Aduopoly (ortwinstick, referring to "stick" asjargon for aradio tower) is a situation intelevision andradio broadcasting in which two or more stations in the same city or community sharecommon ownership.
In theUnited States, the practice of duopolies has been frowned upon when using public airwaves, on the premise that it gives too much influence to one company. However, rules governing radio stations are less restrictive than those for television, allowing as many as eight radio stations under common ownership in the largest U.S.media markets.[1] Ownership of television stations with overlapping coverage areas was normally not allowed in the United States prior to 2002, even those that were not duopolies under the present legal definition, by way of being located in separate albeit adjacent markets; this required broadcasters to apply for cross-ownership waivers in some cases to retain full-power stations based in adjacent markets.[2]Non-commercial educational broadcasters, mainly those that weremembers of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), were the only licensees allowed to sign-on or acquire a second television station that did not repeat the parent station's signal in the same market where they already owned a station (some of these acquired stations were originally licensed as commercial outlets).
On August 5, 1999, theFederal Communications Commission voted 4–1 to allow common ownership of two television stations within a single market by one company,[3] so long as eight unique station owners remain in the market once the duopoly is formed, and the four highest-rated stations (based on local monthly viewership reports for the market) remain under separate ownership.[1][4] The FCC only requires the severance of an existing duopoly in which a once lower-rated station falls within the ratings criteria that prohibits such ownership over time if an ownership transaction is under review (such as a piecemeal or group sale of stations, or necessary license transfers during an ownership transaction involving the stations' existing owner); a company is required to sell one of the stations in the duopoly to another licensee if it is no longer compliant with one or both provisions.
Currently, an entity is permitted to own up to two television stations in the same media market if either the service areas of the stations do not overlap, or at least one of the stations is not rated among the top four rated stations in the media market. There is no limit on the number of television stations a single entity may own as long as the stations group collectively reaches no more than 39% of U.S. households.
Once a duopoly is formed, the acquiring company takes over the operations of its new property. The operations of the two stations are usually consolidated into one facility, depending on the size and age of the facility chosen to house their operations. Since the stations involved in the duopoly are not restricted by FCC law from consolidating their operations, duplicative jobs at one of the stations are often terminated as the consolidation takes effect.
News departments are also often consolidated into a singular operation, with anchoring and reporting staffs from the respective stations often being folded into one unit, subject to hiring determinations made by management; anchors and reporters are usually shared between the two stations, though in some cases, certain anchors may be employed to appear only on each station's own newscasts. In some cases (like withWHDH andWLVI inBoston, Massachusetts, when the former's ownerSunbeam Television formed a duopoly with WLVI after purchasing the station fromTribune Broadcasting in 2006), the junior partner's news department is shut down completely, with the senior partner subsequently taking over production of its news content using only their existing staff. In many cases, news programming on a junior partner is structured to avoid direct competition with a senior partner affiliate of eitherABC,NBC orCBS (one notable exception involvesWTTV andWXIN inIndianapolis, which carry competing morning and evening newscasts as Tribune Broadcasting opted to launch a separate slate of newscasts for WTTV when it became a CBS affiliate in January 2015,[5] rather than shift those seen on sisterFox affiliate WXIN to the station; WXIN and WTTV largely maintain their own anchors, but share a news department and most reporting staff). This situation is uncommon in duopolies involving onlyBig Three affiliates, as stations affiliated with those networks are more inclined to carry newscasts in overlapping time periods in order to fulfill local programming requirements included in affiliation agreements.
Certainsyndicated programs are also shared between the stations, in the form of either same-day repeat airings of programs seen on the one which holds primary rights or separated runs of programs that air on each station, although each station maintains separate syndication inventories as well. The junior partner, unless it is affiliated with a major network, may also be used to carry network (and occasionally, first-run syndicated) programs that the senior partner is unable to broadcast because of long-formbreaking news orsevere weather coverage or a locally producedspecial airing in a scheduled program's normal timeslot, or in the case of certain non-prime time network programs, because the senior partner chooses not to carry it on its regular schedule to carry other scheduled programming.
