2017 in American television

The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2017. 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
1	Hearst Television stations in 26 markets are removed from DirecTV due to the companies failing to reach a new retransmission contract. The stations are restored on January 6 with a new retrans agreement.
	WBTS-LD (a former translator of Merrimack, New Hampshire-licensed Telemundo O&O WNEU) signs on as Boston's NBC owned-and-operated station with a rebroadcast of the city's First Night New Year's Eve festivities, replacing Sunbeam Television-owned WHDH, which ended its 68-year tenure as a network affiliate (it had served as a CBS affiliate since its initial sign-on as WNAC-TV (1948-1961, later rejoined in 1972 until 1995), ABC (1961-1972) and NBC (1995-2017), respectively). The switch comes after parent company Comcast (which acquired the station from ZGS Communications in September 2016) announced that it will launch an NBC O&O station in the Boston market (potentially using WNEU, which was announced in November 2016 that it will simulcast the station on one of its subchannels) after WHDH failed to renew its affiliation contract with the network.
2–13	Former Today anchors Katie Couric and Meredith Vieira rejoin Matt Lauer on the Today anchor desk, with Couric appearing the week of January 2 and Viera the week of January 9. The appearances are to help fete Lauer's 20th anniversary on the NBC morning news/talk show, to help fill the void left by current co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's maternity leave, and to mark Today's 65th anniversary.
3	NBC News announces the hiring of Megyn Kelly from Fox News, where she was host of The Kelly File (which aired its last edition on January 6). At NBC, she will host a daytime news and discussion program (reported to be replacing the existing Today's Take format of the third hour of Today) and a Sunday newsmagazine, and is figured to play a prominent role in the network's political and major news coverage.
4	The FCC approves a waiver in regulations allowing Mexican media company Televisa to increase its ownership stake in Univision Communications from 10% to 40%. This waiver of the 1934 law, which applies only to any Televisa/Univision transaction (foreign ownership in any U.S. communications company is limited to 25%), will allow Televisa to expand its long-sought control of Univision, which has sought out ways to stay financially competitive.
5	As part of a new contract with ESPN, Chris Berman announced he will step down from his role as host of the network's NFL studio programming, as well as the Major League Baseball Home Run Derby. The sportscaster, who has been with the network from its inception in 1979, will stay on as a commentator for Monday Night Countdown and call the MLB Division Series for ESPN Radio.
	Former Fox News Channel anchor Greta Van Susteren is hired by rival MSNBC, where she will host For the Record with Greta, an early-evening news and analysis show based in Washington, DC. Van Susteren's program, debuting on January 9, replaces the rebroadcast of Bloomberg Television's With All Due Respect, which ended in December 2016. The program only lasts just over six months, and Van Susteren departs MSNBC on June 29 due to the network deciding to go in a different direction.
6	Hearst Television announces that it had acquired a majority stake in Charleston, South Carolina-based Litton Entertainment, which controls four of the five E/I-compliant Saturday morning blocks on the five major broadcast networks, along with being a syndicator of traditional programming, for an undisclosed amount (the company's CEO, Dave Morgan, was a former employee of Hearst). The deal was closed on February 1.
8	The motion picture La La Land (with a record seven wins, including best musical/comedy film) and TV newcomers Atlanta and The Crown (best comedy/musical and drama series, respectively) are among the notable winners at the 74th Golden Globe Awards. Jimmy Fallon emcees the ceremony on NBC.
12	C-SPAN's live coverage of a United States House of Representatives debate abruptly switches for 10 minutes to a live feed of RT. Though fears are suggested that the feed was hijacked by pro-Russian hackers (RT is funded by the Government of Russia), C-SPAN initially believes it was due to an internal routing error (RT is one of several networks that C-SPAN monitors for news coverage).
	Former HBO employee Jennifer Choi is sentenced to 30 months in prison after admitting to bilking nearly $1 million from the network over a six-year period (2008-2014). Choi had worked in talent relations for HBO, and plead guilty in January 2016 to charges of wire fraud and tax evasion. She admitted to submitting invoices and reaping money for services never rendered by a shell company she controlled, as well as charging $63,000 to HBO's account for car service bills for her family and friends. Choi also faces three years of post-jail supervised release (during which she cannot be employed in a capacity where she is in charge of an employer's funds) and must also pay restitution to HBO and back taxes.
15	An audience of 48.5 million watch Fox's live broadcast of the National Football Conference divisional round game between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys, one marked by Packers kicker Mason Crosby's game-ending, game-winning 51-yard field goal. The audience for the telecast is the largest ever for an NFL divisional round game, outdrawing last season's NFC Championship game (45.7 million) and falling just behind 2015's NFC title game (49.8 million).
16	After a 19-month hiatus, Bob Beckel returns to Fox News Channel as co-host of The Five. Beckel, who joined FNC in 2000 as a political contributor and is one of the original co-hosts of the early-evening political opinion program since its 2011 debut, left the program in 2015 to join CNN as a commentator. Current co-host Juan Williams, who will continue to appear on The Five, will remain as Fox News contributor across all programs. Beckel departs Fox News Channel again on May 19, this time involuntarily, for refusing to allow an African-American FNC IT employee to service his personal computer and directing racial remarks towards the man.
17	Almost a full year after the deal was first announced, due in part to delays in license transfer approvals caused by the agency's auction of broadcast spectrum to telecommunications providers, and six days after the FCC gives its approval, Nexstar Broadcasting Group completes its $4.6 billion acquisition of Media General. The combined company, now known as Nexstar Media Group, includes a portfolio of 171 full-power stations, covering 100 markets (including 16 of the top 50,) and nearly 39% of the U.S. Among these stations, MyNetworkTV affiliate KRON-TV/San Francisco becomes Nexstar's largest station by market size and its second to be based in a top-10 market (after WHAG-TV/Hagerstown, Maryland, which is licensed within the Washington, D.C. market).
	On the same day Dish Network reaches a retransmission deal to avert a blackout of Gray Television's stations, the lack of a new carriage pact leads to the removal of 12 Bonten Media Group stations in eight markets from the satellite service.
	Shark Tank host Kevin O'Leary announces on his Facebook page that he will return to his native Canada to run for the leadership post of that country's Conservative Party, a role equivalent to a U.S. presidential candidate. O'Leary would withdraw from the race and endorse a fellow leadership candidate on April 26.
18	Britney Spears (four awards) and Ellen DeGeneres (three awards, enough to make her the most awarded in the show's history) are among the notable winners at the 43rd People's Choice Awards. Joel McHale hosts the telecast, which airs on CBS.
22	Several contributors to Fox News Channel are cut from the network, including longtime contributors George Will and former Fox News Watch panelist Cal Thomas, along with Ed Rollins, former U.S. Senator Alphonse D'Amato and actress Stacey Dash, who was a regular panelist on Outnumbered and had made several controversial statements.
29	The Miss Universe 2016 pageant is held at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Metro Manila, Philippines and broadcast on Fox and Azteca, with Steve Harvey as host (who humorously addressed his mistake during the previous year's pageant, in which he accidentally announced Ariadna Gutiérrez of Colombia as the winner before being corrected that Pia Wurtzbach of the Philippines had actually won). Iris Mittenaere of France is selected as the winner, ending a 63-year drought for the country, when Christiane Martel took the title in 1953. This marked the second time that the pageant skipped a year since the Miss Universe 2014, which was held in Miami, Florida in January 2015.
	NBC special correspondent Tom Brokaw celebrates his 50th anniversary at NBC News with a two-hour special episode of Dateline NBC, titled Tom Brokaw at NBC News: The First 50 Years, which featured footage from some of his most memorable interviews and highlights in his career (including his coverage of Watergate scandal, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and several presidential campaigns), as well as in-depth conversations with guests including Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Tom Hanks, Jon Stewart, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Colin Powell and David Letterman. Brokaw joined NBC News as a West Coast correspondent and anchor of NBC O&O KNBC/Los Angeles from 1966 to 1972 before becoming a White House correspondent (1973-1976) and an anchor of Today (1976–1981) and NBC Nightly News (1982-2004).
31	With one final ESPN assignment on this date (a Georgia/Kentucky men's basketball game), Brent Musburger ends a nearly 50-year TV sportscasting career spent covering various events for ESPN, ABC, and CBS.

