In American television in 2014, notable events included television show debuts, finales, and cancellations; channel launches, closures, and rebrandings; stations changing or adding their network affiliations; and information about changes of ownership of channels or stations, controversies and carriage disputes.
Events
January
Date
Event
1
Time Warner Cable President/COO Robert Marcus becomes the company's new CEO, succeeding the retiring Glenn Britt.[1]
One year to the day after being dropped from Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks systems, Ovation returns to the two providers, the result of Ovation's announced commitment to provide more original programming.[2]
Foxowned-and-operated stationWJZY/Charlotte, North Carolina, launches its news department with the debut of an hour-long 10pm newscast. The program soft-launched on December 18, 2013, in the form of an online-only rehearsal newscast that was streamed on the station's website until WJZY's news share agreement with CBS affiliate WBTV to produce its primetime newscast ended.[4][5][6]
Hearst Corporation announces that David Barrett, CEO of its television station division, has ceded day-to-day oversight to the division's President/COO, Jordan Wertleib. Barrett remains on Hearst's board of trustees.[8]
5
The fourth-season premiere of Downton Abbey makes history for PBS, with more than 10.2 million viewers tuning in, making it the highest rated program in the network's 44-year history.[9]
6
ABC begins limiting online access to day-after streaming of its series' new episodes to customers of participating cable providers, Hulu Plus, iTunes, and Amazon Video and restricting free access to recent episodes on its website and streaming app to other users eight days after an episode's original airdate.[10] Similar streaming restrictions are also put in place by sister cable channel ABC Family, which launched its "Watch ABC Family" authenticated streaming service on that same day.[11]
Doctor Television Channel (also known as DrTV), a new network dedicated to healthy-lifestyle programming, officially launches on several low-power television stations and on Roku.[12]
One year after adding the omg! to its name (the result of a partnership with Yahoo!'s similarly titled website), the CBS-syndicated entertainment/gossip program omg! Insider sees its title revert to just The Insider in line with omg!'s rebranding as Yahoo! Celebrity; the two entities continue to promote and share each other's content.[13]
NBC's telecast of the 71st Golden Globe Awards is watched by an estimated 20.9 million people, the event's best ratings in 10 years.[15]
13
A scene in this evening's episode of How I Met Your Mother features members of the all-white main cast in yellow face and depicting Asian stereotypes and accents. It proves to be a controversial scene, and prompts series creator/producer Carter Bays to apologize on Twitter on January 15, explaining that it was meant to pay homage to the Kung fu movies they grew up on.[16]
14
DirecTV removes The Weather Channel due to an unresolved carriage dispute, with the carrier filling the void with a simulcast of digital broadcast network WeatherNation TV.[17] The dispute runs until April 8, when DirecTV and The Weather Channel reach a new carriage deal. The channel, in a trade-off to regain carriage, agrees to pare down its weekday reality content and devote more of its daytime schedule to forecasts and weather reportage.[18]
Sasheer Zamata joins the cast of Saturday Night Live, becoming the show's first black female cast member in six years.[20] Zamata's hiring, along with the addition of two other black women to its writing staff (Leslie Jones and LaKendra Tookes),[21] come after SNL had received criticism in 2013 for a lack of African-American women among its cast.[22]
26
NBC airs the 2014 NFL Pro Bowl, likely the last Pro Bowl game to air on broadcast television for the next few years. ESPN will take over exclusive rights to the Pro Bowl and Monday Night Football from 2015 through 2022.[23]
How I Met Your Mother marks its 200th episode with a twist: rather than being told from Ted Mosby's point of view, it is instead told from the perspective of "The Mother" (Cristin Milioti), whose eight years prior to meeting Ted are recalled in a story complete with special opening credits.[26]
NBC Sports hires Lindsey Vonn as their correspondent for the network's coverage of the 2014 Winter Games and as a contributor on Today during its broadcast from Sochi. The skier was supposed to compete in the events, but a series of injuries resulted in Vonn withdrawing from the Games earlier this month.[27]
Moments after the State of the Union Address was completed, United States CongressmanMichael Grimm (R-New York's 11th), threatened NY1 reporter Michael Scotto by attacking him and telling Scotto that he'll throw him off the balcony of the United States Capitol building after Scotto approached the Tea Party-backed representative to ask about a continuing federal investigation into his campaign fund-raising while the cameras were still rolling (Grimm would later be indicted in April).[29] Grimm later apologized to his district and to NY1 for his actions.[30]
In the ramp-up of WGN America's rebranding as a general cable network rather than a superstation, WGN America drops the 9pm (Central Time) nightly newscast of WGN-TV/Chicago as well as the station's broadcast of Illinois Lottery drawings, including the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball drawings. Likely due to contractual issues, the channel now broadcasts the 4am (Central Time) hour of the WGN Morning News on weekdays as a replacement.[35]
4
The National Football League awards its Thursday Night Football package to CBS, which will produce 16 Thursday and Saturday night games in 2014 (with a league option for 2015). Eight early-season games will air on CBS and be simulcast on NFL Network (which has carried the package since 2006), while NFLN will air eight late-season games exclusively. CBS' lead NFL team of Jim Nantz and Phil Simms will call the games, while NFLN personalities will host pre-game, halftime, and post-game shows.[36][37]
6
Coverage of the 2014 Winter Olympics begins on NBC, with the network and its cable channels airing coverage through February 23.[38]
WeatherNation and DirecTV introduce a series of new weather services, including "Local Weather Now", which allows subscribers to view information pertinent to their area.[41]
Time Warner Cable announces it intends to be acquired by Comcast in a $45.2 billion deal, which is subject to approval by federal regulators and is expected to face scrutiny from media watchdogs and rival operators.[45]
The Walt Disney Company and Dish Network announce a retransmission deal for Disney-owned networks (including new-to-Dish channels such as Disney Junior and Fusion), ABC O&O stations, and related digital platforms to appear on Dish systems and TV Everywhere mobile apps, plus the return of HD simulcast networks removed in a 2010 dispute over Dish's 'free HD for life' promotion. A caveat of the deal is the altering of Dish's HopperDVR system to prevent commercial skipping of Disney programming for a 72-hour window (within ACNielsen's "Live +3" ratings metric) after a program's original airing. In return, Disney agrees to drop its legal action against Dish regarding Hopper.[56]
President and COO of the Cartoon Network division of Turner Broadcasting Stuart Snyder steps down as part of several executive changes at the network since John Martin became the chairman of Turner Broadcasting in January. Snyder had been known for an attempt to branch the network into reality television programming in 2009.[60]
