2021 in American television

The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2021. Events listed 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.

Notable events

January

Date	Event	Source
8	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.
10	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.
	The 1st Critics' Choice Super Awards, an event honoring films in the science fiction, action, horror and superhero genres, airs on The CW. The virtual ceremony saw The Boys as the top winner with four awards (including “Best Superhero Series”).
22	Tom Brokaw announces his retirement from NBC News. A special correspondent and commentator since ending a 22-year run as Nightly News anchor in 2004, Brokaw spent 55 years with NBC, including roles as anchor/reporter at O&O KNBC/Los Angeles, White House correspondent, co-anchor of Today and even briefly as moderator of Meet The Press in 2008 after moderator Tim Russert's death.
23	Food Network pulls all content related to season 20 of Worst Cooks in America from its linear, streaming and social platforms (including discovery+), after season winner Ariel Robinson and her husband were charged in the January 14 death of their adopted three-year-old daughter at their Simpsonville, South Carolina home.
25	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. Both Dunn and Friend would leave CBS on April 7, in the midst of a third-party investigation into the matter.

February

Date	Event	Source
1	Gray Television announces its intent to acquire Quincy Media's broadcasting properties for $925 million. The deal—expected to be finalized in the second or third quarter of 2021—will have Gray acquire eleven television (and two radio) stations, expanding its portfolio to 198 TV outlets in 102 markets with a collective reach of 25.4% of U.S. television households. The expanded portfolio will not include stations Gray will divest to alleviate market conflicts with existing Gray properties (see April 29 entry). Quincy's newspaper holdings will be sold to a separate buyer prior to the Gray transaction's closure.
	Marilyn Manson is dropped from future episodes of American Gods and Creepshow due to multiple abuse allegations against him. The following day, Creative Artists Agency announced that it had dropped Manson by the agency as a client.
3	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.
5	Fox Business cancels Lou Dobbs Tonight, the network's highest-rated show. The cancellation came one day after its host, Lou Dobbs, was one of several Fox hosts – and Fox itself – were sued for $2.7 billion by electronic voting system producer Smartmatic for defamation, regarding Dobbs and others' role in spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 United States presidential election. Fox News hosts Maria Bartiromo and Jeanine Pirro and frequent Fox News guests and ex-President Donald Trump's former lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell were also named in the suit.
7	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.
10	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.
24	NBC pulls from digital distribution an episode of the medical drama Nurses that aired on the network 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).
28	The 78th Golden Globe Awards aired on NBC with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler as the hosts. The COVID-19 pandemic moved it from its usual first Sunday of January berth, along with film awards season in general. Jane Fonda was honored with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. Norman Lear was honored with the Carol Burnett Award. This was the first Golden Globe Awards ceremony to go bicoastal with Fey co-hosting from the Rainbow Room in New York City, and Poehler co-hosting from The Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.

March

Date	Event	Source
7	TV series Ted Lasso and The Crown and the motion picture Nomadland are among notable winners at the 26th Critics' Choice Awards. The event aired on The CW, with Taye Diggs hosting for the third consecutive year.
	In a two-hour special airing on CBS, Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, talk with Oprah Winfrey about their separation as working members of, and relationships with, the British royal family.
10	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 will replace 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 Final series exclusively. The deal marks a reunion of the NHL with ESPN, which last carried the league in 2003–04, and will form 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 wasn't 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).
12	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 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.
13	The 2021 Kids' Choice Awards air on Nickelodeon with simulcasts on TeenNick, Nicktoons and Nick Jr; Kenan Thompson served as the host, and Justin Bieber was the headlining performer. Television winners included Alexa & Katie (for “Favorite Kids' TV Show”), Stranger Things (for “Favorite Family TV Show”), Jace Norman (of Henry Danger for “Favorite Male TV Star”), Millie Bobby Brown (of Stranger Things for “Favorite Female TV Star”), America's Got Talent (for “Favorite Reality Show”) and SpongeBob SquarePants (for “Favorite Animated Series”). The broadcast resulted in the setting of two Guinness World Records: for the Most People Gunged/Slimed Simultaneously Online (with 195 participants) and Most Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards Won by a Music Group (BTS, who won three awards, joining their two prior wins, respectively, in 2018 and 2020).
14	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.
18	The National Football League announces new TV deals covering the 2023 through 2033 seasons. The deals ensure Sunday afternoon broadcasts remain on CBS and Fox, keeps Sunday Night Football on NBC, and gives Amazon Prime Video exclusive rights to Thursday Night Football (transferring it from Fox and NFL Network). It also expands ESPN's Monday Night Football presence to include doubleheader games with ABC; late-season flex scheduling of more compelling games; and ABC/ESPN simulcasts of two Super Bowls.
	Nischelle Turner is named the new co-anchor of Entertainment Tonight, becoming the first Black woman to host the 40-year-old showbiz newsmagazine.
22	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, becoming the first major U.S. late-night talk show to record before an audience since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Sidekick/announcer Steve Higgins, who had been recording the show's introductions from home, also appears in person for the first time since before New York City's lockdown began. 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. The pre-pandemic opening theme and sequence returned, albeit with minor edits featuring Fallon alone in a face mask, including a street-side performance of mostly-masked house band The Roots; it was later reverted to its original mask-less pre-pandemic version after the CDC's guidelines were updated in May. Two months later, Tonight would announce that they would be bringing the audience in full in early June.
24	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.
25	Dick Stockton announces his retirement after a 55-year sportscasting career, most notably covering the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, and the Winter Olympics for Fox, CBS, and Turner Sports, as well as local broadcasts of the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics.
26	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) will 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.
31	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 will be offered $10/month discounts off of either Philo or YouTube TV’s respective base packages. (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.)

April

Date	Event	Source
1	Dish Network and Sling TV drop MASN (home of Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals), on the first day of the 2021 Major League Baseball season, due to a carriage dispute. Additionally, the providers drop NBC Sports Washington (home of the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals); NBC Sports California (home of the Oakland Athletics, San Jose Sharks, and Sacramento Kings); and NBC Sports Bay Area (home of the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors) for the same reason.
	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.
13	American Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications and Mexico-based Televisa announce that they will combine 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.
14	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 will become the first Black executive to lead a broadcast news operation when she joins ABC News in May.
18	The 56th Academy of Country Music Awards aired on CBS from three locations in Nashville: the Grand Ole Opry House, the Ryman Auditorium, and the Bluebird Café. Keith Urban and Mickey Guyton (who became the first African-American woman to serve as host) were the hosts for the telecast. Luke Bryan won “Entertainer of the Year” and Chris Stapleton (for Starting Over) won “Album of the Year”; Maren Morris, Carly Pearce and Lee Brice won the most awards during the event, earning two each.
25	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 second 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.
26	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") will see TBS and/or TNT carry up to 72 regular season games each season; the New Year's Day Winter Classic; half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs each season; three Stanley Cup Final series exclusively on TNT; and live streaming and simulcast rights for HBO Max (which, alongside ESPN+, will replace 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) will conclude at the end of the truncated 2021 season, this after NBC pulled out of negotiations for the partial contractual rights.
27	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 an 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.
29	Nearly three months after announcing its intent to acquire Quincy Media's broadcast properties (see February 1 entry), Gray Television announces it will sell seven Quincy-owned stations (including corresponding satellites belonging to four ABC affiliates) to Allen Media Broadcasting to address local cross-ownership conflicts with existing Gray properties. The $380-million deal will result in the Entertainment Studios unit acquiring NBC affiliates KVOA/Tucson, KWWL/Cedar Rapids and WREX/Rockford, and ABC affiliates WKOW/Madison, WXOW/La Crosse, WAOW/Wausau and WSIL/Paducah.
30	The CW removes the British police procedural Bulletproof (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.