February

Date	Event
1	The networks and owned-and-operated television stations of Univision Communications (including Univision, UniMas, Galavision, Fusion, Univision tlnovelas and the Univision Deportes Network, along with the American simulcasts of several domestic Mexican Televisa networks) are removed from Charter/Spectrum systems nationwide due to an ongoing retransmission dispute between the companies. The next day, a judge overseeing a carriage fee lawsuit between the two companies orders the Univision channels to be restored on Charter/Spectrum. The companies later agree to temporarily keep the channels on Charter/Spectrum until at least June.
2	The National Women's Soccer League announced a three-year agreement with A&E Networks, in which Lifetime broadcasts 22 regular-season matches as the NWSL Game of the Week at 4 p.m. Eastern on Saturday afternoons, as well as three post-season matches. This marked the first time that the NWSL had a weekly broadcast window throughout the entire season. Players also wear a sleeve patch of the network's logo on their uniforms. As part of the deal, A&E Networks also purchased a 25% equity stake in the NWSL, were granted two seats on the league's board, and formed a joint venture with the league known as NWSL Media to oversee the league's marketing and broadcast rights. This deal marked the first time Lifetime had broadcast sports since the WNBA in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
5	Super Bowl LI airs on Fox in English and on Fox Deportes in Spanish, with 111.3 million viewers watching the New England Patriots come back from a 25-point 3rd quarter deficit to defeat the Atlanta Falcons in the first Super Bowl to go into overtime. Lady Gaga is the headliner in the halftime show, a critically acclaimed performance that draws 117.5 million viewers, the fourth consecutive year the halftime show outdraws the Super Bowl itself. Two noteworthy ads that debut that make light of U.S. President Donald Trump's signing of executive orders that ban travelers from several Muslim nations and orders a physical wall to be built between Mexico and the United States. An ad for Budweiser beer depicts Anheuser-Busch co-founder Adolphus Busch's emigration to the United States from Germany and his first meeting with Eberhard Anheuser, while one for 84 Lumber depicts a mother and daughter journeying from Mexico to the United States, a shorter version of a full ad made available online (after Fox rejects the longer version for being overtly political).
6	Fox affiliate WFXG/Augusta, Georgia begins migrating production of its news programming in-house with the debut of a 3½-hour weekday morning newscast that is produced out of expanded space at the station's studios in nearby Martinez. The Raycom Media station had been outsourcing its newscasts since 2004, when it premiered a 10:00 p.m. broadcast produced under an agreement with ABC affiliate WJBF. After WJBF took over the news operations of NBC affiliate WAGT through a since-discontinued shared services agreement between their respective ex-owners Media General and Schurz Communications in October 2011, production of the program's in-studio segments transferred to CBS-affiliated sister WTOC-TV/Savannah, with WFXG maintaining a limited staff of Augusta-based multimedia journalists to file field reports. WTOC will continue to produce all studio segments for the prime time newscast in the interim until WFXG expands its news staff.
9	Bob Costas announces during a live interview on Today that he will step down as prime time host of NBC's Olympic Games coverage and Sunday Night Football, duties he has held for NBC Sports since 1992 and 2006, respectively. Costas will hand the duties to Mike Tirico, who joined NBC Sports in 2016 after a quarter century at ESPN, beginning with the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
	Viacom announces a plan to realign its cable television division to focus on six core channels: MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central, BET, and Spike, the latter of which will rebrand to the Paramount Network in early 2018.
11	Alec Baldwin hosts Saturday Night Live for the 17th time, setting the record for the most appearances as the show's guest host, having made his first appearance in 1990. The episode was Baldwin's first time hosting during the 42nd season, after having appeared as Donald Trump in several sketches in most of the season's episodes to date, succeeding Darrell Hammond. This episode – which also featured performances by musical guest Ed Sheeran and a special guest appearance by Melissa McCarthy as White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer in the cold open (the second consecutive episode she has done so) – delivered a 3.10 rating and an audience of 10.843 million, the largest for the NBC late night live television sketch comedy and variety show since the January 8, 2011 episode hosted by Jim Carrey with musical guest The Black Keys.
12	Adele (who, despite dropping an obscenity while asking for a do over during a tribute to George Michael, emerges as the winner Album, Record, and Song of the Year categories, for 25 and "Hello", respectively), David Bowie (five posthumous wins, all for his last album Blackstar), Chance the Rapper (Best New Artist, the first unsigned artist to win in this category), Twenty One Pilots (who accepted their win in the Pop Duo performance category for "Stressed Out" while wearing underwear), and Maren Morris (Country solo for "My Church") are among the notable winners at the 59th Grammy Awards. James Corden hosts the event, which airs on CBS. Other major performances during the telecast include pregnant two-time winner Beyonce ("Love Drought" and "Sandcastles"), Lady Gaga with Metallica ("Moth Into Flame," despite minor sound issues), Katy Perry ("Chained to the Rhythm", while the U.S. constitution is displayed in the background), The Time with Bruno Mars (a Tribute to Prince), and a controversial performance by A Tribe Called Quest with Anderson Paak, Busta Rhymes, and Consequence attacking Donald Trump's travel ban while performing "We the People...."
13	Nick Cannon announces he will not return as host of America's Got Talent, citing creative differences between him and executives at NBC. The resignation comes in the wake of news that the network considered firing Cannon, who hosted the variety competition for eight seasons, after he made disparaging remarks about NBC in a recent Showtime comedy special, Stand Up, Don't Shoot. "I love art and entertainment too much to watch it be ruined by controlling corporations and big business," Cannon said in a statement, referencing cable giant Comcast's ownership of NBC.
15	KSWL-LD/Lake Charles, Louisiana signs on the air as the market's CBS affiliate, returning the network to Lake Charles for the first time since KTAG-TV ceased operations in 1961. Prior to the sign-on, viewers in the market could only receive CBS programming via KLFY-TV/Lafayette and KFDM-TV/Beaumont, Texas. Shortly after KSWL made its debut, its owner, Waypoint Media, also acquired KWWE-LD, which is converted into a MyNetworkTV affiliate (with MeTV on its LD2 subchannel).
16	Gray Television announces its intent to purchase CBS affiliate WABI-TV/Bangor, Maine and ABC affiliate WCJB/Gainesville, Florida from Diversified Communications for $85 million. The deal, which will mark Diversified's exit from broadcasting once the purchase receives FCC approval, will end WABI's status as the oldest continuously family-owned station in the U.S. and will reunite the station with fellow CBS outlet WAGM-TV/Presque Isle, which Diversified had owned from 1971 to 1984 (it was eventually sold to Gray in 2015).
19	Discussion forms on The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) are shuttered. The Amazon-owned platform, which catalogs a database of films, television, and performers, announced the move on February 3, citing the migration of entertainment discussions to social media as well as the disruption of user experiences and user ratings by internet trolls.
	NBC celebrates its 90th anniversary of broadcasting with a three-hour special, The Paley Center Salutes NBC’s 90th Anniversary. Hosted by Kelsey Grammer, the program features a look back at NBC's most well-known former and current programs (including dramas, comedies, late night and variety shows, NBC News programs, television specials, sporting events among others) and recorded interviews with the network's past and present talents. The network began its operations in 1926 as a radio network when it was founded by former owner Radio Corporation of America (RCA), and launched its television service in 1941 with the launch of an experimental television station that later became its New York City flagship WNBC-TV.
23	The FCC issues a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will authorize broadcasters to utilize ATSC 3.0, the second generation of the digital television broadcast standard that will enable television stations to provide improved better management of offer features such as ultra-high-definition content, enhanced bandwidth and compression efficiency, datacasting, targeted advertising and upgrades to the Emergency Alert System. Unlike with the transition to the current ATSC 1.0 standard, broadcasters could adopt the standard (which will require launching a separate digital signal) on a voluntary basis and will not require television and mobile phone manufacturers to include tuning capability for viewers to receive the signals nor will employ government subsidies for consumers to make the transition. The rules were put into place despite concerns about issues concerning requirements that pay television providers carry 1.0 and 3.0 signals of participating stations at the expense of other channels, effects on consumers and voluntary broadcaster adoption of the standard.
