In American 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 and carriage disputes.
Notable events
January
Date
Event
Source
1
Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards co-host the local telecast of the Rose Parade on CW affiliate KTLA/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.
Full episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson return to American television, airing nightly on Antenna TV, the result of an agreement between the Tribune Broadcasting-owned multicast network and Carson Productions. The airings, billed simply as Johnny Carson (as NBC has ownership of The Tonight Show brand) consist of episodes taped in Burbank 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 featured Eddie Murphy and McLean Stevenson as guests, marks the first time the Carson-era Tonight Show has aired on television (outside of a compiled clip series) since Carson's retirement in May 1992.
NBCUniversal formally launches Seeso, a subscription-based, over-the-topstreaming service featuring new and classic comedy programming including stand-up comedy specials, and episodes of series such as Saturday Night Live and Monty 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
The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Houston Texans in an AFC Wild Card playoff game. ESPN's coverage of the game is simulcast on sister broadcast network ABC, making it the first National Football League game to air on the latter network since Super Bowl XL in 2006. ABC previously held the rights to Monday Night Football from 1970 until it shifted over to ESPN at the start of the 2006 season. ABC is still required to air the games in both teams' primary market.
ABC Family rebrands as Freeform. The rebranding, the result of audience tests that revealed infrequent viewers perceived the channel as strictly family-oriented, firms the network's programming focus towards teenagers 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 owner Christian Broadcasting Network has required "Family" to permanently remain in the channel's name since its 1990 sale to International Family Entertainment. Freeform will maintain much of the former ABC Family's existing programming including feature films, series (including Shadowhunters, which premieres on this date), seasonal programming blocks, and religious programs (most notably weekday airings of The 700 Club, which CBN does require the channel to air.
TouchVision discontinues operations. Based at Weigel Broadcasting's Chicago headquarters, the service provided newsreel-style news coverage tailored to a younger demographic, offering content to mobile and tablet platforms as well as select television stations.
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 star Rowan Blanchard, 14 at the time, confirms that she identifies as queer, marking the first time a teenage entertainer from a current Disney Channel television series to come out and reveal their sexual preference.
Almost a month after the controversy (in which he mistakenly announced Ariadna Gutiérrez of Colombia as the winner of Miss Universe 2015 and Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines as the first runner-up), comedian and host Steve Harvey breaks his silence and addresses his stint as the pageant's host in a two-part special episode of his eponymous talk show. The episodes, titled "Miss Universe: The Truth", also features exclusive interviews with Wurtzbach alongside Miss USA 2015 winner and second runner-up Olivia Jordan in part one, and Gutiérrez in part two.I
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, and DirecTV 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.
ABC begins airing a package of eight selected NBA games on Saturday evenings under the NBA Saturday Primetime on ABC banner. The move will also see the network airing only six single Sunday afternoon games, ending the doubleheaders that resulted in the adjustments to the scheduling of NBA broadcasts. Sister cable channel ESPN will continue to air NBA telecasts on Wednesday and Friday evenings.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group agrees to acquire Media 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 after Meredith 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.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group stations in nine markets are removed from Cox 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.
The National Football League announces that CBS and NBC will share the league's Thursday Night Football package in the 2016 and 2017 seasons. Both networks will each air and produce five games and NFL Network will simulcast those games and air eight additional games exclusively.
KTSF 26/San Francisco's main signal transitioned from 4:3 to 16:9, which allowed local programming and the Cantonese and Mandarin newscasts to be broadcast in widescreen.
MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYD in Detroit, Michigan, changes its DT2 subchannel's affiliation from Cozi TV to Antenna TV after Antenna TV was removed from WADL's DT4 subchannel in August 2015. Strangely, Cozi ended up on WADL's DT4 subchannel.
CBS affiliate WJHL-TV in Johnson City, Tennessee, affiliates its DT2 subchannel with ABC, taking the Tri-Cities' ABC affiliation from WKPT-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 by Media General). WKPT-TV would shut down its news operations on January 29, three days before switching to MyNetworkTV (which would take that affiliation from sister station WAPK-CD, who in turn would take WJHL-DT2's former MeTV affiliation).
With advancing age and health issues limiting his abilities to run the company, 92-year-old Sumner Redstone steps down as executive chairman at CBS Corporation. CEO Leslie Moonves is named Redstone's successor, while his daughter Shari 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 at Viacom, whose board names Philippe Dauman to succeed him as its executive chairman.I
Super Bowl 50, in which the Denver Broncos defeat the Carolina Panthers, attracts 111.9 million viewers to CBS' English-language broadcast, the third most watched program in TV history. The game is also simulcast in Spanish on ESPN Deportes.
Univision and Donald 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 the Miss USA pageant in light of comments Trump expressed in the early days of his presidential campaign regarding illegal immigration to the United States. The comments resulted in a major fallout with celebrities, sponsors, and other pageant backers, including NBCUniversal, which exited from its joint venture with Trump in the Miss Universe Organization (Trump would buy out NBCU's stake and later sell the full organization to WME/IMG).
