In American television in 2021, notable events include television show debuts, finales, and cancellations; channel launches, closures, and re-brandings; stations changing or adding their network affiliations; and information about controversies and carriage disputes.
Caillou was cancelled by PBS Kids after 20 years, as PBS lost the rights to air the series. The show's "cancellation" attracts widespread online celebration from critics of the show.
Jeopardy! airs the final episode (pushed back from Christmas Day) of Alex Trebek's hosting tenure, recorded 10 days before his November 8, 2020, death from stage IV pancreatic cancer. Starting with the January 11 episode and for the rest of the season, a series of guest hosts, the first being highest-winning Jeopardy! champion Ken Jennings, fill in at the host lectern Trebek had occupied for 36 years.
While sister network CBS airs an NFL playoff between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints, Nickelodeon airs a special children-oriented version of the game. The broadcast added classic Nickelodeon gags such as CGI-created slime cannons "spraying" the end zones after touchdowns; prerecorded explanations of penalties, offered by Young Sheldon star Iain Armitage; and announcer and former NFL star Nate Burleson analogizing successful plays with such childhood activities as staying in school. Although Nickelodeon's broadcast was aimed at younger, new-to-football viewers, it was reportedly enjoyed more so by Generation X and millennial parents who grew up watching the channel in its 1980s/1990s heyday.
Food Network pulls all content related to season 20 of Worst Cooks in America (which aired in Summer 2020) from its linear, streaming and social platforms (including discovery+), after season winner Ariel Robinson and her husband, Austin Robinson, were charged in the January 14 death of their adopted three-year-old daughter at their Simpsonville, South Carolina, home. Ariel Robinson would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison for homicide by child abuse in May 2022, one month after Austin had pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting in the killing.
Two top executives of the CBS Television Stations group, division president Peter Dunn and Senior VP/News David Friend, are placed on administrative leave after a Los Angeles Times investigation reveals, among other allegations, their discriminatory and disparaging behavior concerning Black and female news employees at the station level, in particular at KYW-TV/Philadelphia. CBS would commission a third-party investigation into the matter and the broad culture within the station division; by the time it concludes in July, both Dunn and Friend would depart CBS (on April 7), and the general managers at CBS stations in Chicago (WBBM-TV) and Los Angeles (KCBS-TV/KCAL-TV) would be dismissed.
Gray Television announces its intent to acquire Quincy Media's broadcasting properties for $925 million. The deal—which was completed on August 2—saw Gray acquire eleven television (and two radio) stations, which was to have expanded its portfolio to 198 TV outlets in 102 markets with a collective reach of 25.4% of U.S. television households (as estimated prior to Gray's purchase of 16 additional stations from Meredith Local Media, see May 3 entry). The expanded portfolio would not include stations Gray had to divest to alleviate market conflicts with existing Gray properties (see April 29 entry). Quincy's newspaper holdings were sold to Phillips Media Group in a separate transaction announced on February 13.
Country music channel CMT joins numerous country radio stations, including those owned by Cumulus Media and iHeartMedia among others, in pulling Morgan Wallen's music from its video library after he was captured on video saying a racial slur that was posted by TMZ. In addition, he was dropped from his record labels, Big Loud and Republic Records along with being pulled from consideration for the Academy of Country Music Awards.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Kansas City Chiefs to win Super Bowl LV and become the first team to win the championship game in their home stadium. The game aired on CBS in English and ESPN Deportes in Spanish. The game was watched by 90.8 million people on linear television and another 5.6 million people on streaming platforms. It was the smallest audience since Super Bowl XXXIX in 2005.
Gina Carano is fired from The Mandalorian due to her controversial social media posts, with Lucasfilm announcing that they are ending their relationship with her. Carano is also dropped by United Talent Agency as a client.
NBC pulls from digital distribution an episode of the medical drama Nurses that aired on the network on February 9. Titled "Achilles Heel," a plotline in the episode features an Orthodox Jewish patient and his father objecting to a bone graft from a cadaver to treat a leg injury; the characters' depiction received criticism from Jewish rights groups for "demonizing" those of the Jewish faith, and of the ethical quandary presented in the plot being completely fictional. The episode of the Canadian-produced Nurses had already aired in that country in February 2020 (host network Global would follow NBC's suit in pulling "Achilles Heel" from its own digital platforms).
The National Hockey League announces a new seven-year deal with ESPN, covering the 2021–22 through 2027–28 seasons. The deal includes 25 games each season on ESPN or ABC; 75 games on ESPN+ (which replaces NHL.tv as the league's out-of-market streaming home); exclusive rights to the All-Star Game and Skills Competition; and half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs each season, including four Stanley Cup Finals series exclusively. The deal marks a reunion of the NHL with ESPN, which last carried the league in 2003–04, forming one half of a two-carrier deal with the league (see April 26 entry).
The Talk co-hosts Sharon Osbourne and Sheryl Underwood get into a heated on-air discussion over Osbourne's defense of Piers Morgan, who came under fire in Great Britain for dismissing Meghan, Duchess of Sussex's talk about her mental health during her March 7 interview with Oprah Winfrey (and would storm off ITV's Good Morning Britain on March 8, resigning from that show a day later). Osbourne would state on Twitter that her defense of Morgan was not meant to be racially motivated, and that she had been blindsided by The Talk producers into having the conversation. It leads to CBS launching an internal review of the incident and The Talk suspending production on March 15, initially for two days but eventually extended (see March 26).
WLS-TV/Chicago and sports anchor Mark Giangreco announced they have come to a separation agreement. A long-time Chicago TV/radio personality (and a 27-year veteran of the ABC O&O), Giangreco had been on administrative leave since a January 28 newscast in which, while presenting a video of a house being painted by a hockey player on roller skates, he equated fellow anchor Cheryl Burton to a "ditzy, combative interior decorator" of a hypothetical DIY Network home improvement show, with Burton asking for some kind of action to be taken after he had done the same previously.
The 63rd Grammy Awards air on CBS with Trevor Noah as the host. The awards were originally scheduled to be held on January 31, but were moved to March after Los Angeles County began experiencing a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations.
NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon brings in a limited, socially distanced, and fully-masked live audience to its regular home at Studio 6B of 30 Rockefeller Plaza; sidekick/announcer Steve Higgins also returns to the studio (he had been recording Tonight's intros from home), as well as the return of the show's pre-pandemic opening theme and street-side intro, albeit with special edits featuring host Jimmy Fallon and house band The Roots wearing masks (the original mask-free intro would return in May after the CDC's guidelines were updated). Prior to returning to 6B (which would bring back a full audience on June 7), Tonight had spent the pandemic either "at home" or in temporary audience-free space at Studio 6A in the 12 months before this evening's episode.
Warner Bros. Television fires All Rise executive producer Greg Spottiswood in the wake of an internal investigation over his alleged use of offensive remarks and other insensitive actions in the CBS legal drama's writers' room. It is the second such incident involving Spottiswood at All Rise; the first, in late 2019, resulted in five writers leaving the show, and a corporate coach (a Black woman) being brought in, after the writers clashed with Spottiswood (who is white) over the show's depiction of gender and race, specifically people of color.
After The Talk's hiatus is extended past March 16, when reports surfaced that former co-hosts Leah Remini and Holly Robinson Peete accused Sharon Osbourne of saying racist and homophobic slurs about Robinson Peete and fellow former panelists Julie Chen and Sara Gilbert, CBS finishes its review of the March 10 on-air incident, stating that Osbourne's actions "did not align with our values for a respectful workplace," and that Osbourne (the last remaining member of The Talk's original 2010 host panel) would not return to the show. The Talk would eventually return to air on April 12, when the show's remaining panelists sat down to discuss the incident and their reactions.
T-Mobile US announces the shutdown of its fledgling vMVPD service TVision, effective April 29. Launched in November 2020 as a streaming-only version of the wired TVision Home IPTV service (launched in 2019), TVision saw early criticism from Discovery Inc., ViacomCBS and NBCUniversal for, without their prior input and running afoul of channel bundling obligations set under their carriage deals, excluding certain networks they each own from the provider's higher-end "Live" packages despite having included them in its discount "Vibe" tier. Existing TVision subscribers were offered $10/month discounts off of either Philo or YouTube TV's respective base packages due to the closure. (Prior to the announcement, TVision had intended to begin selling its packages to customers outside of T-Mobile's consumer base by the end of 2021.)
Former Williamson County, Texas, sheriff Robert Chody turns himself in to authorities in neighboring Travis County on charges of evidence tampering for ordering the destruction of video footage, captured by Live PD, during a 2019 traffic stop that ended in the killing of Javier Ambler. It is the second time Chody is indicted for the crime (Williamson County charged him in September 2020), and it comes two days after Travis County charged two of his former deputies with manslaughter for their role in the incident.
American Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications and Mexico-based Televisa announce the combining of their respective entertainment assets into one company, to be known as Televisa-Univision. The $4.8 billion deal would result in Univision, UniMás and their respective O&Os as well as the company's cable properties (including Galavisión, Fusion TV and TUDN) being united under one company with the Televisa entertainment assets that Univision has long relied on to supply programming. Fusion however would close at year's end.
ABC News taps Kimberly Godwin as its new president, set to succeed outgoing chief James Goldston. A veteran of local and network news operations (including the last 14 years at CBS News), Godwin becomes the first Black executive to lead a broadcast news operation upon joining ABC News the following month.
The 93rd Academy Awards aired on ABC. Originally scheduled to be held on February 28, it was moved to April 25, the latest scheduled date for the ceremony in its history. The ceremony was presented from two locations in Hollywood: the Dolby Theatre and the Union Station. Nomadland earned the most wins with three awards: "Best Picture", "Best Director" (for Chloé Zhao, who became the first woman of color and the second woman overall to win in the category), and "Best Actress" (for Frances McDormand, who became the seventh person and fourth actress ever to win three acting Oscars over their career). Anthony Hopkins' "Best Actor" win for The Father (which, at 83, made him the oldest winner in an acting category) sparked some criticism as many viewers believed that the ceremony's producers broke with tradition in moving the lead acting categories to be presented after the "Best Picture" winner presentation on assumption that Chadwick Boseman (nominated for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) would receive a posthumous "Best Actor" award in tribute.
