According to an online article by media expert James Glen Stovall, television stations are organized into five basic departments under the guidance of a company president and a general manager. These departments are news, programming, engineering, sales and advertising, and business administration. The organization of a television station depends on the size of the market in which it operates and the type of ownership under which it exists.
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. The TV signal is carried by wire to an antenna, which is often on a high mountain or building. The signal is broadcast through the air as an electromagnetic wave.
A TV station is a single programmer that provides news and network affiliated programming to a local market. A TV network is a group of those local TV stations aligned to provide unified programming. In 2015 Netflix Became a TV Network. Cable television is a system that provides various channels to the consumers through radio frequency signals transmitted using cables. Cord cutters just lost the best free way to watch broadcast TV — what to do now.
The terms local programme, local programming, local content or local television refers to a television program made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station’s transmission area or television market. In 2017, there were 1,761 commercial television stations on the air in the United States.
The general manager supervises the station’s management and operations tasks. The typical television station contains the following departments: general administration, sales, programming, production, news, advertising, and engineering.
The station sales manager is at the top, working with the ad sales staff on lead generation, sales techniques and client relations to sell the station’s available commercial time. The general manager is the chief executive officer, managing the budget, setting HR policies, hiring and firing senior staff, and overseeing all programming and sales initiatives. The business administration department handles day-to-day operations. Maintenance crews take care of the facility.
The government grants stations licenses to use radio spectrum channels. Signals go to antennas on mountains or buildings, broadcasting as electromagnetic waves through the air.
A TV station serves a local market with news and network programming. A TV network is a group of local stations providing unified programming. Broadcast TV is transmitted in clear form for free reception. WRGB, started in 1928, was the world’s first TV station.
TV networks own or affiliate with stations using the scarce public resource of radio spectrum. Governments regulate signals, which vary by country. Stations typically get one analog channel but multiple digital subchannels. Agencies license stations, setting requirements and limitations.