Kanye West performs two songs from his album The Life of Pablo on Saturday Night Live, before announcing the release of his album exclusively on Tidal 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.
Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift are among the notable winners at the 58th Grammy Awards. The show airs on CBS, 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.
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.
MSNBC confirms it has parted ways with on-air host Melissa 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 her eponymous weekend show for expanded election coverage, editorial control of her show, and lack of communication from network executives over those issues.
Spotlight (best picture) and Mad Max: Fury Road (six awards) are among the notable winners at the 88th Academy Awards. Chris Rock hosts the ABC telecast, an event that faced controversy coming in over the absence of minorities in the major acting categories for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, despite Hawaii being five hours behind the Eastern Time Zone, KITV/Honolulu (under their new ownership of SJL Broadcasting) ends its practice of tape-delaying the Academy 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
Raleigh-area stations WRAL-TV and WNCN swap their network affiliations, with WRAL joining NBC and WNCN joining CBS. The switch comes after management of the Capitol Broadcasting-owned WRAL could not meet what it called "one-sided" reverse compensation demands from CBS.
H2, History's secondary network, becomes Viceland, a lifestyle channel aimed at millennials which will include programming about music, cooking, sports, technology and hard-hitting documentaries. The change comes after A&E Networks purchased a 10% stake in Vice Media, Inc. in August 2014.
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 of Tribune Publishing and a $385 million revenue write-down for the 2015 fiscal year, partly due to original scripted programming expenditures for WGN America since it converted the cable network from a superstation in 2014. In addition to WGN America, Tribune Media's assets include 42 television stations (two of which are operated under shared services agreements with Dreamcatcher Broadcasting), regional cable news channel Chicagoland Television and a 30% stake in Food Network (which is majority owned by Scripps Interactive).
Four Spanish language networks owned by Univision Communications (Univision, UniMás, Galavisión and Univision Deportes) are removed by AT&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.
Dish Network sues NBCUniversal 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.
Georgia'ssupreme court overturns a lower court injunction that prevented Gray Television from combining operations of AugustaNBC affiliate WAGT with its own WRDW-TV (CBS). Gray acquired WAGT as part of its purchase of Schurz Communications' broadcast properties, a deal the FCC approved on the condition that Gray and Schurz terminate WAGT's shared services and joint sales agreements with Media General-owned ABC affiliate WJBF. 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.
OK!TV is rechristened Celebrity 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, from American Media (parent of OK! magazine) to the Meredith 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 the Better Show was canceled.
GeorgiaGovernorNathan Deal announces he will veto a bill passed by the state's legislature 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 the LGBT community.
The FCC 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 on UHF 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 and Wi-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.
CBS announces an affiliation deal with WWAY/Wilmington, NC to move its programming to the station's DT2 subchannel on January 1, 2017 (The move will not affect WWAY's primary affiliation with ABC; the DT2 channel currently carries The CW). CBS will move from low-powered WILM-LD (owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company, which dropped CBS from WRAL-TV/Raleigh on February 29).
WTAE-TV/Pittsburgh dismisses news anchor Wendy Bell after she posts material on her official Facebook page considered stereotypical of African-Americans in the aftermath of a mass shooting in Wilkinsburg, 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 the ABC-affiliated WTAE and parent company Hearst 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.
In the wake of a Hollywood Reporter investigation into "pay-to-play" casting workshops, ABC Studios dismisses Criminal Minds casting director Scott David. David, who had been with the CBS 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 2009 California law known as The Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act that has never been fully enforced by local officials.
The Nexstar-owned Lafayette, Louisiana, duopoly of KLAF-LD (NBC) and KADN (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 from Baton Rouge sister station WVLA-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.
John McMurray, a meteorologist at WJRT-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.
Fox affiliate WZDX/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 with Calkins Media-owned WAAY-TV that – since it took over production of the program from the Independent 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 of Grant Broadcasting System II), as well as Nexstar's $3.3 million renovation of the station's studio facility in northern Huntsville.
CBS began taping back-to-back seasons of the long-running reality game show Survivor at Mamanuca Islands, Fiji one month apart starting with Millennials vs. Gen X, beginning a tradition of taping at the island as its new permanent location, as confirmed by the host Jeff Probst prior to the airing of the 35th installment.
The Starz Inc. channels undergo a brand reformatting, as Starz introduces a new universal logo for its channels and Encore is renamed Starz Encore to unify the brand identity for the group's two flagship premium cable channels. The extension of the Starz brand to Encore (which ironically launched Starz in 1994, as part of its themed multiplex) 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's over-the-top/TV Everywhere service equivalent to HBO Now and Showtime's OTT service for mobile devices and digital media players simply known as Starz, and the merger of Encore and MoviePlex content from their individual apps – Encore Play and MoviePlex Play – into that service.
