officially announces the cancellation ofCSI: Cyber after two seasons, ending the sixteen season television run of theCSI franchise. The network also announces that freshman dramaSupergirl will move toThe CW for its second season, with the latter network now airing four originalDC Comics based series across its prime time lineup (alongsideArrow,Legends of Tomorrow andThe Flash). | [96][97] |
| 13 | Michael Strahan ends his four-year-run as co-host ofLive with Kelly and Michael. It is a bittersweet end to what had been a controversial situation, which began on April 19 when Strahan announced he would leave the show to become a full-time host onABC'sGood Morning America, which he joined as a correspondent in 2014. Caught by surprise by Strahan's announcement,Live co-hostKelly Ripa was absent for three episodes (the latter two coinciding with an already planned vacation with husbandMark Consuelos), reportedly in protest over what she felt was ABC's prioritization ofGMA overLive (the latter is distributed by ABC'ssyndication arm). With Strahan's departure, guest co-hosts will sit alongside Ripa onLive until a permanent co-host is named. | [98][99] |
| 14 | Logo broadcasts the2016 Eurovision Song Contest. This was the first time that theannual pan-European song competition was broadcast live on American television. | [100] |
| 15 | For the first time in its history,The Simpsons incorporates a live-to-air animation segment featuring motion capture technology. The three-minute live scene, part of the episode "Simprovised" (in whichHomer Simpson takes upimprovisational theatre), features Homer (voiced byDan Castellaneta) talking about things he "could only be saying live on that day" and answering questions fielded from viewers onTwitter between May 1 and May 4. | [101] |
| In recognition of his retirement fromCBS News,Morley Safer is feted by60 Minutes with a one-hour tribute titled "Morley Safer: A Reporter's Life", a special – airing as part of an extended two-hour edition of the newsmagazine – which chronicled his journalism career and notable stories during his tenure with the program. Safer (who died four days later on May 19) had been a correspondent with60 Minutes since 1970. | [102] | |
| 16 | AU.S. District Court judge dismissesWHDH/Boston's lawsuit againstNBC parentComcast, clearing the way for the network to set up its own NBCO&O station in the Boston market (possibly using the company's existingTelemundo stationWNEU) on January 1, 2017, one day after its contract with WHDH expires. WHDH ownerSunbeam Television filed the suit on March 10 in a challenge to the move NBC originally announced on January 7. WHDH contended that NBC's move would violate a caveat in the 2011 Comcast/NBCUniversal merger to commit to over-the-air broadcasting and public interest issues (the signal of theMerrimack, New Hampshire-based WNEU reaches only the northern half of the Boston market, with marginal coverage in the city proper). | [103][104] [105] |
| MyNetworkTV affiliateKRON-TV/San Francisco launches an hour-long newscast at 10:00 p.m. The program (which resulted in the station reducing its half-hour 11:00 p.m. newscast to 15 minutes and moving MyNetworkTV's second hour of programming to late night) competes with those aired in that hour on fellowBay Area stationsKTVU/Oakland (Fox) andKBCW (The CW, the latter is produced byCBS O&O sisterKPIX). KRON had previously attempted a 10:00 p.m. newscast when it experimented with timeshifting network prime time programs and its late news one hour early in August 1992 as an NBC affiliate, only to resume airing them in the traditional 8:00–11:35 p.m. (Pacific Time) slot in September 1993 due to declining ratings (with its late news ratings falling behind KTVU's long-dominant prime time newscast). | [106][107] [108] | |
| 20 | Due to technical issues, aWhitney Houston hologram that was going to perform withChristina Aguilera onThe Voice for thetenth-season finale the following Tuesday was axed. Aguilera's finalist,Alisan Porter was declared the season's winner, allowing Aguilera to become the first female winning coach in the show's history. This is also the first season sinceseason two (and the first season overall since the live-show format for eliminations were revamped startingseason three) to have all four coaches representing one artist in the finale. | [109][110] |
| 22 | The Weeknd andAdele are among the notable winners at the2016 Billboard Music Awards.[111] The ceremony (which also featured Adele'smusic video premiere for "Send My Love (To Your New Lover)",Madonna's special tribute performance toPrince (who died on April 21) andBritney Spears andCeline Dion being honored asMillennium Award andIcon Award recipients, respectively) broadcasts live onABC in all time zones for the first time (following the same practice done byCBS'58th Grammy Awards in February), and sets a record of 3.1 rating and 9.60 million in total viewers, the lowest for the awards ceremony since the 2012 telecast. | [112] |
| 23 | After months of stalled negotiations between the company and network co-parentCBS Corporation concerning financial terms (specifically the amount ofreverse compensation that the network sought from the group's stations in exchange for carrying its programming),Tribune Media reaches a new affiliation agreement withThe CW through the 2020–21 season, involving 12 of its stations (includingWPIX/New York City andKTLA/Los Angeles). The company'sChicagoflagshipWGN-TV is exempt from the deal, and instead becomes an independent station – with the CW affiliation moving to MyNetworkTV O&OWPWR-TV – after the network's initial ten-year agreement with Tribune (signed in January 2006) expires on September 1 (details are outlined further in that date's entry). | [113][114] [115] |
| 24 | Nyle DiMarco is crowned the22nd season winner ofDancing with the Stars, becoming the first deaf contestant to win the show. | [116] |
| 25 | Ron Howes, a chief meteorologist atWTVF/Nashville, Tennessee, retires after 36 years on the air. | [117] |
| Wheel of Fortune saw its third-evertie-breaking game after two contestants, LaToya Williams and Danielle Gilseth, were each tied with $24,000, with the other two occurrences being March 13, 2003, and March 2, 2006. The winning contestant, Williams, would later go on to win the $100,000 grand prize in the bonus round. | [118][119] [120] | |
| 27 | Nexstar Broadcasting Group announces the sale of five television stations, including one it is divesting to comply with ownership conflicts with Media General-owned stations prior to receiving FCC approval of its merger with that group. Nexstar plans to sellCW affiliateWCWJ/Jacksonville, Florida, andNBC affiliateWSLS/Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia, toGraham Media Group for $120 million (with the former's sale creating a duopoly – Graham's first – with independent stationWJXT pending approval, and the latter alleviating a conflict with the Nexstar-owned duopoly ofFox affiliateWFXR and CW affiliateWWCW); Fox affiliateKADN-TV and NBC affiliateKLAF-LD toBayou City Broadcasting for $40 million (to alleviate a conflict with Media General-ownedCBS affiliateKLFY-TV); and CBS affiliateKREG-TV/Glenwood Springs, Colorado, to Marquee Broadcasting for $350,000 (KREG, which is considered part of the Denver DMA, is expected to cease operating as a satellite ofKREX-TV/Grand Junction upon consummation of the sale). | [121][122] |
| In celebration of its100th original television movieAdventures in Babysitting,Disney Channel celebrates the milestone by airing all 99 of the network's previous original movies released between 1997 and 2015 in the lead-up to the June 24 premiere of the made-for-TV remake of the1987 feature film, starting with a four-daymarathon of 51 of the channel's most popular original movies over theMemorial Day long weekend, followed by airings of these and the remaining 48 films afterwards and through the month of June. | [123] | |
| In interviews withThe Cincinnati Enquirer andWVXU, talk show hostBill Cunningham announces he will end hisself-titled daytime TV talk show, produced byTribune Media andITV Studios America and airing onThe CW, after five seasons to focus solely on his local radio show forWLW/Cincinnati and family matters. The CW will fill the void Cunningham leaves behind by adding a new talk show hosted byRobert Irvine that will debut in September. | [124][125] [126] | |
