In North American broadcasting, a superstation is a terrestrial television station that has its broadcast range extended outside of their originating media market via communications satellite to multichannel television providers, including cable and direct broadcast satellite. These stations, which had no network affiliation and operated as independents, were popularized from the late 1970s to the early 1990s with offerings of reruns, movies, local play-by-play sports coverage and, in some cases, local newscasts. These signals were also popular among C-band satellite subscribers in rural areas where broadcast signals could not be picked up off-air.
Superstation is defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as a television station that is additionally transmitted via satellite. Further legislation, in particular the Satellite Home Viewer Improvement Act of 1999, narrowed this definition further to specify the station must not have a network affiliation. Superstations either have an active or passive classification: active superstations intentionally seek retransmission via an outside provider, while passive superstations are involuntarily retransmitted without the station's consent. Superstation can also refer to major network affiliates uplinked by satellite to providers like Primetime 24 and Netlink USA.
The television stations commonly recognized as superstations are the following:
KTLA Los Angeles KTVT Dallas–Fort Worth (1984–1994) KTVU San Francisco (1978–1980) KWGN-TV Denver WGN-TV Chicago (1978–2014) WOR-TV/WWOR-TV New York (1979–1996) WPIX New York City WSBK-TV Boston WTCG/WTBS Atlanta (1976–2007) CHAN-TV Vancouver, British Columbia CHCH-TV Hamilton, Ontario CITV-TV Edmonton, Alberta
"Superstation" is most closely associated with the concept's progenitor, WTCG in Atlanta. After previously extending their reach to cable systems in the southeastern United States through microwave relay, WTCG became the first television station to be uplinked to a satellite in 1976. Renamed WTBS in 1979, it promoted itself as "the Superstation" and later as "Superstation WTBS". The availability of superstations began to decline after 1990, when the FCC reinstated syndication exclusivity rules, forcing superstations to license content for national distribution or seek alternate programming from their parent stations. The distributor for WWOR's superstation feed began operating it separately as the WWOR EMI Service, WGN's feed gradually evolved into WGN America, and WTBS's feed was relaunched as TBS.
Cable television and distant signals
The concept of extending a television station's range via pay television was not new. Early community antenna television (CATV) systems were restricted from retransmitting distant signals to communities no more than approximately from the closest signal; this was a detriment to many small communities too distant from any receivable signal. As a result, several communities in the Western United States began incorporating CATV systems using microwave relay systems that made it possible to retransmit broadcast signals over great distances. Starting in 1955, Inland Empire Microwave Co. began importing Spokane, Washington, station KHQ-TV (NBC) to a cable system in Richland via microwave relay; this was regarded as a technical feat given Richland's topography. The following year, Inland Microwave imported KREM-TV (ABC) to the same Richland system and imported KHQ, KREM and KXLY-TV (CBS) to a Pendleton, Oregon, system.
Carter Mountain Transmission Corp. was a microwave relay firm in Cody, Wyoming, that started importing distant signals for CATV systems. In 1959, Carter Mountain sought to retransmit KTWO-TV (NBC) in Casper, Wyoming, along with KOOK-TV (CBS) and KGHL-TV (ABC) in Billings, Montana, to CATV systems in Riverton, Lander and Thermopolis, all within the signal range of KWRB-TV in Riverton. While the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initially granted the permit without a vote, KWRB owner Chief Washakie TV protested to the FCC, which issued a stay in 1960 pending an evidentiary hearing after determining KWRB was at risk of folding. This stay extended to five other CATV systems, including one in Helena, Montana, that imported Spokane stations, which caused the city's lone television station, KXLJ-TV, to go dark. The FCC rejected the Carter Mountain permit by majority vote in December 1961; dissenting commissioner John S. Cross called the decision a "bad law" and "sets an undesirable precedent". This denial was unanimously affirmed by the D.C. Court of Appeals which the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear and became known as the "Carter Mountain Doctrine".
Two separate lawsuits helped enable the expansion of "proto-superstations". The first was filed in July 1961 by United Artists and WSTV in Steubenville, Ohio, over Fortnightly Corp. importing television stations from Pittsburgh and Wheeling, West Virginia, to systems in Fairmont and Clarksburg, West Virginia; the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1968 in Fortnightly Corp. v. United Artists Television, Inc. that distant signal retransmission did not constitute a "performance" and was not subject to copyright liability.. The second lawsuit was filed by CBS in December 1964 over similar importation of larger-market stations by TelePrompTer Corporation to their small-market systems. Judge Constance Baker Motley of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in 1972 in favor of TelePrompTer based on the Supreme Court's framework in Fortnightly v. United Artists.