Trent Harmon was named the winner of the 15th installment of American Idol, while La'Porsha Renae is runner-up. The finale is notable on showcasing performances by past winners and finalists as it marked the final season (entitled The Farewell Season) to be aired on Fox after 15 years of air; American Idol would go for a year hiatus and air its succeeding sixteenth season under the new network of ABC nearly two years later on March 11, 2018, following an announcement on November 6, 2017.
Calkins Media announces that the company will sell its three television stations (all of which are ABC affiliates) to Raycom Media. Raycom will acquire WWSB/Sarasota and WTXL-TV/Tallahassee, Florida, outright, while its partner company American 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.
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, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera English.
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.
The Sunday edition of NBC's morning news/talk showToday makes a revamp with the debut of Sunday Today with Willie Geist. The newly reformatted program, anchored by the weekday show's third-hour anchor Willie Geist, provides news coverage and in-depth profiles of the people and ideas shaping American culture, such as a behind-the-scenes look at the BroadwaymusicalHamilton seem in the premiere. The new format brings it into line with its rival, CBS News Sunday Morning where Geist's father Bill has been a longtime contributor.
Saying in a statement that they are "an inclusive company," ESPN dismisses Curt Schilling for unacceptable conduct after he shares a photo on Facebook deemed critical of transgender people. It is the latest in a series of controversial political statements made by the former Major League Baseball pitcher turned ESPN analyst.
With the sudden passing of Prince at his Paisley Park Studios complex/home on this date, TV Guide changed their background logo from red to purple, joining the local media outlets in the Minneapolis–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 retrospective Saturday 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 which Fred Armisen as Prince and Maya Rudolph as Beyoncé hosted a talk show together.
The Department of Justice and the FCC approves the merger between Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications, including Charter's acquisition of Bright 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.
Core Media Group – the parent of 19 Entertainment, the production company behind American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance – files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the wake of falling profits and the ratings decline of Idol that resulted in the series ending its 15-year run. Among the parties who Core owes money to include $3.37 million to creator Simon Fuller and an additional $398 million to third parties, including Tennenbaum Capital Partners and Crestview Media Investors.
After setting his own car on fire, a 25-year-old man dressed in a panda costume and surgical mask who claimed to have a bomb strapped to his chest enters the lobby of the facility housing Sinclair Broadcast Group's Baltimoreflagship stations, WBFF (Fox), WNUV (The CW) and WUTB (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.
Network Knowledge, a member network of four PBS stations (three full-power outlets and one translator) serving Central 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 the Illinois 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 and AT&T U-verse through a direct fiber optic link to Comcast (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).
NBC Sports confirms that Mike Tirico will join the network effective July 1, becoming its lead play-by-play announcer for the late half of the season of Thursday Night Football, which is shared with NFL Network. He officially joins the network on July 14 as part the network's coverage of The Open Championship. Tirico had been a 25-year veteran of ESPN, where he covered various sports in an anchor or announcer capacity, most notably play-by-play on Monday Night Football since 2006. Tirico will be succeeded in the ESPN MNF booth by Sean McDonough. However, the NFL officially nixes the plan for Tirico to announce TNF games on August 20, claiming that contract language for NBC to carry the late half games specifies that the network's top team of Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth are required to announce the games without a possibility of substitution, despite their commitments to Sunday Night Football.
CBS officially announces the cancellation of CSI: Cyber after two seasons, ending the sixteen season television run of the CSI franchise. The network also announces that freshman drama Supergirl will move to The CW for its second season, with the latter network now airing four original DC Comics based series across its prime time lineup (alongside Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and The Flash).
Michael Strahan ends his four-year-run as co-host of Live 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 on ABC'sGood Morning America, which he joined as a correspondent in 2014. Caught by surprise by Strahan's announcement, Live co-host Kelly Ripa was absent for three episodes (the latter two coinciding with an already planned vacation with husband Mark Consuelos), reportedly in protest over what she felt was ABC's prioritization of GMA over Live (the latter is distributed by ABC's syndication arm). With Strahan's departure, guest co-hosts will sit alongside Ripa on Live until a permanent co-host is named.
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 which Homer Simpson takes up improvisational theatre), features Homer (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) talking about things he "could only be saying live on that day" and answering questions fielded from viewers on Twitter between May 1 and May 4.
In recognition of his retirement from CBS News, Morley Safer is feted by 60 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 with 60 Minutes since 1970.
A U.S. District Court judge dismisses WHDH/Boston's lawsuit against NBC parent Comcast, clearing the way for the network to set up its own NBC O&O station in the Boston market (possibly using the company's existing Telemundo station WNEU) on January 1, 2017, one day after its contract with WHDH expires. WHDH owner Sunbeam 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 the Merrimack, New Hampshire-based WNEU reaches only the northern half of the Boston market, with marginal coverage in the city proper).