	The Meredith Corporation announces that it will acquire the license assets of independent station WPCH-TV/Atlanta – which Meredith had been operating since 2011 under joint sales and shared services agreements with its existing CBS affiliate WGCL-TV – from the Turner Broadcasting System for $70 million. The sale was reportedly done to expedite Turner parent Time Warner's merger with AT&T. Turner Broadcasting founder Ted Turner purchased the station (then WJRJ) in 1970, and uplinked it to satellite in December 1976, making it the first national superstation – later known as TBS – and the first basic cable channel in the U.S. The Atlanta station was separated from the national TBS feed in October 2007, after the latter acquired partial national cable rights to air Major League Baseball games (TBS' Atlanta Braves game telecasts were relegated to WPCH for exclusive local broadcast thereafter, before Fox Sports South fully assumed the regional television rights in 2013). The transaction received FCC approval on April 17, and was completed four days later on April 21.
26	La La Land (six awards) and Moonlight (Best Picture) are among the notable winners at the 89th Academy Awards. Jimmy Kimmel hosts the event, which airs on ABC. Throughout the show, Jimmy renews his "feud" with Matt Damon in a skit harshly criticizing Damon's 2011 film We Bought a Zoo, has announcer Randy Thomas introduce him as only the unnamed "guest" of Ben Affleck, and conducts the orchestra to play him off while Damon presents the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The telecast also includes several jokes and pro-diversity comments from winners and presenters in response to President Donald Trump's immigration policies, such as those in which Kimmel live-tweets Trump, who hadn't responded to the comments on his Twitter account since the show's start (Trump was hosting the annual Governor's Ball at the White House during the ceremony) and gives a speech in which he jokingly agrees with Trump's tweets about Meryl Streep's pro-diversity speech at the Golden Globes, in which Trump called her "overrated." In an infamous moment, La La Land is accidentally announced as Best Picture winner, after presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway are mistakenly given the envelope disclosing La La Land's Emma Stone as Best Actress winner; La La Land producer Jordan Horowitz interrupts to clarify that Moonlight was the actual winner. PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm which secures the envelopes, later issued a sincere apology for the error and promise to investigate it. It was reported the man who handed Beatty the envelope was tweeting a picture he took of Stone with her trophy instead of concentrating on his duties. In addition, ESPN (through its in-house film division) is given the first Oscar for Best Documentary Feature ever awarded to a sports-centric broadcaster, as well as the first longest-running documentary or motion picture to achieve this feat (clocking in at 7 hours and 47 minutes), for its 30 for 30 miniseries feature O.J.: Made in America. History is also made for streaming services Netflix, which scored its first win with the Syrian-produced documentary short The White Helmets, and Amazon Studios with Manchester by the Sea for Best Original Screenplay (Kenneth Lonergan) and Best Actor (Casey Affleck); the first-ever film released by a digital streaming service to be nominated for Best Picture, and The Salesman (for Best Foreign Language Film; Amazon holds U.S. rights to the Iranian/French-produced film). The ceremony, which runs for three hours and 49 minutes (the longest telecast in 10 years), delivered an overnight 22.4 rating and 32.9 million total viewers, the lowest viewership average for the ceremony since the 2008 telecast.

March

Date	Event
1	Aiming to improve U.S./Mexico relations in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order proposing a wall on the countries' border and mass deportations of illegal Mexican immigrants (moves that have caused a diplomatic crisis between the countries), Conan O'Brien takes his TBS talk show to Mexico. The special episode, titled "Conan Without Borders: Made in Mexico" and taped with all-Mexican guests, crew and audience at Televisa's Mexico City studios, features as guests actor/producer/director Diego Luna, former Mexican President Vicente Fox, and Top Chef Mexico Judge Aquiles Chavez, as well as O'Brien's attending a Quinceañera and soliciting (without success) donations to fund the wall in person-on-the-street segments.
3	Hearst Television stations in 26 markets (including Boston, Baltimore, Kansas City, Orlando, Sacramento and New Orleans) are removed from Dish Network due to the companies failing to reach a new retransmission contract, despite a 48-hour extension granted by Hearst to extend negotiations to renew the contract that formally expired on March 1. Representatives for Dish stated that the company had agreed to accept the same terms that DirecTV had reached Hearst after the two companies had renewed their carriage agreement in January, which Hearst felt was less acceptable, given that Dish has only half the total audience reach of its satellite rival. The Hearst signals return to Dish on April 26.
8	By a 91-21 margin (with 12 other ballots challenged or uncounted) in NLRB-administered balloting, actors employed by Telemundo for the Spanish-language network's scripted programming vote to unionize with SAG-AFTRA, bringing a close to a 15-year labor dispute between the entertainers' union and Telemundo parent NBCUniversal. SAG-AFTRA had argued that NBCUniversal maintains a double standard by allowing its English-language performers to unionize while refusing the same right to Spanish-speaking actors. The move marks the first time in which a Spanish-language television broadcaster has allowed to have its employers to become part of a labor union.
16	Entravision Communications announces that it will purchase Action Channel affiliate KMCC/Laughlin, Nevada from Beam Tilt, LLC (a subsidiary of Chicago-based Cranston Acquisition LLC) for $3.75 million. The sale will create a triopoly with Entravision's existing Las Vegas stations, Univision affiliate KINC and UniMás affiliate KELV-LD (Laughlin is part of the Las Vegas market), and the second full-power duopoly in the market (after Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned NBC affiliate KSNV and CW affiliate KVCW); the deal complies with current FCC duopoly regulations as neither station is among the Las Vegas market's four highest-rated and the market will have more than eight independent station owners once the sale is finalized.
21	Fox News Channel suspends legal analyst Andrew Napolitano from on-air appearances after he makes a bogus claim that the British spy agency Government Communications Headquarters had illegally wire tapped Trump Tower at the request of outgoing President Barack Obama during the 2016 US Presidential election. Napolitano, still standing by his claims, returns to Fox News' air on March 29.
27–31	Five colleges and universities visited by NBC personality Al Roker set new Guinness-verified world records on live television as part of its week-long special series Rokerthon 3: Storming Into The Madness, which aired on the network's morning news/talk show Today. The special series began at University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma on March 27 and concluded at Roker's alma mater, SUNY Oswego in Oswego, New York on the 31st.
28	Fox's New Girl answers a long-unresolved question with the revelation of Schmidt's (Max Greenfield) first name — Winston (the same as that of fellow roommate Winston L'Andre Bishop, played by Lamorne Morris) — in the episode "San Diego."
31	After a 16-month absence, Comcast restores YES Network to its cable systems in New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, in the wake of the sides resolving a carriage dispute, in which Comcast accused the 21st Century Fox-Yankee Global Enterprises regional sports network venture of asking for an estimated 33% hike in subscriber fees to continue carrying the channel.

April

Date	Event
4	Raycom Media announces its intent to purchase a majority interest in Fox affiliate WVUE-DT/New Orleans from Tom Benson (owner of the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans, who will retain a partial stake in WVUE once the deal is completed) for $51.8 million. Pending FCC approval, the acquisition will bridge a relationship that the Montgomery, Alabama-based group has had with WVUE since 2013, when Benson's Louisiana Media Company (which bought the station from Emmis Communications for $41 million in May 2008) decided to transfer its operations to Raycom under joint sales and shared services agreements that included a put option – which Benson exercised on February 6 – for Raycom to eventually acquire the license. It will also give Raycom its fourth owned-and-operated station in Louisiana, joining CBS affiliates KSLA/Shreveport and WAFB/Baton Rouge, and NBC affiliate KPLC/Lake Charles. The acquisition was finalized on August 8.
	After announcing his retirement from the National Football League as a player, former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo is named the lead commentator for CBS Sports' coverage of the professional league, serving as color analyst alongside current lead play-by-play host Jim Nantz. Under the league's contract with CBS, he will also cover the network's Thursday Night Football telecasts, which Amazon Prime acquires streaming rights to (along with NBC games) on the same day for $50 million, or five times what Twitter paid the previous year.