May

Date	Event	Source
3	Gray Television announces it will acquire the Meredith Local Media broadcasting unit from the Meredith Corporation for $2.7 billion. The deal, expected to be finalized in the fourth quarter of 2021, will result in Gray adding 17 stations in 12 markets to the company’s portfolio, and necessitate a sale of one "top-four-ranked" station to meet FCC concerns (in the Central Michigan market, where Gray will sell its WJRT-TV to an independent third-party group while retaining Meredith's WNEM-TV). The Meredith acquisition will result in Gray becoming the third-largest television 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). Meredith will concurrently spin off its print/digital unit to current company shareholders.
	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 will be 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.
10	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 will not air the HFPA's Golden Globe Awards ceremony in January 2022. It's 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.
13	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 cancelled May 14 and May 21 episodes.) Maher returned to the program on May 28.
16– 17	The 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards aired on MTV (and simulcast on ViacomCBS-owned sister channels including Nick at Nite, BET, Comedy Central, TV Land and Paramount Network) with Leslie Jones as the host. The ceremony, held at the Hollywood Palladium, saw Sacha Baron Cohen be honored with the Comedic Genius Award and Scarlett Johansson honored with the MTV Generation Award. Among television nominees, WandaVision earned the most accolades with four awards (including Best Performance in a Show and co-lead Elizabeth Olsen for Best Show). It is also the first telecast to be split over two nights: the second night (on May 17) marked the inaugural edition of MTV Movie & TV Awards: Unscripted, a ceremony devoted exclusively to awards in reality television. (In addition to airing on MTV, the event was simulcast on MTV2, VH1 and CMT.) The ceremony, hosted by Nikki Glaser, saw RuPaul's Drag Race earn the most wins with three awards (including Best Competition Series and RuPaul for Best Host).
17	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 will spin out WarnerMedia into an independent company (unwinding its $85-billion 2017 acquisition of the former Time Warner) that will concurrently acquire Discovery. Expected to close in mid-2022, AT&T shareholders will own 71% of the company and Discovery shareholders will own the remaining 29% share, with each shareholder group appointing representative board members; Discovery President/CEO David Zaslav will head the new company, taking over from WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar (whose post-merger duties were not initially disclosed).
18–22	The 2021 Eurovision Song Contest (held at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands) airs live on Peacock, with the semi-finals airing on May 18 and May 20, and the final (in which Italy won with Måneskin’s "Zitti e buoni") airing on May 22. It marked the first time that an entire Eurovision Song Contest event (both semi-finals and the final) have been carried live-to-air on a U.S. television service.
22	CNN terminates their 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.
23	The 2021 Billboard Music Awards air on NBC from the Microsoft Theater, with Nick Jonas as the host. The Weeknd won 10 awards from among his 16 nominations, including for Top Artist, Top Male Artist, Top R&B Artist, Top R&B Album (for After Hours) and Top Hot 100 Song (for “Blinding Lights”).
	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 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).
24	The Late Show with Stephen Colbert announces that it will bring back live audiences starting June 14 in adherence to New York state’s adoption of CDC guidelines for fully vaccinated individuals and has been reviewed by the state officials. Guests will be required to show proof of being vaccinated fully before entering. Face masks will be optional. Staff and crew will continue to be tested before commencing work regularly and screened daily for symptoms. A COVID-19 compliance officer will monitor and enforce all health and safety protocols.
26	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 will 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, Texas governor Greg 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), passes with near-unanimous support in both houses of the Texas Legislature.
27	HBO Max, which marked the one-year anniversary of its launch on this date, releases Friends: The Reunion, a special reuniting the main cast of the 1994–2004 NBC sitcom (Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer). Moderated by James Corden, it featured taped and in-person guest appearances from former guest stars (such as Tom Selleck, Elliott Gould, James Michael Tyler, and Reese Witherspoon) and celebrity fans (such as David Beckham, Justin Bieber, Cindy Crawford, and Lady Gaga). Filming of the special – which was recorded in front of a studio audience at the sitcom's former Stage 24 at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank – took place in April, after having been delayed twice in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
	The 2021 iHeartRadio Music Awards air on Fox from Hollywood's Dolby Theatre, one year after the 2020 ceremony was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic (its winners were announced through a virtual press conference). Usher serves as host, with Elton John (recipient of the iHeartRadio Icon Award) among the honorees.
28	Longtime KSAT/San Antonio reporter Paul Venema retires from the Graham Media Group-owned ABC affiliate after 47 years.

Future events

June

Date	Event	Source
25	The 48th Daytime Emmy Awards will air on CBS.

July

Date	Event	Source
13	All remaining analog television stations will be required, by FCC mandate, to shut off their analog signals and only broadcast 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 will force the 87.7 stations to cease their radio operations.
23–August 8	The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, are scheduled to 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 will carry coverage in the United States. 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.

September

Date	Event	Source
19	The 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards will air on CBS.
26	The 74th Tony Awards are to air on Paramount+ and CBS at a New York City location to be determined. Originally scheduled for June 7, 2020 at Radio City Music Hall, the ceremony had long been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic that has kept Broadway theatre shut down from March 2020 until a scheduled return date weeks before this ceremony. The 74th Tonys will be expanded to a four-hour event, with acting, directing, and technical awards (nominations for which were announced in October 2020) presented in a two-hour segment shown exclusively on Paramount+, then continue on CBS with a two-hour concert billed as The Tony Awards Present: Broadway’s Back! that will feature live Broadway performances and the awarding of the Tonys for Best Play, Best Play Revival, and Best Musical.

October

Date	Event	Source
2	With the network's annual two-night season lead-off telecast of the iHeartRadio Music Festival, The CW will debut 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 will mark the first time The CW has programmed that night in its 15-year history and will make 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 will shutter its daytime block earlier in September, giving that one hour per weekday back to its affiliates 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 will debut the following Saturday (October 9), consisting of returning unscripted shows Whose Line Is It Anyway? and World's Funniest Animals.

TBD

Date	Event	Source
Early	Peter Roth will step down as the chairman of Warner Bros. Television Group and be succeeded by Channing Dungey.