MyNetworkTV affiliate KRON-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 fellow Bay Area stations KTVU/Oakland (Fox) and KBCW (The CW, the latter is produced by CBS O&O sister KPIX). 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).
Due to technical issues, a Whitney Houston hologram that was going to perform with Christina Aguilera on The Voice for the tenth-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 since season two (and the first season overall since the live-show format for eliminations were revamped starting season three) to have all four coaches representing one artist in the finale.
After months of stalled negotiations between the company and network co-parent CBS Corporation concerning financial terms (specifically the amount of reverse compensation that the network sought from the group's stations in exchange for carrying its programming), Tribune Media reaches a new affiliation agreement with The CW through the 2020–21 season, involving 12 of its stations (including WPIX/New York City and KTLA/Los Angeles). The company's ChicagoflagshipWGN-TV is exempt from the deal, and instead becomes an independent station – with the CW affiliation moving to MyNetworkTV O&O WPWR-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).
Wheel of Fortune saw its third-ever tie-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.
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 sell CW affiliate WCWJ/Jacksonville, Florida, and NBC affiliate WSLS/Roanoke-Lynchburg, Virginia, to Graham Media Group for $120 million (with the former's sale creating a duopoly – Graham's first – with independent station WJXT pending approval, and the latter alleviating a conflict with the Nexstar-owned duopoly of Fox affiliate WFXR and CW affiliate WWCW); Fox affiliate KADN-TV and NBC affiliate KLAF-LD to Bayou City Broadcasting for $40 million (to alleviate a conflict with Media General-owned CBS affiliate KLFY-TV); and CBS affiliate KREG-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 of KREX-TV/Grand Junction upon consummation of the sale).
In celebration of its 100th 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 the 1987 feature film, starting with a four-day marathon of 51 of the channel's most popular original movies over the Memorial Day long weekend, followed by airings of these and the remaining 48 films afterwards and through the month of June.
With tickets for the race sold out, the local TV blackout is lifted for the Indianapolis 500. It's the first time since 1950, and the first time since ABC began live "flag-to-flag" coverage of the event in 1986, that the race airs live in central Indiana. WRTV/Indianapolis carries the ABC broadcast live after airing it only on tape-delay in previous years.
Trinity Broadcasting Network and the international congregation Hillsong Church launch Hillsong Channel, a joint venture channel in line with the Sydney, Australia-based Hillsong's American expansion plans (the network launches by coincidence one day after the death of TBN co-founder Jan 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.
WTGS/Savannah, Georgia, assumes production responsibilities for its nightly 10:00 p.m. newscast. The transfer of news operations in-house by the Fox-affiliated WTGS follows the May 31 termination of a news share agreement with Hearst Television-owned WJCL, under which the ABC affiliate had been producing a prime time newscast for WTGS since 1996 (WTGS was co-managed with WJCL under a concurrent shared services agreement from 1993 until 2014, when, to alleviate a conflict with its existing ownership of NBC affiliate WSAV-TV that was created by the group's merger with LIN Media, Media General sold WJCL to Hearst and the non-license assets of WTGS to Sinclair Broadcast Group, which later acquired the latter's license outright).
Gray Television announces its intent to purchase WBAY-TV/Green Bay, Wisconsin (ABC) and NBC affiliate KWQC-TV/Davenport, Iowa, from Media 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 with FCC ownership rules in advance of the deal's approval proceedings (Nexstar already owns and operates stations in both markets, including CBS-affiliated WFRV-TV/Green Bay and WHBF-TV/Davenport).
In a segment for HBO's Last 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), host John Oliver announces what is termed as the biggest giveaway in TV history: Oliver reveals he set up an organization called "Central Asset Recovery Professionals" (aka CARP), which purchased, for $60,000, under $15 million in medical debt owed by 9,000 debtors, information on which CARP forwards to a debt-forgiving agency. Oliver's debt giveaway surpasses Oprah Winfrey's $8 million automobile giveaway in a 2004 episode of her talk show.
Wheel of Fortune introduced crossword 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.
42 stations owned and/or operated by Tribune Broadcasting in 34 states, as well as WGN America, are removed from Dish 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.
In the wake of a mass shooting at an Orlandonightclub that left 50 people dead and 53 wounded, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, TNT pulls the third-season premiere of The 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.
USA Television MidAmerica Holdings (a joint venture between Heartland 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 affiliate WFFT/Fort Wayne, Indiana, and ABC affiliate KQTV/St. Joseph, Missouri, from Nexstar, and CBS affiliates KIMT/Rochester, Minnesota, WTHI/Terre Haute and WLFI/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 affiliate WTWO and operates ABC affiliate WAWV-TV in Terre Haute, and plans to acquire Media General-owned CBS affiliate WANE-TV in Fort Wayne).