5	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer buys out Lionsgate and Paramount Pictures's combined 80.91% ownership stakes in premium cable channel Epix for $1.03 billion. Under the terms of the deal, Paramount and Lionsgate – both of which co-founded Epix in conjunction with MGM in 2009, following a contract negotiation dispute with Showtime over film rights fees – will continue to allow Epix to hold the pay television rights to their theatrical feature films under multi-year distribution agreements. Lionsgate and Paramount parent Viacom had been looking at a possible sale of Epix since the fall of 2016, after Lionsgate purchased pay cable rival Starz in June of that year, and Viacom sought strategic opportunities to pay down its debt of $12 billion and streamlined its operations by shifting focus on restructuring Paramount and the Viacom Media Networks cable channels.
	YouTube enters the over-the-top MVPD field with the rollout of YouTube TV, which initially launches in New York City, Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, Philadelphia and Chicago. Announced on February 28, the service offers live streams of programming from the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW), as well as a slate of approximately 40 cable channels owned by NBCUniversal, CBS Corporation, 21st Century Fox and The Walt Disney Company (including among others USA Network, Disney Channel, FX and ESPN, with Showtime and Fox Soccer Plus available as add-ons for an extra fee) and access to YouTube Red original content. The lineup is smaller than the more than 100 channels offered by AT&T's DirecTV Now, and does not include channels owned by major groups like Viacom, Time Warner, Discovery Communications, A+E Networks or AMC Networks. Features will include the ability to create up of six user account profiles per a single subscription (with separate log-ins and access to three simultaneous streams per account) and a cloud DVR with unlimited storage that can retain recorded programming for nine months after their original airdate.
	Max Media files an FCC application announcing its intent to sell NBC-primary/CBS-subchannel affiliate WNKY/Bowling Green to Marquee Broadcasting for $5.6 million. Following expected approval of the sale, Fox affiliate WPFO/Waterville-Portland, Maine will temporarily become the sole television station in Max Media's portfolio, until its sale of the license to Cunningham Broadcasting (whose partner company, Sinclair Broadcast Group, already maintains a shared services agreement with WPFO) is completed.
6	PepsiCo pulls a controversial ad titled Live for Now that contained Kendall Jenner marching through a crowd of Black Lives Matter protestors to give a white police officer a can of Pepsi, stating "Pepsi was trying to project a global message of unity, peace and understanding. Clearly we missed the mark, and we apologize. We did not intend to make light of any serious issue. We are removing the content and halting any further rollout. We also apologize for putting Kendall Jenner in this position".
15	Beginning with this night's broadcast (with host Jimmy Fallon, musical guest Harry Styles, and surprise guests Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump, Melissa McCarthy as Sean Spicer, Rachel Dratch as Denise "Zazu" McDenna of The Boston Teens, and Nile Rogers sitting in with the band), the last four episodes of the season for NBC's Saturday Night Live are carried live for the first time across all four time zones in the Contiguous United States (though it would also air at its usual time on a second-run tape delay in the Pacific Time Zone, and delayed as usual after late local newscasts on affiliates in Alaska, Hawaii, Guam and the Mariana Islands), along with all of Canada on simulcasting network Global. The March 16 announcement of the nationwide live broadcast of the 42nd season's remaining episodes came one week after NBC announced that it will also air 30-minute live prime time editions of the show's Weekend Update segment in August.
18	AT&T signs a deal with Fox Networks Group to add live feeds of 14 Fox-affiliated stations owned by Tribune Media (serving markets such as Denver, San Diego, Kansas City, St. Louis, Cleveland and Seattle) to DirecTV Now, beginning April 24. The Tribune-owned Fox affiliates join the network's 17 owned-and-operated stations, bringing the number of Fox stations offering linear streams on the AT&T-owned virtual MVPD service to 31. The deal – which will make DirecTV Now the second virtual MVPD provider, after PlayStation Vue (which carries CBS affiliates owned by various groups as well as a limited selection of ABC, NBC, and Fox-affiliated stations), to offer affiliates not owned by their corresponding network – is part of a strategy by the Big Three networks to offer their local stations on new and existing virtual MVPD services through opt-in digital rights agreements with their various affiliate groups.
19	21st Century Fox announces its firing of Fox News Channel personality Bill O'Reilly. A popular part of Fox News since its 1996 launch, O'Reilly's firing (and his reported $25 million severance) came after more than 85 sponsors pulled their advertisements from The O'Reilly Factor (the network's highest-rated program), on the heels of legal documents uncovered by The New York Times surrounding sexual harassment allegations against O'Reilly, in which he and Fox News — which had reached a deal to extend O'Reilly's contract earlier in the month — paid settlements totaling about $13 million to five women. (O'Reilly claims the accusers are "targeting" him because of his prominence.) The move creates a shakeup in FNC's lineup: on April 24, Tucker Carlson Tonight will take Factor's 8:00 p.m. Eastern time slot; late-afternoon show The Five will move to Carlson's 9:00 p.m. slot; and departing Five co-host Eric Bolling will debut a new show in Five's former slot on May 1.
20	In a 2-1 party-line vote, the FCC restores the 50% discount on calculating a station owner's national coverage by factoring the broadcast coverage of UHF stations (physical channels 14 to 51). The restoration of the 1985 rulemaking – which was abolished in a similar party-line vote led by former FCC chair Tom Wheeler in September 2016, on the basis that reception of UHF signals became superior to those operating on the VHF band with the advent of digital television – will allow ownership groups to surpass the still-in-place 39% nationwide household cap, potentially allowing them reach up to 78% of all U.S. markets. The move comes despite Democratic opposition from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and House Committee on Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone, who jointly authored a letter in advance of the vote, condemning the discount's reinstatement as re-opening a loophole to allow broadcasters – including companies with already large station portfolios such as Sinclair Broadcast Group, which Pelosi and Pallone cited in the letter regarding reports of Sinclair's interest in acquiring Tribune Media, and Nexstar Media Group – to acquire additional television stations with a "blunt, illogical and anti-consumer instrument."
21	In the first deal announced after the FCC's restoration of the UHF discount, a move seen as a likely catalyst toward station ownership consolidation, Sinclair Broadcast Group announces it will purchase the fourteen television stations owned by Bonten Media Group in eight markets for $240 million. At approximately 25%, with the discount, the deal – which is pending FCC approval – would only add 1% of coverage to Sinclair's national market reach (without the discount, Sinclair's national reach would exceed the current national cap at 39.6%). Fox affiliate WFXI/Greenville, North Carolina is exempted from the deal, as that station's spectrum had been sold in the FCC incentive auction for $42.1 million (Fox programming will remain available in the market via WFXI satellite station WYDO).
	In a ruling on a copyright infringement lawsuit first filed in 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia orders the shutdown of Shava TV and Cres TV, two over-the-top services founded by Imran and Naeem Butt, which sold set-top boxes transmitting several Arabic and South Asian entertainment networks (such as Sony Entertainment Television Asia, Star Plus, Zee TV, ARY Digital, ATN Bangla, MBC and Al Jazeera) through peer-to-peer networks to U.S. residents, after determining that the companies violated copyright law by distributing the networks and using their logos without permission. The case's plaintiffs (led by Dish Network and several of the aforementioned networks, which are also members of the International Broadcaster Coalition Against Piracy) were awarded $25.65 million in damages.
24	ABC announces the launch of the ABC Clearinghouse initiative, a digital MVPD venture that brings 160 affiliate stations (among them coming from broadcasters such as Sinclair Broadcast Group, the E.W. Scripps Company, Hearst Television, and Tegna), including its eight O&Os (about 90% of the country) to an emerging platform as a chance to opt-in to a uniform carriage deal template negotiated by network executives in an effort to ensure that the network has a robust presence. The initiative will also utilize ABC programming via the ABC app and TV Everywhere, along with live streaming carriage pacts with DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, CenturyLink, Hulu, Amazon (the latter two of which are planning services that will include this deal upon the announced launches of their virtual MVPD services) and other nascent ventures.
26	Facing increasing rights fees and a decreasing subscriber base, ESPN lays off approximately 100 employees, including such notable on-air faces as athletes-turned-analysts Trent Dilfer and Danny Kanell, and noted journalists like NFL beat reporter Ed Werder and Major League Baseball expert Jayson Stark. Further cost-cutting measures taken by ESPN include relocating ESPNU's studio operations from Charlotte to the company's Bristol, Connecticut headquarters, reducing its longtime MLB studio show Baseball Tonight to Sundays as a lead-in to the primetime game, and adding the MLB Network-produced Intentional Talk to ESPN2's daily lineup.