| 29 | With tickets for therace sold out, the local TV blackout is lifted for theIndianapolis 500. It's the first time since 1950, and the first time sinceABC began live"flag-to-flag" coverage of the event in 1986, that the race airs live in centralIndiana.WRTV/Indianapolis carries the ABC broadcast live after airing it only on tape-delay in previous years. | [127] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trinity Broadcasting Network and the international congregationHillsong Church launchHillsong Channel, a joint venture channel in line with theSydney, Australia-based Hillsong's American expansion plans (the network launches by coincidence one day after the death of TBN co-founderJan Crouch). Hillsong replaces The Church Channel, which launched in January 2002 and focused on church services and other evangelistic programming; its replacement by Hillsong makes the new channel available over-the-air on the second subchannels of TBN's O&Os, as well as on select cable and satellite providers. | [128][129] [130] |
| WTGS/Savannah, Georgia, assumes production responsibilities for its nightly 10:00 p.m. newscast. The transfer of news operations in-house by theFox-affiliated WTGS follows the May 31 termination of a news share agreement withHearst Television-ownedWJCL, under which the ABC affiliate had been producing a prime time newscast for WTGS since 1996 (WTGS was co-managed with WJCL under a concurrentshared services agreement from 1993 until 2014, when, to alleviate a conflict with its existing ownership of NBC affiliateWSAV-TV that was created by the group's merger withLIN Media,Media General sold WJCL to Hearst and the non-license assets of WTGS toSinclair Broadcast Group, which later acquired the latter's license outright). | [131][132] [133] | |
| 3 | Gray Television announces its intent to purchaseWBAY-TV/Green Bay, Wisconsin (ABC) and NBC affiliateKWQC-TV/Davenport, Iowa, fromMedia General for $270 million. The deal is expected to be completed concurrently with the closing of the Media General/Nexstar Broadcasting Group merger. The divestitures of WBAY and KWQC will allow Nexstar to comply withFCC ownership rules in advance of the deal's approval proceedings (Nexstar already owns and operates stations in both markets, includingCBS-affiliatedWFRV-TV/Green Bay andWHBF-TV/Davenport). | [134] |
| 5 | In a segment forHBO'sLast Week Tonight about the debt-buying industry, especially "zombie debt" (debt long thought to be settled and buried but comes back to life for collection), hostJohn Oliver announces what is termed as the biggest giveaway in TV history: Oliver reveals he set up an organization called "Central Asset Recovery Professionals" (akaCARP), which purchased, for $60,000, under $15 million inmedical debt owed by 9,000 debtors, information on which CARP forwards to a debt-forgiving agency. Oliver's debt giveaway surpassesOprah Winfrey's $8 million automobile giveaway in a 2004 episode of hertalk show. | [135][136] [137] |
| 6 | Wheel of Fortune introducedcrossword puzzles during the season finale week with a provided clue and interlocking words as part of the puzzle. This marks the first time words and answers are presented in vertical format. | [138] |
| 10 | Fox Sports Networks dismisses reporter Emily Austen after she makes questionable comments about ethnic groups in a podcast forBarstool Sports. Austen had worked on a per-event basis for Fox's Florida-based regional networks,Fox Sports Florida andFox Sports Sun, including serving as a sideline reporter forTampa Bay Rays andOrlando Magic broadcasts. | [139] |
| 12 | 42 stations owned and/or operated byTribune Broadcasting in 34 states, as well asWGN America, are removed fromDish Network due to a carriage dispute pertaining to a proposal in which Tribune wanted the satellite provider to increase the amount of retransmission revenue shared with the group. In response, Dish Network offers free over-the-air antennas to affected customers. | [140] |
| Showtime airs the series finale ofHouse of Lies, the first American scripted television series episode shot inCuba since therestoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries. | [141] | |
| In the wake ofa mass shooting at anOrlandonightclub that left 50 people dead and 53 wounded, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history,TNT pulls the third-season premiere ofThe Last Ship from the schedule due to a similar story line involving an explosion at a nightclub. The episode was rescheduled to premiere the following Sunday. | [142] | |
| 13 | USA Television MidAmerica Holdings (a joint venture betweenHeartland Media and MSouth Equity Partners) announces its intent to purchase five small-market stations being spun off by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Media General for $115 million. USA Television will acquire Fox affiliateWFFT/Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ABC affiliateKQTV/St. Joseph, Missouri, from Nexstar, and CBS affiliatesKIMT/Rochester, Minnesota,WTHI/Terre Haute andWLFI/Lafayette, Indiana, from Media General. The divestitures will allow Nexstar to comply with FCC ownership rules (specifically pertaining to national market coverage for station owners) in advance of the approval proceedings of the merger of both groups (Nexstar already owns NBC affiliateWTWO and operates ABC affiliateWAWV-TV in Terre Haute, and plans to acquire Media General-owned CBS affiliateWANE-TV in Fort Wayne). | [143] |
| 19 | The2016 NBA Finals, which saw theCleveland Cavaliers win their first championship ever (ending a52-year drought forCleveland sports teams) after defeating the previous champions (as well as a rematch from2015 Finals) theGolden State Warriors with a 93–89 victory atOracle Arena inOakland, posted its largest ratings ever, as Game 7 scored a massive 30.8 million viewers, which follows the record-breaking 18.9 rating among metered market households that arrived earlier on Monday and stands as the biggest showing ABC has ever had for an NBA game since the network started broadcasting the league back in 2003. It also breaks a record among highly rated NBA Finals telecasts, which was previously held by a match between theChicago Bulls (in what would become the final gameMichael Jordan would play with the team) and theUtah Jazz in 1998. | [144] |
| 26 | Adult Swim launches the first television episode onVine, the pilot episode ofBrad Neely's Harg Nallin' Sclopio Peepio. | [145] |
| 27 | TheFCC makes minor changes to its media cross-ownership rules, specifically those pertaining to radio and television stations. While the outlined rules retain existing limits allowing ownership of two television stations (in addition to restoring rules onjoint sales agreements overturned by theThird Circuit Court of Appeals on May 25) and continued prohibition on ownership of a newspaper and a radio and/or a television station in a singlemarket (with a possible exception that would call for relaxations of the rule that would provide exemptions for failing properties under waivers), the proposed rules now prohibit a broadcaster or owner of two network affiliates that rank among the four highest-rated stations within one market from changing a station's primary network affiliation as a way to circumvent the ban, although this rule does not apply to dual affiliations that a station may offer viadigital multicasting. | [146][147] |
| 29 | NBC affiliateWRAL-TV/Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, becomes the first television station to launch a full-time commercialATSC 3.0 digital signal, under an FCC-issued experimental license. The Capitol Broadcasting Company flagship station – which had launched the firstdigital television signal in the U.S. in 1996, using the current ATSC 1.0 standard – signs on the feed with an HD simulcast of its noon newscast and a4Kultra-high-definition broadcast of thedocumentary,Take Me Out to theBulls Game. Initially having only a small signal range of the area around the station's studio facility, WRAL plans to conduct public tests and measurement of the 3.0 signal throughout the market in 2017. | [148] |
