==Télévision hertzienne==
Six réseaux nationaux privés prédominent sur la télévision hertzienne américaine (ou ''broadcast television''). Il s'agit des trois ''networks'' historiques (ABC, CBS et NBC) qui ont été créés dans les années 40 (1930, dans le cas de la NBC) et des trois réseaux challengers (Fox, UPN et The WB) qui ont été lancés dans les années 80 et 90. (Le 18 septembre 2006, UPN et The WB ont fusionnées pour former The CW, il n'y a donc plus que 5 réseaux principaux)

Les programmes des réseaux sont relayés localement par les stations privées qui leur sont affiliées. En vertu des lois anti-trust, les réseaux ne peuvent pas être propriétaires de toutes les stations qui leurs sont affiliées : certaines stations sont détenues par des entrepreneurs locaux, d'autres par un réseau concurrent.

En janvier 2008, ces cinq réseaux sont détenus par les groupes suivants :
* Walt Disney Company
* Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) :CBS Corporation
* National Broadcasting Company (NBC) : General Electric
* Fox Broadcasting Network (Fox) : Fox Entertainment Group (News Corporation)
* The CW Television Network (TheCW) : CBS Corporation;Time Warner

Depuis 2003, la chaine indépendante DEMOCRACYNOW émet tous les jours pendant une heure sur l'actualité de la guerre en Irak et les affaires de politique intérieure qui secouent le pays.  

En plus de ces cinq grands réseaux, dont la couverture est nationale, il existe aux États-Unis plusieurs réseaux de télévision communautaires ou religieux. 

La télévision publique est représentée par le réseau PBS (Public Broadcasting Service).

Enfin, il existe de nombreuses télévisions locales privées indépendantes qui, en plus de leurs programmes locaux, diffusent essentiellement des séries en ''syndication'' et des émissions de télé-achat.

'''Television''' is one of the major major mass media '''of the United States'''.  In an expansive country of more than 300 million people, television programs are some of the few things that nearly all Americans can share.  Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one.<ref>[http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Mass_Media/Factsheets/factvchip.html FCC V-Chip Fact Sheet, 7/1/99<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==Television channels and networks==

There are three basic types of television in the United States: broadcast, or "over-the-air" television, which is freely available to anyone with a TV in the broadcast area, cable television, and satellite television, both of which require a subscription to receive.

===Broadcast television===
The United States has a decentralized, market-oriented television system. Unlike many other countries, the United States has no national broadcast programming services. Instead, local media markets have their own television stations, which may be ''affiliated'' or ''owned and operated'' by a TV network. Stations may sign affiliation agreements with one of the national networks. Except in very small markets with few stations, affiliation agreements are usually exclusive: If a station is an NBC affiliate, the station would not air programs from ABC, CBS or other networks. 

However, to ensure local presences in television broadcasting, federal law restricts the amount of network programming local stations can run. Until the 1970s and '80s, local stations supplemented network programming with a good deal of their own produced shows. Today, however, many stations produce only local news shows. They fill the rest of their schedule with syndicated shows, or material produced independently and sold to individual stations in each local market.

====The three major networks====
The three major commercial television networks in the U.S. are ABC, founded, also as a radio network, in 1943. In big cities, affiliates of these networks almost always broadcast in the VHF band, which, in the days before cable became widespread, was premium real estate.

Major-network affiliates run very similar schedules. Typically, they begin weekdays with an early-morning locally produced news show, followed by a network morning show, such as NBC's ''Today'', which mixes news, weather, interviews and music. Syndicated programming, especially talk shows, fill the late morning, followed often by local news at noon (Eastern Time). Soap operas dominate the early afternoon, while syndicated talk shows such as ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' appear in the late afternoon. Local news comes on again in the early evening, followed by the national network's news program at 6:30 or 5:30 p.m., followed, in the Central Time zone, by more news.

More syndication occupies the next hour (or ½ hour in the Central time zone, called Dancing with the Stars'' has largely replaced them. Later in the evening, dramas like ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' and ''Grey's Anatomy'' air.

At 10 or 11 p.m., another local news program comes on, usually followed by late-night interview shows, such as ''Late Show with David Letterman''. Rather than sign off for the early hours of the morning (as was standard practice until the 1980s or so), TV stations now fill the time with syndicated programming or 30-minute advertisements, known as infomercials.

Saturday mornings usually feature network programming aimed at children (including public-affairs programs that help fulfill stations' legal obligations to provide public-service programming. Sports and infomercials can be found on weekend afternoons, followed again by the same type of prime-time shows aired during the week.

====Other over-the-air commercial television====
Until 1987, all English-language stations not affiliated with the big three networks were ''independent'', airing only locally produced and syndicated programming. Many independent stations still exist in the U.S., usually broadcasting on the UHF band. Syndicated shows, often reruns of old TV series and old movies, take up much of their schedule.