30	General Hospital, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Talk, Entertainment Tonight, Good Morning America, Jeopardy! and Steve Harvey are among the notable winners at the 44th Daytime Emmy Awards. The ceremony, hosted for the first time by Mario Lopez and Sheryl Underwood, was broadcast via livestream on Facebook Live and Periscope Producer.

May

Date	Event
1	After almost a full year of working with guest hosts in the wake of Michael Strahan's move to a full-time role at Good Morning America, Kelly Ripa introduces Ryan Seacrest as the new permanent co-host of the newly renamed Live with Kelly and Ryan, effective on this date. It is Seacrest's first turn as a host of a syndicated television program since his first effort in 2004. Under the arrangement, Seacrest will serve as an executive producer on the Disney/ABC-produced Live, and will relocate from Los Angeles to New York City (with his syndicated radio program, which will move into a converted radio studio inside ABC's New York City offices, following suit) to accommodate his work on the show.
	Fox News announces the resignation of its co-president, Bill Shine, in the wake of ongoing sexual harassment cases and accusations at the network and his alleged knowledge about and cover-ups of them. Longtime deputies Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace succeed Shine as president of programming and president of news, respectively.
	In an emotional monologue criticizing House Republicans' attempts to replace the Affordable Care Act with the controversial American Health Care Act, Jimmy Kimmel reveals that his newborn son, William John Kimmel (to whom wife and show co-head writer, Molly McNearney, had given birth on April 21), had recently underwent surgery to repair a rare congenital heart defect, tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia, that was detected by a nurse when William was three hours old. To tend to his son, Kimmel takes paternity leave from Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with Will Arnett, Anthony Anderson, Kristen Bell and David Spade, respectively, filling in for Kimmel for the remainder of the week. Kimmel returned to the show on May 8, sarcastically repenting for his comments in his monologue, in response to criticism from some conservative Congressmen and commentators who labeled him as an elitist for his plea to reverse their consideration of the AHCA, which previous CBO estimates stated could result in 24 million Americans losing healthcare coverage by 2014 through the elimination of ACA-mandated patient protections (an ACA repeal bill was passed by Republicans in a party-line House vote on May 4). He also interviewed Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a physician who suggested that a Senate review of the AHCA should employ a "Jimmy Kimmel test" to ensure that the legislation adequately covers pre-existing medical conditions in a fiscally conservative manner, with Kimmel calling for such a litmus test to ensure that the ability to afford insurance or existing health maladies not dictate whether families and individuals receive healthcare services.
2	Hours after their old deal expires, the Writers Guild of America (both West and East branches) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers announce a new three-year labor agreement (pending approval of the union's rank-and-file), averting a potential strike that could have adversely affected TV production. Under the proposal, which Guild membership would approve by May 24, writers will receive higher pay for work on shorter-run seasons of television programs distributed on both linear and digital platforms, and residuals for programs distributed on video on demand platforms. Both sides also agreed to increase studio and network contributions and initiate other cost-effective changes to the WGA's health insurance plan.
3	On the heels of YouTube's April launch of its over-the-top television provider, Hulu beta launches its own virtual MVPD service, which offers access to live streams of more than 50 broadcast and cable-originated channels as well as Hulu's library of 3,500+ TV series and films for $39.99 per month. The service, first announced in 2015, offers live streams of programming from the five major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox and The CW) through owned-and-operated stations and affiliates in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco and Philadelphia (Hulu plans to reach deals with other broadcasting groups to expand its portfolio of streamed stations), as well as cable channels owned by NBCUniversal, 21st Century Fox, CBS Corporation, The Walt Disney Company, Turner Broadcasting System, Scripps Networks Interactive and A+E Networks (encompassing networks such as CNN, Food Network, Disney Channel, A&E, MSNBC and ESPN). Showtime – which Hulu had been selling as a standalone streaming offering since the launch of the premium channel's OTT service in 2015 – is also available as an add-on for an extra fee. The lineup does not include channels owned by major groups like Viacom (with which Hulu has indicated it will not seek a carriage agreement), Home Box Office Inc., Starz Inc., Discovery Communications or AMC Networks. With initial support for Xbox One, Apple TV, Chromecast, iOS and Android devices, features will include the ability to create up of six user account profiles per a single subscription (with personalized program recommendations based on a user's favorite programs and varying simultaneous streams depending on the package), personalized sports recommendations and a cloud DVR with between 50 and 200 hours of storage depending on the level of service (the lower-tier DVR does not have ad skipping functionality). Fox offers a national feed with alternate programming from sister cable networks outside of network time in markets where a Fox affiliate has not come to terms to stream their station through Hulu's live TV service, returning Fox to offering some form of a national feed for the first time since 2006, when the network ended their Foxnet cable channel for markets without an available affiliate upon the advent of the digital age.
4	Gray Television announces its purchase of WCAX-TV/Bulington-Plattsburgh, acquiring the station long held by the Hasbrook/Martin family and its Mount Mansfield Television company for $29 million. Gray will assume operational control under a local marketing agreement beginning June 1, with the purchase expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.
	Morning Joe co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski announce in an interview with Vanity Fair they are engaged to be married. Scarborough and Brzezinski, who have been co-hosts of the MSNBC morning political talk show since 2007, reportedly began dating months after Brzezinski filed for divorce from her first husband, WABC-TV/New York City investigative reporter James Hoffer, in December 2015.
7	The 2017 MTV Movie & TV Awards air on MTV and its Viacom sister networks, originating from Los Angeles' Shrine Auditorium in a live broadcast. The event, for the first time, features honors in television categories, along with individual honors not being listed by gender, with TV honors going to Stranger Things for "Best Show" and the Netflix series' co-star, Millie Bobby Brown, winning "Best Actor in a Show".
8	Sinclair Broadcast Group announces that it will acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt. Factoring prior purchases still under regulatory review, the acquisition may boost Sinclair's portfolio to as many as 223 stations in 108 markets, with expansions into additional top-10 markets including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas (CW affiliate WPIX/New York City will displace ABC affiliate WJLA-TV/Washington D.C. – which would form a duopoly with CW affiliate WDCW through the deal – as its largest station by market size). To comply with DOJ antitrust and FCC ownership regulations, Sinclair is required to divest stations in certain markets that would put the group over the current 39% national reach limit (its enlarged portfolio would technically cover 72% of the U.S., but theoretically reach around 45% with the UHF discount), and sell conflict properties in Seattle, Portland (Oregon), Oklahoma City, St. Louis, Harrisburg, Greensboro, Salt Lake City, Scranton, and Norfolk (the aforementioned markets, save for Portland and Norfolk, involve a Fox affiliate owned by Sinclair or Tribune, or a duopoly and/or a JSA/SSA involving one or both groups; six of the market conflicts involve two stations that both rank among and/or below the top four in local viewership, with five of them involving stations with competing news departments). Sinclair executives indicated that the group would fully divest any conflict stations to independent buyers if necessary, though given FCC chairman Ajit Pai's relaxed scrutiny on outsourcing agreements, it may also consider selling some to partner companies such as Cunningham Broadcasting and Deerfield Media. The sale dealt a competitive blow to 21st Century Fox – which briefly discussed submitting a joint bid for Tribune with The Blackstone Group – as the added scale would give Sinclair more leverage in reverse compensation negotiations for its Fox and MyNetworkTV affiliates, and would make the company the largest Fox affiliate operator by station count and market reach, with up to 52 affiliates (covering 28% of the U.S.). Media activism groups expressed concern over Sinclair’s enlarged reach (particularly with regards to the conservative lean of its in-house syndicated news content), and suggested that FCC rule changes leading to the deal were part of a quid pro quo with President Donald Trump's administration due to Sinclair executive chair David Smith's prior meetings with Pai, and an arrangement set up by Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner that granted reporters from select Sinclair stations conditional access to interview then-President-elect Trump in the run-up to his January 20 inauguration.