Television shows

Shows debuting in 2021

Further information: List of 2021 American television debuts

Shows changing networks

Show	Moved from	Moved to	Source
Condor	Audience	Epix
Beavis and Butt-Head	MTV	Comedy Central
Stargirl	DC Universe/The CW	The CW
Doom Patrol	DC Universe/HBO Max	HBO Max
Titans	DC Universe
Young Justice
Kids Say the Darndest Things	ABC	CBS
Dr. Pimple Popper: This Is Zit	TLC.com	Discovery+
Crikey! It's the Irwins	Animal Planet
See No Evil	Investigation Discovery
Evil Lives Here
Murder in the Heartland
The Orville	Fox	Hulu
Archibald's Next Big Thing	Netflix	Peacock
Younger	TV Land	Paramount+
Rugrats	Nickelodeon
iCarly
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars	VH1
Dating Naked
Ink Master	Paramount Network
Inside Amy Schumer	Comedy Central
SEAL Team	CBS
Evil
The Rich and the Ruthless	Allblk	BET+

Milestone episodes and anniversaries

Show	Network	Episode #	Episode title	Episode airdate	Source
Teen Titans Go!	Cartoon Network	300th episode	"Justice League's Next Top Talent Idol Star: Dance Crew Edition"	January 8
Saturday Night Live	NBC	900th episode	"Dan Levy/Phoebe Bridgers"	February 6
Let's Make a Deal	CBS	2,000th episode	"Episode 2000"	February 19
American Housewife	ABC	100th episode	"Getting Otto with The Franks"	February 24
The Simpsons	Fox	700th episode	"Manger Things"	March 21
Dr. Phil	Syndication	3,000th episode	"Dr. Phil's 3,000th Show - With Bonus Footage!"	April 2
The Flash	The CW	150th episode	TBA	TBA

Shows returning in 2021

The following shows will return with new episodes after being canceled or having ended their run previously:

Show	Last aired	Type of Return	Previous channel	New/returning/same channel	Return date	Source
Monster Garage	2006	Revival	Discovery Channel	Discovery+	January 4
Name That Tune	1985		First-run syndication	Fox	January 6
The Chase	2015		Game Show Network	ABC	January 7
Walker, Texas Ranger (as Walker)	2001	Reboot	CBS	The CW	January 21
Top Gear America	2017		BBC America	Motor Trend	January 29
The Equalizer	1989		CBS	same	February 7
Evil Lives Here	2020	New season	Investigation Discovery	Discovery+	February 14
Archibald's Next Big Thing (as Archibald's Next Big Thing Is Here!)			Netflix	Peacock	February 18
Modern Marvels	2015	Revival	History	same	February 21
Chain Reaction	2016		Game Show Network		February 22
Punky Brewster	1988		First-run syndication	Peacock	February 25
Dinner: Impossible	2010		Food Network	same	March 11
America's Most Wanted	2012		Lifetime	Fox	March 15
Wipeout	2014	Reboot	ABC	TBS	April 1
Kung Fu (modern-day version)	1997		First-run syndication	The CW	April 7
Younger	2019	New season	TV Land	Paramount+	April 15
Kids Say the Darndest Things	2020		ABC	CBS	May 5
The Rich and the Ruthless	2019		Allblk	BET+	May 13
In Treatment	2010	Reboot	HBO	same	May 23
Rugrats	2004	Revival	Nickelodeon	Paramount+	May 27
iCarly	2012				June 17
Evil	2020	New season	CBS		June 20
College Bowl (as Capital One College Bowl)	1970	Revival	NBC	same	June 22
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars	2020	New season	VH1	Paramount+	June 24
Gossip Girl	2012	Revival	The CW	HBO Max	July 8
Beavis and Butt-Head	2011		MTV	Comedy Central	Mid
Fantasy Island	1999	Reboot	ABC	Fox	August 10
You Bet Your Life	1993		First-run syndication	same	Fall
The Wonder Years (modern-day version)			ABC
Dexter	2013		Showtime
Legends of the Hidden Temple	1995	Revival	Nickelodeon	The CW
Making the Band	2009		MTV	same	TBA
What Not to Wear	2013		TLC
Johnny Test	2014		Cartoon Network	Netflix
Inside Amy Schumer	2016		Comedy Central	Paramount+
Dating Naked			VH1
Ink Master	2020		Paramount Network
Condor	2018	New season	Audience	Epix
Who Do You Think You Are?			TLC	NBC
Tuca & Bertie	2019		Netflix	Adult Swim
Slasher				Shudder

Shows ending in 2021

End date	Show	Channel	First aired	Status	Source
January 15	Carmen Sandiego	Netflix	2019	Ended
February 4	Lou Dobbs Tonight	Fox Business	1980	Canceled
February 15	Big Hero 6: The Series	Disney XD	2017	Ended
February 24	For Life	ABC	2020	Canceled
March 15	DuckTales	Disney XD	2017	Ended
March 18	The Unicorn	CBS	2019	Canceled
March 21	American Gods	Starz	2015
March 25	Superstore	NBC		Ended
March 31	American Housewife	ABC	2016	Canceled
April 9	Wynonna Earp	Syfy		Ended
April 11	Shameless	Showtime	2011
April 15	Infinity Train	HBO Max	2019
April 30	MacGyver	CBS	2016
May 7	Shrill	Hulu	2019
May 13	Castlevania	Netflix	2017
	Mom	CBS	2013
May 18	Prodigal Son	Fox	2019	Canceled
	Mixed-ish	ABC
May 19	Call Your Mother		2021
May 20	Special	Netflix	2019	Ended
	Last Man Standing	Fox	2011
May 22	Iyanla: Fix My Life	Oprah Winfrey Network	2012
May 23	NCIS: New Orleans	CBS	2014
May 24	All Rise		2019	Canceled
	Debris	NBC	2021
	Black Lightning	The CW	2018	Ended
May 28	The Kominsky Method	Netflix
June 3	A Little Late with Lilly Singh	NBC	2019	Ending
June 6	Pose	FX	2018
June 9	Queen of the South	USA Network	2016
June 10	Younger	Paramount+	2015
	Keeping Up with the Kardashians	E!	2007
	Rebel	ABC	2021	Cancelled
June 20	Bless the Harts	Fox	2019
June 24	Conan	TBS	2010	Ending
June 25	Bosch	Prime Video	2014
June 30	The Bold Type	Freeform	2017
July 9	Van Helsing	Syfy	2016
July 13	Mr Inbetween	FX	2018
July 20	The Haves and the Have Nots	Oprah Winfrey Network	2013
August 4	Home & Family	Hallmark Channel	2012
September 16	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	NBC	2013
TBA	Judge Judy	First-run syndication	1996
	Supergirl	The CW	2015
	Grace and Frankie	Netflix
	F is for Family
	The Expanse	Prime Video
	Goliath		2016
	You Me Her	TBA
	Insecure	HBO
	Claws	TNT	2017
	Atypical	Netflix
	Dear White People
	Ozark
	Lost in Space		2018
	On My Block
	Dead to Me		2019