The National Hockey League announces a new seven-year deal with Turner Sports, covering the 2021–22 through 2027–28 seasons. The "'B' package" with Turner (the ESPN/ABC deal announced on March 10 has been termed the "'A' package") sees TBS and/or TNT carry up to 72 regular season games each season; the New Year's DayWinter Classic; half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs each season; three Stanley Cup Finals series exclusively on TNT; and live streaming and simulcast rights for HBO Max (which, alongside ESPN+, replaces NHL.tv as the league's out-of-market streaming home), marking the service's entry into live programming. The Turner and ESPN/ABC deals mean that NBC Sports' relationship with the NHL (one that dated to the 2005–06 season) would conclude at the end of the truncated 2021 season (see July 7), this after NBC pulled out of negotiations for the partial contractual rights.
Contestant Laura Trammell wins $398,690 in cash and prizes (including a Latitude Margaritaville house worth $375,000) during that evening's episode of Wheel of Fortune, making her the fourth biggest winner in the show's history (and the biggest outside of three other $1 million winners); it is also the expensive non-grand prize win outside the $100,000 grand prize, since a Winnebago Intent was offered and won in a 2019 episode. For the week of April 26–30, a special wedge was added to the wheel which allowed a contestant to add a second Latitude Margaritaville house envelope in the bonus round, similar to the Million Dollar Wedge (which was intact in the contestant's possession and is susceptible to any bankrupt wedge hits). It is also the third week to feature a collaboration between Margaritaville and Wheel, after previous sponsorships in 2018 and 2019.
The CW removes the British police proceduralBulletproof (which has aired on the network since 2019, under license from distributor Sky Vision) from its streaming platforms following an April 29 report in The Guardian detailing accusations of misconduct against star Noel Clarke from 20 women, in which he was accused of sexual harassment, unwanted groping, bullying, making inappropriate on-set comments, and sharing sexually explicit photos and videos without consent. Clarke has denied the allegations except for those pertaining to inappropriate comments he admits to have made about one of the women.
Gray Television announces its acquisition of the Meredith Local Media broadcasting unit from the Meredith Corporation for $2.7 billion. (Meredith would concurrently spin off its print/digital unit to current company shareholders.) The deal, upon its completion on December 1, resulted in Gray adding 16 stations in 11 markets to the company's portfolio, as well as making Gray the third-largest TV station group in the U.S. (behind Nexstar Media Group and Sinclair Broadcast Group), with 101 stations serving 113 markets that reach 36% of U.S. households (or 25% when factoring in the UHF discount). (See also July 14, concerning the sole station spin-off associated with the deal.)
Two months after awarding Thursday Night Football rights to Amazon Prime Video (see March 18 entry), the National Football League announces the streamer's exclusive commitment to the package will begin one season earlier than announced, from 2023 to 2022. The move means that 2021 is the last season TNF will be available on over-the-air (Fox) and conventional cable (NFL Network) services, outside of broadcast stations in the competing teams' home markets.
Believing that the Hollywood Foreign Press Association needs ample time to properly execute organizational and membership reforms (including initial changes approved on May 6), NBC announces it would not air the HFPA's Golden Globe Awardsceremony in January 2022. It is one of several stands (and boycotts) taken by studios, talent, agents, and PR firms against the HFPA in light of recent reports about its lack of membership diversity, as well as its long history of insular culture, suspect financial practices, and other questionable conduct.
Calling himself a "salary cap casualty," Kenny Mayne announces his departure from ESPN after 27 years as an anchor and correspondent for the sports network; his last on-screen appearance occurs on May 24.
HBO cancels taping of the May 14 episode of Real Time with Bill Maher (scheduled to feature Neil deGrasse Tyson as the interview guest, and Max Brooks and Dan Carlin as panelists) after the comedian/political satirist tests positive for COVID-19, with Maher being asymptomatic, following weekly PCR testing for the disease conducted by the premium channel ahead of the scheduled broadcast. Maher is one of several rare "breakthrough" COVID-19 cases that occurred despite prior vaccination. (HBO aired reruns of Real Time and Mare of Easttown, respectively, in place of the canceled May 14 and May 21 episodes.) Maher returned to the program on May 28.
AT&T and Discovery, Inc. reach a definitive agreement to combine the respective media assets of WarnerMedia (such as HBO, HBO Max, Warner Bros., CNN, TBS and a 50% share of The CW) and Discovery (such as Discovery Channel, Discovery+, Food Network, HGTV and TLC) in a cash/securities/stock deal worth $43 billion, plus WarnerMedia's retention of certain debt. The deal is structured as a Reverse Morris Trust, as AT&T would spin out WarnerMedia into an independent company (unwinding its $85-billion 2017 acquisition of the former Time Warner) that concurrently acquires Discovery. Closed on April 8, 2022, AT&T shareholders own 71% of the company and Discovery shareholders own the remaining 29% share, with each shareholder group appointing representative board members; Discovery President/CEO David Zaslav leads the new company, taking over from WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, who would depart.
CNN terminates its contract with political commentator and former politician Rick Santorum in response to racist and historically inaccurate comments he made about Native Americans at an event in April.
HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs a segment on the practice of local television stations featuring sponsored content on newscasts and daytime advertorial lifestyle programming (and its impact on journalistic integrity). During the segment, host John Oliver revealed that the show had created a fake product, the "Venus Veil" (a regular blanket that it intentionally deceptively marketed as "the world's first sexual wellness blanket"), and hired an actress to pitch the product on three unsuspecting stations, KTVX/Salt Lake City, KVUE/Austin and KMGH-TV/Denver (all ABC affiliates).
Juan Williams announces he will depart from the host panel of Fox News Channel's The Five rather than commute between his Washington, D.C., home and Fox News' New York City studios, where the show would return to production on June 1. Williams, who had been with The Five since its launch in 2011, remains with Fox as a Washington-based senior political analyst.
In light of the 2019 killing of Javier Ambler that was filmed by Live PD's cameras, TexasgovernorGreg Abbott signs into law the first statewide measure in the U.S. (a bill named in Ambler's memory) that prohibits law enforcement agencies from authorizing TV crews to film on-duty officers "for the purpose of creating a reality television show". The bill, authored by Democratic State Representative James Talarico (whose district includes Williamson County, where Ambler was killed), had passed with near-unanimous support in both houses of the Texas Legislature.
The internal networks of Cox Media Group's television and radio stations are struck by what is described as a ransomware attack. The IT incident disrupts the stations' online streams; forces employees to use personal devices for communication instead of company-owned computers and phones; and impacts the production of live news broadcasts, including the pre-emption of full newscasts on at least one of Cox's television stations (WSB-TV/Atlanta).
Chris Harrison reaches a non-disclosure agreement with ABC and Warner Horizon Unscripted Television to end his 19-year run as host (and co-executive producer) of The Bachelor franchise. Harrison had been taking a sabbatical from its various series following a controversial February 9 Extra interview, in which he defended Season 25 contestant Rachael Kirkconnell during a discussion with former contestant Rachel Lindsay concerning photos of Kirkconnell at a 2018 Antebellum South plantation-themed fraternity formal, and accusations she liked racist social media posts and had bullied a high school classmate for dating Black men. (Guest hosts were slated for all scheduled 2021 editions of the franchise – including Season 17 of The Bachelorette, which premiered the night prior – starting with the Season 25 edition of The Bachelor: After the Final Rose.) On September 28, ESPN college football analyst Jesse Palmer—who starred in the flagship series’ fifth season in 2004—was named host of The Bachelor effective with the 26th season in January 2022.
For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, CBS' The Late Show with Stephen Colbert broadcasts before a live audience at New York's Ed Sullivan Theater, with Jon Stewart as Colbert's primary in-studio guest. The show is adhering to New York state's adoption of CDC guidelines, including audience members proving full vaccination, optional wearing of face masks, daily testing and screening of staff, and a compliance officer monitoring and enforcing all safety protocols. In the 15 months before this broadcast, Late Show originated from either Colbert's home or within the confines of a closet-sized studio above the Sullivan.
TBS' Conan airs an extended (even for its original format) final episode that features guest appearances by Jack Black (in-studio) and Will Ferrell (via Zoom), an animated cold open "exit interview" with Homer Simpson, and clip packages from previous episodes. The finale marks host Conan O'Brien's departure from late-night TV; his 28 years working on Conan and NBC's The Tonight Show and Late Night trail only the 33 and 30 years respectively spent by David Letterman and Johnny Carson in the daypart.
The Tampa Bay Lightning defeat the Montreal Canadiens 1–0 in Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Finals to win their second consecutive and third overall championship in franchise history. This game also marked the final NHL broadcast for NBC Sports after 16 seasons, with ESPN/ABC and Turner Sports becoming the new U.S. NHL broadcasters starting with the 2021-22 season. Game 5 attracted 3.6 million viewers and the series averaged 2.52 million viewers overall for NBC.
All remaining analog television stations, as mandated by the FCC, shut off their analog signals and broadcast only in digital. This transition comes twelve years and one month after the digital transition for full-power television stations in 2009; only existing low-power broadcasters have been allowed to broadcast in analog since then. The few remaining analog low-power stations are mostly distant rural translators in large geographical television markets and a few urban-area stations operating primarily as radio stations on 87.7 FM; digital television is incompatible with either digital or analog radio, which forces the 87.7 stations to change frequencies or cease their radio operations altogether.
The Talk announces that frequent guest panelist Jerry O'Connell (who had been recurring on the program since May, when the series began employing a rotation of male guest hosts) would join the CBS daytime show in September as a permanent panelist, the first male to join what had been an all-female panel throughout its 11-year history.
Gray Television announces it will sell its ABC affiliate in the Central Michigan market, WJRT-TV/Flint, to Allen Media Broadcasting. The $70 million deal—which closes on September 23, prior to the closure of the Gray-Meredith deal—resolves the only single-market overlap created by Gray's pending acquisition of Meredith Corporation's broadcast assets (see May 3 entry), and allows Gray to keep another "top-four-ranked" station in the market, Meredith-owned CBS affiliate WNEM-TV/Bay City.
In a surprise on-air announcement, Kasie Hunt announces her departure from NBC News and MSNBC, where she has hosted MSNBC's early morning program Way Too Early since its revival in 2020 which continued with rotating guest hosts in the interim(see October 25 entry).
The Milwaukee Bucks defeat the Phoenix Suns 105–98 in Game 6 of the 2021 NBA Finals to win their second overall championship. This ends the city's 50-year championship drought dating back to 1971.