The FCC instituted a broad package of cable industry regulations in February 1972. Cable systems in the top 100 markets were now allowed to carry distant signals "as a matter of right" and could import as many as two out-of-market stations; systems in smaller markets, excluding undefined markets, were restricted to carry three network affiliates and one independent. Also implemented were syndication exclusivity (syndex) rules compelling cable systems to blackout any and all syndicated programming on imported distant signals if they were also aired on an in-market station. The FCC adjusted these rules in August 1975, allowing systems to import signals in the overnight hours or after a local must-carry station's nightly sign-off, effectively operating as a timeshare. By December 1975, the FCC repealed "leapfrogging rules" limiting cable systems to select distant signals based on closeness to the respective system; the FCC's Cable Television Bureau argued superstations were unlikely to form due to a lack of evidence that television stations economically benefited from cable carriage.
Section 111 of the Copyright Act of 1976, passed by Congress on October 1, 1976, provided cable systems and satellite carriers with a compulsory license allowing them to retransmit copyrighted programming from any over-the-air stations across the country, regardless of the station's consent. To administer these royalty fee payments and rates, the U.S. Copyright Office established the Copyright Royalty Tribunal (CRT).
The proto-superstations Eastern Microwave Inc. (EMI) was established in 1961 in Oneonta, New York, both to import distant signals and connect network affiliates in Upstate New York. The following year, EMI began relaying WPIX in New York City, chosen due to their heavy sports presence, to CATV systems in Oneonta and surrounding areas. In March 1965, EMI started distributing WPIX, WNEW-TV and WOR-TV to systems in Canajoharie and Carthage. Newhouse Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Advance Publications, acquired EMI with five Upstate New York cable systems in 1965. Largely attributed to the station's acquisition of Minnesota Twins games, WTCN-TV in Minneapolis–Saint Paul found cable carriage by 1963 throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the early 1970s, WTCN was available in North Dakota and Iowa. KBMA-TV in Kansas City, Missouri, had a cable footprint in 1972 that spanned 200,000 cable households in seven states. By 1981, KBMA's cable reach was 600,000 homes in six states.
In 1962, H&B Microwave began importing WGN-TV in Chicago to Dubuque FM-TV Cable in Dubuque, Iowa, owing to the station's local sports presence; WFLD, also in Chicago, was added by Dubuque FM-TV after that station added the Chicago White Sox. WGN soon began to be imported via microwave to other cable systems throughout the Midwest, and by 1978, enjoyed carriage on 574 systems and a footprint of 8.6 million subscribers. Christian Broadcasting Network's WYAH-TV in Virginia Beach enjoyed significant regional coverage as their emphasis on religious fare, alongside reruns and classic movies, qualified it as a specialty channel and exempt from "leapfrogging rules". WYAH and CBN's KXTX-TV in Dallas–Fort Worth continued to be available extensively on cable into the early 1980s, years after CBN uplinked a cable channel of their own to satellite. Gaylord Broadcasting also began allowing its independents to be distributed to cable systems in their respective regions.
Two Cleveland independents, WKBF-TV and WUAB, attained regional coverage on cable systems; when WKBF shut down in 1975, WUAB and WKBD-TV in Detroit inherited much of WKBF's footprint. In 1970, KTXL in Sacramento, California, extended its reach to systems in Reno, Nevada; by 1975, KTXL was available in Salt Lake City and—at night—as far away as Rapid City, South Dakota, the following year.
WTCG, the first national superstation
WTCG, an independent station in Atlanta, began expanding its reach to cable systems via microwave in 1972 when owner Ted Turner was approached by Andy Goldman, marketing director for TelePrompTer's systems in Alabama that boasted 200,000 subscribers; Goldman regarded WTCG's fare—including Atlanta Braves and Atlanta Hawks telecasts, reruns and movies—as "a product worth someone putting up $4.95 for". While WTCG did not receive compensation from these systems, it did profit substantially from direct response advertising, whose revenue grew alongside WTCG's cable footprint. WTCG was eventually distributed to other parts of the Southeastern United States including Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. The station had been billing itself as "Super 17" since Turner took ownership in 1970, originally as a tongue-in-cheek reference as the station had, until 1973, consistently lost money.
Goldman, who became TelePrompTer's vice president of marketing, informed Turner in 1975 of premium cable service Home Box Office (HBO)'s plans to transmit nationwide using communications satellites, elevating it from a regional pay television channel. Turner learned through research that WTCG could be uplinked via their transmitter to satellite and made available to cable and C-band satellite services across the country, providing cable operators desiring additional channels with his programming, all while being a cost-effective alternative from microwave and telephone landlines. HBO was uplinked for the first time to carry the "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match on October 1, 1975. The following month, at the 1975 Western Cable Show in Anaheim, California, Turner announced that WTCG was looking at a satellite uplink of their own; KTXL owner Jack Matranga also disclosed his station's interest in being uplinked.