| 30 | Lionsgate announces it will acquireStarz Inc. and its suite ofpremium entertainment networks (Starz,Starz Encore andMoviePlex) in a $4.4 billion cash and stock deal. Barring a divestiture of Lionsgate's interest in the latter service, the acquisition – which is expected to close by the end of 2016 – will add three additional premium services to the studio's portfolio, as it already owns a 30% stake inEpix as part of a joint venture withViacom (throughParamount Pictures) andMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer. | [149][150] [151] |
| The Walt Disney Company reportedly reaches a deal withMajor League Baseball to acquire a 33-percent stake in itsinteractive media unit, valued at $3.5 billion, with an option to obtain an additional 33-percent stake in the next four years.Bloomberg speculates Disney could use the service to create an attractive online-streaming model for itsESPN sports properties. | [152] | |
| Ramar Communications Inc. announces its intent to purchase Fox affiliateKASA-TV/Santa Fe/Albuquerque from Media General for $2.5 million. KASA's sale to Ramar, which will create a quadropoly with 3 other Ramar-owned low-power stations in the market (Telemundo affiliateKTEL-CD,Movies! affiliateKUPT-LD andMeTV affiliateKRTN-LD), is expected to be completed concurrently with the closing of the Media General/Nexstar Broadcasting Group merger (Nexstar plans to acquire CBS affiliateKRQE from Media General, and the company plans to operate CW affiliateKWBQ andMyNetwork TV affiliateKASY owned by Tamer Media). It will also lead to the likely migration of Fox programming to a KRQE subchannel, with Telemundo programming moving to KASA. | [153] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | NBC broadcasts the 40th anniversary ofMacy's 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular. The year's edition – hosted byToday andMSNBC'sTamron Hall andWillie Geist – featured a 25-minutefireworks display over theEast River inNew York City and performances byMeghan Trainor,Kenny Chesney,Pitbull,5 Seconds of Summer,Sara Bareilles,DNCE andJennifer Holliday (the latter of whom performed a recorded version of "America the Beautiful" with theUnited States Air Force Band, which was played during the fireworks display). Traditionally held everyFourth of July since 1976, theMacy's fireworks show was first televised onWPIX/New York City and insyndication in 1991 before moving to NBC for its national broadcast in 2000. | [154] |
| 5 | PBS issues an apology after airing old footage ofWashington, D.C., fireworks display during its live broadcast ofA Capitol Fourth. In a statement, PBS stated that the show decided to intercut the footage of fireworks from its previous concerts due to anovercast weather condition in Washington, D.C., on Monday night (July 4), which caused several reactions from its viewers. | [155] |
| 6 | Fox affiliateWLUK-TV/Green Bay, Wisconsin, announces a multi-year deal withESPN for local over-the-air simulcast rights to the cable network'sMonday Night Football broadcasts featuring theGreen Bay Packers. WLUK's deal is noteworthy in that it leavesABC affiliateWBAY-TV without scheduled Packers broadcasts for the2016 NFL season. WBAY, the oldest TV station in the Green Bay/Fox Cities market, had carried at least one Packer game each season (either through its affiliations withCBS or ABC, its former simulcast deal with ESPN, or through local pre-season broadcasts) since it signed on in 1953. | [156] |
| 11 | Just moments beforeKPNX/Phoenix reporter Joe Dana wraps up a story, his cameraman catches a 60-year-old man slapping a woman in a wheelchair on air. The live shot, and its resultingviral status, sparks outrage from viewers, resulting in the man's immediate arrest minutes after viewers call the police. | [157] |
| 21 | 21st Century Fox announces thatRoger Ailes has resigned as chairman and chief executive of Fox News Networks, LLC (the parent division ofFox News andFox Business) effective immediately, with Fox executive co-chairmanRupert Murdoch succeeding Ailes on an interim basis. Ailes, who had been with Fox News since its founding in 1996 and will transition into a non-corporate role as Murdoch's advisor, has been facing several accusations ofsexual harassment andgender discrimination, notably from former FNC personalityGretchen Carlson, who filed a lawsuit against Ailes on June 30 following the announcement that her contract with the channel was not renewed. Fox later settled with Carlson for $20 million. | [158][159] [160] |
| Citing "difficulty acquiring parts," Japanese electronics manufacturerFunai announces it will discontinue production ofVHSvideo cassette recorders at the end of July. Funai is believed to be the last-known company still manufacturing VCR technology. | [161] | |
| 24 | CNN suspends the contract of analystDonna Brazile after she is named interim chief of theDemocratic National Committee, a role she'll oversee until after the end of the 2016 elections (Brazile is also the DNC's vice-president); she later resigned on October 16. The move comes as CongresswomanDebbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Florida's 23rd) steps down as DNC chair (one day before the start of the2016 Democratic National Convention inPhiladelphia) in the wake of a series of leaked DNC e-mails involving staffers making negative remarks towardBernie Sanders during his challenge againstHillary Clinton in the2016 Democratic presidential primaries. | [162] |
| 28 | A major change takes place onSesame Street when producers of theSesame Workshop-produced HBO/PBS children's program announce that longtime cast membersBob McGrath (Bob Johnson),Roscoe Orman (Gordon Robinson) andEmilio Delgado (Luis Rodriguez), all of whom had been on the show for over 40 years, would not return as a result of a retooling of the show for its upcoming 47th season (McGrath is the longest tenured of the three, having starred onSesame Street since its series premiere in 1969). | [163] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | On the 35th anniversary of the originalMTV's launch, parent companyViacom rebrands VH1 Classic asMTV Classic, which will exclusively air music videos, as MTV had until the early 1990s. It is the third rebranding of aViacom Media Networks music channel in 2016 (CMT Pure Country becameCMT Music on January 4, while Palladia becameMTV Live on February 1), and is the last of the group'sVH1-branded digital networks to be transferred under the brand of one of its sister networks (VH1 Soul was rebranded asBET Soul in December 2015). The first program on MTV Classic is an archived recording of MTV's first hour of programming from this date in 1981, which also aired on its 30th anniversary in 2011. | [164][165] [166] |
| Quincy Media shuffles network affiliations in fourMidwestern markets. As part of a restructuring resulting fromFCC ownership restrictions cited in relation to its 2015 purchase of severalGranite Broadcasting stations,ABC affiliateWPTA-TV assumes theNBC affiliation forFort Wayne, Indiana, for its second subchannel (MyNetworkTV was moved to WPTA-DT3), while longtime NBC stationWISE-TV (owned bySagamoreHill Broadcasting) takes theCW affiliation formerly held by WPTA-DT2 for its main channel;inDuluth, Minnesota, NBC stationKBJR-TV also adds a subchannel-only affiliation withCBS, taking over for SagamoreHill-ownedKDLH, which assumes KBJR-DT2's former CW affiliation (the MyNetworkTV affiliation remains on KBJR-DT3). Through an unrelated agreement withSinclair Broadcast Group announced on July 27, the Fox affiliation inSouth Bend, Indiana, moves to the existing second subchannel of Sinclair's CBS affiliateWSBT-TV, resulting inWSJV/Elkhart shuttering its news department and reducing its staff to an FCC-minimum two-person skeleton crew, with only a few staffers from WSJV being retained for the new Fox operation. After a 60-day transition period, WSJV will move itsHeroes & Icons affiliation to its main channel while awaiting a rumored dissolution in the FCC spectrum auction. In exchange for the South Bend Fox affiliation, Quincy acquires the ABC and CW affiliations associated with Sinclair'sWHOI/Peoria, Illinois, creating a duopoly with NBC affiliateWEEK-TV, with WHOI's ABC and CW affiliations moving to WEEK's second and third subchannels, respectively. | [167][168][169][170] [171] | |