Networks and services

Launches

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes	Source
Discovery+	OTT streaming	January 4	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.
Twist	OTA multicast	April 5	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.
MeTV+		May 15	On May 3, Weigel Broadcasting announced plans to launch MeTV+, an experimental spin-off of flagship network MeTV that will feature a lineup of classic sitcoms, drama series, and comedic and animated shorts sourced from the libraries of Sony Pictures Television, CBS Media Ventures, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and NBCUniversal Syndication Studios that will be complimentary to the offerings on its parent network. At the outset, MeTV+—the second MeTV extension effort by Weigel, following a local “MeToo” service that ran on WMEU-CD/Chicago (now an independent station) from 2008 to 2013—will launch on Weigel-owned Chicago flagship WCIU-TV and KMOH-TV/Kingman–Phoenix, occupying subchannels that carried Bounce TV (which will shift to local Ion stations owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, parent of Bounce owner Katz Broadcasting). If successful, Weigel plans to expand MeTV+ to stations that the company owns in other markets (including as a replacement for Bounce TV on Weigel stations that carried the network since its 2011 debut) and to affiliates owned by third-party station groups.
Defy TV		July 1	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) will respectively target men and women in the 25-54 age range with factual lifestyle and reality programming.
TrueReal
G4	Digital and linear	Summer	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, slated for 2021 (the form of distribution, whether as a return as a wireline network or a digital component of a service such as Peacock, was not divulged). The teasers were timed for Comic-Con@Home, the first virtual streaming edition of the annual fan convention, San Diego Comic-Con International. 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.
Rewind TV	OTA multicast	September 1	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) that will focus on classic sitcoms from the 1980s and 1990s and fill subchannel slots vacated by the Katz networks. Rewind—which will initially launch on subchannels of stations owned or managed by Nexstar—will draw from the libraries of Sony Pictures Television, CBS Media Ventures, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution and NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, and initially include 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.
Newsy	OTA multicast (existing carriage on cable providers and ad-supported OTT services)	October 1	After years as a cable and over-the-top all-news service, the E. W. Scripps Company announced plans on April 6 to expand distribution of Newsy to include over-the-air carriage. The network will be carried primarily on subchannels of Scripps-owned stations, including the company’s Ion affiliates.

Conversions and rebrandings

Old network name	New network name	Type	Conversion date	Notes	Source
Urban Movie Channel	Allblk	OTT streaming	January 6	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 will also increase original programming, with five new series initially slated to debut in 2021.
Light TV	TheGrio.TV	Over-the-air multicast/ OTT streaming	January 15	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.TV (branded after the Black cultural news and entertainment website acquired by parent company Entertainment Studios in 2016), adopting a focus around movies, 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 have stopped carrying the network in the run-up to TheGrio.tv.
WGN America	NewsNation	Cable and satellite	March 1	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 will continue to be featured in daytime and overnight slots (along with early morning paid and religious programming), which will be replaced with news content once syndication contracts expire.
CBS All Access	Paramount+	OTT streaming	March 4	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).
Vix	PrendeTV	OTT streaming	March 30	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.
Fox Sports Networks	Bally Sports	Cable and satellite	March 31	Sinclair Broadcast Group, as part of a partnership with Entertainment Studios, acquired the regional networks formerly owned by Fox Sports parent News Corporation in 2019. (Disney was required by the Department of Justice to divest the channels during its acquisition of 21st Century Fox on antitrust grounds due to its ownership of ESPN Inc.) Sinclair reached a cross-partnership with gaming company Bally's Corporation in November 2020, which led to the channels shedding the "Fox Sports" brand after more than 24 years in favor of "Bally Sports"; the move coincided with the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season the next day.
Paramount Network	Paramount Movie Network	Cable/satellite	TBD	Paramount Network will convert from a mix of movies, original unscripted programs, and off-network shows to an all-movie channel (consisting of both new original productions and content from the Paramount Pictures library). The renamed Paramount Movie Network will continue to carry at least one scripted series or miniseries each quarter (among them, existing drama series Yellowstone, which will modify its episode format to meet the network's new focus). Along with discontinuing unscripted programming, certain Paramount Network original programs (such as Bar Rescue and Lip Sync Battle) will move to other ViacomCBS-owned cable channels.

Closures

Network	Type	End date	Notes	Source
DC Universe	OTT streaming	January 21	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 are moving to HBO Max as Max Original series starting their new seasons, while Stargirl is moving to The CW with its second season.
Ion Plus	Over-the-air multicast	February 28	Following the completion of its acquisition of Ion Media, on January 14, the E. W. Scripps Company announced that it will shutter 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 will eventually consolidate 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 will continue 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.
Qubo
Ion Shop
WWE Network	OTT streaming	March 18 (United States)	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 will have 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 will remain unchanged outside of the United States.
CNN Airport	Cable and satellite	March 31	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 travel declined greatly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NBCSN		Q4	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, will move to NBC and USA Network along with some programming moving to the Peacock streaming service; its National Hockey League contract (a cornerstone of the network's programming) expires at the end of the abbreviated 2021 season.

Television stations

Subchannel launches

Date	Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Source
January 1	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	KFXA	28.5	Comet
	Charleston, West Virginia	WCHS	8.3	Antenna TV
		WVAH-TV	11.4	Charge!
			11.5	TBD
	Columbus, Ohio	WSYX	6.4	Antenna TV
	Dayton, Ohio	WRGT-TV	45.5	TBD
			45.6	Stadium
	Idaho Falls-Pocatello, Idaho	KIFI-TV	8.5	Telemundo
February 4	Sioux City, Iowa	KMEG	14.4	Stadium
March 1	Columbus, Ohio	WSFJ-TV	51.2	Grit
	Indianapolis, Indiana	WRTV	6.5	HSN
	Kansas City, Missouri	KSHB-TV	41.4	GetTV
	Miami, Florida	WSFL-TV	39.5	QVC
	Norfolk, Virginia	WGNT	27.5	QVC2
			27.6	HSN2
	Raleigh, North Carolina	WRPX-TV	47.4	Grit
April 1	Chicago, Illinois	WLS-TV	7.3	This TV
	Fresno, California	KFSN-TV	30.4	HSN
	Houston, Texas	KTRK-TV	13.4	QVC
	Los Angeles, California	KABC-TV	7.4	QVC2
	New York City, New York	WABC-TV		HSN
	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WPVI-TV	6.4	QVC
	Raleigh, North Carolina	WTVD	11.4	HSN
	San Francisco, California	KGO-TV	7.4
April 5	Atlanta, Georgia	WXIA-TV	11.2	Twist
	Buffalo, New York	WGRZ	2.5
	Charleston, South Carolina	WBSE-LD	20.2
	Charlotte, North Carolina	WCNC-TV	36.5
	Chicago, Illinois	WGBO-DT	66.6
	Cleveland, Ohio	WKYC	3.5
	Columbia, South Carolina	WLTX	19.5
	Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas	WFAA	8.9
	Davenport, Iowa-Moline, Illinois	WQAD-TV	8.5
	Denver, Colorado	KUSA	9.7
	Des Moines, Iowa	WOI-DT	5.5
	Detroit, Michigan	WADL	38.8
	Fort Smith, Arkansas	KFSM-TV	5.4
	Fort Wayne, Indiana	WCUH-LD	16.2
	Grand Rapids, Michigan	WZZM	13.5
	Greensboro, North Carolina	WFMY-TV	2.6
	Hartford, Connecticut	WTIC-TV	61.5
	Houston, Texas	KHOU	11.4
	Jacksonville, Florida	WJXX	25.5
	Las Vegas, Nevada	K36NE-D	43.3
	Little Rock, Arkansas	KTHV	11.6
	Los Angeles, California	KMEX-DT	34.6
	Macon, Georgia	WMAZ-TV	13.5
	Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Florida	WLTV-DT	23.5
	New Orleans, Louisiana	WWL-TV	4.4
	New York City, New York	WXTV-DT	41.3
	Norfolk, Virginia	WVEC	13.5
	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WFPA-CD	28.4
	Portland, Oregon	KGW	8.4
	Sacramento, California	KXTV	10.5
	St. Louis, Missouri	KSDK	5.5
	Salt Lake City, Utah	KUTH-DT	36.6
	San Francisco, California	KFSF-DT	66.6
April 12	Louisville, Kentucky	WHAS-TV	11.5
	Washington, D.C.	WUSA	9.4
April 19	Memphis, Tennessee	WATN-TV	24.4
April 26	Austin, Texas	KVUE	24.6
	Knoxville, Tennessee	WBIR-TV	10.5
	Phoenix, Arizona	KPNX	12.5
May 3	Amarillo, Texas	KLKW-LD	22.6
May 10	Midland/Odessa, Texas	KWES-TV	9.5
	San Antonio, Texas	KENS	5.6
May 15	Kingman, Arizona (Phoenix)	KMOH-TV	6.3	MeTV Plus
May 17	Tyler/Longview, Texas	KYTX	19.4	Twist
May 24	Albuquerque, New Mexico	KLUZ-TV	19.6
	Boston, Massachusetts	WUNI	66.5
September 1	Green Bay, Wisconsin	WFRV-TV	5.4	Rewind TV
	Springfield, Missouri	KOZL-TV	27.4
	Terre Haute, Indiana	WAWV-TV	38.4
TBA	Los Angeles	KWHY-TV	22.8	Spanish News

