Commonly, the term
television channel is used to mean a
television station or its
pay television counterpart (both outlined below). Sometimes, especially outside the U.S. and in the context of pay television, it is used instead of the term
television network, which otherwise (in its technical use above) describes a group of geographically-distributed television stations that share
affiliation/
ownership and some or all of their programming with one another. This terminology may be muddled somewhat in other
jurisdictions, for instance
Europe, where terrestrial channels are commonly mapped from physical channels to common numerical positions (i.e.
BBC One does not broadcast on any particular
channel 1 but is nonetheless
mapped to the 1 input on most British television sets). On digital platforms, such (location) channels are usually arbitrary and changeable, due to
virtual channels.
Television station A television station is a type of terrestrial station that
broadcasts both
audio and video to
television receivers in a particular area. Traditionally, TV stations made their broadcasts by sending specially-encoded
radio signals over the air, called
terrestrial television. Individual television stations are usually granted
licenses by a
government agency to use a particular section of the
radio spectrum (a
channel) through which they send their signals. Some stations use
LPTV broadcast translators to
retransmit to further areas. Many television stations are now in the process of converting from analog terrestrial (
NTSC,
PAL or
SECAM) broadcast, to
digital terrestrial (
ATSC broadcast,
DVB or
ISDB).
Non-terrestrial television channels Because some regions have had difficulty picking up
terrestrial television signals (particularly in
mountainous areas), alternative means of distribution such as direct-to-home satellite and cable television have been introduced. Television channels specifically built to run on cable or satellite blur the line between TV station and TV network. That fact led some early cable channels to call themselves
superstations. Satellite and cable have created changes.
Local programming TV stations in an area can
sign-up or even
be required to be carried on cable, but content providers like
TLC cannot. They are not licensed to run broadcast equipment like a station, and they do not regularly provide content to licensed broadcasters either. Furthermore, a distributor like
TNT may start producing its own programming, and shows presented exclusively on pay-TV by one distributor may be
syndicated to terrestrial stations. The cost of creating a nationwide channel has been reduced and there has been a huge increase in the number of such channels, with most catering to a small group. From the definitions above, use of the terms
network or
station in reference to nationwide cable or satellite channels is technically inaccurate. However, this is an arbitrary, inconsequential distinction, and varies from company to company. Indeed, the term
cable network has entered into common usage in the United States in reference to such channels, even with the existence of
direct broadcast satellite. There is even some geographical separation among
national pay television channels in the U.S., be it programming (e.g., the
Bally Sports group of regional sports channels, which share several programs), or simply regionalized advertising inserted by the local cable company. Should a legal distinction be necessary between a (location) channel as defined above and a television channel in this sense, the terms
programming service (e.g.) or
programming undertaking (for instance,) may be used instead of the latter definition. ==See also==