	With the Tribune purchase announcement, Sinclair Broadcast Group CEO Christopher Ripley revealed that the company would reposition WGN America (one of five networks, along with Antenna TV, Chicagoland Television, and partial interests in Food Network and This TV, that it will acquire from Tribune, joining Sinclair's five existing broadcast and cable networks) for "profitable growth” once it assumes ownership of the cable network, de-emphasizing high-end scripted series in favor of acquired programs and "cost-effective" originals on the basis that WGN’s ratings do not justify its current original programming budget (Peter Kern – whose predecessor, Peter Liguori, spearheaded the former superstation's original programming efforts in 2014 to build viewership and expand its national distribution – signaled WGN America's shift away from scripted content after he took over as Tribune's interim president and CEO in March, when the network cancelled Outsiders). The statement immediately put into question the future of Underground, a slavery-era period drama that premiered in March 2016 and ended its second season on May 10 (WGN would officially announce the series' cancellation on May 30). Its production backer, Sony Pictures Television, will reportedly shop the series to other networks and streaming services (such as Hulu, which maintains a content deal with WGN America) for a third season pickup.
9	Over a year after the reality competition had its final airing on Fox, ABC announces it has ordered a revival of American Idol to debut during the 2017-18 season. The long-running reality competition series, based on the British series Pop Idol, had previously aired on Fox from 2002 to 2016, spending most of its run as that network's highest-rated program as well as the highest-rated series on U.S. broadcast television from the 2003-04 season until the 2010-11 season.
10	Morgan Murphy Media acquires CBS affiliate KOAM-TV/Pittsburg, Kansas and ABC primary affiliate KAVU/Victoria, Texas (including its CBS, NBC, and Univision subchannel/low-power TV outlets) from Saga Communications – which is exiting the television business to focus on its radio stations – in a $66.6 million deal. The transaction includes an option to acquire Surtsey Media-owned Fox affiliate KFJX/Joplin, Missouri and SagamoreHill Broadcasting-owned Fox affiliate KVCT, both of which are operated by Saga under local marketing agreements. Saga will use proceeds from the sale of the television assets to acquire Apex Media, a group which is in the process of selling their radio stations in Charleston and Hilton Head Island, South Carolina.
12	The Federal Communications Commission fines Vearl Pennington and Michael Williamson, operators of Morehead, Kentucky low-power television station W10BM, $144,344 for continuing to operate the station despite the 2004 cancellation of its license for failure to file for license renewal in 1998. In its Notice of Apparent Liability, the FCC noted that it had warned Pennington and Williamson that the continued unlicensed operation was against the law and ordered them to shut down the station, but that they had not done so.
14	With the conclusion of the two-hour sixth season finale episode "The Final Battle," the ABC fantasy drama Once Upon a Time marks its final Sunday night 8PM (ET) timeslot airing after six seasons (the show's most frequent timeslot since it debuted in October 2011), moving to the Friday night 8PM (ET) timeslot starting October 6, and also marks the final appearances for six of the series' regulars. Jennifer Morrison (who plays Emma Swan) was the first to announce that she would be departing but has agreed to appear in at least one episode, although it is currently unclear to what capacity or episode she'll appear in, followed by Rebecca Mader (Wicked Witch of the West / Zelena) after two seasons, original cast members Ginnifer Goodwin (Snow White / Mary Margaret Blanchard), Josh Dallas (Prince Charming / David Nolan) and Jared Gilmore (Henry Mills), and Emilie de Ravin (Belle / Belle Gold) who joined in the second season (both Gilmore and de Ravin later confirmed that they'll appear as guests in one episode apiece). As part of a soft reboot that will lead up to a new setting and storyline, the final moments of the episode shifted to the future, where an adult Henry Mills (played by new regular Andrew J. West) is asked by his daughter Lucy (new regular Alison Fernandez) to save their family after she escaped a nearly destroyed Enchanted Forest.
21	The 2017 Billboard Music Awards air on ABC with Ludacris and Vanessa Hudgens as hosts. Drake was the night's big winner with 13 awards, surpassing Adele's record (with 12 wins in 2012) for most wins in a single year. The event also saw Miley Cyrus' comeback performance ("Malibu"), Celine Dion's tribute to the 20th anniversary of the film Titanic performing her signature song "My Heart Will Go On", and Cher being honored as the Icon Award winner (the former two of which, alongside South Korean group BTS winning the Top Social Artist award – the group's first live public appearance on an American music awards show, and the first K-pop artist to win that award – were among the show's most tweeted moments on social media).
22	ABC's The Bachelorette begins its 13th season with Rachel Lindsay, an attorney, chosen to select a fiancée among 25 male suitors. Lindsay, who was second runner-up on The Bachelor's 21st season (on which she was still appearing when the announcement was made on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on February 12, and was one of the few black contestants to reach the antepenultimate "Hometown Dates" round), becomes the first African-American to serve as a lead in the Bachelor/Bachelorette franchise, which has been criticized in recent years over the lack of diversity with its contestants overall, and whose producers (Next Entertainment, NZK Productions and Warner Horizon Television) faced a discrimination lawsuit in 2012 by two Tennessee men whose applications were rejected by the program's producers, which was later dismissed on grounds that casting decisions were protected by the First Amendment.
23	NFL running back Rashad Jennings (a free agent at the time, after having been released by the New York Giants in February) is crowned the winner of the 24th season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. Jennings and his pro partner, Emma Slater, beat former Major League Baseball catcher David Ross and his partner, Lindsay Arnold, to win the show's Mirror Ball trophy.
25	Millerton, Pennsylvania native Ryan Belz wins $31,500 by playing Plinko on CBS game show The Price Is Right, setting a new record for the highest winning amount in one of the show's most popular pricing games. Belz, a Penn State University graduate and an aspiring TV meteorologist, said in an interview with TMZ that he credited his job at Target for helping him to win on the show by familiarizing him with prices for a wide variety of items.
29	Almost five months after beginning local weather coverage, WPBI-LD/Lafayette, Indiana launches its news department with the debut of its weekday-only nightly newscast under the "Star City News" brand. The newscasts, which presently broadcasts 7½ hours of local newscasts each week, air at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. on NBC-affiliated subchannel, and at 10:00 p.m. on Fox-affiliated primary channel. Additionally, radio tie-ins of the newscasts are also planned for Waypoint Media-owned sister stations WSHY, WBPE, WYCM, and WAZY-FM.
31	CBS affiliate KFMB-TV affiliates its DT2 subchannel with The CW, assuming the network's San Diego affiliation from XETV-TDT, licensed across the Mexican border in Tijuana, Baja California (MeTV had earlier vacated KFMB-DT2 on May 1, moving to KGTV-DT2 and its sister station KZSD-LP); KFMB-DT2 also launches weekday morning, and weeknight-only 7:00 and 10:00 p.m. newscasts produced by its parent station, and displaces XETV from that station's existing channel slots on local cable and satellite providers. XETV concurrently becomes a full-time primary affiliate of Canal 5 (which had been carried on its DT2 subchannel since 2012), a move that ends its 63-year run as an English-language television station: it had served as an affiliate of ABC (1956-1973) and Fox (1986-2008), and as an independent during its tenure. XETV owner Televisa dissolved the American managerial licensee that ran its San Diego-based operations, Bay City Television, and had earlier (on March 31) closed the station's news department. The switch makes San Diego the largest U.S. market with a subchannel-only CW affiliate (superseding WKRC-DT2/Cincinnati) and the largest overall in which any of the five major networks maintains a subchannel-only affiliation.
	CBS News confirms that Scott Pelley will exit as anchor of the CBS Evening News, nearly six years after he assumed the role from Katie Couric on June 6, 2011. Pelley – who will depart from the program following the June 16 edition – will remain full-time in his correspondent role at CBS' 60 Minutes. Anthony Mason is designated as interim Evening News anchor.
	CNN removes Kathy Griffin from its New Year's Eve Live broadcast following the release of images from a controversial photoshoot by photographer Tyler Shields, in which the comedienne is seen holding a decapitated, bloody head bearing a resemblance to President Donald Trump, an act which the network stated was "disgusting and offensive." Griffin had co-hosted the cable channel's New Years' Eve coverage from Times Square with Anderson Cooper since 2007.

