Superstation

Superstation is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. In its most precise meaning, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States defines superstation as a "television broadcast station, other than a network station, licensed by the FCC, that is secondarily transmitted by a satellite carrier."

In the early days of broadcasting, most large media markets had, by standards of the period, a large number of television stations. Generally, these markets had three VHF stations that were respectively affiliated with NBC, ABC and CBS (the then dominant television networks), one or more public television stations (which usually were member stations of PBS), and one or more UHF stations (and in the largest markets, such as New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago, at least one VHF station) without a network affiliation. These independent stations relied on syndicated reruns, older movies and local programming (such as newscasts, children's programming or sporting events) to fill their broadcast schedules. Smaller media markets, however, often had only the basic three network-affiliated stations.

Cable television providers in smaller municipalities and rural areas sought a foothold by "importing" signals from larger nearby or distant cities for their customers. Anxious for more viewers, the stations assisted by relaying their signals by wire or microwave transmission to these towns. These stations, especially independents that were owned by Gaylord Broadcasting – such as WVTV (channel 18) in Milwaukee, KSTW (channel 11) in Seattle, KTVT (channel 11) in Fort Worth–Dallas and KHTV (channel 39, now KIAH) in Houston, which all served their respective states with entertainment programming via these connections – became the first "superstations," on a regional basis.

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