In 1986, however, the Fox Broadcasting Company launched a challenge to the big three networks. Thanks largely to the success of shows like ''The Simpsons'', as well as the network's acquisition of rights to show National Football League games, Fox has established itself as a major player in broadcast television. However, Fox differs from the three older networks in that it does not air a nightly news program, its prime-time schedule is only two hours long, and some of its big-city affiliates still broadcast on UHF.  Its only scheduled news program is FOX News Sunday, on Sunday mornings; FOX prefers to use the cable FOX News Channel for its news programming, giving affiliates more time to carry local news. Most FOX affiliates now have local newscasts, usually airing an hour earlier competing with network dramas, rather than other local newscasts.

In the 1990s, three new networks -- The WB, PAX -- joined the scene. The fledging WB and UPN merged into The CW in fall 2006, while O&Os, debuted in fall 2006 as well. PAX, now known as "ION Television," has had very low ratings since its launch and is no longer considered a competitor to the larger over-the-air networks.

ION broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making the ION network totally responsible for its affiliates. The CW broadcasts 13 hours a week in prime time, 10 hours in daytime.

====Broadcast television in Languages Other Than English (LOTE)====
Univision, a network of Spanish language stations, is the fifth-largest TV network behind NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox. Its major competition is Telemundo, a sister network of NBC. Univision-owned TeleFutura, aimed at a younger Hispanic demographic, and Azteca América, the American version of Mexico's TV Azteca, are two other popular Spanish-language over-the-air networks.

In addition, the Miami, Florida-based Haitian Television Network offers locally produced Haitian Creole and French language programming in Miami and parts of New Jersey, New York City, and Boston.

====Non-commercial television====
Public television has a far smaller role than in most other countries. There is no state-owned broadcasting authority. Instead, the federal government subsidizes non-commercial television stations through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The income received from the government is insufficient to cover expenses and stations rely on corporate sponsorships and viewer contributions.

American public television stations air programming that commercial stations do not offer, such as educational, including cultural, and public affairs programming. Most public TV stations are affiliates of the New York City's municipally-owned broadcast service, NYCTV, creates original programming that airs in several markets. Few cities have major municipally-owned stations.

Many Total Christian Television, and INSP.

===Cable and satellite television===
Until the 1970s, cable television was used only to rebroadcast over-the-air TV to areas that had trouble receiving signals. But in that decade, national networks dedicated exclusively to cable broadcasting appeared, along with cable-TV systems that provided service to major cities. Today, most American households receive cable TV, and cable networks collectively have greater viewership than broadcast networks.

Unlike broadcast networks, most cable networks air the same programming nationwide. Top cable networks include Sci Fi (science fiction), Nick and Cartoon Network (Children's), TBS (comedy), TNT (drama) and Lifetime (women's)

Cable-TV subscribers receive these channels through local cable ''system operators'', who receive the programming from the networks and transmit them into homes. Usually, local governments award a monopoly to a system operator to provide cable-TV service in a given area. By law, cable systems must include local over-the-air stations in their offerings to customers.

Today Direct broadcast satellite television services, which became available in the U.S. in the 1990s, offers programming similar to cable TV. Dish Network and News Corporation's DirecTV are the major DBS providers in the country. Satellites were originally launched and used by the Television networks as a method of distributing their programs from headquarters to local affiliates. In the 1970s individuals in remote locations, without access to Terrestrial television broadcasts, found they could get free television by installing large satellite dishes and aiming them at the various satellites owned by the networks. This had the additional benefit of providing channels that others could not receive. This included programs without commercials, live feeds not intended for broadcast, broadcasts from other countries and eventually cable television programming. To prevent people from receiving pay content for free, satellite transmissions are now scrambled. Newer transmission technology enabled satellite dishes to be much smaller and subscription services were developed.

==The business of television==
Over-the-air commercial stations and networks generate the vast majority of their revenue from advertisements. According to a 2001 survey, broadcast stations allocated 16 to 21 minutes per hour to commercials. Most cable networks also generate income from advertisements, although most basic cable networks also receive subscription fees. However, ''premium'' cable networks, such as the movie network HBO, do not air commercials. Instead, cable-TV subscribers must pay extra to receive the premium networks. Cable-TV system operators get revenue from subscription fees and by selling local advertisements.

==Programming==
<!-- Deleted image removed: thumb|right|[[Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz of ''I Love Lucy''.]] -->
American television has had very successful programming that has inspired television networks across the world to make shows of similar types or broadcast these shows in their own country. Some of these shows are still on the air and some are still alive and well in syndication.  The opposite is also true; a number of popular American programs were based on shows from other countries, especially the United Kingdom and Canada.