<P> Cable and digital broadcast networks have provided outlets for programming that either has outlived its syndication viability, lacks the number of episodes necessary for syndication, or for various reasons was not a candidate for syndication in the first place . Popular dramas, for instance, have permanent homes on several basic cable channels, often running in marathons (multiple episodes airing back - to - back for several hours), and there are also cable channels devoted to game shows (Game Show Network and Buzzr), soap operas (the now - defunct SoapNet), Saturday morning cartoons (Boomerang) and even sports broadcasts (ESPN Classic). Digital broadcast networks specializing in classic television programming that have become popular since the early 2010s have also served as short - term or long - term homes for many older series that have not been syndicated in decades or have ever been aired in reruns . Most reality shows perform poorly in reruns and are rarely seen as a result, other than reruns of series still in production, on the same network on which they air (almost always cable outlets), where they air as filler programming . </P> <P> Broadcast television is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission . The FCC awards and oversees the renewal of licenses to local stations, which stipulate stations' commitments to educational and public - interest programming . During the early years of commercial television, the FCC permitted a single company to own a maximum of five television stations nationwide (later raised to seven stations in 1984 and then to twelve in 1992), although until the 1960s, very few companies outside of the major broadcast networks owned multiple stations . Since a change to its media ownership regulations in 1999 that counted television station ownership maximums by a national market percentage rather than by the number of stations that could be allowed in their portfolio, FCC rules mandate that the total number of television stations owned by any company can only reach a maximum of 39% of all markets in the U.S. Until 2016, a "discount" allowed a broadcaster to cover up to 78% of the U.S. with UHF signals; this loophole was closed in 2016, although existing companies above the 39% threshold will be covered under a grandfather clause and, although they will not be allowed to acquire any more stations, they will also not be forced to sell their existing portfolios . </P> <P> Most commercial stations are now owned - and - operated or controlled through outsourcing agreements by group owners (either independent companies or network - owned subsidiary groups), with a relatively limited number of companies that remain which own stations in five or fewer markets; a series of station purchases that have occurred since 2011 (when the Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired the Four Points Media Group) has concentrated the number of station owners even further, as a result of increasing competition between over-the - air broadcasters and subscription television outlets as well as to increase leverage in negotiations with cable and satellite providers for retransmission consent (which since the early 2000s, has increasingly become a primary form of revenue for broadcast networks, which have required their affiliates to share a portion of the revenue received by pay television providers as an additional source of operational revenue). </P> <P> Outsourcing agreements (known by multiple terms, mainly local marketing agreements (LMA), shared services agreements (SSA) or joint sales agreements (JSA), albeit with little differentiation in their structure) have allowed some broadcasting companies to operate stations that they could otherwise not legally own outright due to in - market ownership regulations; these arrangements first began in 1991, when the Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into such an arrangement to run WPTT (now WPNT) in Pittsburgh, after it sold the station to its manager Edwin Edwards to acquire Fox affiliate WPGH - TV . However, as companies like Sinclair and the Nexstar Broadcasting Group have used outsourcing as loopholes around ownership regulations at the expense of independent (and particularly, minority) ownership, the FCC has made attempts to restrict broadcasters from using them, passing a rule in April 2014 that disallowed all JSAs in which one company sells 15% of advertising for another station and required all existing ones to be unwound within five years (the National Association of Broadcasters backed a provision passed as part of a November 2015 Congressional budget bill that extended to the time limit to unwind existing JSAs to ten years). </P>

The late 1970s saw the introduction of two major threats to the television networks. what were they