Although the FCC bars common ownership of any of the four major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox), it does not prohibit duopolies involving stations affiliated individually with any two of them, unless both are among the four highest-rated in the market at the time of a sale. As such, several Big Four duopolies exist based on certain market conditions that originally allowed them to be formed under the criteria (such as a company having acquired one of the major network stations as a low-rated affiliate of a smaller network prior to an affiliation switch or the ratings of a non-English station placing among the top four over a Big Four network affiliate). While most duopolies are made up of a senior partner that is affiliated with one of the four major networks and an affiliate of a minor network (such asThe CW andMyNetworkTV) or anindependent station as the junior partner, those in which both stations are major network affiliates typically involve a Fox station (which serves as the junior partner in all but a few instances) and an ABC, CBS or NBC affiliate, with some limited arrangements where two Big Three affiliates are jointly owned or managed.
One of the few markets where two major network duopolies exist in some form isJacksonville, Florida, where two companies once owned the licenses of the Big Four stations they respectively controlled. In 2000, theGannett Company, owner of NBC affiliateWTLV, purchased ABC affiliateWJXX,[6] which had struggled in the local ratings since its sign-on in February 1997 (when it took the ABC affiliation fromWJKS through agroup affiliation deal with theAllbritton Communications Company) due to its status as a relatively new station and issues with signal interference from PBS stationWJCT on itsMediacom cable channel slot. The following year,Clear Channel Communications created a legal duopoly involving its existing Fox affiliate WAWS (nowWFOX-TV) and WTEV-TV (nowWJAX-TV), aUPN affiliate that it had been managing under a local marketing agreement since 1994; WTEV's viewership gradually rose after it became a CBS affiliate in July 2002, putting it in the top four threshold with WAWS, resulting inNewport Television – upon purchasing the Clear Channel television group in 2007 – restructuring the operation as a virtual duopoly by selling WTEV to shell licensee High Plains Broadcasting (WFOX and WJAX are now respectively owned by theCox Media Group and Bayshore Television, LLC, but remain under common management through JSA/SSA in which WJAX is the junior partner).
The use ofdigital subchannels has been termed an "instant duopoly," because of the ease by which a single digital station can deliver multiple channels of programming from different networks at the same time. One station can carry four or morestandard definition digital channels; multiplehigh definition feeds typically require too large a bitrate size to be carried on different subchannels of the same station simultaneously without loss of image quality.
On November 20, 2017, in its reconsideration order to the Quadrennial Regulatory Review regarding media ownership, the FCC voted to make significant changes, particularly to local television ownership. In its decision, the FCC eliminated the "Eight-Voices Test" requirement, allowing media companies to form duopolies regardless of the number of full-powered stations licensed to each market. It also allows media companies to form duopolies comprising two of the four highest-rated stations in a particular market, provided that companies can prove to the FCC that the transaction "would serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity," and that it is necessary "due to specific circumstances in a local market or with respect to a specific transaction on a case-by-case basis."[7]
The said changes were put into practice on two occasions:
Some broadcasting companies have usedloopholes to establish duopolies in smaller markets by way of alocal marketing agreement, shared services agreement or joint sales agreement; where a station effectivelybrokers its entire airtime to the owner of another station in the market, which becomes responsible for handling its programming and advertising sales – and in effect, operations. These are termed as "virtual duopolies" as the station's license is held by one company, while its operations are handled by another. Through a 2014 FCC ruling, joint sales agreements in which the senior partner sells a minimum of 15% of the advertising time for its junior partner are counted toward ownership caps.[15]
Some larger broadcasting companies have controversially built business models around the practice, by funding the acquisition of stations by what are effectivelyshill companies orshell corporations; for example,Sinclair Broadcast Group operates the stations ofCunningham Broadcasting andDeerfield Media under LMAs, JSAs, or SSAs. Nearly all of Cunningham's stock is held by trusts in the name of Sinclair's founders and owners, the Smith family.[16] Similarly,Nexstar Media Group funds the purchase of stations byMission Broadcasting andVaughan Media, which forms duopolies with their stations through shared services agreements with a Nexstar station.[17] In some cases, the senior partner may acquire a station's physical assets and intellectual property (such as the station's facilities and programming rights), but spin off the license itself to a shell corporation and enter into an agreement to operate the station, making it thede facto owner, but not the legal owner. Following the purchase, the station's operations and programming are often merged into that of its new parent station.[17][18] Similarly, a company that acquires an existing legal duopoly that is no longer complies with FCC rules on duopoly ownership may spin off the junior partner station's license to a shell, rather than sell one of the stations to a licensee that would also assume operational responsibilities, allowing the restructured duopoly to remain under common operation through a resulting management agreement.