The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, take place after their one-year postponement was made on March 24, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. NBC and its cable networks carry coverage in the United States. (NBCSN offered event coverage for the last time as it was scheduled to close at the end of the year; see "Networks and Services" below for details.) Although the International Olympic Committee stated it would be held as scheduled, postponement of the Summer Olympics to the following year was made in March 2020. The new opening/closing ceremony date range was announced on March 30, 2020.
Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby issues a cease-and-desist letter to ESPN, demanding the network end correspondence with the conference's member schools and other NCAA Division I conferences and accusing ESPN—without providing evidence—of having "actively engaged" in discussions with the SEC and American Athletic Conference about approaching Big 12 members for membership in those conferences to "destabilize the Big 12" and allow the universities of Oklahoma and Texas (which informed the Big 12 two days earlier that they will not renew their grant of media rights after the 2024–25 academic year, intending to join the SEC in 2025–26, an invitation approved by that conference the day after the letter's release) to avoid having to make buyout payments should the Big 12 fold. (ESPN maintains television and streaming rights to all three NCAA conferences.) Representatives for ESPN dismissed Bowlsby's claims as having "no merit."
Ending a 33-month-long retransmission dispute, Dish Network and Home Box Office, Inc. reach an agreement that allows the satellite provider to resume distribution of HBO and Cinemax (offering five of seven HBO and three of eight Cinemax linear channels, not counting West Coast versions of their primary feeds that were also added, plus SVOD content from both networks), as well as offer access to HBO Max for the first time. (Dish concurrently offered customers a 20% discount on HBO Max's ad-free tier through October 27.) Dish Network and Sling TV dropped HBO and Cinemax in October 2018, which Dish blamed on AT&T (owner of HBO parent WarnerMedia) leveraging its ownership of HBO to help boost Dish rival DirecTV. (Sling TV is not included in the Dish/HBO carriage agreement.)
Ramar Communications reaches an agreement to sell its television station cluster in the Albuquerque market—Telemundo affiliate KASA-TV and its network of repeaters (KTEL-CD and its Carlsbad satellite KTEL-TV, and 40 low-power translators), MeTV affiliate KRTN-LD (and its Durango, Colorado, satellite KRTN-TV), Movies! affiliate KUPT-LD, and Heroes & Icons affiliate KUPT/Hobbs—to Telemundo Station Group for $12.5 million. The sale will result in KASA becoming a Telemundo O&O (resulting in Telemundo parent NBCUniversal obtaining its 31st O&O market for the Spanish-language network), though it is unclear if the KRTN and KUPT stations will be spun off to a separate buyer or converted into repeaters of KASA. It will also mark Ramar's exit from television broadcasting, after having previously sold its Lubbock television cluster (led by Fox affiliate KJTV-TV, CW affiliate KLCW-TV, and MyNetworkTV affiliate KMYL-LD) to Gray Television (owner of local NBC affiliate KCBD) and SagamoreHill Broadcasting in October 2020; the company will retain ownership of its eight-station radio cluster in Lubbock.
Waypoint Media announces its intent to exit broadcasting with the sale of its television stations and its centralized News Hub to Coastal Television Broadcast Group. It is Waypoint's second attempt to sell the stations, after a previously announced sale to Standard Media collapsed earlier in the year. Both Coastal and Waypoint own stations mostly in small cities and rural areas of the United States; Waypoint's owners stated that consolidation into a larger media company was a necessity to achieve the economy of scale to survive in the modern American media landscape and had previously divested its other broadcast assets to HC2 Holdings, Family Life Ministries and Seven Mountains Media over the course of the late 2010s and early 2020s.
ABC airs an exclusive special edition of ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, a rivalry game between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox, in which the White Sox won 9–3 (marking their first three-game series sweep at Wrigley Field since May 2012). The telecast marked the first regular season Major League Baseball game shown on ABC since August 1995 (during its involvement in the short-lived Baseball Network consortium with NBC), and the first time that ABC had broadcast a regular season MLB game produced by ESPN, which fully absorbed the network's sports division in 2006. (ABC resumed airing MLB games of any kind on a limited basis in September 2020, by arrangement with ESPN for the league's wild card round.)
Jeopardy! distributor Sony Pictures Television announces two new permanent hosts for the show: executive producer Mike Richards was assigned to helm the daily syndicated version, while actress Mayim Bialik hosts primetime and spinoff versions, including a "National College Championship" slated to air on ABC in 2022. Both Richards and Bialik were among Jeopardy's guest hosts in the months after former host Alex Trebek's death. Richards subsequently resigned as host on August 20 and was later fired as showrunner of Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune (both of which he oversaw since succeeding longtime producer Harry Friedman in May 2020, after the latter's retirement) on August 31, amid scrutiny over misogynistic and offensive remarks he made on his 2013–14 podcast The Randumb Show, and prior wrongful termination lawsuits filed by twomodels dismissed during his 2009–19 producing tenure on The Price is Right. The five completed syndicated episodes that Richards hosted—filmed the day before his resignation—would air as scheduled to kick off the new season the week of September 13, with Bialik and Ken Jennings alternating multi-week stints for the remainder of it.
Bally Sports Detroit suspends Detroit Tigers color commentator Jack Morris after he used an offensive Asian accent while talking about Japanese Los Angeles Angels utility player Shohei Ohtani during a game on August 17. Morris apologized for the incident later in the game and Ohtani said he was not offended after seeing the video.
Actress Briana Thomas (who had a background role as a barista for multiple episodes from 2018 to 2019) filed a discrimination and wrongful termination lawsuit against The Young and the Restless distributor Sony Pictures Television and CBS, alleging that Anthony Morina—who has served as the soap opera's executive producer/showrunner since 2018—had sexually harassed her on multiple occasions (including complimenting her body, offering her a "private acting lesson", and asking her to remove a sarong during the filming of one scene in order to see her fully in a bikini), and had publicly verbally abused her on-set before firing her from Y&R via email in retaliation for spurning his advances.
Carrie Ann Inaba announces her departure from The Talk after three seasons. Inaba, who assumed the moderator/co-host slot previously held by Julie Chen in January 2019, had been on sabbatical from the CBS daytime talk show since April, a move she then cited was "to focus on [her] well-being". Inaba's departure was the first in a series of hosting changes for The Talk: Elaine Welteroth, who joined the panel in January 2020, subsequently announced on August 31 that she would also be leaving the program; American Ninja Warrior co-host Akbar Gbajabiamila (who guest co-hosted multiple episodes between April and July) was announced to occupy one of the vacancies on September 2, followed by the addition of journalist Natalie Morales (who announced three days prior that she would depart NBC News after 22 years with the network news division) on October 3.
Disney Media Distribution announces that ABC News would assume production oversight of Tamron Hall, effective with the syndicated daytime talk show's third season, which would premiere on September 6. The division already oversees two of ABC's daytime programs: The View (originally overseen by the network's daytime division from 1997 to 2014) and the news-based Good Morning America extension program GMA3: What You Need To Know (originally formatted as a lighter talk show from 2018 to 2020, when it was overhauled into its current hard news/interview format amid the COVID-19 pandemic).
ESPN removes Rachel Nichols—who had been a host and sideline reporter for the network in two different stints since 2004 (she left ESPN in 2013 for Turner Sports, working there for three years)—from her NBA coverage assignments, along with canceling The Jump (a daily basketball analysis program she had hosted since its 2016 debut), in the wake of a recorded 2020 phone conversation with Adam Mendelsohn (an advisor to LeBron James) leaked on July 4, in which Nichols lamented Maria Taylor (who is Black) being assigned to cover the 2020 NBA Finals over herself, implying Taylor got the assignment because of "pressure" toward ESPN to address their "crappy longtime record on diversity," remarks which earlier resulted in the network dropping Nichols from covering the 2021 Finals. (Taylor left ESPN on July 31, subsequently joining NBC Sports as a correspondent through a deal signed ten days prior.)
Kirstyn Crawford, a former producer for Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos, files a civil lawsuit against ABC and former GMA and World News Tonight executive producer Michael Corn (who was named president of news at NewsNation on May 28) in the New York Supreme Court. The suit alleges sexual assault and attempted sexual coercion by Corn toward Crawford (by repeatedly forcing her head into his chest, kissing her and rubbing her legs during an Uber ride, and fabricating the loss of his hotel key to be invited into her room for sex during a 2015 assignment to cover the 87th Academy Awards for GMA) and ex-WNT staffer/supporting claimant Jill McClain (by groping and forcing himself on her during two separate 2010 assignments for World News Tonight, which he executive produced from 2010 to 2014), that Corn fostered a toxic work environment at both programs, and that ABC News management did not investigate the complaints against Corn (including one filed by Stephanopoulos on Crawford's behalf). Corn dismissed the claims as "demonstrably false," pointing to emails between him and Crawford that he claims contradict her allegations.
Hours after Hurricane Ida makes landfall as a Category 4 near Port Fourchon, Louisiana, Nexstar's New Orleans duopoly of WGNO (ABC) and WNOL (CW) suffers significant wind and flood damage to their shared studio building at the Metairie-based Galleria office complex. A section of the ceiling above the control room was peeled away, forcing duopoly personnel to be evacuated from that area during WGNO's hurricane coverage and causing flooding within the building (including its newsroom); some of the facility's exterior walls and a satellite relay dish were also damaged. Gray-owned Fox affiliate WVUE is forced to temporarily relocate some of its anchors and personnel to the studios of sister stations WBRC/Birmingham and WAFB/Baton Rouge the next day, after its studio building loses generator power following a "catastrophic" electrical outage that affected over 90% of homes and businesses in Orleans Parish (including the majority of New Orleans proper). Over 350,000 cable subscribers in the storm's path were left without TV and/or internet service (338,115 of them being in Louisiana, including New Orleans-area customers of Cox, Spectrum and U-verse).
ESPN's High School Showcase airs a high school football contest between IMG Academy and the Bishop Sycamore Centurions, only realizing partway through the game—which IMG would ultimately win 58–0—that there were numerous inconsistencies in the claims that Bishop Sycamore had made to secure the national television slot, including questions on the identities and credentials of Bishop Sycamore's players, many of whom were revealed as graduates of other schools who had gone unrecruited; the team's playing of another game less than 48 hours before against the rules of every high school sanctioning body in the United States; and the organization of Bishop Sycamore itself, which did not exist before 2019 and has scant evidence of being a high school as it claims. Both ESPN and its scheduler Paragon Marketing Group admitted they had failed to do their due diligence in scheduling the Centurions.
Locast indefinitely suspends operations, two days after New York Southern District Judge Louis Stanton denied the streaming service a summary judgment that would have exempted it from copyright liability; the ruling set up a likely trial in 2022 for an infringement lawsuit filed in 2019 by the owners of NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox. Locast contended it was exempt from liability under the Copyright Act because it seeks $5 monthly donations from users—earning around $4.3 million to date, nearly twice the $2.4 million it incurred in operational expenses—to cover costs of "maintaining and operating an expanding system" that streams retransmitted broadcast signals to users within the markets it operates. Stanton asserted the donations amounted to surcharges to allow Locast users to receive uninterrupted streams following a 15-minute free viewing window (occurring four times per hour until a donation is made, a feature it suspended on September 1 in light of the ruling), and asserted no provision exists that would allow the donations to be used for expansion of the service into additional markets.
Buzzr began rerunning the cult 1979–80 game show Whew! for the first time, returning the show to television for the first time in 41 years, in a licensing agreement with owners Burt Sugarman and Jay Wolpert, who retained ownership of the series.
CBS revamps its weekday morning show franchise, relaunching it as CBS Mornings and incorporating feature segments during its second hour to tie the program in more closely with CBS Sunday Morning. The changes, which also involve the addition of sportscaster and former NFL wide receiverNate Burleson as tertiary co-anchor (alongside co-anchors Gayle King and Tony Dokoupil, both holdovers from the preceding CBS This Morning format) and the incorporation of the abstract sun motif and "Abblasen" trumpet fanfare used by Sunday Morning since its January 1979 debut (mirroring the unified 1979–82 Morning format), coincides with the network moving production of its morning shows to a new studio at One Astor Plaza in Times Square. The Saturday edition, retitled CBS Saturday Morning and which already incorporates feature segments similar to those on Sunday Morning, followed suit—retaining its existing anchors—on September 18.
The NBA'sMilwaukee Bucks announce Lisa Byington as their new play-by-play announcer for local TV broadcasts on Bally Sports Wisconsin, succeeding the retired Jim Paschke. Byington becomes the first female to call TV play-by-play on a full-time regular-season basis for a major men's pro sports team.
Adult Swim and TBS' rights to Family Guy expire and the show has their final airings on those networks. FXX and Freeform begin airing the first fifteen seasons. The show also joins FX's lineup that month. These deals did not affect the syndication rights held by local broadcast stations. The show's departure from Adult Swim on September 18, 2021, was commemorated with a remembrance bumper created by the network, which played after the final airing (the episode "Stewie is Enceinte"). The bumper showed animations of several Adult Swim characters bidding farewell to Family Guy, including shots of Peter crying at the beginning and the Griffin family waving goodbye towards the end.
Dancing with the Stars premieres its 30th season on ABC, which features a regular same-gender dance pairing for the first time in the reality competition's history: singer/actress JoJo Siwa (who came out as pansexual in April 2021, and, on August 26, was among the first two celebrity contestants announced to appear that season, alongside Olympic gold-medal gymnastSunisa Lee) is paired with a female professional partner, announced as Jenna Johnson on the season premiere. (Season 22 contestants Nyle DiMarco and Jodie Sweetin were both paired with pro dancers of the same gender for one-time routines in 2016; certain international versions of the franchise have featured occasional same-gender partnerships dating to 2010, when the Israeli version Rokdim Im Kokhavim paired sportscaster Gili Shem Tov with female dancer Dorit Milman.) NBA shooting guard Iman Shumpert (the first NBA player to become a finalist and winner in the show's history) and professional partner Daniella Karagach (in her first partner victory) would win the Season 30 mirror ball trophy on November 22.
About 15 minutes into that morning's live broadcast, co-host Sunny Hostin and recurring guest co-host Ana Navarro (both of whom were fully vaccinated) are asked to leave the set of The View after rapid antigen tests taken before the live taping revealed they both had tested positive for COVID-19. Their test results were later revealed on-air by fellow panelists Joy Behar and Sara Haines, and resulted in a scheduled in-studio interview with Vice PresidentKamala Harris to be delayed (and abbreviated) so it could instead be conducted remotely from a separate room elsewhere within New York's ABC Broadcast Center. A White House official stated that Harris had not interacted with Hostin and Navarro prior to the broadcast. The initial results were later found to have been false positives as subsequent rapid tests taken backstage came back negative, resulting in Hostin and Navarro being cleared to host the following Monday's (September 27) broadcast.
In an unusual move, KATU/Portland, OR has what one staffer terms a "No News Monday": The morning, afternoon, and early evening newscasts at the Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned ABC affiliate are cancelled for the day (rebroadcasts of KATU-produced specials air in their place) so that the station's news staff can attend a seminar designed to deal with job-related trauma and stress.
Xavier Prather becomes the first Black HouseGuest to win the main U.S. version of Big Brother, defeating Derek Frazier (son of the late Joe Frazier) for the $750,000 grand prize (increased from $250,000 in past seasons) by a unanimous 9–0 vote of its "jury" of evicted contestants in the Season 23 finale. Prather, Frazier and "America's Favorite HouseGuest" honoree Tiffany Mitchell (who won $50,000, up from the prior $25,000 for the viewer-voted prize) were members of "The Cookout," an all-Black alliance formed early in the season by six of the initial 16 contestants (eight of whom were persons of color, a byproduct of CBS casting policies instituted in response to the George Floyd protests requiring BIPOC participants represent at least 50% of the contestants cast on its reality competition shows) with the intent of securing the historic feat. Among the U.S. versions of the franchise, Prather is preceded in this distinction by Tamar Braxton, who won the show's celebrity edition in 2019.
In the FCC Enforcement Bureau's first penalty action pertaining to Internet-transmitted closed captioning, ViacomCBS settles an investigation into violations of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010 (which require live and pre-recorded video programming delivered via internet television services incorporate captions if broadcast with captioning in original linear TV airings) concerning multiple reported instances, dating to January 2018, of captions being absent from certain programs featured on Pluto TV's linear streaming channels and VOD menu. Under the consent decree, the company agreed to pay $3.5 million in fines and to implement a compliance plan to ensure captions are included on all Pluto TV content.
On the 60th anniversary of the Christian Broadcasting Network's first broadcast, Pat Robertson—who had hosted the Christian-oriented news/talk show since its April 1966 premiere—announced he is stepping down as regular co-host of The 700 Club after that day's telecast to focus on his role as chancellor and CEO of Virginia Beach-based Regent University (which Robertson founded in 1977). The elder Robertson will continue to appear on the monthly 700 Club Interactive and make occasional appearances on The 700 Club. CBN CEO Gordon Robertson, who has also served as a co-host and executive producer of the program since 1998, succeeded his father as primary co-host of the ministry's flagship program on October 4.
DirecTV removes Bloomberg Television from the lineups of its namesake direct-broadcast satellite service, DirecTV Stream and U-verse. The DirecTV satellite service had carried the financial news network since its 1994 inception (both via its standalone 24-hour feed as well as the time-lease blocks that Bloomberg had run on USA Network until 2004 and on E! thereafter until 2009).
With the network's annual two-night season lead-off telecast of the iHeartRadio Music Festival, The CW begins regularly offering prime-time programming on Saturdays (running from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. ET/PT), replacing syndicated series, feature film packages and/or local programs (including in some cases, paid programming) that its affiliates had run on that night. It marks the first time The CW has programmed that night in its 15-year history and makes it only the sixth conventional U.S. English-language commercial broadcast network—counting the modern "Big Four" and the now-defunct DuMont—ever to maintain a seven-night-a-week schedule. (Fox, which has programmed Saturdays since July 1987, was the last network to start offering a full weekly schedule upon adding prime-time programming on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in January 1993; CW predecessors The WB and UPN never programmed Saturday prime time during their existences.) As a trade-off for the move, the network shuttered its daytime block on September 3, giving that one hour per weekday back to its affiliates effective September 6 and leaving its Saturday morning E/I block, One Magnificent Morning, as the only non-prime-time programming remaining on The CW's schedule. The night's regular schedule debuted the following Saturday (October 9), consisting of returning unscripted shows Whose Line Is It Anyway? and World's Funniest Animals.
Dish Network removes 64 Tegna-owned local stations from nearly 3 million customers in 53 markets across the country. On October 18, Dish Network filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against Tegna.
A Reuters investigation reported that, according to court documents from depositions in 2019 and 2020, Robert Herring founded far-right news/opinion channel One America News Network—which has been the subject of criticism and legal issues related to its promoting of false claims of election fraud during the 2020 presidential election, among other falsehoods and conspiracy theories—at the urging of executives at AT&T (which owns competitor CNN through its WarnerMedia unit) who felt that an additional conservative news channel was needed to counterbalance existing left- and centrist-leaning news channels being offered on DirecTV and U-verse (spun off by AT&T in April). Documents also disclosed that AT&T had provided up to 90% of the revenues to OAN, and the network had promised to "cast a positive light" on AT&T during newscasts.
The Talk's host panel returns to five permanent spots with the addition of Natalie Morales; she joins the CBS daytime talk show after a 22-year tenure with NBC News, where her duties included serving as correspondent for Dateline and West Coast anchor for Today.
Mark Harmon makes his final appearance as a cast regular on NCIS, with his character, Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs, choosing to stay behind in the relative peace of Alaska after solving a case there. Harmon, who had been in the CBS drama series' cast since its first season in 2003, remains associated with the show as an executive producer.
Sinclair Broadcast Group is struck by a ransomware attack that resulted in data being taken from its IT networks, and knocked internal servers, email servers, corporate phone lines, and workstations and news graphics systems at its television stations offline. Programming was also disrupted over subsequent days: production of live news broadcasts were impacted—many stations had to produce their newscasts using limited internal resources, while a few were forced to preempt them outright (substituted by syndicated programs or a feed of The National Desk)—as were scheduled NFL game telecasts on its NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates on the 17th; Sinclair also supplied alternative feeds, mainly from company-owned multicast networks like Charge! and TBD, to fill airtime on some of the affected stations. The hackers are believed to be connected to the Russian cybergang Evil Corp. (which was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2019), and to have breached the stations’ internal broadcasting systems by disseminating the Macaw ransomware strain (linked to an October 10 cyberattack on Olympus Corporation) via an interconnected Active Directory domain linked across Sinclair's internal network.
Actress Melissa Joan Hart wins $1 million for her charity of Youth Village on that night's Celebrity Wheel of Fortune, raising a total of $1,039,800 (largest overall in the show's Primetime version) and becoming the fourth overall contestant to win the grand prize since Sarah Manchester on the September 17, 2014, episode. For the celebrity episodes, four Million Dollar Wedges (without showing the bankrupts) are available from the second round which enables a celebrity to play for the prize by replacing one of the four $100,000 envelopes in the bonus round if claimed.
Jesse Spencer makes his final appearance as a series regular on Chicago Fire. During the series’ 200th episode, Spencer's character, Fire Capt. Matthew Casey, prepares to move to Oregon to take care of the sons of fallen firefighter Andrew Darden (who was killed in the line of duty in the show's pilot episode). Citing his involvement as a television series regular for 18 consecutive years (having played Dr. Robert Chase in House for eight seasons beforehand), Spencer, who had been with the NBC drama series since its first season in 2012, left to pursue other projects and to take care of his family.
ABC confirms that Ingo Rademacher was released from his contract with General Hospital, where he played the character of Jasper "Jax" Jacks off-and-on since 1996, after not complying with a November 1 deadline for the soap opera's cast and crew to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination. (He has been a vocal critic of such mandates.) The news of Rademacher's exit also came one day after he shared a meme by conservative author Allie Beth Stuckey on Instagram labeling Assistant Health SecretaryRachel Levine (who is transgender) a "dude"; the post—which also mocked both the notion that Levine is "an empowering woman" and the assertion that VirginiaLieutenant Governor-electWinsome Sears (a Black Republican) could be deemed a "white supremacist"—drew criticism from fellow castmates, among them transgender actress Cassandra James (recurring character Dr. Terry Randolph). Rademacher made his last on-air appearance on November 22. He later filed suit against ABC on December 13, challenging the network's vaccine mandate on constitutional, religious discrimination and privacy grounds.
Steve Burton, who played the character of Jason Morgan off-and-on since 1991 (with a hiatus from 2012 to 2017), confirmed he was released from his contract with General Hospital, becoming the second actor (after Ingo Rademacher, see November 8 entry for details) to be let go from the ABC soap opera after declining to comply with a November 1 proof of COVID-19 vaccination deadline for cast and crew. Burton, who contracted COVID-19 in August, disclosed in an Instagram post that he unsuccessfully sought approval from the show's production staff for medical and religious exemptions to the vaccine requirement; Burton's last on-air appearance on the show aired on November 19.
CNN fires Chris Cuomo—permanently ending his program, Cuomo Prime Time—four days after the network initially placed him on indefinite suspension following the November 29 release of documents in the sexual harassment investigation against his brother, former New York GovernorAndrew Cuomo, which revealed the anchor had a more participatory role in his brother's defense than he had previously disclosed. The transcripts and exhibits, released by the office of New York State Attorney GeneralLetitia James, included text messages showing Cuomo had sought to use his media sources to conduct research on the former governor's accusers, had offered to help the governor's office prepare its defense, and had dictated statements for his brother to use in depositions. (Shortly before his brother's resignation from office in August, Cuomo had apologized for having advised his brother's senior political aides and advisers in relation to the investigation, an act widely viewed as having breached traditional ethical barriers between journalists and lawmakers.) Rotating fill-in programs (starting with an expanded edition of Anderson Cooper 360°, which filled the slot from November 30–December 2) air in Cuomo Prime Time's former 9:00 p.m. ET slot until a permanent replacement show is announced.
The 47th People's Choice Awards are held at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, with Kenan Thompson as host. This was the first ceremony to air simultaneously on both E! and NBC, with the latter marking its return to broadcast television when CBS last aired the ceremony in 2017. BTS (for "Group of 2021", "Song of 2021" and "Music Video of 2021", the latter two for "Butter") and Dwayne Johnson (for the "People's Champion Award", "Comedy Movie Star of 2021" and "Male Movie Star of 2021", the latter two for his role in Jungle Cruise) were the most-awarded nominees, earning three awards each. Television winners included Loki for "Show of 2021", Grey's Anatomy for "Drama Show of 2021", Never Have I Ever for "Comedy Show of 2021" and Keeping Up With the Kardashians for "Reality Show of 2021".
Jussie Smollett is found guilty of five of six counts of felony disorderly conduct from a January 2019 incident during which Smollett falsely reported to police that he was the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime. It is believed and testified that he actually staged it. At the time, the fallout of the incident resulted in his being written out of Empire, on which he starred. In March 2022, Smollett is sentenced to five months in jail, 30 months of felony probation and was fined $25,000. He also must pay $120,000 in restitution.
In a surprise on-air announcement, Chris Wallace announces his departure from Fox News, where he had hosted its Sunday morning news discussion programFox News Sunday since 2003. Later in the day, it is revealed that Wallace would join CNN+, where he would debut Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? when the ill-fated streaming service launched in March 2022.
Woods Communications Corp. reaches an agreement to sell its Montgomery, Alabama, television station cluster—Fox affiliate WCOV-TV, Cozi TV affiliate WIYC (also a part-time MyNetworkTV affiliate via its DT2 subchannel), and True Crime Network affiliate WALE-LD—to Allen Media Broadcasting for $28.5 million in cash. The sale marks the Woods family's exit from television broadcasting: David Woods purchased WCOV (then a CBS affiliate) in 1985 and owned WDFX/Dothan from 1991 to 1999, while his late father, Charles, owned several stations in the Southern U.S. for many years through a separate company (including WTVY/Dothan, which he built and signed on in 1955 and owned until 2000). The sale was completed on April 14, 2023.
In response to the growth of streaming television, the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences announce a major realignment of the Daytime and Primetime Emmys. Beginning in 2022, the two ceremonies' scopes revolve around factors such as the themes and frequency of such programming, rather than strictly follow whether programs air in daytime or primetime. Among the major changes, daytime dramas, as defined as "any multi-camera, weekday daily serial, spin-off or reboot", remain in the Daytime Emmys but all other drama programs move to the Primetime Emmys. All children's programming moves to the newly created Children's & Family Emmy Awards. Morning shows move from the Daytime Emmys to the News & Documentary Emmys. Talk shows will now be divided between the Daytime and Primetime Emmys based on "format and style characteristics reflective of current programming in the daytime or late night space".
Jeff Garlin exits his role of family patriarch Murray Goldberg on the ABC sitcom The Goldbergs following multiple misconduct allegations and human resources investigations. He had been a series regular for all nine seasons, however by this point with a reduced schedule.
Jay Johnston is reported to have been "banned" from the recurring role of Jimmy Pesto Sr. on the animated Fox sitcom Bob's Burgers, due to his alleged participation in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (He has not been arrested or charged in connection to the attack, but is alleged to have been in an FBI suspect-of-interest poster and in riot footage.) Johnston had been voicing the character since the show's premiere in 2011. The character's most recent appearance was "Bridge Over Troubled Rudy", which aired on May 2.
NBC's Saturday Night Live decides to air its scheduled new episode—hosted by Paul Rudd in his fifth guest-host role—as a recorded, scaled-down broadcast, citing COVID-19 safety concerns: the episode was taped with no studio audience or musical guest (a scheduled performance by Charli XCX was canceled hours prior to the taping), featured a limited cast and crew (Rudd, cast regulars Kenan Thompson and Michael Che, and guest stars Tina Fey and Tom Hanks were the only performers present on-set, while Steve Martin taped his guest appearance), and included mostly taped and classic sketches (including some filmed during pre-show rehearsals). The episode's emergency format change is believed to be due to concerns about exposure to cast and crew after scheduled guest star (and former cast member) Jimmy Fallon, who was fully vaccinated, tested COVID-positive after the December 17 taping of The Tonight Show (which tapes in the same building as SNL). Fey and Seth Meyers would later confirm in an April 19, 2022, interview on Late Night that Colin Jost had also contracted COVID.
YouTube TV drops all Disney-owned networks it carries (including ABC, ESPN, Disney Channel, Freeform and FX), having failed to reach an agreement. A deal would be reached the following day, restoring the channels to the service.
Chris Noth is fired from the CBS crime drama The Equalizer, on which he played William Bishop, following multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against the actor (including from two women who detailed their rape and assault allegations in a December 16 Hollywood Reporter article; and by actress Zoe Lister-Jones, who claimed that he was "consistently sexually inappropriate" and drunk while filming during her 2005 guest role on Law & Order: Criminal Intent). Noth denies the accusations and claims the assaults alleged were consensual encounters. His just-debuted Peloton advertisement made in response to plot developments in the Sex and the City followup And Just Like That... was also pulled due to the allegations (on December 17), while his scene in the first-season finale of the HBO Max series, which would air in February, was revealed the next month to have been cut. His final episode as Bishop would air January 2, 2022, and the character is killed off in the April 10 episode.
Dish Network removes NESN after failing to reach a new carriage agreement, leaving the satellite provider with no regional sports networks remaining on its lineup. (Dish had been paring back its regional sports network offerings since the July 2019 removal of the Fox Sports Networks, since rebranded as Bally Sports, while also refusing to carry RSNs that fetch higher subscriber fees like YES Network, AT&T SportsNet Southwest and Spectrum SportsNet.) In order to cut programming costs, Dish reportedly offered to sell NESN a la carte or restrict its carriage to higher-priced channel packages, offers which the network refused.
Miley's New Year's Eve Party airs on NBC, hosted by Miley Cyrus and Pete Davidson; and featuring performances by 24kGoldn, Anitta, Billie Joe Armstrong, Brandi Carlile, Jack Harlow, Kitty Cash, and Saweetie. The two-hour special—which replaced the Carson Daly-led NBC's New Year's Eve specials aired from 2004 to 2020, and was not split between prime time and late-night segments, with late local programming being moved to an hour earlier (which resulted in scheduling conflicts involving local late-night newscasts, many of which were simulcast on the partner outlet to compensate, in certain markets where an NBC-affiliated station produces a separate primetime newscast for a non-Big Three network affiliate, an independent station or a subchannel)—was developed as part of an overall content and development deal between Cyrus and NBCUniversal signed on May 14.
A list of programs (current or canceled) that have accumulated enough episodes (between 65 and 100) or seasons (three or more) to be eligible for off-network syndication and/or basic cable runs.
Announced in September 2020 as a global expansion of its existing India service (launched in March of that year), Discovery, Inc. launched Discovery+ as a streaming service featuring original and archival content from Discovery's network and production properties (including the former networks of Scripps Networks Interactive acquired by the company in March 2018) as well as select programming from A&E Networks.