Stations changing network affiliations

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 will only be mentioned if the prior or new affiliation inolves a major English and Spanish broadcast network or a locally programmed independent entertainment format.

Date	Market	Station	Channel	Prior affiliation	New affiliation	Notes	Source
January 1	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	KGAN	2.2	GetTV	Fox	On January 1, KGAN began simulcasting KFXA for a one-month transitional period; GetTV concurrently moved to KGAN's third digital subchannel.
			2.3	Comet	GetTV
	Charleston, West Virginia	WCHS-TV	8.2	Antenna TV	Fox	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.
	Columbus, Ohio	WSYX	6.3			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.
	Dayton, Ohio	WKEF	22.2	Stadium		WKEF-DT2 disaffiliated from Stadium on January 1; it concurrently began simulcasting sister station WRGT-TV for a one-month transitional period.
	Idaho Falls–Pocatello, Idaho	KIDK	3.1	CBS	Dabl	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.
		KIFI-TV	8.2	Telemundo	CBS
	Port Arthur-Beaumont, Texas	KFDM	6.3	Charge!	Fox	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.
	Santa Barbara-Santa Maria, California	KCOY-TV	11.1	CBS	Dabl	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.
		KEYT-TV	3.2	MyNetworkTV	CBS
			3.3	Bounce TV	MyNetworkTV
February 1	Dothan, Alabama	WDHN	18.4	Cozi TV	Antenna TV	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.
	Terre Haute, Indiana	WTWO	2.4
	Monroe, Louisiana	KARD-TV	14.4
	Joplin, Missouri	KSNF	16.4
	Amarillo, Texas	KAMR-TV	4.4
	Wichita Falls, Texas	KFDX-TV	3.4
	Charleston, West Virginia	WVAH-TV	11.1	Fox	Decades	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; 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.
	Port Arthur–Beaumont, Texas	KBTV-TV	4.1		Dabl	In December 2020, Sinclair Broadcast Group—which operated the station through Deerfield Media—announced that KBTV will 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. Following this, KFDM will be 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).
			4.5	Dabl	Charge!
February 2	Cedar Rapids, Iowa	KGAN	2.2	GetTV	Fox	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; 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.
			2.3	Comet	GetTV
		KFXA	28.1	Fox	Dabl
February 3	Columbus, Ohio	WTTE	28.1		TBD	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; afterward, WTTE switched to Sinclair's TBD diginet.
			28.2	TBD	Stadium
February 4	Dayton, Ohio	WRGT-TV	45.1	Fox	MyNetworkTV/Dabl
			45.2	MyNetworkTV/Dabl	TBD
			45.5	TBD	Stadium
	Sioux City, Iowa	KMEG	14.1	CBS	Dabl	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. Both stations concurrently swapped their corresponding diginet affiliations with Dabl, TBD and Charge! on that date.
			14.2	TBD	Charge!
		KPTH	44.2	Dabl	TBD
			44.3	Charge!	CBS
March 1	Albany–Schenectady–Troy, New York	WYPX-TV	55.2	Qubo	Bounce TV	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. With Katz's carriage agreement with the ABC Owned Television Stations also running out, ABCOTS has since come to agreement with Allen Media Group to launch a revitalized This TV on those channel slots.
			55.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			55.4	Ion Shop	Grit
	Atlanta, Georgia	WPXA-TV	14.2	Qubo	Court TV
			14.3	Ion Plus	Laff
			14.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
	Birmingham, Alabama	WPXH-TV	44.2	Qubo
			44.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			44.4	Ion Shop	Grit
			44.5	QVC	Laff
	Boise, Idaho	KTRV-TV	12.2	Qubo	Court TV
			12.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			12.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
	Boston, Massachusetts	WDPX-TV	58.1	Ion Plus	Court TV
		WBPX-TV	68.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
			68.3	Ion Shop	Bounce TV
	Buffalo, New York	WPXJ-TV	51.2	Qubo	Court TV
			51.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			51.4	Ion Shop	Laff
	Chicago, Illinois	WCPX-TV	38.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
			38.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			38.4	Ion Shop	Laff
	Cleveland, Ohio	WDLI-TV	17.1	Ion Plus	Court TV
		WVPX-TV	23.2	Qubo	Grit
			23.3	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
	Columbia, South Carolina	WZRB	47.2	Qubo	Court TV
			47.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
			47.4	Ion Shop	Grit
	Columbus, Ohio	WSFJ-TV	51.1	Ion Plus	Bounce TV
	Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas	KPXD-TV	68.2	Qubo	Court TV
			68.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			68.4	Ion Shop	Laff
	Denver, Colorado	KPXC-TV	59.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
			59.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			59.4	Ion Shop	Laff
			59.6	QVC	Grit
	Des Moines, Iowa	KFPX-TV	39.2	Qubo	Court TV
			39.3	Ion Plus	Laff
			39.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
	Detroit, Michigan	WPXD-TV	31.2	Qubo	Court TV
			31.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			31.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
	Grand Rapids, Michigan	WZPX-TV	43.2	Qubo	Court TV
			43.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			43.4	Ion Shop	Laff
			43.5	QVC	Court TV Mystery
	Greensboro–Winston-Salem–High Point, North Carolina	WGPX-TV	16.2	Qubo	Grit
			16.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			16.4	Ion Shop	Laff
	Greenville–New Bern, North Carolina	WEPX-TV	38.2	Qubo	Court TV
			38.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			38.4	Ion Shop	Laff
		WPXU-TV	35.2	Qubo	Court TV
			35.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			35.4	Ion Shop	Laff
	Hagerstown, Maryland	WWPX-TV	60.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
			60.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			60.4	Ion Shop	Laff
	Hartford, Connecticut	WHPX-TV	26.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
			26.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
			26.4	Ion Shop	Grit
	Houston, Texas	KPXB-TV	49.2	Qubo	Court TV
			49.3	Ion Plus	Grit
			49.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
49.5			HSN	Laff
Indianapolis, Indiana	WCLJ-TV	42.1	Ion Plus	Bounce TV
	WIPX-TV	63.2	Qubo	Court TV
		63.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
	WRTV	6.4	Court TV Mystery	QVC
Jacksonville, Florida	WPXC-TV	21.2	Qubo	Court TV
		21.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
		21.4	Ion Shop	Grit
		21.6	HSN	Laff
Kansas City, Missouri	KMCI-TV	38.4	Court TV	HSN
	KPXE-TV	50.2	Qubo	Court TV
		50.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		50.4	Ion Shop	Laff
		50.6	HSN	QVC2
Knoxville, Tennessee	WPXK-TV	54.2	Qubo	Court TV
		54.3	Ion Plus	Laff