In some cases, the use of an adjacent-marketcity of license has been used on a secondary station to avoid a limit on the number of stations controlled by the same broadcaster in the same market. Occasionally, those arrangements cross international borders. For instance,radio stationWLYK inCape Vincent, New York in the United States is operated from the Canadian studios ofKingston, Ontario'sCIKR-FM, a broadcaster already at the two-station limit in its own market, under an LMA.[19] Broadcasters such asEntravision have often entered into local marketing agreements with Mexican border stations (such asTecate'sXHDTV-TDT for content directed atSan Diego).
It is also possible to obtain a "failing station waiver," which can exempt a broadcaster from some portion of the existing restrictions on common ownership in order to acquire and operate a station which otherwise would be economically non-viable or would be forced tocease operations.
Requests for failing station waivers have historically met with variable reception; in general, the FCC views requests favorably if:
Waivers under these criteria were granted to sellWASV-TV inAsheville toMedia General, owner of CBS affiliateWSPA-TV in that market,[21] andKWBA inTucson to theJournal Broadcast Group, owner of that market's ABC affiliateKGUN-TV.[22][23] A similar waiver was refused toKNIN-TV inBoise as the station, a CW affiliate at the time the waiver application was filed, appeared to have reasonable prospects of financial break-even without a takeover by Journal-owned ABC affiliateKIVI-TV;[24] that decision was subsequently appealed, with the waiver being granted upon further review (Journal Broadcast Group would eventually be required to sell KNIN in 2014, as the station's financial condition improved enough in its post-2011 existence as a Fox affiliate to make it unsuitable for theE. W. Scripps Company – which was in the process of purchasing Journal's broadcasting unit in a deal in which Journal simultaneously merged with Scripps' publishing unit – to acquire it under a renewed waiver, in addition to the fact that it could not acquire it legally as the market had fewer than eight unique owners[25]).
Low-power andClass A television stations are not subject to ownership caps in the United States, as their broadcast signals do not reach as many homes as full-power stations. In areas with highcable television penetration, this distinction is essentially meaningless. LPTV stations were also exempt fromdigital television transition requirements imposed on full-service broadcasters upon theJune 2009 digital conversion.[26][27]
As such, low-power stations can also be formed to create duopolies; for instance,Weigel Broadcasting maintains triopolies in three markets surrounding the southern part ofLake Michigan (Chicago, Illinois;Milwaukee, Wisconsin; andSouth Bend, Indiana) using a combination of full-power and low-power television stations. In Chicago, it maintains one full-power signal (CW-affiliated stationWCIU-TV) and two low-power stations (MeTV flagship stationWWME-CD and independent stationWMEU-CD). In Milwaukee, Weigel has two full-power stations (CBS affiliateWDJT-TV and full-power independent stationWMLW-TV) and two low-power stations (MeTV stationWBME-CD andTelemundo affiliateWYTU-LD, the latter stations of which use subchannels of WDJT as its main conduit for full-power carriage). Weigel also takes advantage of digital subchannel broadcasting heavily in addition to MeTV, it also ownsMeTV+,Heroes & Icons,Start TV,Decades,Movies!, andStory Television, all of which air on its stations, in addition to other station groups; the company had also previously executed time share agreements on other subchannels with ethnic broadcasters, and in Milwaukee, a local real estate agency to air programming.