12
Post-Newsweek Stations announces its intent to sell ABC affiliate WPLG/Miami to Berkshire Hathaway in a cash and stock deal in which the latter company (founded by Warren Buffett) will significantly reduce its stake in Post-Newsweek parent Graham Holdings Company through a trade of an undisclosed amount of shares in Berkshire Hathaway currently held by Graham, which will receive 1.6 million shares of Class B common stock in Graham Holdings owned by Berkshire Hathaway.[61] In a memo to Post-Newsweek employees, president and CEO Emily Barr stated that the group's remaining five stations would not be sold.[62]
The FCC Media Bureau releases a notice that it would further scrutinize television station transactions which include sharing agreements (in the form of joint sales, shared services and local marketing agreements), especially those that include an option to purchase the junior partner in the agreement outright.[63]
CBS announces that it has given another three-season renewal to its top-rated sitcom The Big Bang Theory, extending the series' run into the 2016–17 television season.[64]
A news helicopter belonging to ABC affiliate KOMO-TV/Seattle crashes on top of three cars at the Seattle Center after taking off from the station's Fisher Plaza studios, killing pilot Gary Pfitzner and photographer Bill Strothman on board, and critically injuring a 37-year-old man on the ground who suffered severe burns.[66][67][68][69] The helicopter had been leased to KOMO by Helicopters, Inc. while its own helicopter was undergoing technical upgrades, and had previously been used by CBS-owned WBZ-TV and WSBK-TV, and Fox-owned WFXT/Boston until 2013.[70][71]
Glee marks its 100th episode with a two-part episode, with the second part airing on March 25, 2014, and features the apparent end of New Directions after the club is shut down by principal Sue Sylvester (portrayed by Jane Lynch). Many graduates of the glee club return, as do special guest stars Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes and Gwyneth Paltrow as Holly Holliday.
19
On Wheel of Fortune, 25-year old Emil De Leon solved the bonus puzzle "New Baby Buggy" with only the first two letters showing for $45,000, with his appearance made headlines on the solve and went viral in YouTube. Host Pat Sajak dubbed this solve 'amazing' in the show's 30-years history.[72]
20
Sinclair Broadcast Group restructures its acquisition of Allbritton Communications in order to address ownership conflicts noted in a December 2013 FCC review of the deal (originally announced in August 2013). Sinclair will sell CBS affiliate WHP-TV/Harrisburg (in order to acquire ABC affiliate WHTM-TV) and MyNetworkTV affiliates WMMP/Charleston and WABM/Birmingham (in order to acquire ABC affiliates WCIV and WBMA-LD/WCFT-TV/WJSU-TV, creating a duopoly between the latter and CW affiliate WTTO), opting not to enter into any operational or financial agreements with the buyers of those stations. Sinclair would also terminate a shared services agreement with Charleston Fox affiliate WTAT (to which owner and longtime Sinclair SSA partner Cunningham Broadcasting would assume operations outright), give the buyer of WHP-TV the rights to an existing local marketing agreement with Harrisburg CW affiliate WLYH-TV, and seek a license, programming and transmitter asset swap between WHTM and the buyer of WHP.[73][74]
21
LIN Media and Media General announce that the two companies will merge in a $1.6 billion deal that will create the second largest television station group in the United States with 74 stations in 46 television markets. Due to planned changes in FCC ownership rules regarding same-market television stations, Media General and LIN plan to divest or swap stations that each company owns in five markets: Birmingham (WVTM-TV and WIAT), Green Bay (WBAY-TV, WLUK-TV and WCWF), Mobile (WKRG-TV, WALA-TV and WFNA), Providence (WPRI-TV, WJAR and WNAC-TV) and Savannah (WSAV-TV, WJCL and WTGS).[75][76][77]
23
In a plot development that had been kept under wraps until the episode's airtime, attorney Will Gardner (series regular Josh Charles) is shot and killed in the courtroom by his client in The Good Wife episode "Dramatics, Your Honor".[78]
24
Frontier Radio Management sells Fox/ABC affiliate WGXA/Macon, Georgia, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group for $33 million (although the deal occurred on this date, it was not formally announced until the April 29 release of the purchase filing by the Federal Communications Commission).[79][80]
TV Land's Hot in Cleveland and The Soul Man kick off their season premieres (Hot in Cleveland's fifth and The Soul Man's third) with live episodes.[82] This was the second live episode for the former, which will also introduce its first animated episode this season.[83]
28
The Colbert Report comes under fire after posting a message on its Twitter account mocking Asian stereotypes (using a quote from a March 27 episode in reference to a piece on the creation of the Washington Redskins Original Americans Foundation, pointing out the hypocrisy of using an ethnic slur aimed at Native Americans in the non-profit's name), with some users calling for an end to the show with the hashtag #CancelColbert. Colbert's network Comedy Central takes responsibility for the tweet, saying neither Stephen Colbert nor his staff had anything to do with what was written.[84] The account @ColbertReport was later deleted with the account 'blown up' ceremonially during an interview with Twitter founder Biz Stone, with all show-related tweets being directed to Colbert's personal Twitter account.[85]
In a 3–2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission votes to ban joint sales agreements, making them attributable to FCC ownership limits if the senior partner sells 15% or more of the advertising time of a competing junior partner station in the JSA. The ruling will apply to both pending station transactions, as well as existing JSAs, giving a grace period of two years for such agreements to be unwound.[89] The commission also votes to prohibit broadcasters from coordinating retransmission consent negotiations involving two of the four highest-rated stations in a single television market.[90]
Adult Swim expands its programming by claiming an hour from Cartoon Network (the two channels occupy the same channel space) and running nightly from 8pm to 6am (ET).[91] This marks the second expansion into an earlier evening timeslot for Adult Swim, which began airing at 9pm (ET) in December 2010.[92]
April
Date
Event
1
Fourteen Viacom-owned cable networks (including MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, Spike and TV Land) were removed for several hours from most of the 850 small cable providers represented by the National Cable Television Cooperative, after Viacom and the providers fail to reach a new contract before the 12:01pm Eastern Time expiration of the media company's prior agreement with the NCTC. The affected networks were restored later that day, after the two parties reached a new carriage agreement.[93]
NBCUniversal ceases the operations of the satirical television review website Television Without Pity and will shut down the site's message board and forums on May 31 after the company failed to find a buyer, stating that TWoP is no longer "a viable businesses for our company". The website, which was launched in 1998 as a blog devoted to analyzing Dawson's Creek before changing its name in 2002, was acquired by NBC Universal in 2007.[98]