June

Date	Event
1	KCJO-LD/St. Joseph, Missouri – one of the three flagship stations owned by the locally based News-Press & Gazette Company – switches its network affiliation to CBS, becoming the network's first in-market affiliate in the area since 1967, when KQTV (then KFEQ-TV, which signed on as a CBS station in September 1953) switched to a full-time affiliation with ABC. The move, which also resulted in NPG moving KCJO's prior Telemundo affiliation to a newly activated digital subchannel of NBC affiliate KNPG-LD, displaced KCTV/Kansas City as the default CBS affiliate for the market. As NPG already controls the market's Fox, NBC and CW affiliations respectively through KBJO sisters KNPG and KNPN-LD, the switch left MyNetworkTV as the only conventional English language broadcast network available in the St. Joseph area through a Kansas City-based station (KCTV's MyNetworkTV-affiliated sister station, KSMO-TV, is receivable over-the-air and is also carried on Suddenlink, Dish Network and DirecTV in the St. Joseph market).
	Just moments after President Donald Trump announced that he would withdraw the United States from the 2015 Paris Climate Accord, the fallout saw one of the supporters of this initiative, The Walt Disney Company Chairman Bob Iger, resigning from his advisory councils. The Weather Channel and National Geographic also respond to Trump's decision by turning their webpages into protest sites highlighting the dangers of climate change and disputing Trump's claims about it not being real.
2	In a live interview during HBO's Real Time, host Bill Maher and guest Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska) discuss the boundaries between adolescence and maturity, at which point Sasse remarks about having Maher "work in the fields" of Nebraska. Maher replies by describing himself as a "house nigger." Maher utters the racial slur in jest (the conversation had turned by that point to adults in California who dress up for Halloween), but his remark is quickly condemned by HBO, who calls it "completely inexcusable and tasteless" and edited it out of repeats of the episode aired on its linear and streaming services. With several calls for his firing from HBO, Maher would express regret at his choice of words in the interview.
6	Production on the fourth season of ABC's reality dating series Bachelor in Paradise is suspended, after producers lodged allegations of sexual misconduct against DeMario Jackson (who originally appeared in season 13 of The Bachelorette), who, on the first day of filming, was alleged to have engaged in a sexual encounter with Corinne Olympios, who alleges that she was too inebriated to give consent (most news outlets initially withheld The Bachelor season 21 contestant's identity as the accuser in reports, prior to Olympios obtaining attorney Marty Singer as her legal counsel). All of the initial contestants were sent home from the Sayulita, Mexico resort set to the U.S. on June 11. The incident placed doubt on whether the Bachelor spinoff would continue for its planned summer 2017 season, if at all; though, in separate statements, show host/executive producer Chris Harrison and ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey said that Warner would evaluate whether production will resume pending the investigation's outcome. On June 20, Warner Horizon Television, the show's production company, disclosed that an investigation launched upon the discovery that the incident was filmed by one of the show's camera crews had yielded no evidence of misconduct, and that filming will resume (it is unknown whether the season will debut on August 8 as scheduled); Singer said that an independent investigation on the accusations would be conducted.
14	In the wake of mass shootings in Virginia and San Francisco, NBC pulls an episode of The Carmichael Show, titled "Shoot-Up-Able," from its schedule due to a similar story line involving the mass shootings (which saw Jerrod Carmichael's eponymous fictional character surviving a mass shooting physically unharmed but psychologically scarred), and replaces it with another episode, "Lesbian Wedding." That same day, Carmichael appeared on the Netflix talk show Chelsea, which was filmed after the shootings but before NBC had made the final decision to pull the episode. Carmichael told host Chelsea Handler that he hoped NBC would not pull "Shoot-Up-Able," and that doing so would be a "disservice" to viewers. The episode (which was rescheduled to air 2 weeks later, on June 28) was not centered around political discussions such as gun control, but Carmichael and his family afterward.
15	The District of Columbia Court of Appeals denies an emergency stay motion that was filed by The Institute for Public Representation on behalf of a coalition of public interest groups (including among others, Free Press, the United Church of Christ, the Prometheus Radio Project, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and Common Cause) on May 15, to block the FCC's restoration of the UHF discount, which counts the total market reach of UHF stations toward the nationwide ownership cap. Had a permanent stay motion been granted, it would have placed a roadblock for Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of Tribune Media. Prior to the initial administrative stay on June 1, the FCC and the National Association of Broadcasters asked the D.C. Court of Appeals to not issue the proposed motion on grounds that the plaintiffs did not provide sufficient basis for the stay. The groups which filed the motion argued that there was no longer any technical logic for the UHF discount to be restored (as UHF digital stations have typically maintained better signal quality compared to UHF transmissions in analog) and would trigger a wave of mergers and acquisitions in the broadcast television industry that would result in fewer diverse station owners. A lawsuit filed by the public interest groups to determine whether the UHF discount can remain in place remains subject to a pending court proceeding.
	Citing her busy schedule, which includes three shows (series regular on Criminal Minds, host of The CW's Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and as a voice talent on FXX's Archer) and a directorial debut for the film Axis, as her reason, Aisha Tyler announces that she will leave The Talk after six seasons following the completion of its current seventh season run (which will wrap up on August 4). Tyler, who joined the CBS daytime talk show during its second season alongside Sheryl Underwood, said she would return as a guest host and to promote her various projects.
17	Cops begins its 30th season, continuing its reign as America's longest-running reality show.
18	The NBC newsmagazine Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly airs a segment profiling broadcaster/blogger Alex Jones (founder of the conservative news website InfoWars). The segment drew volumes of controversy prior to the broadcast over fears that host Megyn Kelly's interview with Jones would give a less-than-critical platform for Jones' alt-right views and the various conspiracy claims he promotes, most notably the charge that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut was a hoax with actors portraying victims. Out of respect for the victim's families, NBC's Connecticut O&O, WVIT/New Britain, pre-empted the broadcast (episodes of George to the Rescue, a home improvement series produced by New York City sister station WNBC, aired in its place). The network's decision to air the interview led JPMorgan Chase & Co. to pull its ads from the program through that night's edition, while the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation dropped Kelly as host of an upcoming charity gala. Jones claimed that NBC would edit the interview to show him in a less-than-flattering light.
19	The Comcast-owned network Syfy adopts a new logo and imaging, as well as stylized capitalization of the channel's name and slogan, "It's a Fan Thing", in honor of its 25th anniversary. The new branding (which unveiled on May 11, four days prior to NBCUniversal's upfront presentation) will aim to re-position the channel back towards targeting fans of the fantasy and science fiction genres. NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group President of Entertainment Networks and network head Chris McCumber explained that the new logo was meant be a "badge" that could be used across its array of programming. Syfy also planned to place a larger focus on its genre news division Syfy Wire, disclosing the possibility of extending the website to television as well.
20	In separate deals, Ion Media Networks announces the purchase of three Ion Television-affiliated television stations in Missouri, South Carolina, and Idaho, which – if the transactions receive approval by the FCC and Department of Justice – would expand Ion's portfolio to 63 owned-and-operated television stations in 58 markets (including in 24 of the 25 largest U.S. markets; the purchase prices were not initially disclosed. Ion will acquire WRBU/East St. Louis, Illinois-St. Louis and WZRB/Columbia from a trust overseen by former LIN Media CEO Gary Chapman to which Ion Media Networks was the beneficiary; the trust had cancelled a stalled 2015 purchase by Cedar Creek Broadcasting (an arm of Northwest Broadcasting, controlled by its CEO, Brian Brady) on May 9. Separately, Ion will also buy KTRV-TV/Boise – which became an Ion affiliate in September 2016 – from Block Communications.
22	CBS Television Stations reaches a 10-year exclusive partnership with ReachMe.TV that will put CBS programming on the latter's upcoming in-airport mobile entertainment network. The deal (with its content appearing on thousands of screens in the top 50 airports in the U.S. and Canada, with a reach of more than 70 million viewers a month) will provide entertainment, news and sports programming, including local news, weather and sports reports provided by CBS TV Stations; programming from other divisions of CBS Corporation including digital news service CBSN; and film and TV highlight packages from CBS Television Distribution-produced syndicated entertainment news program Entertainment Tonight. In addition, CBS TV Stations will also exclusively manage advertising sales for the said venture.