		54.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
Lexington, Kentucky	WUPX-TV	67.2	Qubo	Court TV
		67.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		67.4	Ion Shop	Laff
Los Angeles, California	KPXN-TV	30.2	Qubo	Court TV
		30.3	Ion Life	Grit
		30.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
		30.5	QVC	Laff
	KILM	64.1	Ion Plus	Grit
Madison, Wisconsin	WIFS	57.1	Ion Plus	Ion Television
		57.5	Qubo	Laff
		57.6	Laff	Court TV Mystery
		57.7	Court TV Mystery	Grit
Manchester, New Hampshire	WPXG-TV	21.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
		21.3	Ion Shop	Bounce TV
Memphis, Tennessee	WPXX-TV	50.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
		50.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		50.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Miami–Ft. Lauderdale, Florida	WPXM-TV	35.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
		35.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		35.4	Ion Shop	Laff
Milwaukee, Wisconsin	WPXE-TV	55.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		55.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		55.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minnesota	KPXM-TV	41.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		41.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		41.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
Nashville, Tennessee	WNPX-TV	28.2	Qubo	Court TV
		28.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		28.4	Ion Shop	Laff
New Orleans, Louisiana	WPXL-TV	49.2	Qubo	Grit
		49.3	Ion Plus	Laff
		49.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
New York City, New York	WJLP	33.6	Court TV	Heartland
	WPXN-TV	31.2	Qubo	Grit
		31.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
		31.4	Ion Shop	Court TV
		31.5	QVC	Laff
Norfolk–Portsmouth–Newport News, Virginia	WPXV-TV	49.2	Qubo
		49.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
		49.4	Ion Shop	Court TV
	WGNT	27.4	Court TV	Dabl
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	KOPX-TV	62.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		62.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		62.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Orlando, Florida	WOPX-TV	56.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		56.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
		56.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WPPX-TV	61.2	Qubo	Court TV
		61.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		61.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
		61.5	HSN	Laff
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania	WINP-TV	16.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		16.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		16.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
Portland, Maine	WIPL	35.2	Qubo	Court TV
		35.3	Ion Plus	Bounce TV
		35.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Portland, Oregon	KPXG-TV	22.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		22.3		Court TV
		22.4	Ion Shop	Laff
Providence, Rhode Island	WLWC	28.1	Ion Plus	Court TV
	WPXQ-TV	69.2	Qubo	Laff
		69.4	Ion Shop	Bounce TV
Raleigh–Durham, North Carolina	WRPX-TV	47.3		Court TV Mystery
		47.5	QVC	Laff
	WFPX-TV	62.1	Ion Plus	Court TV
Roanoke–Lynchburg, Virginia	WPXR-TV	38.2	Qubo
		38.3	Ion Plus	Laff
		38.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
St. Louis, Missouri	WRBU	46.2	Qubo	Court TV
		46.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		46.4	Ion Shop	Laff
Sacramento	KSPX-TV	29.2	Qubo	Court TV
		29.3	Ion Plus	Laff
		29.4	Ion Shop	Bounce TV
Salt Lake City, Utah	KUPX-TV	16.2	Qubo	Grit
		16.3	Ion Plus	Laff
		16.4	Ion Shop	Bounce TV
San Antonio, Texas	KPXL-TV	26.2	Qubo	Court TV
		26.3	Ion Plus	Laff
		26.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
San Francisco–Oakland–San Jose, California	KKPX-TV	65.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		65.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		65.4	Ion Shop	Grit
		65.5	QVC	Laff
Scranton–Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania	WQPX-TV	64.2	Qubo	Bounce TV
		64.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		64.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Seattle–Tacoma, Washington	KWPX-TV	33.2	Qubo	Court TV
		33.3	Ion Life	Bounce TV
		33.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Syracuse, New York	WSPX-TV	56.2	Qubo	Court TV
		56.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		56.4	Ion Shop	Court TV Mystery
Tampa–St. Petersburg, Florida	WXPX-TV	66.2	Qubo	Court TV
		66.3	Ion Plus	Grit
		66.4	Ion Shop	Laff
Tulsa, Oklahoma	KTPX-TV	44.2	Qubo	NBC
		44.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		44.4	Ion Shop	Grit
Washington, D.C.	WPXW-TV	66.2	Qubo	Court TV Mystery
		66.3	Ion Plus	Court TV
		66.4	Ion Shop	Laff
Wausau–Rhinelander, Wisconsin	WTPX-TV	46.2	Qubo	Grit
		46.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
		46.4	Ion Shop	Laff
		46.5	QVC	Bounce TV
West Palm Beach, Florida	WPTV-TV	5.4	Court TV Mystery	Start TV
	WPXP-TV	67.2	Qubo	Court TV
		67.3	Ion Plus	Court TV Mystery
		67.4	Ion Shop	Laff
		67.5	QVC	Grit
April 1	Fresno, California	KFSN-TV	30.3	Laff	This TV
	Houston, Texas	KTRK-TV	13.3
	Los Angeles, California	KABC-TV	7.3
	Minneapolis, Minnesota	K33LN-D	33.1	Bounce TV	QVC
			33.2	Court TV Mystery	HSN
	New York City, New York	WABC-TV	7.3	Laff	This TV
	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	WPVI-TV	6.3
	Raleigh, North Carolina	WTVD	11.3
	San Francisco, California	KGO-TV	7.3
April 5	Indianapolis, Indiana	WISH-TV	8.3	True Crime Network	Twist
May 15	Chicago, Illinois	WCPX-TV	38.2	Court TV Mystery	Bounce TV	WCIU will launch the experimental MeTV Plus service over digital subchannels 26.5 on this date; the network will replace 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 will cede its Chicago affiliation rights exclusively to that station with the switchover.
		WCIU-TV	26.5	Bounce TV	MeTV Plus
May 17	Lexington, Kentucky	WTVQ-DT	36.4	Laff	Twist
			36.7	Grit	QVC
September 1	Buffalo, New York	WNLO	23.2	Bounce TV	Rewind TV

Station closures

Station	Channel	Affiliation	Market	Date	Notes	Source
XHRIO	15.1	The CW	Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico (Rio Grande Valley, Texas)	December 31	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.
WVTA	41.#	PBS	Windsor, Vermont	TBD	Vermont PBS announced on February 17, 2017, that it will sell the broadcast license for WVTA, which transmits from Mount Ascutney, for $56 million in the FCC spectrum auction. In a statement, the member network said that its other signals will be upgraded to cover the viewing area (southeastern Vermont and southwestern New Hampshire) served by WVTA.