The Ultimate Warrior makes what turns out to be his final public appearance (one day before his death from a heart attack at the age of 54) on WWE Raw. In his first appearance on the USA Network show since his final WWE TV match in 1996,[99][100] Warrior gives a speech to the fans and wrestlers past and present as his Ultimate Warrior character.[101]
8
Around 10pm ET, Dish Network removes Hearst Television-owned stations in more than 20 markets after the broadcasting group and satellite provider fail to renew a carriage agreement due to disagreements on retransmission consent payments. The stations were restored 14 hours later, after a new agreement was struck between Dish and Hearst.[102]
Trans-America Broadcasting, the owners of MyNetworkTV outlet KAIL/Fresno, restructures its operations and changes its name to Tel-America North Corporation. The move comes as a result of Trans-America's announced sale of its sole radio outlet KTYM/Los Angeles to Immaculate Heart Radio on the same day of the restructuring. KAIL will continue on as the newly formed company's sole property.[103]
16
It is announced that WMGM-TV in Wildwood, New Jersey, will disaffiliate from NBC at the end of the year, due to NBC claiming market exclusivity for its owned-and-operated station in Philadelphia, WCAU. On December 31, WMGM-TV switched its affiliation to the Soul of the South Network on an interim basis, while former owners Access.1 Communications (who had operated WMGM-TV under a management agreement with LocusPoint Networks) retained most of the former WMGM-TV staff, including its news department, for future plans.[104]
20
The historical drama Salem makes its debut on WGN America, becoming the first scripted series produced exclusively for the Tribune Broadcasting-owned cable/satellite network. The show's debut also marks the Chicago-based superstation's transition into a conventional general entertainment network.[105][106]
21
CBS affiliate WJMN-TV/Marquette, Michigan (which operates as a semi-satellite of WFRV-TV/Green Bay, Wisconsin) launches an in-house news operation with two weeknight-only newscasts at 6 and 11pm. This marks the first time since its launch in 1968 that the station has aired its own local newscasts.[107][108] The move comes almost three years after owner Nexstar Broadcasting Group (which purchased WJMN and WFRV in 2011) announced plans to establish some form of separate news department for WJMN, which had been simulcasting WFRV's newscasts with Upper Peninsula-focused weather cut-ins inserted into the broadcasts.[109]
Supply chain professional Julia Collins debuted on Jeopardy! begins her 21-game run as one of the most dominant players in the game show's history. Between her run from April 21 to June 2 (except for May 5 to 16), Collins accumulated $428,100 from the 20 games which holds the record for its longest streak and cash winnings total for a female Jeopardy! contestant; currently she hold the third-longest winnings streak overall (surpassing David Madden's 19-win streak, but behind James Holzhauer's 32 and Ken Jennings's 74). She was currently the ninth-largest winner in the show (and fourth largest winner in regular play, behind Madden, Holzhauer and Jennings). Collins was later invited in the 2014 Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions (held on November) where she finished third overall, winning an additional $50,000.
23
MyNetworkTV/Cozi TV affiliate WRDE-LD in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, announces that it will become an NBC affiliate in June, giving the Delmarva Peninsula market not only its first full-time NBC affiliate, but also its first network affiliate based in Delaware. The affiliation agreement (which also gives the Delmarva Peninsula in-market affiliates of all four major commercial networks) culminates an endeavor which began two years ago when WRDE-LD owner Bob Backman complained to NBCUniversal about the lack of local news coverage from the default NBC affiliates then serving the area. Concurrent with the move, WRDE-LD commissions the Independent News Network to produce 6 and 11pm newscasts for the station. WRDE-LD's former affiliations with MyNetworkTV and Cozi TV move to a new shared DT2 subchannel with the change.[110]
27
In the fallout of revelations of a leaked tape from TMZ in which Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling made alleged racially offensive comments in front of his biracial mistress after she took Instagram photos of minorities that he asked her to remove,[111] the team entered the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, for their fourth game in the 2014 NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors with their warmup shirts and jackets turned inside out as protest against Sterling during its telecast on ABC. The Clippers would lose to the Warriors 118–97.[112] The following day, a number of major companies including Kia Motors (whose television spokesperson is Clippers player Blake Griffin), State Farm Insurance, and Virgin America, announced that they would no longer serve as sponsors for the Clippers, including their television broadcasts.[113] On April 29, the NBA, upon confirming the taped conversations, announced that Sterling has been banned for life and fined $2.5 million.[114] After that announcement was made, the 15 companies that withdrew their media sponsorship announced that it would either return or look at renewing its deal pending the outcome of the franchise's future that was outlined by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.[115]
Charter Communications announces they will buy some of Comcast's divested assets, meaning customers affected will be switched from Comcast service to Charter.[116]
May
Date
Event
1
Gray Television announces that it is purchasing six Fox-affiliated outlets in the Dakotas, with the acquisition of assets of KNDX/Bismarck and its satellite sisters KXND/Minot and two LPTVs from Prime Cities Broadcasting, Inc., which Gray will operate under a LMA, while at the same time closes on its purchase of KEVN-TV/Rapid City and satellite sister KIVV/Lead from Mission TV LLC.[117]
2
MGM Television launches the general entertainment digital multicast network The Works, with stations owned or operated by Titan Broadcast Management as its charter affiliates. The network carries a mix of local and national news content, feature films from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer library, sports and comedy programming.[118]
NBC renews its broadcast rights to the Olympic Games in a $7.75 billion deal that will keep coverage of the winter and summer games on the network and its sister cable channels through 2032.[120][121]
The studios of ABC affiliate WMAR-TV/Baltimore were evacuated after a man intentionally crashes a truck into the building's lobby. The Baltimore Police Department received a disturbance call before the crash regarding a man banging on the lobby door, trying to get into the building. The man was captured within the building by police just after 4:30pm Eastern Time. No staffers inside the building were injured as a result of the incident. WMAR-TV ran an automated feed of ABC programming for five hours, before being taken off the air entirely late that afternoon until it established a satellite relay with Phoenix sister station KNXV-TV (both are owned by the E. W. Scripps Company) to restore its signal.[123][124]
Barbara Walters co-hosts The View for the final time, and is feted by ABC News that evening with a special two-hour career retrospective. Walters will remain with ABC as an occasional ABC News contributor as well as The View's executive producer.[130] Walters has co-hosted the show since its debut in 1997.