25	John Oliver announces his show Last Week Tonight that he has been sued by coal mining company CEO Robert E. Murray of Murray Energy Corporation. Oliver had received a cease and desist letter asking him to stop making negative comments about the company (specifically the controversial 2007 Crandall Canyon Mine disaster) from Murray's attorney the week before, but continued to do so. Oliver was later told by his attorneys not to discuss the lawsuit publicly while the case is pending, advice he is following.
	For the first time ever, the family of comedian and host Steve Harvey competes in an episode of Celebrity Family Feud (the ABC game show is a spin-off of the syndicated Family Feud, which also hosted by Harvey).
26	Three CNN journalists, Thomas Frank, Eric Lichtblau, and Lex Haris, resign after the publication of a Russia-related article involving President Donald Trump that was later retracted.
29	President Donald Trump begins posting tweets that take swipes at the news media for perceived biases against him. The first status is directed at Morning Joe personality Mika Brzezinski, in which the President called her "low I.Q. Crazy Mika" and falsely asserted that she was "bleeding badly from a face-lift". Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, her fiancé and Morning Joe co-host, then accused The White House of threatening to blackmail them with an expose in a tabloid magazine unless the pair apologized publicly to the President. Three days later, Trump published an old video from WrestleMania in which the CNN logo is superimposed over the head of Vince McMahon whom Trump is punching with the tagline "Fraud News Network." Both tweets cause concern among journalism advocates, who fear the President is inciting violence against the press. The person who made the image that Trump used immediately apologized and deleted his accounts saying that he did not want to incite or inspire violence against the media.
30	Just a week ahead of production that was about to start on Hawaii Five-0's eighth season, it was announced that series regulars Daniel Dae Kim (who plays Detective Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly) and Grace Park (who plays Chin Ho's cousin, Officer Kono Kalakaua) would be departing due to a salary dispute with CBS. Kim and Park had been seeking pay equality with co-stars Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan, but did not reach satisfactory deals with CBS Television Studios. CBS's final offer to Kim and Park was 10-15% lower than what O'Loughlin and Caan make in salary. An update of their characters (Chin Ho taking a job with the San Francisco Police Department; Kono investigating a pornography ring in Reno in the seventh season finale) would be given in the first episode of the new season.
	Olivia de Havilland sues the producers of the FX series Feud, and the channel itself, over what she says is an inaccurate portrayal of her in the series that focuses on the relationship of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, causing damage to her reputation. The charges include common law right of publicity, invasion of privacy and unjust enrichment. She is asking the court for not only damages but also any profits gained from the use of her likeness and an injunction to keep FX from continuing to use her name and likeness.
	After a 40-year career as reporter and anchor, including a 25-year tenure as anchorwoman for KUSA-TV/Denver, Adele Arakawa retires from the Tegna-owned NBC affiliate.

July

Date	Event
1	NBC launches a new Telemundo owned-and-operated station in the San Diego market (on KNSD's digital 39.20 subchannel) that will replace Entravision's XHAS-TDT (licensed in Tijuana). XHAS becomes an affiliate of the American Azteca network, owned by Mexican conglomerate Azteca S.A. de C.V. (the parent of Tijuana's Azteca Trece affiliate XHJK-TDT and Azteca 7 transmitter XHTIT-TDT), displacing the market's existing low-power Azteca affiliate KZSD-LP. With this switch as well as The CW's migration from XETV-TDT to KFMB-DT2, the move results in Tijuana-based MyNetworkTV affiliate XHDTV-TDT becoming the last remaining Mexican-licensed station to serve the San Diego market to be affiliated with one of the major English or Spanish language networks.
	KidsClick, a multiplatform syndicated children's programming block, launches. The three-hour lineup of long-form and short-form animated content airs weekday and weekend mornings, primarily on CW- and MyNetworkTV-affiliated and independent stations operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group in several markets, and nationally on This TV. It also encompasses a website and mobile apps featuring a library of animated children's series from the block's content providers. KidsClick is the first conventional children's program block to air on American English-language commercial television since the discontinuance of NBC Kids in September 2016, which relegated traditional animated content on broadcast television to non-commercial broadcasters (such as PBS and the Trinity Broadcasting Network), and the first not to be E/I compliant since Vortexx was discontinued by The CW in September 2014.
	Nexstar-owned Hagerstown, Maryland independent station WHAG-TV changes its call letters to WDVM-TV (for "West Virginia", "District of Columbia", "Virginia" and "Maryland"), returning to the Washington, D.C. market (the western portion of which the new WDVM-TV serves) a callsign that had previously been used from 1979 to 1986 by what is now WUSA. Since it disaffiliated from NBC the year before (which ended in-market competition with NBC's Washington O&O WRC-TV and Baltimore affiliate WBAL-TV), the station has expanded its coverage throughout the Washington market through carriage agreements with local cable, satellite and telco services, along with expanding its local news coverage from focusing solely on the region of western Maryland and south central Pennsylvania to covering the larger Washington region.
	Waypoint Media-owned WPBY-CD in Lafayette, Indiana signs on the air, giving the Lafayette market, not only its first full-time ABC affiliate, but also its third commercial station overall (the market had exclusively been served by CBS affiliate WLFI-TV since it signed on in June 1953, but would not get another major network affiliate until Waypoint signed on Fox-primary/NBC-subchannel affiliate WPBI-LD in October 2016); it also marks the group’s third station launch in the U.S. in less than a year (alongside the respective February and March launches of CBS/MyNetworkTV duo KSWL-LD and KWWE-LD in Lake Charles, Louisiana). Prior to the sign-on, WRTV/Indianapolis served as the default ABC affiliate for the Lafayette area. WPBY's launch leaves The CW and MyNetworkTV as the only two networks available in the Lafayette area through their stations in Indianapolis (their respective affiliates for that market, WISH-TV and WNDY-TV, are viewable over-the-air and carried on Comcast, Dish Network, and DirecTV in Lafayette).
	ESPN broadcasts the boxing match between Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines and Jeff Horn of Australia, billed as the "Battle of Brisbane", which took place at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The fight, which saw Horn defeating Pacquiao after 12 rounds via a controversial unanimous decision to win the WBO welterweight championship title, marked the return of Top Rank boxing to ESPN; the promotion had previously aired fights on ESPN from 1980 to 1996, as well as the first time that a Pacquiao bout would air on a non-premium, basic cable channel in the United States, and was his first non-PPV bout since his co-main event fight with Héctor Velázquez in an Érik Morales-Zahir Raheem headliner in September 2005.
3	Maria Menounos announced that she has stepped down as co-host of E! News after three years to battle a ongoing brain tumor, as well as helping her mother's battle with stage 4 brain cancer.
	As part of an ongoing investigation into sexual harassment at 21st Century Fox, Jamie Horowitz is ousted from his position as chief of programming for the Fox Sports division. The decision comes after several women were interviewed regarding their interactions with him. Before joining Fox Sports, Horowitz worked for Today and ESPN.
6	Liberty Interactive, parent company of QVC, announces that it will acquire the 62% stock interest in Home Shopping Network parent HSN, Inc. that it did not already own for $40.36 per share (a value of $2.1 billion). After the deal is finalized, which is expected to occur in the fourth quarter of 2017 pending regulatory approval, Liberty will spin off its cable television operations into an independent company to be named QVC Group, which will be headed by QVC CEO Mike George, but will repurchase common stock in the new company. The combination of the two pioneer home shopping channels – which will continue to operate independently – is designed to improve their respective e-commerce operations, reduce costs and provide marketing opportunities, as well as to compete with online shopping services such as Amazon. In addition to QVC, HSN and their respective sister channels (HSN2, QVC2 and BeautyiQ), the company's holdings will include shopping website Zulily and HSN's Cornerstone lifestyle brands unit.
	Fox Business Network announced that it has suspended anchor Charles Payne over sexual harassment allegations made against him after a investigative story appeared in the Los Angeles Times about a three-year “romantic relationship” Payne had with a married female political analyst who frequently appeared on Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel from 2013 to 2016, which in turn led to a investigation into the matter after the woman contacted a lawyer upon discovering that she was banned from Fox after she ended the affair as she believed Payne would help her chances of landing a position at the network, but instead saw her appearances on both FBN and FNC reduced as retaliation when she went to then-Fox News executive Bill Shine before his firing in May. