The American Independent Network was one of the first major attempts at building a commercial
television network
A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...
consisting of
low-powered television stations. Started by Don Shelton, Randy Moseley, and Lyn Snyder, it was similar to the older
Channel America
Channel America (CA), officially Channel America Network, Inc., was the first United States terrestrial broadcast television network to be intentionally assembled out of LPTV, or low-power television licensees. The network was founded by David P ...
(and its successor,
America One (A1)), and was the foundation for
Urban America TV (UATV). In 2000, several stations sold by
USA Networks
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
to
Univision
Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...
carried AIN for about a year while Univision got their second network,
TeleFutura, ready to launch on the stations. AIN merged with Hispano Television Ventures in early 2000, forming
Hispanic Television Network
Hispanic Television Network (HTVN) was a family-oriented television network that was once the third-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, after Univision and Telemundo. It was the first network to specifically target Hispanics of ...
(HTVN). The new company operated both HTVN and AIN, but the majority of the company's attention was focused on HTVN. HTVN went off the air in 2003, while AIN went off the air two years earlier in 2001, and turned into Urban America Television, with most AIN affiliates either going independent or switching to other networks, like A1 or UATV.
See also
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AMGTV
AMGTV is an American family-oriented television network featuring television programming consisting of drama, sports, movies, entertainment, how-to, hunting and fishing, children's shows, and other features, much of it repackaged from off-netw ...
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America One
America One was an American television network established in 1995 by USFR Media Group through its America One Television subsidiary.
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Channel America
Channel America (CA), officially Channel America Network, Inc., was the first United States terrestrial broadcast television network to be intentionally assembled out of LPTV, or low-power television licensees. The network was founded by David P ...
*
Hispanic Television Network
Hispanic Television Network (HTVN) was a family-oriented television network that was once the third-largest Spanish-language network in the United States, after Univision and Telemundo. It was the first network to specifically target Hispanics of ...
*
Independent station
An 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 ...
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Ion Television
Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented enter ...
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Network One
Network One was a small "independent" network, consisting of mostly low-powered television stations, scattered across the Continental United States, similar to Urban America Television, America One, or the better-known Ion (formerly PAX). The n ...
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Urban America Television
Urban America Television (UATV) was an over-the-air television broadcast network in the United States targeted towards Black Americans. According to the company's website, the network had 70 affiliate stations. UATV claimed to have had a reach o ...
Defunct television networks in the United States
Television channels and stations disestablished in 2003
Television channels and stations established in 2000
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