| 5–21 | The2016 Summer Olympics – which were held inRio de Janeiro,Brazil – airs onNBC,Telemundo and seven of their sister cable networks (NBCSN,CNBC,MSNBC,Bravo,Golf Channel,NBC Universo andUSA Network), with a combined 6,700 hours of live coverage being broadcast across theNBCUniversal-owned linear networks, two dedicatedbasketball- andsoccer-only channels andNBC Sports' streaming platforms. Outside of theopening and closing ceremonies, which aired on a one-hour delay, and a limited selection of high-profile events (such asgymnastics), this marked the first Olympics since1996 in which NBC aired most events live in theContinental United States (Rio is located in theUTC-03:00 time offset – corresponding to the North AmericanAtlantic Time Zone – during theSouthern Hemisphere winter). As it had to some extent for the 2016 games, the network hasfaced criticism in recent years for tape delaying many high-profile Olympic events toprime time to accrue higher viewership for the telecasts, as well as for delaying the opening and closing ceremonies for editorial reasons, as coverage of post-event results has become widely available online through news andsocial media outlets. The Olympics also become the first sports telecast to provide a liveDescriptive Video Service audio track for the blind, with NBC offering real-time descriptions for its prime time event coverage (the first program to feature real-time DVS audio was NBC's November 2015 telecast ofThe Wiz Live). | [172][173] [174][175] [176][177] [178][179] [180][181] |
| 6 | With one final assignment on this date (the network's coverage of thePro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony),Tom Jackson retires after a 29-year career as anNFL studio analyst forESPN. | [182] |
| Hulu shifts to a subscription-only model, placing the content featured on its main website behind apay wall. The streaming service's free content – which notably includes the "rolling five" recent episodes of various broadcast and cable series – moves toYahoo! View, a new service launched as part of an expansion of an existing partnership between Hulu andYahoo!. | [183][184] [185] | |
| 12 | Thomas Gibson is dismissed from the cast ofCriminal Minds. The firing of Gibson, who had playedAaron Hotchner on theCBS crime drama since its September 2005 premiere, comes after his involvement in an on-set argument with series writer/co-executive producerVirgil Williams over an episode storyline, which led to Gibson physically assaulting Williams by kicking the writer in the shin. | [186] |
| 13–14 | Two television news crews inMilwaukee are involved in incidents duringriots stemming form a fatal shooting of an armedAfrican-American suspect by police: on the 13th, a crew from CBS affiliateWDJT-TV is attacked by a group of protesters and their equipment is stolen while reporting from the location of a burned-out gas station set afire during the protests. On the 14th, a crew from ABC affiliateWISN-TV is forced to retreat from the area after protesters throw rocks and other objects at the station's vehicle. | [187][188] |
| 17 | TheNews-Press & Gazette Company announces that it will switch the primary affiliation ofCW Plus affiliateKBJO-LD inSt. Joseph, Missouri, toNBC sometime in the fall (later confirmed to be November 1), with theKNPG-LD call letters assigned to itsTelemundo-affiliated sister station on UHF channel 30 being transferred to KBJO's channel 21 license at that time (KBJO's existing CW affiliation will move to a new DT2 subchannel). This will give the St. Joseph market its first locally based NBC affiliate (the network has been available locally through its affiliates from the adjacentKansas City market,WDAF-TV until that station's September 1994 switch to Fox andKSHB-TV afterward) and its fourth locally based major network affiliate (News-Press & Gazette also ownsFox affiliateKNPN-LD, which signed on alongside KBJO-LD in July 2012 as competitors to Nexstar-owned ABC affiliateKQTV). It will also leave CBS andMyNetworkTV as the only networks available in St. Joseph through Kansas City-based stations (their respective affiliates for that market,KCTV andKSMO-TV, are viewable over-the-air and carried onSuddenlink,DirecTV andDish Network in St. Joseph). | [189] |
| 21 | Coinciding with theclosing ceremony of the2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, theOlympic Channel, anover-the-topdigital platform service of theInternational Olympic Committee, launches. The service – which aims to maintain year-round interest inOlympic sports between iterations of theSummer andWinter Olympics, especially among a younger audience – features coverage of competitions in Olympic sport, as well as short and long-form content focusing on Olympic athletes. | [190] |
| 22 | Major changes take place onNBC'smorning news/talk showToday, with formerAccess Hollywood hostBilly Bush becoming the new anchor of its third-hour segmentToday's Take, succeedingWillie Geist (who will continue to anchorSunday Today with Willie Geist and onMSNBC'sMorning Joe), andNatalie Morales moving toLos Angeles to become its West Coast anchor, as well as a host ofKNBC-producedsyndicated entertainment news program and its spinoff,Access Hollywood Live. In addition, the program announces that it will not have a separate news anchor following Morales' West Coast transition, and instead, anchorsMatt Lauer andSavannah Guthrie read the headlines during the program's first two hours, marking the second time that the program without having a separate news anchor sinceTom Brokaw andJane Pauley held that position from 1979 to 1981. | [191][192] [193] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The CW affiliation inChicago moves fromTribune Media flagship stationWGN-TV, which becomes an independent station, toFox-ownedMyNetworkTV O&OWPWR-TV (which retains the latter network's schedule as a late-night offering). The switch – which ends WGN's 21-year tenure as anetwork affiliate (it became aWB affiliate in January 1995, then joined The CW in September 2006, which were at the respective formations) – will allow the station to carry additional sports telecasts it produces through its local broadcast contracts with theChicago Cubs (MLB),White Sox (MLB),Bulls (NBA) andBlackhawks (NHL) that it previously had to lease to WPWR (andWCIU-TV beforehand) due to network-imposed annual preemption limits. The CW's move to WPWR – announced concurrently with the May 23 renewal of an affiliation agreement involving Tribune's 12 other CW-affiliated stations – marks the first time that Fox has aligned one of its stations with the network under a long-term deal (as The CW initially chose to affiliate with most of Tribune and CBS's WB andUPN stations, instead of Fox's UPN affiliates) and the second time it has operated a CW affiliate (to fulfill an existing contract, Fox ranWJZY/Belmont-Charlotte, North Carolina, as a CW station for three months after completing its purchase of the station before converting it into aFox O&O in July 2013). WPWR also becomes the largest station by market size to maintain a dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliation. | [113][114] [115][194] |
| 5 | Doug Llewelyn returns toThe People's Court as the host and litigant interviewer, a role he had previously maintained for the entirety of the first run of the series, duringJudge Wapner's tenure (1981–1993). | [195] |
| 6 | After 14 years,Greta Van Susteren announces that she is stepping down as host ofOn the Record and leavingFox News effective immediately to pursue other opportunities, taking advantage of her contract clause that allowed her to leave the network if she chooses, later explaining that she felt her tenure and the environment at the network there was "unhappy." Fox News senior political analystBrit Hume is tapped asOn the Record's interim host for the rest of the 2016 election cycle. | [196] |