A similar situation exists inLima, Ohio, whereBlock Communications controls a quadropoly of stations owned by itself (WLIO, a full-powered NBC affiliate which also carries Fox and MyNetworkTV on a digital subchannel) and low-power stations owned by West Central Ohio Broadcasting, Inc. (which owns ABC affiliateWPNM-LD/WOHL-CD, and CBS affiliateWAMS-LD) under an LMA. One of the latter company's heads, Allan J. Block, is the chairman of Block Communications.[28] The group is the sole over-air provider of secular network television programming in the Lima market, though area cable systems also carry out-of-market affiliates fromToledo,Columbus andDayton. (All of the Block owned or operated stations have a pending sale toGray Media expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025).[29]
As mentioned above, current FCC rules limit the number of radio stations a single entity may own in a certain market. As of May 2020, these are the limitations on radio ownership in a certain market, according to the FCC website:
Unlike television, there is no limit on the percentage of the population to that an entity may reach.
In radio,Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) policy generally allows broadcasters to operate no more than three radio stations in any given market, of which no more than two may be on the same radio band — that is, a company may own two AM stations and an FM station, or two FM stations and an AM station, but may not own three AMs or three FMs. However, in major metropolitan markets where a large number of radio stations are already broadcasting, the limit is increased to four stations with a maximum of two on each band. A company may also exceed these limits if it owns stations broadcasting in both English and French; for instance, in theMontreal media market,Bell Media Radio owns six radio stations, of which two operate in French and four in English. Formerly,Corus Entertainment owned six radio stations in theMontreal media market as well, four of them operating in French (two AM radio stations and two FM radio stations), and two in English (one AM radio station and one FM radio station).
Officially, CRTC policy mandates that a broadcaster may only own one television station in a particular language in any given market.[30] However, there are two types of exemptions which may be granted:
The policy does not prevent companies from owning multiple stations in a market provided that the stations broadcast in different languages. In recent years, this has been interpreted as meaning that a single company may own both an English-language station and one or more multicultural stations with some English-language content, which in itself may be considered a form of "exemption".CBC/Radio-Canadaowned-and-operated stations (O&Os) are also often deployed in pairs in major cities on both television and radio, separated only by language. In addition, the policy is not interpreted as preventing a single company from owning both a "commercial" general-interest station and an educational station in the same market, even if the latter airs advertising, as withAccess in Alberta.[31]
Although the small and large market exemptions have a financial criterion in common, there are notable differences between the two. A small market twinstick may involve major network affiliates licensed to the same community, and is not obligated to provide distinct local news programming on the two stations, while in a large market the stations must be licensed to serve different communities or different programming niches, andcannot merge their news programming into a single operation. Small market twinsticks commonly share their branding across both stations, while twinsticks in large markets generally do not. As well, while small market twinsticks generally involve privateaffiliates, major market twinsticks are virtually always owned-and-operated stations of their associated networks orsystems.
In a few isolated cases, the CRTC has permitted "triple-sticks", ortriopolies, where a single broadcaster operatesthree stations in a market. These are only possible under unusual circumstances which are discussed as they arise below.
Twinsticks were first allowed in 1967, as a way to help expandCTV service to smaller markets. In the original twinstick model, the second station was a rebroadcaster of a CTV station in a larger market, to which the small market's existingCBC affiliate would be granted the advertising sales rights.
As the company's advertising revenue grew, the CTV transmitter would eventually become an originating station in its own right, and in theory would eventually be sold to another broadcaster. However, in many cases the subsequent sale never happened, as the community's economic growth failed to lend itself to competition between multiple television broadcasters. In other markets where the CRTC had licensed competing broadcasters, such asNorthern Ontario, twinstick mergers were subsequently allowed to permit the survival of both television stations after similar economic difficulties were encountered.
With the cross-nationalconsolidation of media ownership, nearly all of the original twinstick stations no longer share ownership with their former twin stations. However, the second type of twinstick, involving media consolidation in larger markets, began to arise in the 1990s.
Up until February 2010, twinsticks of this type outside ofQuebec involved CTV and CBC Television affiliates. Currently the only small-market twinstick in English Canada consists ofGlobal and CTV affiliates.