The 2016 NBA Finals, which saw the Cleveland Cavaliers win their first championship ever (ending a 52-year drought for Cleveland sports teams) after defeating the previous champions (as well as a rematch from 2015 Finals) the Golden State Warriors with a 93–89 victory at Oracle Arena in Oakland, 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 the Chicago Bulls (in what would become the final game Michael Jordan would play with the team) and the Utah Jazz in 1998.
The FCC 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 on joint sales agreements overturned by the Third 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 single market (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 via digital multicasting.
NBC affiliate WRAL-TV/Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, becomes the first television station to launch a full-time commercial ATSC 3.0 digital signal, under an FCC-issued experimental license. The Capitol Broadcasting Company flagship station – which had launched the first digital 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 a 4Kultra-high-definition broadcast of the documentary, Take Me Out to the Bulls 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.
Lionsgate announces it will acquire Starz Inc. and its suite of premium entertainment networks (Starz, Starz Encore and MoviePlex) 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 in Epix as part of a joint venture with Viacom (through Paramount Pictures) and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
The Walt Disney Company reportedly reaches a deal with Major League Baseball to acquire a 33-percent stake in its interactive 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 its ESPN sports properties.
Ramar Communications Inc. announces its intent to purchase Fox affiliate KASA-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 affiliate KTEL-CD, Movies! affiliate KUPT-LD and MeTV affiliate KRTN-LD), is expected to be completed concurrently with the closing of the Media General/Nexstar Broadcasting Group merger (Nexstar plans to acquire CBS affiliate KRQE from Media General, and the company plans to operate CW affiliate KWBQ and MyNetwork TV affiliate KASY 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.
PBS issues an apology after airing old footage of Washington, D.C., fireworks display during its live broadcast of A Capitol Fourth. In a statement, PBS stated that the show decided to intercut the footage of fireworks from its previous concerts due to an overcast weather condition in Washington, D.C., on Monday night (July 4), which caused several reactions from its viewers.
Fox affiliate WLUK-TV/Green Bay, Wisconsin, announces a multi-year deal with ESPN for local over-the-air simulcast rights to the cable network's Monday Night Football broadcasts featuring the Green Bay Packers. WLUK's deal is noteworthy in that it leaves ABC affiliate WBAY-TV without scheduled Packers broadcasts for the 2016 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 with CBS or ABC, its former simulcast deal with ESPN, or through local pre-season broadcasts) since it signed on in 1953.
Just moments before KPNX/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 resulting viral status, sparks outrage from viewers, resulting in the man's immediate arrest minutes after viewers call the police.
21st Century Fox announces that Roger Ailes has resigned as chairman and chief executive of Fox News Networks, LLC (the parent division of Fox News and Fox Business) effective immediately, with Fox executive co-chairman Rupert 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 of sexual harassment and gender discrimination, notably from former FNC personality Gretchen 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.
Citing "difficulty acquiring parts," Japanese electronics manufacturer Funai announces it will discontinue production of VHSvideo cassette recorders at the end of July. Funai is believed to be the last-known company still manufacturing VCR technology.
A major change takes place on Sesame Street when producers of the Sesame Workshop-produced HBO/PBS children's program announce that longtime cast members Bob McGrath (Bob Johnson), Roscoe Orman (Gordon Robinson) and Emilio 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 on Sesame Street since its series premiere in 1969).
On the 35th anniversary of the original MTV's launch, parent company Viacom rebrands VH1 Classic as MTV Classic, which will exclusively air music videos, as MTV had until the early 1990s. It is the third rebranding of a Viacom Media Networks music channel in 2016 (CMT Pure Country became CMT Music on January 4, while Palladia became MTV Live on February 1), and is the last of the group's VH1-branded digital networks to be transferred under the brand of one of its sister networks (VH1 Soul was rebranded as BET 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.
Quincy Media shuffles network affiliations in four Midwestern markets. As part of a restructuring resulting from FCC ownership restrictions cited in relation to its 2015 purchase of several Granite Broadcasting stations, ABC affiliate WPTA-TV assumes the NBC affiliation for Fort Wayne, Indiana, for its second subchannel (MyNetworkTV was moved to WPTA-DT3), while longtime NBC station WISE-TV (owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting) takes the CW affiliation formerly held by WPTA-DT2 for its main channel;in Duluth, Minnesota, NBC station KBJR-TV also adds a subchannel-only affiliation with CBS, taking over for SagamoreHill-owned KDLH, which assumes KBJR-DT2's former CW affiliation (the MyNetworkTV affiliation remains on KBJR-DT3). Through an unrelated agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group announced on July 27, the Fox affiliation in South Bend, Indiana, moves to the existing second subchannel of Sinclair's CBS affiliate WSBT-TV, resulting in WSJV/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 its Heroes & 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's WHOI/Peoria, Illinois, creating a duopoly with NBC affiliate WEEK-TV, with WHOI's ABC and CW affiliations moving to WEEK's second and third subchannels, respectively.