Deaths

January

Date	Name	Age	Notability	Source
January 2	Kerry Vincent	75	Australian baker and reality show contestant (The Best Thing I Ever Ate, Food Network Challenge, and Last Cake Standing)
January 3	Eric Jerome Dickey	59	Author and former actor. Recurring role on Almost There!
January 4	Tanya Roberts	65	Actress best known as Midge Pinciotti on That '70s Show. Also recurring roles on Charlie's Angels and Hot Line.
	Gregory Sierra	83	Actor best known as Detective Sergeant Chano Amengual on Barney Miller and as Julio Fuentes on Sanford and Son.
January 6	Gerald Hiken	93	Character actor. Had a short recurring role on Car 54, Where Are You
	Antonio Sabàto Sr.	77	Italian-American actor, father of Antonio Sabàto Jr.; appeared as "Aldo Damiano" on The Bold and the Beautiful in 2006.
January 7	Michael Apted	79	British director, producer, writer and actor (Rome, Ray Donovan, Masters of Sex)
	Deezer D	55	Actor and rapper best known as Malik McGrath on ER.
	Tommy Lasorda	93	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
	Marion Ramsey	73	Actress (Cos). Guest starred on K-Ville, Loving, and Another World.
January 8	Ed Bruce	81	Country music songwriter, singer, and actor (Bret Maverick). Made guest roles on Happy Days, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Sally, Laverne & Shirley, The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, and The Munsters.
	Diana Millay	85	Actress (Father Knows Best, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Tab Hunter Show, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Route 66, King of Diamonds, Target: The Corruptors!, The United States Steel Hour, Rawhide, Perry Mason, Dark Shadows)
	Mike Henry	84	Football player (Pittsburgh Steelers and Los Angeles Rams) and actor (M*A*S*H, General Hospital, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Murder, She Wrote, Fantasy Island)
January 9	John Reilly	86	Actor best known for roles on the soap operas General Hospital and Passions
	Caroly Wilcox	89	Theater professional, best known for her work with The Muppets on television programs including Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock
January 14	Peter Mark Richman	93	Actor best known as Andrew Laird on Dynasty.
January 15	Dale Baer	70	Animator (Disney)
January 16	Jim MacGeorge	92	Voice actor and writer (Laurel and Hardy, The Funky Phantom, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Clue Club, Yogi's Space Race, Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, The Ri¢hie Ri¢h/Scooby-Doo Show, The Kwicky Koala Show, DuckTales, Bionic Six, Foofur, Beany and Cecil)
January 18	David Richardson	65	Writer and producer, most known for work on The John Larroquette Show, Two and a Half Men, and F Is for Family
	Don Sutton	75	Hall of Fame baseball pitcher and TV announcer for the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals
January 19	Mark Wilson	91	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.
January 20	Mira Furlan	65	Croatian actress and singer best known as Delenn on Babylon 5 and as Danielle Rousseau on Lost.
January 21	Marty Brill	88	Comedian, writer, actor and musician. Guest roles included Guiding Light, Transformers: Rescue Bots, Chicago Fire, Back to the Future, Captain N: The Game Master, Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy.
	Donna Britt	62	News anchor at WAFB/Baton Rouge, Louisiana from 1981 to 2018
January 22	Hank Aaron	86	Professional baseball player (played himself on Happy Days, MacGyver, Mr. Belvedere, Touched by an Angel and Futurama)
	Ron Campbell	81	Australian animator, director, producer and storyboard artist (Krazy Kat, The Beatles, Sesame Street, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, The Big Blue Marble, ABC Weekend Special, Yogi's Space Race, The Smurfs, The Scooby & Scrappy-Doo/Puppy Hour, Pac-Man, The Dukes, Snorks, Yogi's Treasure Hunt, Paw Paws, The Jetsons, Ghostbusters (1986), Bionic Six, DuckTales, The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Police Academy, Camp Candy, Bobby's World, Rugrats, Darkwing Duck, James Bond Jr., Bonkers, Duckman, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Rocket Power, Dragon Tales)
January 23	Hal Holbrook	95	Actor (several TV roles, including the series The Bold Ones: The Senator, Designing Women, and Evening Shade, and films and specials including That Certain Summer, Mark Twain Tonight! and 1977's Our Town)
	Larry King	87	Radio/TV broadcaster and host of Larry King Live on CNN and Larry King Now on Hulu and RT America
January 24	Sonny Fox	95	Host of The $64,000 Challenge (1956) and Wonderama (1959–1967)
	Bruce Kirby	95	Actor best known as Sergeant George Kramer on Columbo and as Bruce Rogoff on L.A. Law. Also recurring roles on numerous shows. Guest roles included As the World Turns, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital, Guiding Light, All That, Let's Make a Deal, The Young and the Restless, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour.
January 26	Cloris Leachman	94	Actress best known as Phyllis Lindstrom on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoff Phyllis. Also recurring roles and guest spots on numerous shows. Three-time Emmy winner.
	Sekou Smith	48	Reporter and analyst for NBA TV
January 28	Cicely Tyson	96	Actress and fashion model best known as Jane Foster on East Side/West Side, as Carrie Grace Battle on Sweet Justice, and as Ophelia Harkness on How to Get Away With Murder.
January 30	Allan Burns	85	Writer and producer (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, My Mother the Car, The Munsters, Rhoda, and Lou Grant)
	Marc Wilmore	57	Writer, actor, and producer (In Living Color, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The PJs, The Simpsons, and F Is for Family); brother of Larry Wilmore.

