Independent station

Independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market environment and the broadcasting medium's development history.

In the United States and Canada, an independent station is a broadcast station which is not directly affiliated with any large network.

In Japan, an independent station is a terrestrial station which is not a member of any networks whose dominant stations are located in Tokyo; see Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations (JAITS) for more details. In addition, although The Open University of Japan is not a member of JAITS, it can also be classified as independent.

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Independent station (North America)

An independent station is a type of television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any broadcast television network; most commonly, these stations carry a mix of syndicated, brokered and in some cases, local programming to fill time periods when network programs typically would air. Stations that are affiliated with networks such as The CW, MyNetworkTV or to a lesser degree, even Fox may be considered to be quasi-independent stations as these networks mainly provide programming during primetime, with limited to no network-supplied content in other time periods.

Independent radio is a similar concept with regards to community radio stations, although with a slightly different meaning (as many non-"indie" commercial broadcasting radio stations produce the vast majority of their own programming, perhaps retaining only a nominal affiliation with a radio network for news updates or syndicated radio programming).

Types of independent stations