| 7 | In a 3–2 vote, theFCC formally abolishes an ownership percentage discount it had applied to television stations on theUHF band (channels 14 and upward) which had become outmoded after thedigital transition, when the vast majority of stations moved to the UHF band. The discount, which was implemented in 1985 at a time UHF stations were stigmatized beforecable television stunted the band's former disadvantages, applied 50% of a UHF station's market reach to the station owner's nationwide household cap (which currently resides at 39%). Station groups that maintained a combined market reach totaling over the national cap (such asTribune Broadcasting,Ion Media Networks andUnivision Communications) prior to the initial 2013 rulemaking proposal will not be forced to sell stations as a result of the discount's elimination, though they will need to conform to the cap in future transactions. The abolishment of the UHF discount has been panned by groups such asSinclair Broadcast Group andFox Television Stations, since the national cap would not concurrently be raised nor would a reversed "VHF discount" in the digital age (VHF stations are more prone to digital interference) be applied to account for competition in the broadcasting marketplace, restricting them from acquiring additional stations. | [197] |
| With theUSS Intrepid (CV-11) inNew York City as a backdrop,NBC andMSNBC air theCommander-in-Chief Forum. The Q&A event, sponsored by theIraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, featured the respectiveDemocratic andRepublican candidates,Hillary Clinton andDonald Trump, fielding questions from moderatorMatt Lauer and active, reserve and retired members of the military in separate half-hour segments. The event draws 15 million viewers but also wide criticism – from the media, viewers and NBC executives – over Lauer's performance, which was seen as too rushed and biased, especially towards Clinton during the first half (a narrow focus on hercontroversial use of a private e-mail server, constraining time for questions on hernational security proposals), while being too soft and easy on Trump in the second half (with Lauer primarily focusing on Trump's controversial statements about veterans and not disputing Trump's claim that he never supported theIraq War). | [198][199] | |
| 9 | Viacom Media Networks completes the cycle of rebranding their smaller cable networks, replacing MTV Hits and moving it under the editorial control ofNickelodeon under the new nameNickMusic. The network will retain thecontemporary hit format originated by MTV Hits, with itsmusic video content being re-targeted towards children ages 2–14 (complementing the radio network it operates in partnership withiHeartMedia,Nick Radio). | [200] |
| 10 | MSG Western New York launches with a prime time cut in. The newregional sports network, a joint venture betweenMSG andPegula Sports and Entertainment, carries theBuffalo Sabres broadcasts that had been on MSG, as well as the middayInstigators (formerly Hockey Hotline) daily Sabres talk show and theBuffalo Bills' existing in-house radio and television products that had aired onWGR (where those broadcasts will continue to air on radio) andWKBW-TV. | [201] |
| 12 | DuringDancing with the Stars'23rd season premiere, swimmer and contestantRyan Lochte is attacked by two audience members after his first performance with dancing partnerCheryl Burke. Lochte and Burke are unharmed, and security rushes the attackers off-camera while hostTom Bergeron forces a commercial break. The attack comes amid a series of backlashes for Lochte, who was suspended byUSA Swimming for 10 months after falsely telling authorities inRio de Janeiro that he was robbed at gunpoint while competing at the2016 Summer Olympics. | [202] |
| 17 | Fox College Football begins a series of game broadcasts available invirtual reality with a game betweenOhio State andOklahoma. The broadcasts are made through a smartphone app that requires astereoscope andTV Everywhere authentication. | [203] |
| 18 | The68th Primetime Emmy Awards air onABC, withJimmy Kimmel as host. The ceremony includes 5 awards, includingoutstanding limited series, forThe People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story (the night's award leader); repeat wins forGame of Thrones andVeep as outstandingdrama andcomedy series, respectively; and first-time wins for actorsRami Malek (lead drama actor, forMr. Robot) andTatiana Maslany (lead drama actress, forOrphan Black). | [204][205] |
| 20 | The Time Warner Cable News networks are rebranded asSpectrum News, after the primary consumer brand ofCharter Communications, following their purchase of Time Warner Cable four months ago.NY1 rebranded as "Spectrum News NY1" on November 15. | |
| 22 | With its13th season premiere episode "Undo",Grey's Anatomy surpassesNYPD Blue asABC'slongest-running one-hourprimetime dramatic series. TheShonda Rimes-producedmedical drama debuted on ABC in March 2005. | [206] |
| 25 | Charles Osgood hostsCBS News Sunday Morning for the final time, retiring from TV broadcasting after 49 years, 45 of them as a reporter and anchor withCBS News and 22 asSunday Morning host. Osgood will remain with CBS as aradio commentator forThe Osgood File.Jane Pauley will take over for Osgood asSunday Morning host on October 9, becoming only the 3rd host in the show's history after Osgood andCharles Kuralt. | [207][208] [209] |
| 26 | Hofstra University inHempstead, New York, hosts the first of threePresidential debates betweenmajor party candidatesHillary Clinton andDonald Trump.[210] The scheduling of this debate and one set for October 9 atWashington University in St. Louis raised the ire of the campaign for Republican nominee Trump, which worried their scheduling opposite primetimeNFL games would drive down debate viewership (Trump claimed the campaign of Democratic nominee Clinton influenced the schedule). Despite the Trump camp's worries, the non-partisanCommission on Presidential Debates, which is responsible for debate scheduling (and set the dates one year in advance), holds firm on its schedule, and this date's debate attracts an estimated record of 84 million viewers across 13 networks, surpassing the 81 million who watched aJimmy Carter/Ronald Reagan debate in 1980. | [211][212] |
| 28 | Modern Family makes history with the episode "A Stereotypical Day," which introduced for the first time ever the youngest transgender child to be featured on a television series. Jackson Millarker, a real life transgender child actor (at age 8), is cast as Lily's transgender friend Tom in this breakthrough episode. | [213] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Two broadcasting legends end their long careers:Los Angeles Dodgers announcerVin Scully retires from broadcasting after a record 67 years with the team, whileDick Enberg ends a seven-year run as television voice of theSan Diego Padres, and a 60-year career on national TV. Both Scully and Enberg were also known for national TV work forCBS Sports andNBC Sports. | [214][215] [216] |
| 4 | Elaine Quijano ofCBS News moderates the 2016Vice Presidential debate between Indiana GovernorMike Pence and Virginia SenatorTim Kaine atLongwood University. | [217] |
| 7 | The Washington Post releases raw footage from a 2005Access Hollywood segment in which then-Apprentice host and future Republican presidential nomineeDonald Trump, in ahot mic conversation withAccess Hollywood co-hostBilly Bush,makes lewd comments about women, including Trump's implying that his celebrity allowed him parlance to make unwanted sexual advances toward women. The video's release creates an immediate uproar, with several of Trump's fellow Republicans renouncing their support for him or calling him to withdraw from the campaign, a move Trump vows not to do. The fallout also affects others mentioned in or appearing on the tape: BothEntertainment Tonight co-hostNancy O'Dell (who co-hostedAccess Hollywood with Bush at the time and whom Trump admitted to seducing) andDays of Our Lives actressArianne Zucker issue statements about their vow to rise above a distrustful Trump, while Bush would be suspended byNBC from his position asToday's third hour co-host on October 9, a move that would lead to a formal separation on October 17. | [218][219] [220][221] [222][223] [224][225] [226] |
| 8 | NBC partners withLitton Entertainment to expandThe More You Know into a three-hour Saturday morningE/Iblock aimed at 13 to 16-year-olds, giving Litton editorial control of four of the five educational children's blocks for the major commercial networks. Extended early second day2016 Ryder Cup coverage postponed the block's original full rollout on October 1, with all but two of the programs featured on the block being pre-empted on the originally scheduled launch date on most NBC affiliates. | [227] |
| 9 | Martha Raddatz ofABC News andCNN'sAnderson Cooper moderate the second Presidential debate atWashington University in St. Louis. | [228] |
| 10–14 | In celebration ofCBS Daytime's 30th year of dominance in the ratings (one of the longest winning streaks in television history),CBS celebrates the milestone by making special appearances by the cast of the network's programs (Let's Make a Deal,The Price Is Right,The Young and the Restless,The Bold and the Beautiful andThe Talk) on each other's shows. In addition, the network announces that it will also unveil a special exhibit, titled "CBS Daytime #1 For 30 Years" (running from October 12 to November 27) at thePaley Center for Media inBeverly Hills, California, honoring its five current shows, as well as legacy programs (including formersoap operasAs the World Turns andGuiding Light), and a planned four-week consecutive special panels, featuring the stars and producers from the network's daytime lineup. | [229] |
| 13 | With the 12th-season premiere episode "Keep Calm and Carry On",Supernatural becomes the first series to reach a record 12 seasons onThe CW. The show is the last remaining CW series that carried over from predecessor networksUPN orThe WB, debuting on the latter network in September 2005. | [230] |
| After a twelve-year run,Nancy Grace endsher self-titled program onHLN to pursue newer media ventures. | [231] | |
| 16 | Fox'sThe Simpsons reaches the 600-episode plateau with its27thTreehouse of Horror episode, aHalloween tradition that dates back to the series'2nd season in 1990.The Simpsons is the longest-running scripted primetime series in U.S. television history by number of seasons (28); in April 2019, it would become thelongest-running by number of episodes (surpassingGunsmoke's 635-episode run). | [232][233] |
| 19 | Chris Wallace moderates the final 2016 Presidential debate at theUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas. | [234] |
| 22 | Telecom giantAT&T confirms its plan to buyTime Warner in an $85.4 billion merger that, if approved by federal regulators, would bring theHBO andCinemax suites, theTurner Broadcasting networks, and theWarner Bros. studio under the same umbrella as AT&T's telecommunication holdings, which already includesDirecTV, theRoot Sports networks, cable channelAudience, and shares ofGame Show Network andMLB Network. | [235] |
| TheChicago Cubs win theNational League pennant against theLos Angeles Dodgers. It was the team's first pennant and World Series appearance since1945. Coincidentally, this marked the end of theCurse of the Billy Goat as the team clinched on the day Billy Sianis died 46 years ago. | ||
| 24 | Univision O&OKDTV-DT moves its studios from 50 Fremont Center (todaySalesforce West) inSan Francisco'sFinancial District to a new state-of-the-art building inSan Jose, becoming the third television station in theBay Area market to be based from that city afterNBC O&OKNTV and their sister station,Telemundo'sKSTS. The station also switches its newscasts inhigh definition, beginning with the relaunch of its morning newscast "Al Despertar" asDespierta Área de la Bahía. | [236] |
| 25 | Coinciding with the start of the2016–17 NBA regular season, NBA Team Pass, a spin-off of theNBA League Pass out-of-market sports package, launches. The service, which will initially be available toDish Network subscribers for a monthly fee, is an unbundled version of its parent package – which carries games from all 30 NBA teams across multiple channels – that allows subscribers to watch games from individual league teams of their choice throughout the regular season. The launch follows the NBA's July announcement that it would begin selling NBA League Pass in a refineda la carte offering, and introduce apay-per-view-style structure allowing subscribers to pay to watch a single game for a one-time fee of $6.99. | [237] |
| 26 | Artistic Media Partners announces the sale of all four of itsLafayette, Indiana, radio stations (WBPE,WYCM,WAZY-FM andWSHY) to Lafayette TV, LLC. On the same day, the latter company (owned by business investors Bill Christian and Mike Reed) launch their new television station,WPBI-LD, which carries programming fromFox andNBC viadigital multicasting. Prior to the launch,WXIN andWTHR/Indianapolis served as the default Fox and NBC affiliates for the Lafayette area, respectively. The launch of WPBI leaves ABC, The CW, and MyNetworkTV as the only three networks available in the Lafayette area through their stations in Indianapolis (Their respective affiliates for that market,WRTV,WISH-TV, andWNDY-TV, are receivable over-the-air and are also carried onComcast,Dish Network, andDirecTV in the Lafayette market). | [238] |
| 28 | InCBS, as part of theBig Money week inThe Price is Right, Christen Freeman won $210,000 in the Pricing Game ofCliffhangers, plus $107 from the mini-prizes; including her $1,000 bonus in the Showcase Showdown and $2,770 Lenovo computer won in One Bid, Freeman's total of $213,876 surpassed Sheree Heil's $170,345 from December 30, 2013, episode as the all-time largest daytime winner in the show's history, a record she held until October 14, 2019, where Michael Stouber surpassed her total with $262,743. | [239][240][241][242] |
| 31 | Participant Media shuts downPivot, citing lack of viewership bymillennials, its targeted demographic. | [243] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beauty iQ, a spin-offhome shopping network ofQVC, launches. The network, which will initially be available in 40 million U.S. homes, is dedicated tocosmetics,fragrances andskincare products, offering live programming each Wednesday through Sunday inprime time and recorded segments for the remainder of its schedule. | [244][245] |
| 2 | TheDepartment of Justice files anantitrust lawsuit againstDirecTV, alleging that it engaged in unlawful information-sharing with rival pay television providers regarding their resistance to carryingSpectrum SportsNet LA, a network operated as a joint venture betweenTime Warner Cable (now aCharter subsidiary) and theLos Angeles Dodgers. | [246] |
| The 50th edition of theCountry Music Association Awards airs onABC, withBrad Paisley andCarrie Underwood returning as hosts. The event also sawcountry music artistsDolly Parton,Kenny Chesney andGarth Brooks being awarded asLifetime Achievement Award, Pinnacle Award and Entertainer of the Year Award recipients, respectively, and a surprise duet betweenThe Dixie Chicks andBeyoncé on the latter's "Daddy Lessons," which was met with critical praise from the audience and social media as the show's most highlighted performance. | [247][248] [249] | |
| TheChicago Cubs break their 108-yearchampionship drought with a 10-inning victory over theCleveland Indians in Game 7 of the2016 World Series.Fox's broadcast of the game attracts 40.045 million viewers, the largest national audience for aMajor League Baseball game since Game 7 of the1991 World Series. | [250] | |
| 7 | CBS'The Odd Couple dedicates an episode toGarry Marshall with an assembly of actors from Marshall-produced seriesHappy Days (Ron Howard,Marion Ross,Anson Williams andDon Most),Mork & Mindy (Pam Dawber), andLaverne & Shirley (Cindy Williams and Marshall's sisterPenny). Garry Marshall producedthe 1970–75 version ofThe Odd Couple and served as a consultant on the current version, where he once made a guest appearance asOscar Madison's (Matthew Perry) father. | [251] |
| With its titular character (played byGina Rodriguez) no longer a virgin,The CW comedy-drama/telenovela spoofJane the Virgin sees the series' title modified, with "The Virgin" crossed out in favor of substitutes. | [252] | |
| 8 | Former host ofThe Apprentice and TV personality Donald Trump is elected the 45th President in anupset victory over formerSecretary of State Hillary Clinton in the2016 United States presidential election. | [253] |
| Northern Lights Media, a subsidiary ofGray Television, announces that it will purchase theFairbanks, Alaska, triopoly of NBC affiliateKTVF, Fox affiliateKFXF-LD and CBS affiliate KXDD-CD (subsequently renamedKXDF-CD) from a joint venture of Chena Broadcasting and Tanana Valley Television Company for $8 million. Pending FCC and Justice Department approval, the transaction will expand Gray's presence inAlaska, as it already ownsAnchorage NBC affiliateKTUU-TV (which it acquired through Gray's 2015 merger acquisition ofSchurz Communications' television group) and MyNetworkTV affiliateKYES-TV (which it acquired through a separate deal with Fireweed Communications that was made while the Schurz transaction was ongoing). | [254][255] [256] | |