Within Quebec, twinsticks consist ofTVA andNoovo affiliates:
From 1997 to 2002, CTV directly owned several CBC twinstick stations that it had inherited fromBaton Broadcasting (CKNC,CHNB,CJIC andCFCL in Northern Ontario, which were part of theMCTV system, andCKBI andCKOS inSaskatchewan); these were sold to the CBC in 2002. Similarly, until August 2008,Cogeco owned three twinsticks in Quebec:CKTV andCFRS inSaguenay,CKSH andCFKS inSherbrooke andCKTM andCFKM inTrois-Rivières. These twinsticks were dissolved when Radio-Canada decided to acquire its former affiliates (CKTV, CKSH and CKTM), while the V affiliates (CFRS, CFKS and CFKM) were acquired byRemstar Corporation, the new owner of V (then known as TQS, now known as Novoo).
One "triple-stick" also existed in which a single company,Télé Inter-Rives, operated all three licensed stations inRivière-du-Loup:CKRT,CIMT andCFTF. RNC Media also formerly had an effective "triple-stick" in theAbitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, with ownership ofCFEM-DT (TVA) andCKRN-DT (Radio-Canada) in the city ofRouyn-Noranda andCFVS-DT (Novoo) inVal-d'Or — although technically licensed to separate cities, in actual practice all three stations served both cities through rebroadcast transmitters. As of 2018, however, CKRN and CKRN are no longer in operation. These unusual situations arise because of the unique circumstances of francophone television stations in Quebec: with virtually no sources forsyndicated programming, the stations are effectively constrained to network programming at virtually all times, meaning that despite being owned by a single company, the stations are still able to meet the guiding principles behind the CRTC's policies on media ownership.
As noted above, historically, twinstick operations were locally owned. With the cross-national consolidation of media ownership in Canada, however, most twinstick operations are now owned by major media conglomerates. TheThunder Bay Television stations (CHFD/CKPR) are the sole remaining locally owned twinstick anywhere in English Canada. The aforementioned Télé Inter-Rives is similarly unique in Quebec, althoughQuebecor holds a minority stake in the company.
In the mid-1990s, the CRTC also began to allow private companies operating in large markets to acquire smaller stations. In all such cases, the twinsticks are permitted because a diversity of broadcast voices already exists in the market,[32] and the stations are normally licensed to serve different communities in the metropolitan market or different programming niches. The stations must also be operated independently of each other, although they are permitted to cross-promote each other's programming. They may also air a very limited amount of common programming, although in practice this privilege is rarely used.
Currently,Bell Media operates twinsticks in three major markets, using the CTV andCTV Two brands:
In addition to these "true" twinsticks, in some areas, Bell Media has taken a twinstick-type approach with two stations deemed to be inadjacent media markets, but which in practice serve both markets. For example, Bell operates both CTV stationCKCO-DT inKitchener, Ontario and CTV Two stationCFPL-DT inLondon, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) away. Both have been carried on theVHF band of basic cable throughout much ofsouthwestern Ontario for several decades. Hence, presumably as a result of this duplicated coverage, their current owner has elected to continue airing distinct programming on both stations (on the other hand, Kitchener is also about 100 km from Toronto; nevertheless both CKCO and Toronto's CFTO operate as CTV stations).
Finally, in some markets, Bell Media operates both a local over-the-air CTV station, and a provincial or regional cable channel that broadcasts CTV Two programming. In Alberta, CTV stationsCFCN inCalgary andCFRN inEdmonton co-exist withCTV Two Alberta, which is officially licensed as the provincial educational broadcaster and is therefore technically exempt from the CRTC's common ownership policy[31] (prior to September 2011, CTV Two Alberta also operated over-the-air transmitters in Calgary and Edmonton). In theMaritime Provinces, Bell Media operates both the over-the-airCTV Atlantic group of stations and the cable-onlyCTV Two Atlantic, which have been jointly owned (under various parent companies) since the latter's launch in 1983.
Canwest operated theCIII/CHCH twinstick in Toronto-Hamilton and theCHAN/CHEK twinstick in Vancouver-Victoria until 2009, under theGlobal andE! brands. These two sets of twinsticks were separated as a result of E!'s demise in August 2009, with Canwest retaining the Global O&Os (CIII and CHAN) and selling off the E! stations (CHCH and CHEK). Additionally, Canwest previously owned the now-defunctCHCA inRed Deer, which was available on cable and via rebroadcast transmitters in both Calgary and Edmonton, where Canwest respectively already ownedCICT andCITV. This was not considered a true twinstick as CHCA was not based in the larger markets, and did not have permission to solicit local advertising in those markets. It did, however, havesimultaneous substitution rights.