Brad Rutter was crowned the winner of the Battle of the Decades on Jeopardy! by beating Ken Jennings and Roger Craig and winning $1,000,000 to become the biggest winner on Jeopardy!. To date, Rutter has won $4,455,102 on Jeopardy! and $100,000 more on Million Dollar Mind Game. Rutter held the title on becoming the biggest game show winner in the history of American television until on January 14, 2020, where Jennings won another Jeopardy! tournament, The Greatest of All Time and Jennings reclaimed the top position.[131][132]
18
AT&T announces its intention to merge with DirecTV in a $48.5 billion deal that was approved by the boards of both companies in separate meetings. The terms of the deal includes AT&T paying about $95 a share in stock and cash. It is expected that the deal, as with the planned merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, will face major scrutiny from federal regulators and media watchgroups.[133]
The 2014 telecast of the Billboard Music Awards on ABC posted its biggest numbers in 13 years, being watched by 10.5 million viewers, topping the 2013 telecast by 700,000 viewers to make it the most watched BBMAs since its 1989 inaugural broadcast.[134]
19
NBC tests out The Maya Rudolph Show, a special that is aimed to revive the variety/musical series format that has not been seen on American television since the short-lived Wayne Brady Show in 2001, which could serve as a possible limited-run series or a series of specials. This was the first attempt in nearly six years by NBC to bring this concept back to television (its last successful series in this genre, Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters, left the network's schedule in 1982), having struck out back in 2008 with Rosie Live.[135] The special pulled in 7.23 million viewers in its 10pm (ET/PT) timeslot, making it the third most watched program of the night.[136]
Disney Channel launches a new logo and imaging campaign, the cable network's first major change to its appearance in twelve years, which is designed to be used with already-existing promotional advertising.[138]
28
The 2014 edition of the World Music Awards, which had been scheduled to air on NBC after being recorded the night before in Monte Carlo, is abruptly pre-empted prior to its broadcast, replaced by a rebroadcast of the eighth-season premiere of Last Comic Standing due to what the WMA organizing body calls "technical issues".[139][140] It was later revealed that Sharon Stone had pulled out as host last-minute due to a payment dispute with organizers, while delays during the taping of the show meant it would not make broadcast, and as of June 4, NBC still had not received 'final cut' from the producers.[141] The World Music Awards had not been held since 2010, when it was last aired in the U.S. on MyNetworkTV.
29
Due to the Federal Communications Commission's recent ban on joint sales agreements and citing the inability to find buyers for stations that it tried to sell in the two markets, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced a proposal to relinquish the licenses of the three ABC affiliates that it planned to acquire in its purchase of Allbritton Communications, WCIV/Charleston, South Carolina, WCFT-TV/Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and WJSU-TV/Anniston, Alabama (the latter two of which simulcast low-power station WBMA-LD) to the FCC, and move ABC programming to the company's existing MyNetworkTV-affiliated stations in those markets, WABM and WMMP, in order to expedite approval of the deal.[142]
30
Crain's Chicago Business reports plans by Tribune Company CEO Peter Liguori to phase out broadcasts of local Chicago sporting events on WGN America by January 2015 as part of the network's transition to basic cable from a superstation feed of WGN-TV, which has regularly aired games involving the Bulls, Cubs and White Sox nationwide since uplinking to satellite in 1978.[143]
Actor/comedian Tracy Morgan (formerly of Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock) is critically injured and hospitalized in an intensive care unit after a six-car crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that injured three other people and killed comedian James McNair. Kevin Roper, the sleep deprived driver of the 18-wheel truck who caused the crash was charged with one count of death by auto and four counts of assault by auto.[145][146] Morgan later sued the trucker's employer Walmart, claiming they "knew, or should have known" he was sleep deprived.[147]
12
Coverage of the 2014 FIFA World Cup begins on ABC/ESPN (English-language), Univision (Spanish-language), and ESPN Deportes (Portuguese-language), running through July 12. It is the last FIFA championship event for those networks until at least 2023 (Fox Sports and Telemundo will begin an eight-year rights deal with FIFA in 2015).[148]
Gray Television initiates a major shuffle of affiliations and stations in the wake of the new FCC rules disallowing joint sales agreements, in the states of Nebraska and North Dakota in the wake of the completion of its purchase of stations owned by Hoak Media.[150]KHAS-TV, the NBC affiliate for central Nebraska, goes off the air at midnight, with their NBC affiliation and local programming moved to Gray's KSNB-TV. This in turn leads to its primary MyNetworkTV/MeTV affiliation being moved to their DT2 subchannel, while KHAS's Cozi TV and KSNB's Antenna TV subchannels are discontinued.[151] In western and central North Dakota, the Fox affiliations previously held by KNDX/KXND in Bismarck and Minot are also moved to the DT2 subchannels of NBC affiliate KFYR-TV in Bismarck (and satellite stations KQCD/Dickinson, KMOT/Minot, and KUMV/Willison); along with the existing low-power repeaters KNDX-LD/Dickinson and KXND-LP/Williston, with the full-power KNDX and KXND signals also going off the air.[152] The company later announces that it plans to move the CBS affiliation of KXJB-TV/Fargo to the DT2 sub channel of NBC affiliate KVLY and the ABC affiliations of KJCT/Grand Junction, Colorado, and KAQY/Monroe, Louisiana, to Gray's other operations in the same markets (NBC affiliate KKCO and CBS affiliate KNOE, respectively) as DT2 subchannels. The silent stations will then be spin off to minority interests pending approval from the FCC, which under this arrangement would allow the stations to continue operating on the conditions that it would continue serving the markets independently (under minority, female and/or non-profit ownership) and not make any partnerships or sharing arrangements with other broadcasters.[153]
Meredith Corporation announces it will purchase ABC affiliate WGGB/Springfield, Massachusetts, from Gormally Broadcasting, LLC. The deal will put WGGB under common ownership with Meredith's existing CBS affiliate in that market, low-poweredWSHM-LD (FCC rules permit duopolies between full-power and low-power television stations regardless of the number of television stations in a given market), along with nearby Hartford, Connecticut, CBS affiliate WFSB (which simulcasts WSHM on one of their subchannels).[154]
19
Netflix announces that it has signed Chelsea Handler to a deal that will allow the comedian to create specials and series with unfiltered content, including a relaunch of her talk show in 2016 (Her E! program Chelsea Lately ended on August 26).[155]