| 11 | Donald Trump's former campaign managerCorey Lewandowski ends his controversial tenure as a political commentator atCNN. | [257] |
| 12 | Dave Chappelle hostsSaturday Night Live, his first comedic TV appearance since abruptly leavinghis sketch comedy show in 2005. The profane language that Chappelle used in astand-up routine (centering partly on Donald Trump's election as president) in the episode's monologue and a violent and goryWalking Dead spoof sketch led NBC affiliateWRAL-TV/Raleigh to censor portions of the broadcast, resulting in viewer complaints across social media outlets who questioned whether the station was intentionally censoring the show or was experiencing technical problems with the NBC network feed. In an apology statement noting that it would review such procedures, WRAL vice president/general manager Steven D. Hammel confirmed that the station ducked profanities that did not comply with the station's longstanding internal obscenity policies (Chappelle used two of ten profanities barred under the policy a total of nine times). | [258][259] [260] |
| 15 | After 30 years of serving the Memphis market as a reporter and lead anchor, CBS affiliateWREG-TV's Claudia Barr announced that she is retiring from broadcasting at the end of the month. Barr, who began her career atWHBQ-TV, has been with WREG as its anchorwoman since 2006. | [261] |
| 20 | Justin Bieber andDrake are among the notable winners at the2016 American Music Awards. The ceremony, which was hosted byGigi Hadid andJay Pharoah and broadcast onABC, also saw actorRobert Downey Jr. presenting the Award of Merit to rock singerSting and Hadid imitatingPresident-electDonald Trump's wifeMelania's controversial speech at the2016 Republican National Convention in July, which resulted her to issue an apology onsocial networking siteTwitter the next day after receiving negative reactions from its viewers. | [262][263] |
| 22 | Just three months after winning gold medal with her Final Five teammates ingymnastics at the2016 Summer Olympics inRio de Janeiro,Laurie Hernandez is crowned the23rd season winner ofDancing with the Stars, becoming the youngest contestant to win the show. | [264] |
| 24 | The 90th edition ofMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade airs onNBC, withToday anchorsMatt Lauer,Savannah Guthrie andAl Roker as hosts, and simulcast inSpanish on its sister networkTelemundo, with hosts Jessica Carrillo andCarlos Ponce (marking the latter network's first Spanish-language broadcast of the parade since 2006). The parade (with its route taken place from 77th Street and Central Park West toMacy'sflagship store inHerald Square at34th Street) featured balloons (includingFelix the Cat balloon's first appearance since the 1937 parade), floats,marching bands, as well as music andBroadway performances including the cast of NBC's upcoming live musicalHairspray Live!,Brett Eldredge,Sarah McLachlan,Aloe Blacc,Maddie and Tae,The Muppets,Daya,Kelsea Ballerini,Fitz and the Tantrums,The Rockettes, andTony Bennett. Additionally, it also partnered withtelecommunications companyVerizon to air a 360-degreevirtual reality live telecast of the parade, which was made available through Verizon'sYouTube channel. | [265][266] |
| 30 | MundoMax ceases operations and all affiliation contracts, resulting in dozens of employees in several departments being laid off (including administration, programming, promotions, research and sales in Los Angeles, New York and Miami). Launched in 2012 as MundoFox (a joint venture betweenFox International Channels andRCN Televisión), the Spanish-language broadcast television network was plagued by dismal ratings (which had not been tabulated since Nielsen Media terminated their contract with the network at the end of September) and an affiliate base that was unable to acquire cable carriage due to their mainly low-power Class A status, disqualifying them from "must-carry" provisions. Several affiliates switch toLiberman Broadcasting-ownedEstrella TV, withAzteca and other Spanish-language networks (although some would switch to English-language networks or became independent stations) as possibilities for new affiliations. | [267][268] |
| AT&T launchesDirecTV Now, anover-the-top subscription service featuring channels owned byAMC,Discovery,Disney,Fox,NBCUniversal,Viacom,Turner andUnivisión.[269] Soon after, numerous subscribers began reporting that the service experiences persistent freezing between 7:00 PM and 11:30 PM EST due to an unresolved issue (though its customer service indicated that the issue is being worked on, with no known repair date announced), leading to numerous customers filing complaints with the FCC. Additionally, it has generally received negative reviews, with most customers also noting the lack ofon-demand programming. | [270][271] [272][273] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | WVNC-LD inWatertown, New York, signs on the air, giving the Watertown market, the last market inNew York without full network service, not only its first full-timeNBC affiliate, but also in-market affiliates of all four major commercial networks. WVNC-LD is alsoSagamoreHill Broadcasting's first television holding in theNortheast. In addition, plans are underway for WVNC-LD to commence a local news operation in early 2018, which would mark the first competition for dominantCBS affiliateWWNY-TV sinceABC affiliateWWTI shut down its operation in 2009. | [274] |
| 5 | Tegna Media'sNew OrleansCBS affiliateWWL-TV begins carryingCBS This Morning for the first time since the late 1980s, making it the last CBS station in the United States to clear the program. The 7:00–9:00 a.m. block of the station's local morning news program,Eyewitness Morning News, moves to itsMyNetworkTV-affiliated sister stationWUPL, which had been carryingCBS This Morning (and its predecessorThe Early Show) since 2005. | [275] |
| The2016 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show is broadcast onCBS. 6.67 million people tune in. | [276][277] [278] | |
| 8 | Citing the commute between the East and West coasts, and juggling her other television obligations (including her commitments on theNetflix sitcomFuller House, which is filmed inLos Angeles) being difficult to her and her family,Candace Cameron Bure announces that she will leaveThe View after two seasons. Bure joinsRaven-Symoné, who announced in October that she would be exiting theABCdaytimetalk show at the end of 2016 to focus on aThat's So Raven spin-off series. Her last day on the show was aired the following day. | [279] |
| 13 | Cindy Stowell begins a championship run onJeopardy!. Stowell died from colon cancer eight days before her first on-air appearance. Stowell, who taped her episodes in August (when she was suffering from a blood infection and was on painkillers), won six games and over $103,000 in winnings (enough to qualify forJeopardy'sTournament of Champions had she survived). Stowell pledged her winnings to cancer research. | [280][281] |
| 15 | Facebook announces that it is forming a partnership withABC News and key fact-checking websites as part of an effort to crack down on the growing number offake news stories. The move comes after the social media outlet proposed a new policy to restrict or flag stories that cannot be verified or no cited sources, in general stories that ran during the 2016 US presidential election, whose outcome major news media networks believe contributed to Donald Trump's win. | [282] |
| 19 | After 23 years in both radio and television,WTMJ-TV-AM/Milwaukee hostCharlie Sykes retires from broadcast media, and ends his locally basedSunday morning talk showSunday Insight on WTMJ-TV. He will continue to manage his website RightWisconsin.com with WTMJ ownerE. W. Scripps Company and occasionally contribute analysis forMSNBC. | [283] |
| Married couple John and Angel Whorton win a total of $1,300,010 on the premiere episode ofThe Wall onNBC. This is the second time that a contestant or a team of contestants had won $1,000,000 or more on the first episode of an American game show; the previous instance happened in 2007, when a contestant won $1,000,000 on the first episode ofPower of 10 onCBS. | ||