February

Date	Name	Age	Notability	Source
February 1	Dustin Diamond	44	Actor best known as Samuel "Screech" Powers in the Saved by the Bell franchise
	Jamie Tarses	56	Television executive (ABC Entertainment) and producer (Friends, Frasier, Happy Endings, My Boys, Franklin & Bash, The Wilds, Saturday Night Live, Perfect Strangers, Hawthorne, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Marry Me, Men at Work)
February 5	Christopher Plummer	91	Canadian Emmy, Oscar, and Tony Award-winning actor (TV credits include Omnibus, The Moneychangers, Jesus of Nazareth, Little Gloria... Happy at Last, The Thorn Birds, The Cosby Show, Counterstrike, Winchell, Nuremberg, American Tragedy, Departure, and Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight; voice work on Madeline; video clue presenter on Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time)
	Butch Reed	66	Former WWE and WCW professional wrestler
February 7	Pedro Gomez	58	Sports journalist who primarily covered baseball for ESPN, appearing on SportsCenter and Baseball Tonight
February 10	Katherine Creag	47	Newscaster at WNYW and WNBC in New York City
February 11	Joan Weldon	90	Actress
February 12	Christopher Pennock	76	Actor best known as Gabriel Collins on Dark Shadows
	Lynn Stalmaster	93	Casting director
February 17	Rush Limbaugh	70	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.
February 18	Frank Lupo	66	Writer/producer, most notably (in partnership with Stephen J. Cannell) on The A-Team, Hunter and Wiseguy
February 20	Douglas Turner Ward	90	Playwright, actor, director, and theatrical producer. He was noted for being a founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).
February 23	Geoffrey Scott	79	Actor best known as Mark Jennings on Dynasty
February 28	Irv Cross	81	Football player (Philadelphia Eagles, Los Angeles Rams) and sportscaster (The NFL Today). First Black network sports anchor.

March

Date	Name	Age	Notability	Source
March 2	Gil Rogers	87	Actor (recurring roles as Hawk Shayne on Guiding Light, Ray Gardner on All My Children, and Dr. Martin Brandt on The Doctors).
March 6	Carmel Quinn	95	Irish-American entertainer who appeared on Broadway, television and radio after immigrating to the United States in 1954
March 9	Roger Mudd	93	Reporter and anchor for CBS News and NBC News as well for PBS' MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour and History Channel
	Cliff Simon	58	Actor best known for his role as Ba'al on Stargate SG-1.
March 13	Yaphet Kotto	81	Actor best known for his role as Lt. Al Giardello on Homicide: Life on the Street
March 14	Henry Darrow	87	Puerto Rican actor (several series, including The High Chaparral, Harry O, All My Children, One Life to Live, Santa Barbara, General Hospital, and Zorro)
March 17	Amy Johnston	66	Film and television actress and drama coach
March 18	Richard Gilliland	71	Actor (several series, most notably McMillan, Operation Petticoat, and Designing Women)
March 19	Barry Orton	62	Actor and professional wrestler, son of professional wrestler Bob Orton
March 21	Joel Steiger	79	Writer/producer (several films and shows, most notably Matlock, Jake and the Fatman, and the Perry Mason film series)
March 23	George Segal	87	Actor best known as Albert 'Pops' Solomon on The Goldbergs and Jack Gallo on Just Shoot Me!
March 24	Craig "muMs" Grant	52	Actor/poet (various TV series, most notably Oz, She's Gotta Have It, and Hightown)
	Jessica Walter	80	Actress (voice roles included Archer and Dinosaurs, on-camera roles included Arrested Development among several others)
March 25	Rick Azar	91	Sportscaster best known for his 31 years with WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York
	Robert Rodan	83	Actor best known for his role of Adam in Dark Shadows in 1968

April

Date	Name	Age	Notability	Source
April 1	Lee Aaker	77	Actor best known as Rusty on The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin
April 3	Gloria Henry	98	Actress best known as Alice Mitchell on Dennis the Menace
April 6	Walter Olkewicz	72	Character actor (The Last Resort, Barney Miller, The Blue and the Gray, Wizards and Warriors, Taxi, Partners in Crime, Family Ties, Dolly, Mr. Belvedere, Twin Peaks, Who's the Boss?, Night Court, Batman: The Animated Series, Grace Under Fire)
April 7	Anne Beatts	74	Comedy writer, best known for Saturday Night Live and Square Pegs
	James Hampton	84	Actor, television director, and screenwriter (Gunsmoke, F Troop, The Doris Day Show, Love, American Style, The Red Hand Gang, The Dukes of Hazzard, Insight, Maggie, Teen Wolf, Days of Our Lives, Full House)
April 16	Felix Silla	84	Italian actor and stuntman (Cousin Itt on The Addams Family)
April 18	Sunday Burquest	50	Reality TV contestant (Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X)
	Alma Wahlberg	78	Reality television personality (Wahlburgers). Mother of Donnie, Mark, Paul, and Robert Wahlberg.
April 21	Bernie Kahn	90	Screenwriter (Petticoat Junction, Get Smart, The Second Hundred, My World and Welcome to It, The Good Life, Love, American Style, Bewitched, Room 222, Super Friends, Viva Valdez, The Practice, Tabitha, Three's Company, The Love Boat, The New Addams Family)
April 22	Charles Fries	92	Film producer, television producer, and executive producer who worked on many TV series, made-for-TV movies, and theatrical films
April 23	Nathan Jung	74	Actor and stuntman (guest roles on The A-Team and Falcon Crest)
April 26	Al Schmitt	91	Recording engineer and record producer
April 29	Martin Bookspan	94	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.
	Johnny Crawford	75	Actor, singer, and musician best known for his role of Mark McCain in The Rifleman (other roles include The Lone Ranger, The Loretta Young Show, Whirlybirds, NBC Matinee Theater, The Adventures of William Tell)
	Billie Hayes	96	Actress best known for her comic portrayals of Witchiepoo in H.R. Pufnstuf
	Frank McRae	80	Actor and professional football player.

May

Date	Name	Age	Notability	Source
May 1	Olympia Dukakis	89	Actress, director, producer, teacher, and activist (Search for Tomorrow, Tales of the City, Touched by an Angel, Center of the Universe, Bored to Death, Sex & Violence, Forgive Me, TripTank)
May 2	Bob Abernethy	93	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.
May 7	Ernest Angley	99	Televangelist (host of The Ernest Angley Hour) and station owner (WBNX-TV/Akron, OH)
	Tawny Kitaen	59	Actress, comedian, and media personality, best known for her appearances in several Whitesnake music videos. Also the host of America's Funniest People; recurring roles on The New WKRP in Cincinnati and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys; and appearances in the reality shows The Surreal Life, Botched, and Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
May 11	Norman Lloyd	106	Actor (most notably Dr. Daniel Auschlander on St. Elsewhere) and producer (Alfred Hitchcock Presents)
May 12	Blackie Dammett	81	Actor (guest spots on Who's the Boss?, Starsky & Hutch, Charlie's Angels, and Hunter). Father of Anthony Kiedis.
May 14	Jay Barbree	87	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.
	New Jack	58	Professional wrestler (most notably with Extreme Championship Wrestling)
May 18	Charles Grodin	86	Actor (main role as the second Matt Crane Stevens on The Young Marrieds; recurring role on Louie; and appearances in the mini-series Madoff and Fresno)
May 19	Paul Mooney	79	Actor, comedian, and writer (Real Husbands of Hollywood, Chappelle's Show, The Larry Sanders Show, In Living Color, Pryor's Place, The Richard Pryor Show, Saturday Night Live, Good Times, Sanford and Son).
May 24	Samuel E. Wright	74	Voice actor best known as Sebastian the Crab on The Little Mermaid.
May 29	Gavin MacLeod	90	Actor best known as Murray Slaughter on The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Captain Merrill Stubing on The Love Boat, and Seaman Joseph "Happy" Hanes on McHale's Navy.

See also

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on television in the United States