ESPN's longest running news program, SportsCenter, debuts their new "Studio X", which is contained in the new Digital Center 2 facility on the ESPN campus in Bristol, Connecticut. A matching redone studio at their presence at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles debuts a day later. The new set also brings changes to the network's (as well as sister networks) BottomLine news ticker.[157]
In a 6–3 ruling favoring the American television networks, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that internet firm Aereo functions essentially like a cable system, and that its online streaming and storage of broadcasters' over-the-air signals without paying compulsoryretransmission feesviolates the public performance clause of the Copyright Act. The Justices indicate, however, that their ruling is not intended to discourage "the emergence or use of different kinds of technologies".[160] The ruling leads to Aereo suspending its operations on June 28[161] and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on November 21.[162]
The debut of Girl Meets World pulls in a record setting 5.2 million viewers overall, making the Boy Meets World-sequeled spin-off the most watched program in the 30-year history of the Disney Channel, the most-viewed series ever on the Watch Disney Channel authenticated app, and the most downloaded Disney Channel series preview on iTunes.[165]
30
The U.S. Supreme Court declined on taking up a case in which Minority Television Project, the owners of San Francisco independent educational station KMTP, challenged its FCC fine that was imposed on them in 2002 for airing messages from commercial sponsors, which the FCC claimed were from for-profit advertisers. MTP had sought to overturn a lower court rulings that upheld a 1981 law that restricts public stations from airing ads for commercial products or political candidates and asked the court to reconsider a 1969 Supreme Court decision that allowed the government to place some restrictions on broadcast content, arguing that the media landscape had changed so much in the last 45 years, as well as their claim of first amendment rights. This comes after a 2013 en banc panel of the 9th Circuit ruling which agreed that the government was on solid legal ground and that it had a vested interest in ensuring that public TV retained its non-commercial nature, as stations licensed as non-commercial or public are prohibited from airing ads but can allow underwriting and spots for non-profits. The decision not to take up the case means the ban on commercials on Public television will remain in place.[166]
July
Date
Event
1
Ownership of PBS NewsHour is transferred from MacNeil/Lehrer Productions (jointly owned by Liberty Media and former NewsHour anchors Robert MacNeil and Jim Lehrer) to WETA-TV/Washington, D.C., who have long housed production of the program at its Arlington, Virginia, studios. The transfer, approved by WETA's board of trustees on June 17, results in production of PBS NewsHour being taken over by NewsHour Productions, LLC, a wholly owned WETA subsidiary. The station acquires MacNeil/Lehrer Productions' archives, documentaries, and projects, though not the company's name. The program's weekend counterpart, PBS NewsHour Weekend, is not affected by the ownership transfer and continues to be produced in New York City by WNET.[167]
NBC affiliate WTOV-TV in Steubenville, Ohio, announces that its DT2 subchannel would join Fox on September 1, replacing WTRF-DT2. Fox subsequently issues a statement citing WTOV-TV's stronger over-the-air signal as the reason they chose to switch stations. Upon the switch, WTOV-DT2's former affiliation with MeTV moves to a new third digital subchannel, while WTRF-DT2's secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV becomes its primary affiliation.[173]
A deputy judge on Britain'sHigh Court of Justice rules that Fox Television Studios must find a new title for its US series Glee in the United Kingdom, ruling that Fox had infringed on the UK trademark for "Glee" held by Comic Enterprises, owners of The Glee Club chain of comedy clubs. Fox, claiming that a change in the show's name "would adversely affect fans’ enjoyment of Glee in the UK," has filed an appeal of the ruling.[175]
Lifetime announces that it has canceled plans to air the reality television series Good Grief, which would have followed the owners of the Johnson Family Mortuary in Fort Worth, Texas. The program's scrapping came in the wake of the July 15 discovery of eight unattended or decomposing bodies at the funeral home, which led to the arrests of owner Dondre Johnson and his wife Rachel Hardy-Johnson. (The funeral home's landlord, who was executing an eviction process, discovered the bodies and alerted authorities.) The funeral home itself has been the subject of an investigation by The Texas Funeral Services Commission and has been scrutinized by critics and the local media about their practices and boastful promoting of the series prior to their arrest.[178]
After three episodes leaked online in June via the website of their Mexican sister network and it was rushed to premiere unexpectedly to lower ratings than expected because of lack of promotion, Nickelodeon announces the remaining five episodes of the third season of The Legend of Korra will air only online through various video providers.[179]
25
News Corporation informs radio broadcasting company Entercom that it is pulling all of its advertising and promotional tie-ins involving its broadcast/cable outlets and 20th Century Fox film/TV studios from all Entercom stations nationwide.[180] The move came in the wake of sexist comments and a similarly toned apology by Kirk Minihane, a co-host of the Dennis and Callahan show on Entercom-owned Boston sports station WEEI-FM. Minihane's comments regarded Fox Sports reporter Erin Andrews' interview with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright during Fox's broadcast of the 2014 MLB All-Star Game on July 15.[181][182] Minihane's comments lead to his one-week suspension by WEEI, a move that appeases Fox enough to restore its ad buys with Entercom on July 30.[183] (Dennis and Callahan is also partially simulcast on television by NESN, who in an unrelated move announced on July 24 it would discontinue it in September.)[184]
Just eight days after he was profiled on CNN's The Hunt With John Walsh, Charles Modzir, a child molester and pornographer who had been on the run since June 25, 2012, when he failed to show up at the San Diego County Courthouse in California for his sentencing in which he was convicted of molesting the son of a family friend while he was baby sitting, is shot and killed in a shoot out with police and U.S. Marshals in New York City's Greenwich Village.[186]
29
Another set of controversial comments involving sports and the media's handling of the story takes center stage, as ESPN suspends Stephen A. Smith, the host of ESPN2's First Take, for one week after he made remarks on July 25 about domestic violence pertaining to the NFL's questionable action regarding Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who received a two-game suspension after he was arrested on charges of domestic and physical abuse, in which Smith suggested that Rice's fiancé might also be responsible for provoking the action that lead to the incident.[187]