| 22 | Light TV, a family-oriented digital television network created byRoma Downey's LightWorkers Media and owned byMGM Television and Digital (which is run by Downey's husbandMark Burnett), launches. Its charter affiliates will be digital subchannels ofFox stations owned byFox Television Stations, which will serve as a partner in the joint venture, with the network drawing its programming from the respective television and film libraries of Fox and MGM. | [284][285] |
| 24 | Citing producers' monetary payments to some participants for access,A&E announces it has cancelled plans to air a documentary series profiling those seeking to break away from theKu Klux Klan. The series, titledEscaping the KKK (it was originally titledGeneration KKK) and scheduled for a January 10, 2017, premiere, had been plagued by concerns that the show would glorify the all-white organization and itsreactionary beliefs. | [286] |
| 31 | Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve celebrates its 45th anniversary, featuring performances byMariah Carey (marking her return after being its first live headliner in 2006),DNCE,Gloria Estefan and the cast of herBroadwaymusicalOn Your Feet!, andThomas Rhett fromNew York City'sTimes Square,Demi Lovato fromSint Maarten,Lionel Richie fromLas Vegas, and several others from theBillboard Hollywood Party inLos Angeles. It also features coverage of festivities fromNew Orleans withLucy Hale as host, performances byJason Derülo andPanic at the Disco from the Allstate Fan Fest (a concert event tying into theSugar Bowl game), andJackson Square'sfleur-de-lis drop at midnight (Central Time), which marks the first time that theABC annualprogram broadcast live coverage ofNew Year's festivities from a city in the Central Time Zone since thenetwork's day-long telecastABC 2000 Today in 1999. Carey's performance was plagued by technical glitches, prompting negative reactions on social media. | [287][288] [289][290] [291] |
| Anderson Cooper andKathy Griffin celebrate their tenth final year as hosts ofNew Year's Eve Live onCNN. The annual program (broadcast live fromNew York City'sTimes Square), which also saw Griffin wrapping Cooper inaluminium foil to celebrate their tenth anniversary together (tin/aluminium foil is the "traditional" 10th anniversary gift), as well as receiving well-wishes from numerous celebrities (includingSharon Stone,Dave Grohl,Josh Groban,Kristin Chenoweth,Ron Jeremy,Megan Mullally andNick Offerman), andDon Lemon being drunk during his on-air segments (alongsideBrooke Baldwin, who were covering festivities fromNew Orleans) and having one of his ears pierced on live television, delivers its viewership record (being the #1 cable program in total viewers for the hour and a half surrounding midnight, and second for the entire program duration, including the primetime segments), shared withFox News'sAll American New Year. Its international simulcast on sister networkCNN International was significantly cut back due to thebreaking news coverage of thenightclub attack inIstanbul,Turkey before CNNI later joining the program at the 11:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) junction. (Griffin would be dismissed from the position in 2017.) | [292][293] [294][295] |
| Date | Event | Source |
|---|---|---|
| N/A | Jungo TV was launched as a private joint venture media and entertainment company that offers foreign film and television contents across the globe through pay television providers and OTT platforms, as well as partnerships with other third-party media companies. It was founded by a celebrity surgeon and television personalityDr. Mehmet Oz, NJK Holding chairman Nasser J. Kazeminy, Entertainment Media Ventures CEO Sandy Climan, and George Chung. | [296] |
These shows were scheduled to premiere in 2016. The premiere dates may have been changed depending on a variety of factors.
| First aired | Title | Channel | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 18 | War & Peace | A&E,History, andLifetime | [481] |
| January 24 | The X-Files | Fox | [482] |
| February 3 | Madoff | ABC | [483] |
| February 16 | 11.22.63 | Hulu | [484] |
| February 20 | Serial Thriller: The Headhunter | Investigation Discovery | [485] |
| March 6 | Race for the White House | CNN | [486] |
| March 31 | The Eighties | CNN | [487] |
| April 19 | The Night Manager | AMC | [488] |
| May 30 | Roots | A&E,History, andLifetime | [489] |
| June 11 | The American West | AMC | [490] |
| July 10 | The Night Of | HBO | [419] |
| September 5 | Harley and the Davidsons | Discovery Channel | [491] |
| September 18 | The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey | CBS | [441] |
| September 30 | Crisis in Six Scenes | Amazon Video | [492] |
| Show | Moved from | Moved to | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miss Universe pageant | NBC | Fox | [513] |
| Miss USA pageant | Reelz | ||
| Impact Wrestling | Destination America | Pop | [514][515] |
| Sesame Street | PBS | HBO | [516] |
| WWE SmackDown | Syfy | USA Network | [313] |
| Hoarders | Lifetime | A&E | [517] |
| SportsNation | ESPN2 | ESPN | [518] |
| America's Next Top Model | The CW | VH1 | [519] |
| Motive | ABC | USA Network | [520] |
| Grossology | Discovery Family | Qubo | |
| Sports Jeopardy! | Crackle | Crackle /NBCSN | [521] |
| Supergirl | CBS | The CW | [522] |
| The Last Alaskans | Animal Planet | Discovery Channel | [523] |
| High Maintenance | Vimeo | HBO | [524] |
| Primetime Justice with Ashleigh Banfield | CNN (asLegal View) | HLN (asPrimetime Justice) | [525] |
| Sonic Boom | Cartoon Network | Boomerang | |
| Mad TV | Fox | The CW | [526] |
The following shows will return with new episodes after being canceled or ended their run previously:
| Show | Last aired | Type of return | Previous channel | New/returning/same channel | Return date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret | 2012 | New Season | IFC | same | January 7 | [527] |
| The X-Files | 2002 | Revival | Fox | January 24 | [528] | |
| The Powerpuff Girls | 2005 | Reboot | Cartoon Network | April 4 | [529] | |
| Disappeared | 2013 | New season | Investigation Discovery | April 11 | [530] | |
| To Tell the Truth | 2001 | Revival | Syndication | ABC | June 14 | [407] |
| The $100,000 Pyramid | 2012 | Reboot | Game Show Network | June 26 | [531] | |
| Match Game | 1999 | Revival | Syndication | [532] | ||
| Mad TV | 2009 | Fox | The CW | July 26 | [526] | |
| Black Mirror | 2014 | Channel 4 (UK) | Netflix | October 21 | [475] | |
| Space Racers | 2015 | New season | PBS Kids | PBS Kids /Sprout | October 31 | [533] |
| Gilmore Girls (asGilmore Girls: A Year in the Life) | 2007 | The CW | Netflix | November 25 | [534] |
A list of programs (current or canceled) that have accumulated enough episodes (between 65 and 100) or seasons (3 or more) to be eligible for off-network syndication and/or basic cable runs.
| Show | Seasons | In Production | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. | 3 | Yes | [635] |
| Last Man Standing | 6 | [636] | |
| Major Crimes | 5 | [635] | |
| Nashville | 5 | [637] | |
| Pawn Stars | 12 | [638] |
| Network name | Type | Launch date | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gun TV | Cable television | April 1 | ||
| Light TV | Cable television | December 22 |
| Old network name | New network name | Type | Conversion Date | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ABC Family | Freeform | Cable television | January 12 | ||
| Palladia | MTV Live | Cable television | February 1 | ||
| H2 | Viceland | Cable television | February 29 | ||
| Encore Action | Starz Encore Action | Cable television | April 5 | ||
| Encore Black | Starz Encore Black | Cable television | April 5 | ||
| Encore Classic | Starz Encore Classic | Cable television | April 5 | ||
| Encore Espanol | Starz Encore Espanol | Cable television | April 5 | ||
| Encore Family | Starz Encore Family | Cable television | April 5 | ||
| Encore Suspense | Starz Encore Suspense | Cable television | April 5 | ||
| The Church Channel | Hillsong Channel | Cable television | June 1 | ||
| MTV Hits | NickMusic | Cable television | September 9 |
| Network | Type | Closure date | Notes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Jazeera America | Cable television | April 12 | ||
| MundoMax | OTA television | November 30 |
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