CHUM Television operated theCITY/CKVR twinstick in Toronto-Barrie and theCKVU/CIVI twinstick in Vancouver-Victoria under theCitytv andA-Channel brands prior to its acquisition byCTVglobemedia in 2006. Following this acquisition,Rogers Media briefly held twinsticks in Vancouver (CKVU andCHNU) and Winnipeg (CHMI andCIIT), formed from its newly acquired Citytv stations and itsOmni-branded religious stations; these two sets of twinsticks were dissolved in 2008 following the sales of CHNU and CIIT toS-VOX
Unlike the situation in smaller markets, this type of "consolidation" twinstick had been increasingly common up to the late 2000s, concurrently with the rise of secondary television systems (such as CH/E! and A-Channel) launched by their parent companies to complement their primary networks or systems (such as Global and Citytv). This trend was partially reversed in 2009 with the demise of E! and the subsequent dissolution of the Global/E! twinsticks.
InLloydminster,Stingray Radio ranCITL andCKSA as a CTV/Citytv twinstick; the stations shut down in 2025.
In many major markets, theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation operates bothCBC Television (English) andIci Radio-Canada Télé (French) stations, as listed below. Prior to the CBC decommissioning all of its television rebroadcasters in 2012, both networks were available over-the-air in numerous other markets not listed below, but one or both of the transmitters was a rebroadcaster of a station originating in a different city; these were not usually considered true twinsticks. Nevertheless, both networks continue to be available as part of the basic programming tier on all cable and satellite providers nationwide.
In Toronto, Edmonton andCalgary, Rogers Media's acquisition of the Citytv system put those stations in twinsticks with the multilingualOmni Television stations. In Toronto, Omni Television has its own twinstick, giving the company a nominal "triple-stick" in that market. The two Omni stations in Toronto each serve different segments of the market's multicultural audience, and thus are also permitted under the language exemption.
In Montreal, Canwest owned both Global stationCKMI and multicultural stationCJNT until August 2009, when the latter was sold toChannel Zero.
CTV was formerly a part-owner of the francophoneV network (formerly TQS) in Quebec, meaning that V's owned-and-operatedCFJP in Montreal was a partial twinstick with CTV'sCFCF for most of the 2000s. CFCF was, in fact, the originalowner of TQS, meaning that the stations were once a true twinstick under the language exemption, although the two stations went through very different sequences of ownership changes after 1995. Bell Media, the owner of CTV, reacquired V in 2020, reuniting CFJP to co-ownership with CFCF.
NBCUniversal formerly owned three full-power stations inLos Angeles, NBC owned-and-operated stationKNBC,Telemundo O&OKVEA andSpanish languageindependent stationKWHY-TV, before selling KWHY to theMeruelo Group in January 2011.[33][34] The FCC allows common ownership of three full-power television stations if there are 18 stations that are licensed within the market, Only a handful of TV markets have 18+ full-powered stations (namely, New York City, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the North Texas Metroplex) exist where a station owner can legally have a true full-power triopoly,[35] though Sinclair owns a legalde facto triopoly inSalt Lake City with CBS affiliateKUTV, independent stationKJZZ-TV, and MyNetworkTV stationKMYU.
The Federal Communications Commission otherwise only permits common ownership of three full-power television stations within one market if the tertiary station is licensed under asatellite station waiver (the FCC constitutes a full-power station that is licensed as a satellite as the same entity as its parent station, and therefore does not count them toward market ownership caps). A unique instance exists inAustin, Texas, involving thede facto triopoly of NBC affiliateKXAN-TV, CW affiliateKNVA and MyNetworkTV affiliateKBVO, the latter of which signed on in 1991 as aLlano-based satellite of KXAN to serve western portions of the market where reception of that station's UHF signal was impaired by thehilly terrain within the area. Even though KBVO was converted into a separately programmed station in October 2009 (and therefore no longer acts as a KXAN repeater, even by way of a subchannel), the FCC granted Media General permission to acquire its license under an existing satellite waiver during that company's merger withLIN Media in 2014[36] (without the waiver, Media General/LIN would have been forced to sell either KBVO or KNVA, which would not have been viable in any event, since there are not enough unique full-power station owners in the Austin market to permit a second legal duopoly with an owner of one of the market's three English languagemajornetworkaffiliates and neither would have likely had long-term financial survivability as a standalone station).
