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The 1994 United States broadcast television realignment consisted of a series of network affiliation switches and other transactions that resulted from a multimillion-dollar deal between the Fox Broadcasting Company (commonly known as simply Fox) and New World Communications, a media group that – in addition to its involvement in film and television production – owned several VHF television stations affiliated with major broadcast networks, primarily CBS. The agreement between Fox and New World resulted not only in Fox affiliating with stations with histories as major network affiliates but also various other deals, most notably the buyout of CBS by Westinghouse, that caused several other broadcasting companies to reach affiliation deals that either extended ties with networks that were already aligned with some stations owned by the individual groups or created new network relationships. The repercussions of this realignment were gradual but swift, with nearly 70 stations in 30 media markets throughout the United States changing affiliations between September 1994 and September 1996. Fox ascended to the status of a major television network, comparable in influence to the Big Three television networks (CBS, NBC and ABC), while CBS was dealt the major blows of losing both its NFL broadcast rights and key affiliates in several major markets to Fox. All three major networks also wound up affiliating with stations that broadcast on the UHF band in a few cases, the vast majority of which operated as either Fox affiliates or independent stations prior to the switches; most of the new Big Three affiliates also created news departments from scratch or expanded their existing ones. ==Background== On December 17, 1993, Fox signed a four-year, $1.58 billion contract with the National Football League (NFL) to televise games involving teams in the National Football Conference (NFC) as well as Super Bowl XXXI, effective with the 1994 season. CBS – then run by Laurence Tisch, known for instituting various cost-cutting measures during his tenure as chief operating officer of network parent (the original) CBS Corporation in part through the sale of underperforming units of the company – was reportedly unwilling to approach the price of Fox's bid and offered to pay only $290 million to renew the contractual rights to the NFC television package. The deal stripped CBS of professional football broadcasts for the next four years, before resuming its broadcasting relationship with the NFL when it acquired the television rights to the American Football Conference (AFC) from NBC in 1998. In order to bolster the network's new NFL television package, Fox sought to reach affiliation deals with VHF stations (broadcasting on channels 2 to 13) that had established histories as major network affiliates, and carried more value with advertisers. On May 23, 1994, Fox agreed to purchase a 20% stake (a $500 million investment) in New World Communications, a media company controlled by investor Ronald Perelman. As a result of the deal, New World also signed a group affiliation agreement with Fox to switch most of the company's television stations to the network beginning in September 1994. Twelve stations – six that New World had already owned and eight that the company was in the process of acquiring through purchase deals with Argyle Communications and Citicasters struck before the agreement was made – would join the network as affiliation contracts with their existing network partners came to an end. SF Broadcasting, a venture between Fox and Savoy Pictures, purchased four television stations owned by Burnham Broadcasting in two separate deals reached in July and August 1994 for a combined $267 million; the deal resulted in Fox also signing a separate agreement to affiliate these stations (three NBC affiliates and one ABC affiliate) with the network. The New World agreement and Burnham Broadcasting purchases resulted in Fox gaining VHF affiliates in ten NFC markets – eight that were the home markets of teams in the conference, and two that were secondary markets of nearby franchises. The deals caused major affiliation shakeups in the markets affected by the deals, as ABC, NBC and CBS immediately began seeking new affiliates, although the agreements that came about also created a domino effect in which all three longer-established networks switched affiliate partners in certain markets where neither New World nor Burnham owned stations. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Repercussions of the 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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