The 2016 Summer Olympics – which were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – airs on NBC, Telemundo and seven of their sister cable networks (NBCSN, CNBC, MSNBC, Bravo, Golf Channel, NBC Universo and USA Network), with a combined 6,700 hours of live coverage being broadcast across the NBCUniversal-owned linear networks, two dedicated basketball- and soccer-only channels and NBC Sports' streaming platforms. Outside of the opening and closing ceremonies, which aired on a one-hour delay, and a limited selection of high-profile events (such as gymnastics), this marked the first Olympics since 1996 in which NBC aired most events live in the Continental United States (Rio is located in the UTC-03:00 time offset – corresponding to the North American Atlantic Time Zone – during the Southern Hemisphere winter). As it had to some extent for the 2016 games, the network has faced criticism in recent years for tape delaying many high-profile Olympic events to prime 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 and social media outlets. The Olympics also become the first sports telecast to provide a live Descriptive 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 of The Wiz Live).
With one final assignment on this date (the network's coverage of the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony), Tom Jackson retires after a 29-year career as an NFL studio analyst for ESPN.
Hulu shifts to a subscription-only model, placing the content featured on its main website behind a pay wall. The streaming service's free content – which notably includes the "rolling five" recent episodes of various broadcast and cable series – moves to Yahoo! View, a new service launched as part of an expansion of an existing partnership between Hulu and Yahoo!.
Thomas Gibson is dismissed from the cast of Criminal Minds. The firing of Gibson, who had played Aaron Hotchner on the CBS crime drama since its September 2005 premiere, comes after his involvement in an on-set argument with series writer/co-executive producer Virgil Williams over an episode storyline, which led to Gibson physically assaulting Williams by kicking the writer in the shin.
Two television news crews in Milwaukee are involved in incidents during riots stemming form a fatal shooting of an armed African-American suspect by police: on the 13th, a crew from CBS affiliate WDJT-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 affiliate WISN-TV is forced to retreat from the area after protesters throw rocks and other objects at the station's vehicle.
The News-Press & Gazette Company announces that it will switch the primary affiliation of CW Plus affiliate KBJO-LD in St. Joseph, Missouri, to NBC sometime in the fall (later confirmed to be November 1), with the KNPG-LD call letters assigned to its Telemundo-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 adjacent Kansas City market, WDAF-TV until that station's September 1994 switch to Fox and KSHB-TV afterward) and its fourth locally based major network affiliate (News-Press & Gazette also owns Fox affiliate KNPN-LD, which signed on alongside KBJO-LD in July 2012 as competitors to Nexstar-owned ABC affiliate KQTV). It will also leave CBS and MyNetworkTV as the only networks available in St. Joseph through Kansas City-based stations (their respective affiliates for that market, KCTV and KSMO-TV, are viewable over-the-air and carried on Suddenlink, DirecTV and Dish Network in St. Joseph).
Major changes take place on NBC's morning news/talk showToday, with former Access Hollywood host Billy Bush becoming the new anchor of its third-hour segment Today's Take, succeeding Willie Geist (who will continue to anchor Sunday Today with Willie Geist and on MSNBC's Morning Joe), and Natalie Morales moving to Los Angeles to become its West Coast anchor, as well as a host of KNBC-produced syndicated 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, anchors Matt Lauer and Savannah Guthrie read the headlines during the program's first two hours, marking the second time that the program without having a separate news anchor since Tom Brokaw and Jane Pauley held that position from 1979 to 1981.
The CW affiliation in Chicago moves from Tribune Media flagship station WGN-TV, which becomes an independent station, to Fox-ownedMyNetworkTV O&O WPWR-TV (which retains the latter network's schedule as a late-night offering). The switch – which ends WGN's 21-year tenure as a network affiliate (it became a WB 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 the Chicago Cubs (MLB), White Sox (MLB), Bulls (NBA) and Blackhawks (NHL) that it previously had to lease to WPWR (and WCIU-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 and UPN stations, instead of Fox's UPN affiliates) and the second time it has operated a CW affiliate (to fulfill an existing contract, Fox ran WJZY/Belmont-Charlotte, North Carolina, as a CW station for three months after completing its purchase of the station before converting it into a Fox O&O in July 2013). WPWR also becomes the largest station by market size to maintain a dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliation.
Doug Llewelyn returns to The 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, during Judge Wapner's tenure (1981–1993).
After 14 years, Greta Van Susteren announces that she is stepping down as host of On the Record and leaving Fox 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 analyst Brit Hume is tapped as On the Record's interim host for the rest of the 2016 election cycle.
In a 3–2 vote, the FCC formally abolishes an ownership percentage discount it had applied to television stations on the UHF band (channels 14 and upward) which had become outmoded after the digital 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 before cable 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 as Tribune Broadcasting, Ion Media Networks and Univision 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 as Sinclair Broadcast Group and Fox 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.