The E. W. Scripps Company and Journal Communications announce that the two companies will merge to form a broadcast group under the E. W. Scripps Company name, which will be based in Scripps' headquarters city of Cincinnati and own 34 television stations in 24 markets and 35 radio stations in eight markets (putting the company in 27 markets overall), along with retaining the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The two companies' newspaper assets will then be spun-off as a separate company based in Journal's Milwaukee facilities under the Journal Media Group name. The transaction is slated to be completed in 2015, pending shareholder and regulatory approvals.[189][190] On August 20, Scripps announced that it will spin off one of the Boise properties (either ABC affiliate KIVI or FOX affiliate KNIN) as part of a divesture plan.[191]
August
Date
Event
3
Just 22 days after he was profiled on CNN's The Hunt With John Walsh, a hiker discovered the remains of Shane Miller, a convicted felon who was the subject of a manhunt after he murdered his wife and two daughters on May 7, 2013. Miller's body was found outside a creek near Petrolia, California, where he last seen after evading authorities. Miller was the first person to be profiled on The Hunt and its second to have met with a deadly conclusion following Charles Modzir's death in a shoot out with law enforcement on July 28.[192]
4
Nexstar Broadcasting Group announces that it would sell CBS affiliate WEVV-TV/Evansville, Indiana, to Bayou City Broadcasting for $18.6 million. The deal brings Nexstar's planned acquisition of WEVV's current owners, Communications Corporation of America, whose sale has been held up for more than a year due to ownership conflicts with Nexstar-owned/managed stations in certain markets where ComCorp also owned or operated stations, in compliance with Department of Justice requirements for approval of the deal.[193] The deal marks a return to station ownership for the minority-owned Bayou City, which had sold its seven television stations to the London Broadcasting Company (most of which have since been sold to the Gannett Company) in September 2012.[194]
5
Gannett Company announces plans to split its newspaper/publishing and broadcast/digital operations into two separate companies.[195]
11
As part of renewal deals for its four existing CBS affiliates, Tribune Broadcasting signs a deal with CBS to have WTTV become the network's Indianapolis affiliate.[196] The move to WTTV, effective New Year's Day 2015, will end CBS' 58-year relationship with WISH-TV, and is reportedly the result of disagreements between CBS and the LIN Media-owned WISH over the network's demands for reverse compensation of retransmission consent from its affiliates. Though WISH initially intended to become an independent station,[197] it would announce on December 22 that it would take over WTTV's CW affiliation (The CW initially would have moved to WTTV's secondary subchannel).[198]
Sherri Shepherd and Jenny McCarthy make their final appearances as co-hosts of The View.[199] Both women had announced in June their intentions to leave the ABC daytime talk show (Shepherd after seven seasons, McCarthy after one).[200]
The RTDNA, an organization that represents news journalists and reporters, sends a letter to the Chief of Police in Ferguson, Missouri, condemning its treatment of reporters in its handling of gathering coverage related to the Shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager suspected of robbing a convenience store, by Darren Wilson, a Ferguson police officer, on August 9, leading to riots which have seen police officers harassing, abusing, and arresting reporters and cameramen while they were covering the riots and protests that accelerated since the shooting.[202] Five days later on August 19, SAG-AFTRA (whose members also include media journalists), along with President Obama, joins the RTDNA in condemning the actions of the local law enforcement agencies as more members of the press are detained or arrested.[203] Three days later on August 22, Dan Page, a St. Louis County Police officer, was suspended by the department after pushing CNN reporter Don Lemonwhile Lemon was reporting live in front of a protest on August 18. Lemon later found a video about Page that was posted in April on YouTube featuring him expressing his anti-Semitic and anti-government views, which were added to the list of suspensions by the department. Page would resign from his job August 29.[204]
15
Former U.S. Vice PresidentAl Gore files a lawsuit against Al Jazeera Media Network, accusing the Middle Eastern broadcaster of fraud and citing the refusal to turn over "tens of millions of dollars" remaining in an escrow account and still owed to the selling shareholders of Current TV. The network was acquired by Al Jazeera (from an ownership group headed by Gore) in January 2013 and relaunched as Al Jazeera America that summer.[205]
18
Digital multicast networks Escape and Grit simultaneously debut. The networks, owned by Katz Broadcasting (whose owner, Jonathan Katz, is co-founder and COO of Bounce TV), feature programming targeted towards different demographic audiences (Escape towards women, Grit towards men).[206][207]
Starting at 10am (ET) with the inaugural episode, FXX begins airing in chronological order every episode of The Simpsons from its first 25 seasons (552 in all) plus the 2007 motion picture The Simpsons Movie in what is a record-breaking marathon, running through 11:59pm ET on September 1. The marathon marks FX Networks' November 2013 acquisition of cable syndication and on-demand rights to all Simpsons episodes (an estimated $750 million deal). The show became a regular part of FXX's lineup after the marathon concluded.[210]
While taping a segment, Bryce Dion, a sound technician for Cops is accidentally killed by a police officer during a shootout at a Wendy's restaurant in Omaha, Nebraska, involving a robbery suspect (who was also killed).[213] In his honor, the show aired an hour-long "best of" episode featuring Dion's work on its September 20 episode.[214]
PBS' Sesame Street launches a 30-minute afternoon version of the show, designed to accommodate online and mobile viewing. The condensed version eschews long-form segments of Sesame Street's hour-long morning episodes, which remain on the air.[218]
2
James Holzhauer, best known for his Jeopardy! appearance in 2019, made his game show debut in the game show The Chase and won $58,333.33 (an equal share of $175,000 split into two other contestants); during the episode's broadcast, the episode set a record of its largest Cash Builder ($60,000) and Final Chase (19 questions) for the American version of The Chase.[219][220][221][222]
3
Sinclair Broadcast Group announces the $120 million purchase of Las Vegas television station, KSNV-DT (NBC), from Intermountain West Communications Company. Since Sinclair already owns two stations in Las Vegas, KVMY (MyNetworkTV) and KVCW (The CW), it will sell the license of one of the stations and move that station's programming to the remaining two stations.[223] A caveat of KSNV's deal is the setting aside of 80–85% of sale proceeds towards the formation of a foundation to support students and educators in southern Nevada, as dictated by the trust of IWCC's longtime owner, the late Jim Rogers.[224]
The first Thursday Night Football game produced by CBS Sports in partnership with the NFL Network airs, with the Pittsburgh Steelers taking on the Baltimore Ravens. Changes to game coverage are made in the wake of a domestic violence controversy involving Ravens player Ray Rice, including the removal of Rihanna's "Run This Town" from the opening segment.[229][230] The song is later pulled from future broadcasts after the singer complains via Twitter that almost resulted in CBS deciding to edit out her vocals from the song because of her tweets just moments before dropping the song altogether.[231] Rihanna's record label Roc Nation later stated it was their decision to pull the song, claiming CBS used it without permission.[232]