Tegna revealed plans on February 24 to launch Twist, which joins True Crime Network and Quest in the company's multicast portfolio. Twist targets a female audience with factual lifestyle and reality programming, mainly home- and food-oriented shows sourced from the libraries of A&E Networks and NBCUniversal Lifestyle Network Group. The "exciting reveals" featured in these shows serve as the inspiration for the network's name.
On March 2, the E. W. Scripps Company announced plans to add two new networks to its digital broadcast portfolio (joining its six existing networks, which include Ion, Bounce TV and Court TV). Defy and TrueReal (the latter had initially been billed as Doozy) would respectively target men and women in the 25-54 age range with factual lifestyle and reality programming. On Ion O&Os and INYO Broadcast Holdings-owned Ion affiliates, Defy TV and TrueReal primarily occupied subchannels formerly affiliated with QVC and HSN. (Qurate Retail Group, the parent of the respective home shopping networks, ended its channel-lease agreement with Ion Media on June 29.)
On July 29, AccuWeather announced plans to launch AccuWeather Now, a 24-hour live streaming weather news and information network. To differentiate from its cable and satellite channel AccuWeather Network, it would include liberal amounts of social media content, viral videos and feature stories in addition to its core product of weather forecasts. The service initially launched on The Roku Channel's live TV service on August 17.
Relaunch as OTT streaming channel (previously on cable/satellite and digital from 2013 to 2020)
On August 7, 2021, Robert Rodriguez and FactoryMade Ventures announced they had entered into a partnership with Cinedigm to relaunch El Rey Network—which ceased operating as a traditional pay television network in December 2020, after AT&T and Spectrum dropped it from their systems as well as in the wake of Univision Communications's withdrawal as a minority stakeholder—as a free, ad-supported live streaming channel. As a streaming channel, the English-language Latino-oriented network initially debuted on The Roku Channel's live TV service on August 17.
On April 26, Nexstar Media Group announced plans to launch Rewind TV, a spin-off of Antenna TV targeting adults 25–54 (primarily towards Gen Xers) and focusing on classic sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s. Rewind—which initially launched on subchannels of stations owned or managed by Nexstar in markets reaching 45% of U.S. television households, occupying subchannel slots vacated by Katz-owned networks being transferred to Scripps-owned network affiliates and Ion O&O/affiliate stations in some markets—draws from the libraries of Sony Pictures Television, CBS Media Ventures, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, and initially included many series (including Murphy Brown, The Facts of Life, Who's the Boss? and Family Ties) previously acquired for Antenna TV, which began phasing out post-1970s series from its lineup in April as it shifts to a narrowed focus on sitcoms from the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s (Antenna TV continued to offer a more limited lineup of post-1970s sitcoms in the interim).
On September 1, Grupo Cisneros announced it had entered into a distribution agreement with HC2 Broadcasting to launch Novelisima, a 24-hour multicast network focusing on imported telenovelas.
Following a beta launch in June, on September 13, Fuse Media officially launched Fuse+, a subscription streaming service focusing on multicultural programming aimed at millennials. The service—which is priced at $1.99/month (or $19.99/year), with paywalled content accessible for free using login credentials provided to subscribers of participating cable and satellite services that carry either of its co-owned linear channels, Fuse and FM—incorporated an initial slate of over 500 hours of original content, consisting of Fuse original programs (with new episodes airing day-and-date with the linear channel), independent films and documentaries, along with a selection of supplemental music, Black cultural, hip-hop and archival home fitness programs that are also available through a free, ad-supported tier for non-subscribers.
On September 8, Net X Holdings, LLC announced plans to launch Digi TV, a multicast network focusing on imported English-language programming. Initially launching primarily on subchannels of Univision and UniMás stations owned by Univision Communications and Tri-State Christian Television O&Os, the network airs a mix of scripted and reality-based entertainment, knowledge-based and lifestyle programming primarily sourced from the United Kingdom and Australia.
On December 29, 2020, Fox News Media announced plans to launch Fox Weather, a 24-hour streaming weather channel intended to compete with The Weather Channel, AccuWeather Network and WeatherNation TV (the latter of which has long been streamed for free on the network's app and on ad-supported streaming platforms such as Pluto TV). The service would be available as a standalone app and website, and feature live programming utilizing resources of its own meteorologists and meteorologists from local Fox Television Stations properties as well as local, regional and national weather updates. Critics, citing shared management between the two services, have expressed concern that Fox Weather might express opinions dismissive of climate change mirroring similar commentary made in recent years by Fox News personalities and contributors. Those FTS stations also began carrying the network as a subchannel in the first quarter of 2022.
On July 24, 2020, the Twitter accounts of G4TV and G4's Attack of the Show! and X-Play, reactivated to post a teaser video of a G4 revival in some form (either as a wireline or streaming channel, though not disclosed at the time), slated for 2021. (On October 12, 2021, Comcast confirmed that the revived G4—like its original iteration—would be distributed as a cable-originated network, with Verizon Fios, Cox, Xfinity and Philo among its charter carriers.) The teasers were timed for Comic-Con@Home, the first virtual streaming edition of the annual fan convention, San Diego Comic-Con. Consequently, G4's website also redirected to a nonstop game of Pong (which if won, redirects to a mailing list sign up for updates), once again reflecting back to the network's original launch in 2002 and their shutdown in 2014.
AMC Networks rebranded Urban Movie Channel – launched in 2014 as the first streaming service dedicated to television programs and films aimed at Black audiences, and content made by Black filmmakers – as Allblk, citing the original name no longer fit the brand, its audience or culture (several "urban"-branded broadcasters, along with radio stations formerly under the urban contemporary banner, switched to other descriptive terms throughout 2020). The service also increases original programming, having debuted seven series in 2021.
Following its acquisition of the network's satellite slot from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Allen Media Group relaunched the former channel space of family-oriented digital multicast network Light TV as TheGrio (branded after the Black cultural news and entertainment website of the same name acquired by parent company Entertainment Studios in 2016), adopting a focus primarily around movies, along with selected television series, news and lifestyle content aimed at African American audiences. There has been some confusion however, as Light TV continues to run on some affiliates and online, while some former Light TV affiliates stopped carrying the network in the run-up to TheGrio's launch.
On January 25, 2021, Nexstar Media Group announced it would relaunch the entertainment-oriented WGN America (a name traced to its existence as a superstation feed of WGN-TV/Chicago from the channel's launch in November 1978 until its content separation from WGN-TV in December 2014) as the news-centric NewsNation, named after the prime time newscast that the channel debuted in September 2020, effective March 1. The rebrand coincides with a gradual expansion of its news programming that initially includes the additions of an hour-long early-evening newscast, the hour-long Donlon Report (a prime-access newscast fronted by NewsNation anchor Joe Donlon) and a weeknight news/interview program hosted by Ashleigh Banfield, as well as a condensed version of the retitled NewsNationPrime (to be reduced from three hours to two). A reduced schedule of entertainment programs in its inventory continues to be featured in daytime and overnight slots (along with early morning paid and religious programming), to be replaced with news content once syndication contracts expire.
CBS All Access adopts the Paramount+ name used in certain international markets. The rebranding occurs amid an ongoing expansion of the service — originally developed as a subscription platform for CBS featuring original programs, content from the CBS television network and its syndication arm CBS Media Ventures, and live streams of local CBS stations, CBS' ad-supported OTT services and events from CBS Sports – to include content from other television and film brands owned by ViacomCBS (including Paramount Pictures, MTV, BET, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon).
On January 12, Univision Communications announced it would launch PrendeTV, a free, ad-supported Spanish-language streaming service aimed at U.S. Hispanics and Latinos in the first quarter of the year, formally launching on March 30. The platform, which is the first AVOD platform dedicated exclusively to Spanish content, offers over 30 curated channels (similar to those featured on services like Pluto TV, Peacock and Xumo) and approximately 20,000 hours of Spanish-language and -dubbed movies and television series for video-on-demand viewing from Univision and third-party providers including Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Grupo Globo, Caracol Televisión, Banijay, FilmRise, Nelvana, RCN, Lionsgate and MGM. The service was built off the infrastructure of and inherit content from Pan-American streaming service Vix, which Univision bought from a consortium of Batanga Media, Discovery Inc. and HarbourVest Partners on February 1.
Conversion from cable/satellite to over-the-air distribution (to retain carriage on ad-supported OTT services)
June 30 (pay-TV discontinuation) October 1 (start of OTA distribution)
After years as a cable and over-the-top service, on April 6, the E. W. Scripps Company announced plans to transition its 24-hour news channel, Newsy, to a new distribution model as an over-the-air multicast service—although it would continue to maintain supplemental streaming distribution through its Internet apps and existing partnerships with ad-supported Internet television providers. Scripps thus began terminating the network's existing contracts with wireline and vMVPD providers (instead of opting for converting them to must-carry arrangements, similar to those employed by other OTA multicast networks such as MeTV, GetTV and Heroes & Icons) beginning June 30, with end dates varying by provider throughout the Summer. Newsy relaunched as a digital multicast network on October 1, carried primarily through Scripps's television stations (via both the group's major network affiliates and Ion Television O&Os as well as through commiserate carriage via retransmission consent agreements for Scripps/Ion stations) and through third-party affiliation agreements in non-Scripps markets.
Conversion to over-the-air distribution (to retain carriage on ad-supported and subscription OTT services)
September 1 (start of OTA distribution)
On August 25, Nexstar Media Group announced a partnership with SportsGrid Inc. to offer the latter's sports betting- and fantasy sports-focused streaming news service SportsGrid Network as a digital multicast network starting September 1. SportsGrid, which retains its existing distribution through its Internet apps and Internet television providers (such as Xumo, Samsung TV Plus and Sling TV), was initially available in nine Nexstar markets (including San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Tampa, Nashville and Portland) where the company's subchannel leasing agreements with Katz Networks properties lapsed the day prior. (The Court TV, Court TV Mystery, Laff and Bounce TV affiliations to be affected in the corresponding markets became exclusive to subchannels of parent company Scripps’ Ion O&O stations that had added them on a transitional basis following the February 28 closures of Ion Plus, Qubo and Ion Shop.)
As a consequence of GAC Media's June 7 purchases of Great American Country (from Discovery, Inc.) and Ride TV (from Ride Television Network, Inc.), on September 27, the two networks underwent branding and programming overhauls: Great American Country was rebranded as GAC Family and restructured from a country lifestyle programming format to a family-oriented entertainment network—featuring a mix of original and acquired programming, both scripted and unscripted—similar in concept to Hallmark Channel (which GAC Media CEO William J. Abbott oversaw as head of Crown Media Family Networks from 2009 to 2020), while Ride TV rebranded as GAC Living and expanded from its original focus on equestrian sports to center around Southern- and country-oriented unscripted lifestyle programming. (The "GAC" initialism was concurrently backronymed by its new corporate parent from the previous "Great American Country" moniker to "Great American Channels".)
In September 2020, DC announced that the DC Universe streaming service would be folded into DC Universe Infinite as a solely digital comics subscription service on January 21, 2021. DC Universe subscriptions would automatically transfer over to DC Universe Infinite. Original programs Young Justice, Titans, Doom Patrol, and Harley Quinn moved to HBO Max and became Max Original series starting their new seasons, while Stargirl moved to The CW with its second season.
Following the completion of its acquisition of Ion Media, on January 14, the E. W. Scripps Company announced the shuttering of three Ion networks – Ion Plus (a secondary schedule of programming from Ion's content distributors), Ion Shop (all-paid programming) and Qubo (children's programming) – and allocate their spectrum space on Ion Media's stations to offer networks from existing Scripps subsidiary Katz Broadcasting (consisting of Court TV, Court TV Mystery, Bounce TV, Laff and Grit). This eventually consolidates Ion's operations into Katz and replace expiring contracts with other broadcasters that carried the Katz networks outside of mainstream Scripps markets (albeit with affiliate duplication in the interim due to the structure of Katz's subchannel-leasing arrangements), while offloading those networks on mainstream Scripps stations with limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition. (Ion's namesake flagship channel continues as a Scripps-owned network.) Qubo, Ion Plus and Ion Shop were replaced by selected Katz networks on Ion affiliates (consisting mainly of former O&Os spun off by Scripps to Inyo Broadcast Holdings) on February 27, and were replaced on Scripps-owned Ion stations post-shutdown on March 1.
On January 25, WWE announced it would discontinue the standalone WWE Network service in the United States and merge it into the offerings of Peacock. All paying Peacock subscribers gained access to the WWE Video Library and no-cost access to WWE pay-per-view events in the same manner as current WWE Network subscribers. WWE Network remains unchanged outside of the United States.
On January 12, CNN announced that it would shut down the CNN Airport network, which was available in numerous airports across the United States. The network, which carried a mixture of family-friendly news and entertainment programs from select WarnerMedia networks (as well as some high-profile sporting events), had been seeing declining viewership since the financial crisis of 2007–08 as a result of the increased proliferation of Wi-Fi-enabled devices which themselves allow access to the mainline CNN network; the decline was accelerated in 2020 when global commercial air traveldeclined greatly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
On June 9, NBC Sports Group announced it was shutting down NBC Sports Northwest, which launched in 2007 as Comcast SportsNet Northwest and later rebranded as CSN Northwest in 2012 and to NBC Sports Northwest in 2017. The closure came after the Portland Trail Blazers (a key team part of the network's programming since its inception) signed a four-year deal with Root Sports Northwest on the same date.
On August 31, 2021, Disney announced that the U.S. version of Hotstar—targeted domestically at mainly American-born and expatriate Indians—would cease operations as a standalone platform by around late 2022. On the date of the announcement, Bollywood and South Asian films, television series and original specials featured in Hotstar's U.S. catalog (which will be rotated on and off at regular intervals) were added to Hulu, while the service's rights to Indian Premier League, ICC Men's T20 World Cup and BCCI-sanctioned cricket competitions were incorporated into ESPN+. Hotstar (alternately branded as Disney+ Hotstar in Asia) will continue to operate in parts of South Asia (specifically India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore), Canada and the United Kingdom. The closure date was brought forward by over a year with less than 2 weeks' notice on November 18, 2021.
On November 4, ESPN confirmed the closure of the network, originally launched as Classic Sports Network in 1995 before its 1997 acquisition by ESPN. The network had already lost library programming over the years and was slowly wound down as ESPN had allowed various providers to drop the network in retransmission consent negotiations since the mid-2010s in order to pick up new ESPN networks as replacements.
On December 4, Univision Communications confirmed through notice to its remaining providers the closure of Fusion, originally launched in October 2013 with a focus on news, lifestyle, pop culture, satire and entertainment programs aimed at English-speaking millennials, including those of a Hispanic background. The network—which was founded as a joint venture between Univision and The Walt Disney Company (through ABC News), the latter which sold its stake in 2016—struggled to maintain a consistent programming identity (experiencing heavy churn of its news and documentary programs, while shifting more toward a documentary and entertainment format in its waning years); to obtain widespread distribution across wireline, satellite and live-TV streaming providers; and to attract sufficient viewership in its target demographic throughout its eight-year existence. Fusion also incurred significant profit losses over its run (incurring deficits of $35 million in 2014 alone) as Univision struggled through an era under the management of private equity which mandated the launch of English-language inroads; the network is currently in the process of merging with longtime content partner Televisa and focusing exclusively on Spanish-language audiences. It was the second consecutive year a Univision-funded English-language channel shut down, as El Rey Network's wireline network was shut down exactly a year before, several months after it spun off its interest in the channel.
On January 22, NBC Sports Group announced it was shutting down NBCSN, which launched in 1995 as the Outdoor Life Network and later rebranded as Versus before becoming the NBC Sports Network in 2012 and adopting its current name in 2013. Its programming, which includes the Premier League and NASCAR races, moves primarily to NBC and USA Network as well as the Peacock streaming service. A cornerstone of NBCSN's programming had been the National Hockey League, whose contract with NBC Sports expired at the end of the abbreviated 2021 season.
This section outlines affiliation changes involving English and Spanish networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, The CW, Univision, etc.), and format conversions involving independent stations. Digital subchannels are mentioned if the prior or new affiliation involves a major English and Spanish broadcast network or a locally programmed independent entertainment format.
On January 1, KGAN began simulcasting KFXA for a one-month transitional period as Sinclair consolidated Fox affiliates in duopoly markets from their shell corporations to directly owned stations; GetTV concurrently moved to KGAN's third digital subchannel.
On January 1, WCHS-TV began simulcasting WVAH-TV for a one-month transitional period; Antenna TV concurrently moved to a new third digital subchannel of WCHS-TV.
On January 1, WSYX began simulcasting WTTE for a one-month transitional period; Antenna TV concurrently moved to a new fourth digital subchannel of WSYX.
In December 2020, VistaWest Media LLC, owner of KIDK, announced that most of the station's CBS network and syndicated programing, and local newscasts from its KIDK Eyewitness News 3 operation would be transferred to the DT2 subchannel of News-Press & Gazette Company-owned ABC affiliate and SSA partner KIFI-TV on January 1. KIDK would concurrently switch to Dabl (which is also carried on its Fox-affiliated sister KXPI-LD), while Telemundo programming displaced from KIFI-DT2 would transfer to a new DT5 subchannel on that station.
KFDM-DT3 disaffiliated from Charge! on December 31, 2020; on January 1, the subchannel began simulcasting Fox-affiliated SSA partner KBTV-TV for a one-month transitional period.
In December 2020, the News-Press & Gazette Company, owner of KCOY-TV, announced that the station's CBS network and syndicated programming and its local newscasts would be transferred to the DT2 subchannel of its ABC-affiliated sister station KEYT-TV on January 1. (KEYT had previously maintained a part-time affiliation with CBS from its May 1953 sign-on until KCOY began offering the network full-time after dropping its former primary NBC affiliation in 1969.). KCOY became affiliated with Dabl, relocating the diginet from its discontinued DT4 subchannel. To make room for the former KCOY intellectual unit on its DT2 feed (at which point, its local newscasts were retitled NewsChannel 12 to match KEYT's base news brand), KEYT-DT3—previously affiliated with Bounce TV—adopted a news rebroadcast format with MyNetworkTV programming (previously on KEYT-DT2) airing weeknights.
Nexstar Media Group continues the process it launched in the fall of 2020 of phasing out subchannel carriage agreements with Cozi and MeTV, competitors in the classic television subchannel space, in order to increase exposure and publicity for Antenna TV on its existing stations, which it acquired in 2019 as part of the Tribune Broadcasting merger.
In December 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which operates the station through Cunningham Broadcasting—announced that most of WVAH's Fox network and syndicated programing, its 10:00 p.m. Eyewitness News newscast (produced by ABC affiliated sister station WCHS-TV), and the "Fox 11" branding would transfer to the second subchannel of WCHS-TV beginning February 1, following a one-month transition period that began on January 1 as part of Sinclair's consolidation of Fox affiliates onto directly owned stations; the move ended WVAH's 34-year affiliation with Fox (dating to its 1987 national launch). After the transition, the station's main channel switched to the Weigel Broadcasting-owned Decades diginet.
In December 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which operated the station through Deerfield Media—announced that KBTV would disaffiliate from Fox after 13 years (ending a 67-year-run as a major network affiliate, having previously been with NBC from its 1953 sign on until 2008); the station switched to Dabl effective February 1, with its Fox network and syndicated programming, the 5:30 and 9:00 p.m. newscasts (produced by sister station KFDM) and the "Fox 4" branding being transferred to the third subchannel of KFDM on February 1, following a one-month transition period that began on January 1 as part of Sinclair's consolidation of Fox affiliates onto directly owned stations. Following this, KFDM becomes the second station in the Beaumont–Port Arthur market to maintain dual major network affiliations on its main channel and a digital subchannel (ABC affiliate KBMT has carried NBC programming on its DT2 subchannel since KBTV dropped the latter network).
In December 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which operates KFXA through Second Generation of Iowa, Ltd.—announced that the station would end its collective 33-year relationship with Fox (dating to KFXA's 1988 sign-on, with a ten-month sabbatical from October 1994 to August 1995 due to financial issues that caused its eviction from the station's original studios). KFXA's Fox network and syndicated programming, its weekday 7:00 a.m. and nightly 9:00 p.m. newscasts (produced by CBS-affiliated sister KGAN) and the "Fox 28" branding transferred to KGAN-DT2 on February 2, following a 33-day transition period that commenced on January 1 as part of Sinclair's consolidation of Fox affiliates onto directly owned stations; following the switch, GetTV programming moved from KFXA-DT2 to KGAN-DT3, Comet programming moved from KGAN-DT3 to the newly launched KFXA-DT5, and Dabl programming moved from KGAN-DT4 (discontinued to allocate HD bandwidth for KGAN-DT2) to KFXA's main channel.