In addition, the FCC permits common ownership of three or more television stations if there are low-powered stations that are involved. For example, in theNew York media market, a full-power duopoly was formed betweenWNET andWLIW once the two stations merged their operations with each other in 2003; this would be expanded into a physical quadropoly in early 2018 after WNET's owner acquiredWNDT-CD andWMBQ-CD as a result of the FCC's 2017 spectrum incentive auction.[37][38][39] As of 2020, WNET currently owns or operates six television stations in the New York region, two (WNJN and WNJB) of which are owned by Public Media NJ and operated by WNET through theNJTV state network, which replaced theNew Jersey Network (NJN) as New Jersey's public television service in July 2011; the New Jersey Public Broadcasting Authority retained the licenses of all of the former NJN stations.[40][41]
In the Salisbury, Maryland TV market (DMA #137) - Draper Holdings Business Trust has a triopoly of major broadcast networks: CBS (WBOC-TV, Full Power), FOX (WBOC-TV DT2, Full Power), and NBC (WRDE-LD). It also owns a Telemundo affiliate (WBOC-LD), along with COZI TV & Antenna TV on subchannels of WRDE-LD & WBOC-LD respectfully.
In 2013, through its acquisition of stations fromNewport Television, Nexstar and Mission Broadcasting formed a full-power virtual quadropoly made up of two legal duopolies inLittle Rock, Arkansas, consisting of NBC affiliateKARK-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliateKARZ-TV (which Nexstar already owned), and Fox affiliateKLRT-TV and CW affiliateKASN (another existing duopoly that was acquired by Mission). Through the resulting local marketing agreement with Nexstar, the operations of KLRT and KASN were consolidated into KARK/KARZ's facilities; 30 employees were laid off as part of the consolidation.[42] A similar virtual quadropoly in theMobile, Alabama-Pensacola, Florida market was formed through another acquisition from Newport, this time by Sinclair, consisting of Pensacola-based ABC affiliateWEAR-TV and MyNetworkTV affiliateWFGX (which were both already owned by Sinclair and licensed to the beach community ofFort Walton Beach), and Mobile-based NBC affiliateWPMI and Pensacola-licensed independent stationWJTC (owned by Deerfield, and operated by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement). Unlike the quadropoly in Little Rock, Sinclair has not consolidated all four stations into one facility and each duopoly maintains their own studios in different parts of the market (WEAR/WFGX on the Florida side, WPMI/WJTC on the Alabama side). Similarly structured virtual triopolies (many of which are run by Nexstar and Sinclair) also exist in a few markets, in which either an existing owner-operator of a legal duopoly also manages a tertiary station owned by a separate if indirectly related licensee, or owns-operates one station and runs two others that are owned by different licensees.
In Canada, at least one community (Rivière-du-Loup,Quebec) has all three of its localFrench language stations –CKRT-DT,CIMT-DT andCFTF-DT – under common ownership, however such levels of common ownership are for the most part strongly discouraged by the CRTC unless the stations serve remote communities or separately carry programming in different languages (such as Rogers Media's aforementioned triopoly in Toronto, consisting of the English-languageCITY-DT and multicultural stationsCFMT-DT andCJMT-DT).
In Mexico, media concentration is endemic and it is not uncommon for as many as four stations to be operated by one entity.Televisa owns fourMexico City stations (XEW,XHTV,XHGC andXEQ) whileAzteca, Mexico's second-largest broadcaster, owns three (XHIMT,XHDF andXHTVM). These stations, in turn, feed large numbers of full-power affiliates. The largest Mexican network is the Televisa-ownedCanal de las Estrellas, which feeds its programming to more than 100 stations nationwide.