13
The Xploration Station block, which features programs exploring the STEM fields of science and technology, launches on Fox. The block, which is produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions, broadcasts in the same Saturday morning time slot that is held by the Weekend Marketplaceinfomercial block (though some Fox affiliates have chosen to continue running Marketplace instead of Xploration).[233]
WBIN-TV/Derry, New Hampshire, debuts a weeknight 90-minute early evening news block at 5pm and a nightly 10pm newscast under the NH1 News branding, based out of a newsroom in Concord and news bureaus in Nashua, Derry, Portsmouth, Laconia, and Lebanon (the station's non-news operations remain at the Derry facility). The new news operation competes against the longer-established WMUR-TV.[235][236]
Heartland Media announces its planned purchase of WTVA, the NBC (and, through a subchannel, ABC) affiliate in Tupelo, Mississippi, from the Spain family-controlled WTVA, Inc. The family has owned the station for 57 years.[238] Heartland will also inherit the agreements through which WTVA operates separately owned Fox affiliate WLOV-TV;[239] separately, on October 7, Coastal Television Broadcasting Company announces that it will buy WLOV from Tupelo Broadcasting, Inc.[240]
Takoma Park Middle School teacher Sarah Manchester become the third $1,000,000 winner in the third episode of the 32nd season of the long-running game show Wheel of Fortune. Her winnings of $1,017,490 made her the third largest single-day winner in the show history. The episode total of $1,042,590 also surpasses the former all-time one-day total ($1,034,930) which previously held on the October 14, 2008's episode.[242]
21
While presenting a report on a ballot measure campaign to legalize the recreational use of cannabis in Alaska, KTVA/Anchorage reporter Charlo Green reveals that she is owner of a medicinal cannabis club promoting the issue, and announces on-air that she is quitting her job at KTVA to devote her energies to the campaign (using an F-bomb in the process).[243]
22
Let's Make a Deal begins the sixth season of its current incarnation in a high-definition format, making the CBS game show the last regularly scheduled broadcast network program to complete the transition from standard definition to HD.[163]
23
Tribune Media confirms it received notice from Fox that the network would terminate its affiliation agreement with Tribune's KCPQ/Seattle.[244] Fox has been actively pursuing station acquisitions in markets with teams in the NFL's National Conference, for which Fox has broadcast rights (Seattle, home to the Seahawks, is such a market),[245] and on October 3 files documents to purchase ShopHQ station KBCB, which serves Seattle but is licensed to Bellingham and is closer to the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Victoria.[246][247] Fox and Tribune make peace by October 17, when the two announce a new affiliation deal for KCPQ that runs through July 2018 and increases reverse compensation payments to Fox.[248]
One week after ending production on two of its local shows and reportedly laying off most of its staff,[254] Family Broadcasting Group announces it will sell KSBI/Oklahoma City to Griffin Communications. The sale, which is completed by December, creates a duopoly between the MyNetworkTV-affiliated KSBI and Griffin's CBS affiliate KWTV-DT.[255]
The FCC unanimously votes to end federal enforcement of the policy that has allowed the National Football League to blackout local telecasts of any game should it fail to sell out within 72 hours of kickoff.[256]
October
Date
Event
1
DirecTV extends its exclusive contract with the NFL for out of market sports package NFL Sunday Ticket for eight more seasons, a deal worth $1.5 billion per year.[257]
ESPN Classic begins a phaseout of its linear channel as it transitions to a video-on-demand service. Dish Network is the first provider to drop the linear ESPN Classic as part of the transition.[258]
4
Litton Entertainment's One Magnificent MorningE/I block commences on The CW, giving Litton control of three of the five major Saturday morning children's lineups (Litton also manages ABC'sWeekend Adventure and CBS' Dream Team). The change occurs one week after the end of the Vortexx block of animated shows on The CW (which was managed by Saban Brands under a time lease).[259] It also means that all five major broadcast networks feature Saturday morning children's blocks that are exclusively E/I.[260]
6
The National Basketball Association announces a new broadcast deal, reportedly worth over $2.5 billion per year, that allows games to remain on ESPN/ABC and TNT through the 2024–25 season.[261]
WNBJ-LD in Jackson, Tennessee, begins airing on Dish Network as an NBC affiliate, giving the Jackson market its first NBC affiliate. An earlier plan to bring an NBC affiliate to the area by New Moon Communications had fallen through when the license for WZMC-LP was cancelled in July 2013. WNBJ-LD's channel 39 transmitter signed-on in November (with cable carriage following soon after), and DirecTV added WNBJ-LD to its local packages shortly after the new year. The sign-on gives the Jackson area in-market affiliates of all four major commercial broadcast networks for the first time.[262]
7–8
In light of child molestation allegations against Stephen Collins, who played Rev. Eric Camden in the long-running WB/CW series 7th Heaven, the family-friendly cable network Up pulls repeats of the Paramount Television series from their schedule, with a return depending on viewer feedback and further events. In turn, TVGN, which shares the rights with Up (and is partially owned by CBS Corporation) also pulls their repeats.[263][264] Collins also saw his recurring role as news anchor Reed Wallace cut from already-filmed future episodes of Scandal the next day.[265]
Hub Network rebrands as Discovery Family, the result of Discovery Communications gaining a 60% ownership in the network after equally owning the network with Hasbro, who retains the remaining 40%. The change also sees Discovery program the network's primetime schedule, with Hasbro programming children's content in the daytime.[267]
The Federal Communications Commission delays a planned digital transition for low-power television stations still operating in analog originally scheduled to occur on September 1, 2015. The delay of the transition – which will require analog LPTV stations to flash-cut to digital or cease operations – was decided upon to address issues surrounding the incentive spectrum auction planned for 2016 including how to protect new and existing low-power and translator stations that would be displaced by the auction and concurrent channel repacking (with these stations being allowed to share a common RF channel), and whether to allow digital LPTV stations to operate "Franken-FMs" (broadcast stations operating on analog VHF channel 6 for the purpose of transmitting audio programming receivable on FM radios on the 87.7 frequency).[268][269]
15