In December 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which operates WRGT and WTTE through Cunningham Broadcasting—announced that both stations would end their 34-year relationship with Fox (dating to the network's 1987 national debut). In Dayton, WRGT's Fox network and syndicated programming, its weekday 7:00 a.m. and nightly 10:00 p.m. newscasts (produced by ABC-affiliated sister WKEF) and the "Fox 45" branding transferred to WKEF-DT2 on February 4, following a 33-day transition period that commenced on January 1; following the switch, the part-time MyNetworkTV/Dabl affiliation moved to WRGT's main channel. In Columbus, WTTE's Fox and syndicated programming, its weekday 7:00 a.m. and nightly 10:00 p.m. newscasts (produced by ABC-affiliated sister WSYX) and the "Fox 28" branding transferred to the third subchannel of WSYX-DT3 on February 3, following a 32-day transition period that commenced on January 1 as part of Sinclair's consolidation of Fox affiliates onto directly owned stations; afterward, WTTE switched to Sinclair's TBD diginet.
In January 2021, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which operated the station through Waitt Broadcasting—announced that KMEG would disaffiliate from CBS after 53 years (dating to its 1967 sign-on), with its network and syndicated programming, local newscasts produced through its Siouxland News operation, as well as the "KMEG 14" branding being transferred to the DT3 subchannel of its co-owned Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliated station KPTH beginning February 4, another consolidation of Sinclair's major network affiliations onto directly owned stations. Both stations concurrently swapped their corresponding diginet affiliations with Dabl, TBD and Charge! on that date.
In December 2020, Weigel Broadcasting completed its acquisition of Azteca América affiliates KAZD/Dallas and KYAZ/Houston from HC2 Holdings. On March 29, KAZD and KYAZ became MeTV owned and operation stations, as it shifts Azteca America programming to the stations' third subchannel.
WCIU launched the experimental MeTV Plus service over digital subchannels 26.5 on this date; ewplaxing Bounce TV, which had been carrying its programming simultaneously on Ion O&O WCPX-TV (owned by Bounce parent, the E. W. Scripps Company) since February 28 and cedes its Chicago affiliation rights exclusively to that station with the switchover.
As a result of the sale of KWWL to Allen Media Broadcasting due to the acquisition of the station's former owner Quincy Media by Gray Television, the owner of competitor KCRG-TV, The CW announced they move its affiliation from its second digital subchannel of KWWL to the third subchannel of KCRG-TV beginning August 2, after Start TV, Circle and Antenna TV diginets leaving the said station as well in the Cedar Rapids market, while the former joined the Weigel Broadcasting owned network Heroes & Icons.
On July 10, 2021, it was announced that Fox Corporation's MyNetworkTV programming service would move to Adell Broadcasting owned station WADL, ending its 36 years as an independent station, as well as their alternating affiliations with NBC (for programming declined to carry by the network's affiliated station in that market, WDIV-TV). Meanwhile, WMYD returns to its independence for the first time since 1995 (ending MNT's 15 year affiliation with the said station from its 2006 launch along with their 11-year affiliation with the now-defunct The WB from 1995 to 2006), while retaining their alternating affiliation with ABC (for programming declined to carry by the network's affiliated sister station in that market, WXYZ-TV due to breaking news and other programming).
On September 20, 2021, the CW affiliation from WWMB (owned by Howard Stirk Holdings) moved to WPDE's second subchannel, although the "CW 21" branding was retained, continuing Sinclair's 2021 pattern of shifting major network affiliations onto directly owned stations rather than those of their shell corporations. The Weather Authority moved to the fourth subchannel, and Dabl moved from the fifth subchannel (which was dropped) to WWMB's main channel and was upgraded to high definition. Stadium moved from the fourth subchannel to WWMB's third subchannel, where it had previously been located before moving to WPDE.
On September 14, 2021, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that Nashville's CW affiliation (owned by Sinclair shell Tennessee Broadcasting) would move from WNAB to WZTV's 17.2 subchannel beginning September 20 at 10 a.m., using WNAB's new status as an ATSC 3.0 lighthouse station to consolidate the CW affiliation directly onto a Sinclair-owned station.
On September 20, 2021, the CW affiliation moved from Deerfield Media-owned KMYS to WOAI-TV's second subchannel (and another major affiliation consolidation onto a Sinclair-owned station), although the "CW 35" branding was retained. Dabl moved from KMYS' third subchannel to its main channel and was upgraded to high definition. TBD moved from KABB's third subchannel to KMYS' second subchannel.
On September 20, 2021, after 15 years of MyNetworkTV having a separate affiliated station in Wichita, MyTV Wichita programming moved from KMTW (owned by Sinclair shell Mercury Broadcasting Company) to KSAS-TV 24.2 (directly Sinclair-owned), which formerly aired programming from Sinclair's Internet-sourced network, TBD. TBD moved to KMTW 36.4, which formerly aired Dabl programming since the network's launch on September 9, 2019, and Dabl moved to 36.1.
On September 22, 2021, Gray Television announced it would convert Jewelry Television affiliate WLFM-LD (which operated as an LPFM maintaining alternative rock/AAA and, later, Latin music formats from September 2012 until it ceased analog transmissions in June 2020) into a Telemundo affiliate, adopting the callsign WTCL-LD, effective January 1, 2022. (Cleveland—which has two existing Spanish-language major network stations, Univision/UniMás O&O WQHS-DT and Azteca América affiliate WQDI-LD—had been one of the largest U.S. markets with a significant Hispanic/Latino population that did not have a local Telemundo station.) After switching to a temporary simulcast of CBS-affiliated sister WOIO's main feed in coincidence with the October 15 callsign change, WTCL converted to Telemundo early on December 22. On January 1, WOIO began to produce twice-nightly Monday–Friday newscasts for WTCL, becoming the first Spanish-language local news offering in the Cleveland market (WQHS and WQDI, respectively, have never offered in-house or outsourced local news programming since converting into Spanish stations).
With the shutdown of Ion Plus, Qubo and Ion Shop and as a consequence of The E. W. Scripps Company's purchase of Ion Media (along with concurrent spin-offs of some Ion O&Os to INYO Broadcast Holdings), Ion Television's owned and affiliated stations and Ion Plus' O&O stations reconfigured their channel map to add selected networks owned by fellow Scripps subsidiary Katz Broadcasting in place of the defunct networks.
Many Scripps/Ion stations then shuffle their affiliations around in mid-summer as the result of the launch of two new subchannel networks featuring reality programming from the A+E Networks library; the male-focused Defy TV, and TrueReal, which features programs targeting women.
WCKD-LP's license was cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on August 4, 2021, due to the station not obtaining a license to convert to digital operations by the July 13, 2021, deadline.
In late 2019, when owner Entravision Communications released its third-quarter earnings, it announced that it would not pay the 20-year lump sum renewal for the station's license. As a result, the station is expected to cease operations at the end of its concession in December 2021 after broadcasting as an English language station for most of its 42-year history. The closure of XHRIO-TDT leaves Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon to depend on American television stations for English-language content.
Hall of Fame manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1976 to 1996; co-starred as the "Dugout Wizard" on The Baseball Bunch from 1980 to 1985, and later appeared in TV commercials for SlimFast
Magician and author, who was widely credited as the first major television magician and in the process establishing the viability of illusion shows as a television format.
Radio and TV personality and political commentator; TV work included eponymous Rush Limbaugh from 1992 to 1996, along with contributions to The 1/2 Hour News Hour and Sunday NFL Countdown. Also several voice appearances as himself on Family Guy.
Announcer, commentator, and author. Was the announcer on the PBS series Live from Lincoln Center from its beginnings in 1976 until his retirement in 2006.
Journalist, best known for serving various roles during a 42-year career with NBC News. He later co-created, and was executive editor and host of Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, which aired on PBS from 1997 until 2017.
Correspondent for NBC News, focusing on space travel. He was the only journalist to have covered every non-commercial human space mission in the United States until 2011.
Actor and comedian (host of The Jackie Mason Show, frequent guest spots on The Ed Sullivan Show, recurring role as Rabbi Hyman Krustofsky on The Simpsons, and the starring role of Jackie Fisher on the short-lived sitcom Chicken Soup). Three-time Emmy winner.
Actor, comedian, writer, and director (one of the co-founders of the sketch comedy group The Whitest Kids U' Know and a star on its eponymous IFC TV series), creator of Walk the Prank
Country singer-songwriter (hosted Pop! Goes the Country from 1980 to 1982, appeared on the Grand Ole Opry from 1971 to 1996, appeared as a spokesman in commercials for Chevrolet)
Legendary weather and feature reporter for NBC's Today. Also narrated programs for NASA TV and appeared in TV commercials for Days Inn hotels and was the creator and original portrayer of McDonald's mascot Ronald McDonald.
Actress and singer best known as Kai Opaka on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Justice Esther Weisenberg on First Monday. Also recurring roles and guest spots on numerous shows.
^Because of contractual obligations to distribute The Dr. Oz Show through the 2022–23 television season, distributor Sony Pictures Television announced on December 13 that the show would be replaced The Good Dish, a food-themed talk show co-hosted by daughter Daphne Oz, food writer Gail Simmons and former Next Food Network Star contestant Jamika Pessoa (and based on a recurring food segment on Dr. Oz) that would premiere on January 17, 2022, filling Dr. Oz's timeslots on stations still carrying it. It is not known whether the stations that dropped The Dr. Oz Show due to the equal time requirements, all of which put other local or syndicated programs into the show's slots in the respective markets, offered The Good Dish.[235]
^"The Last Lullably". Centaurworld. Season 2. Episode 8. December 7, 2021. Netflix. Oh, hello there. It's me, Comfortable Doug. I would like to thank you all for having completed watching Centaurworld, which as you know was about the story of my life.
^Mojica, Adrian (September 14, 2021). "CW Nashville moving to 17.2 over-the-air, rescan TV on or after Sept. 20 at 10 am". CW58.tv. Archived from the original on September 15, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2021. ATTENTION FOX 17, MyTv30 and CW Nashville viewers: If you receive these stations over the air, on September 20 on or after 10 a.m. you will need to rescan your television as CW Nashville's over-the-air signal will move to the WZTV 17.2 channel.