With the USS Intrepid (CV-11) in New York City as a backdrop, NBC and MSNBC air the Commander-in-Chief Forum. The Q&A event, sponsored by the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, featured the respective Democratic and Republican candidates, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, fielding questions from moderator Matt 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 her controversial use of a private e-mail server, constraining time for questions on her national 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 the Iraq War).
Viacom Media Networks completes the cycle of rebranding their smaller cable networks, replacing MTV Hits and moving it under the editorial control of Nickelodeon under the new name NickMusic. The network will retain the contemporary hit format originated by MTV Hits, with its music video content being re-targeted towards children ages 2–14 (complementing the radio network it operates in partnership with iHeartMedia, Nick Radio).
MSG Western New York launches with a prime time cut in. The new regional sports network, a joint venture between MSG and Pegula Sports and Entertainment, carries the Buffalo Sabres broadcasts that had been on MSG, as well as the midday Instigators (formerly Hockey Hotline) daily Sabres talk show and the Buffalo Bills' existing in-house radio and television products that had aired on WGR (where those broadcasts will continue to air on radio) and WKBW-TV.
During Dancing with the Stars'23rd season premiere, swimmer and contestant Ryan Lochte is attacked by two audience members after his first performance with dancing partner Cheryl Burke. Lochte and Burke are unharmed, and security rushes the attackers off-camera while host Tom Bergeron forces a commercial break. The attack comes amid a series of backlashes for Lochte, who was suspended by USA Swimming for 10 months after falsely telling authorities in Rio de Janeiro that he was robbed at gunpoint while competing at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Charles Osgood hosts CBS News Sunday Morning for the final time, retiring from TV broadcasting after 49 years, 45 of them as a reporter and anchor with CBS News and 22 as Sunday Morning host. Osgood will remain with CBS as a radio commentator for The Osgood File. Jane Pauley will take over for Osgood as Sunday Morning host on October 9, becoming only the 3rd host in the show's history after Osgood and Charles Kuralt.
Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, hosts the first of three Presidential debates between major party candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.[210] The scheduling of this debate and one set for October 9 at Washington University in St. Louis raised the ire of the campaign for Republican nominee Trump, which worried their scheduling opposite primetime NFL 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-partisan Commission 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 a Jimmy Carter/Ronald Reagan debate in 1980.
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.
Two broadcasting legends end their long careers: Los Angeles Dodgers announcer Vin Scully retires from broadcasting after a record 67 years with the team, while Dick Enberg ends a seven-year run as television voice of the San Diego Padres, and a 60-year career on national TV. Both Scully and Enberg were also known for national TV work for CBS Sports and NBC Sports.
The Washington Post releases raw footage from a 2005 Access Hollywood segment in which then-Apprentice host and future Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, in a hot mic conversation with Access Hollywood co-host Billy 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: Both Entertainment Tonight co-host Nancy O'Dell (who co-hosted Access Hollywood with Bush at the time and whom Trump admitted to seducing) and Days of Our Lives actress Arianne Zucker issue statements about their vow to rise above a distrustful Trump, while Bush would be suspended by NBC from his position as Today's third hour co-host on October 9, a move that would lead to a formal separation on October 17.
NBC partners with Litton Entertainment to expand The More You Know into a three-hour Saturday morning E/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 day 2016 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.
In celebration of CBS 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 and The 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 the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills, California, honoring its five current shows, as well as legacy programs (including former soap operasAs the World Turns and Guiding Light), and a planned four-week consecutive special panels, featuring the stars and producers from the network's daytime lineup.
With the 12th-season premiere episode "Keep Calm and Carry On", Supernatural becomes the first series to reach a record 12 seasons on The CW. The show is the last remaining CW series that carried over from predecessor networks UPN or The WB, debuting on the latter network in September 2005.
Univision O&O KDTV-DT moves its studios from 50 Fremont Center (today Salesforce West) in San Francisco's Financial District to a new state-of-the-art building in San Jose, becoming the third television station in the Bay Area market to be based from that city after NBC O&O KNTV and their sister station, Telemundo's KSTS. The station also switches its newscasts in high definition, beginning with the relaunch of its morning newscast "Al Despertar" as Despierta Área de la Bahía.
Coinciding with the start of the 2016–17 NBA regular season, NBA Team Pass, a spin-off of the NBA League Pass out-of-market sports package, launches. The service, which will initially be available to Dish 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 refined a la carte offering, and introduce a pay-per-view-style structure allowing subscribers to pay to watch a single game for a one-time fee of $6.99.
Artistic Media Partners announces the sale of all four of its Lafayette, Indiana, radio stations (WBPE, WYCM, WAZY-FM and WSHY) 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 from Fox and NBC via digital multicasting. Prior to the launch, WXIN and WTHR/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, and WNDY-TV, are receivable over-the-air and are also carried on Comcast, Dish Network, and DirecTV in the Lafayette market).