Citadel Communications combines its two TV properties in Sarasota, Florida, over-the-air station WLWN-LD and cable news channel Suncoast News Network, into a single station under the WSNN-LD call sign. The combined station features SNN-produced content and inherits WLWN's over-the-air channel (39) and SNN's cable carriage.[270][271]
16
CBS launches a new pay on-demand service called CBS All Access, which allows streaming of live CBS programming content (except for NFL Football telecasts), current shows, its library of classic series, and local streaming of its owned & operated stations and affiliates.[272]
Nexstar Broadcasting Group announces it will buy KASW/Phoenix from SagamoreHill Broadcasting in a $68 million deal. The sale of the CW-affiliated KASW fulfills a divestiture promise made by Meredith Corporation, which has operated KASW for SagamoreHill since acquiring the station and KTVK in its 2013 purchase of divestitures made by Sander Media on behalf of Gannett, after the latter's buyout of Belo. Meredith also owns KPHO in the market.[275]
Despite a new season already filmed and ready to air, TLC announces it has canceled reality series Here Comes Honey Boo Boo.[277] The cancellation comes one day after TMZ reports that "Mama June" Shannon, mother of title character and former child beauty pageant participant Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson, was dating a registered sex offender who had served a prison sentence in Georgia for child molestation (a relationship Shannon denies), and that a victim of the offender, who was 8 years old at the time of the incident, is a relative of Shannon's.[278]
TruTV unveils a new program revamp, turning its emphasis from reality and true crime programming towards unscripted comedic programming (complete with a new slogan, "Way more fun").[280][281]
NBC personality Al Roker sets a Guinness-verified world record for the longest continuous live weather broadcast. His 34-hour marathon, which aired mainly online and concluded on Today on the 14th, surpasses by one hour the mark Norwegian weathercaster Eli Kari Gjengedal set in September.[285]
NBC drops its plans for a new sitcom starring Bill Cosby.[290] The move is part of the fallout from claims of rape and sexual abuse against Cosby,[291] first highlighted in an October 17 performance by comedian Hannibal Buress[292] and revealed by several women since, including Janice Dickinson in a November 18 interview with Entertainment Tonight.[293] (Cosby's representatives have denied the allegations, while Cosby himself, who has not been officially charged with any crime, has been non-committal.)[294] NBC is only one of several outlets to distance itself from Cosby in wake of the allegations: Netflix would pull a special honoring Cosby's 77th birthday scheduled for the week of Thanksgiving,[295] the same week TV Land was to have aired a marathon of The Cosby Show (which the network dropped completely from its schedule);[296] a guest spot by Cosby on Late Show with David Letterman for this date was previously cancelled.[297]
20
PresidentBarack Obama delivers an early prime time (8pm ET) address on immigration reform. Though it concerns a controversial topic, the four major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC) decline to air the speech, although several East Coast affiliates (notably NBC's O&Oflagship in New York) bypass their networks' decision and present it to their viewers. (In contrast, most major Spanish language networks including Univision, MundoFox and Telemundo give full carriage to the speech, as does PBS and the major networks' West Coast affiliates as part of their evening newscasts.)[298][299]
Radio broadcaster Cumulus Media extends its Nash FM country music brand and platform to cable through a partnership with Music Choice, featuring video-on-demand and original TV content in addition to radio simulcasts.[301]
CBS Corporation pulls 29 television stations it owns in 18 markets and its cable networks nationally from Dish Network in a retransmission dispute. The channels return to Dish the next morning after the two sides reach a new carriage deal, which also covers streaming rights and disabling of Dish's ad-skipping Hopper system for seven days after a program's original broadcast.[303]
7
Discovery Channel airs the two-hour special Eaten Alive, in which wildlife expert Paul Rosalie voluntarily dons a special suit in order to be swallowed whole by an anaconda. Despite the title, Rosalie is not eaten alive, as he asks his team to abort the stunt after the snake begins to crush Rosalie's arm and its mouth only reaches his head.[304]
KCEN/Waco morning meteorologist Patrick Crawford is shot and seriously wounded by an unknown man in an incident in the NBC affiliate's parking lot.[309] Crawford recovers and returns to the air on January 19, 2015.[310]
Former The Amazing Race contestant Natalie Anderson won the 29th season of Survivor (a twist similar to Survivor: Blood vs. Water in which nine pairs of two which has a pre-existing relationship were split into two different tribes), making her the first alumni who previously participated in a CBS reality television to win a season in another CBS reality program. Earlier in the premiere episode, her teammate and twin sister Nadiya was the first contestant eliminated in the game.[311]
After 14 years, BET's 106 & Park airs its final daily broadcast on the network. The show will move full-time to BET's website in 2015, though occasional event specials will continue to air on TV.[314]
Jay Leno is the guest as Craig Ferguson ends his 10-year run as host of The Late Late Show. The episode's centerpieces include a star-studded performance of Scottish band Dead Man Fall's song "Bang Your Drum", an end-of-show revelation that the show's pantomime horseSecretariat was played by Bob Newhart, and a Newhart-style "dream sequence" suggesting that the whole series was a nightmare had by Ferguson's former Drew Carey Show character Nigel Wick, with an overweight Carey in bed next to him. Ferguson's fellow Brit James Corden will take over as Late Late Show host in March 2015, with guest hosts filling the interim.[315]
21
21st Century Fox pulls Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network from Dish Network's channel lineup in a carriage dispute. Dish claims excessive rate increases, including those for unrelated programming contracts with other Fox networks, for the removal of the channels.[316] Fox would counter with an ad campaign claiming censorship of news on Dish's part.[317] Both channels return to Dish on January 15, 2015, after a new agreement is reached that increases Fox News' per-subscriber fee and moves Fox Business to the same programming tier as its sister network.[318]
Candy Crowley hosts CNN's State of the Union for the final time, ending her four-year run as the show's host and her 27-year tenure as a reporter and political correspondent for the network.[319]
Wheel of Fortune contestant Matt DeSanto sets a one-day main game record of $91,892 cash and prizes, surpassing previous record set by Leanne McLaughlin who won $69,300 on December 21, 2012's episode.[321][322]
31
After nearly 13 years on the air, the NBCUniversal cable channel G4 finally discontinues operations, departing from the few remaining television providers still carrying it at the time, most notably AT&T U-verse.[323] The network ends with a sign-off featuring a continually shrinking game of Pong fading to black with an analog television turn-off effect.
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.