In CBS, as part of the Big Money week in The Price is Right, Christen Freeman won $210,000 in the Pricing Game of Cliffhangers, 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.
Beauty iQ, a spin-off home shopping network of QVC, launches. The network, which will initially be available in 40 million U.S. homes, is dedicated to cosmetics, fragrances and skincare products, offering live programming each Wednesday through Sunday in prime time and recorded segments for the remainder of its schedule.
With its titular character (played by Gina Rodriguez) no longer a virgin, The CW comedy-drama/telenovela spoof Jane the Virgin sees the series' title modified, with "The Virgin" crossed out in favor of substitutes.
Northern Lights Media, a subsidiary of Gray Television, announces that it will purchase the Fairbanks, Alaska, triopoly of NBC affiliate KTVF, Fox affiliate KFXF-LD and CBS affiliate KXDD-CD (subsequently renamed KXDF-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 in Alaska, as it already owns Anchorage NBC affiliate KTUU-TV (which it acquired through Gray's 2015 merger acquisition of Schurz Communications' television group) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KYES-TV (which it acquired through a separate deal with Fireweed Communications that was made while the Schurz transaction was ongoing).
Dave Chappelle hosts Saturday Night Live, his first comedic TV appearance since abruptly leaving his sketch comedy show in 2005. The profane language that Chappelle used in a stand-up routine (centering partly on Donald Trump's election as president) in the episode's monologue and a violent and gory Walking Dead spoof sketch led NBC affiliate WRAL-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).
After 30 years of serving the Memphis market as a reporter and lead anchor, CBS affiliate WREG-TV's Claudia Barr announced that she is retiring from broadcasting at the end of the month. Barr, who began her career at WHBQ-TV, has been with WREG as its anchorwoman since 2006.
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 between Fox International Channels and RCN 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 to Liberman Broadcasting-owned Estrella TV, with Azteca and other Spanish-language networks (although some would switch to English-language networks or became independent stations) as possibilities for new affiliations.
AT&T launches DirecTV Now, an over-the-top subscription service featuring channels owned by AMC, Discovery, Disney, Fox, NBCUniversal, Viacom, Turner and Univisión.[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 of on-demand programming.
WVNC-LD in Watertown, New York, signs on the air, giving the Watertown market, the last market in New York without full network service, not only its first full-time NBC affiliate, but also in-market affiliates of all four major commercial networks. WVNC-LD is also SagamoreHill Broadcasting's first television holding in the Northeast. In addition, plans are underway for WVNC-LD to commence a local news operation in early 2018, which would mark the first competition for dominant CBS affiliate WWNY-TV since ABC affiliate WWTI shut down its operation in 2009.
Tegna Media's New OrleansCBS affiliate WWL-TV begins carrying CBS 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 its MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister station WUPL, which had been carrying CBS This Morning (and its predecessor The Early Show) since 2005.
Citing the commute between the East and West coasts, and juggling her other television obligations (including her commitments on the Netflix sitcom Fuller House, which is filmed in Los Angeles) being difficult to her and her family, Candace Cameron Bure announces that she will leave The View after two seasons. Bure joins Raven-Symoné, who announced in October that she would be exiting the ABCdaytimetalk show at the end of 2016 to focus on a That's So Raven spin-off series. Her last day on the show was aired the following day.
Cindy Stowell begins a championship run on Jeopardy!. 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 for Jeopardy'sTournament of Champions had she survived). Stowell pledged her winnings to cancer research.
Facebook announces that it is forming a partnership with ABC News and key fact-checking websites as part of an effort to crack down on the growing number of fake 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.
After 23 years in both radio and television, WTMJ-TV-AM/Milwaukee host Charlie Sykes retires from broadcast media, and ends his locally based Sunday morning talk showSunday Insight on WTMJ-TV. He will continue to manage his website RightWisconsin.com with WTMJ owner E. W. Scripps Company and occasionally contribute analysis for MSNBC.
Married couple John and Angel Whorton win a total of $1,300,010 on the premiere episode of The Wall on NBC. 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 of Power of 10 on CBS.
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Light TV, a family-oriented digital television network created by Roma Downey's LightWorkers Media and owned by MGM Television and Digital (which is run by Downey's husband Mark Burnett), launches. Its charter affiliates will be digital subchannels of Fox stations owned by Fox 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.
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 the Ku Klux Klan. The series, titled Escaping the KKK (it was originally titled Generation KKK) and scheduled for a January 10, 2017, premiere, had been plagued by concerns that the show would glorify the all-white organization and its reactionary beliefs.
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 personality Dr. Mehmet Oz, NJK Holding chairman Nasser J. Kazeminy, Entertainment Media Ventures CEO Sandy Climan, and George Chung.
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.
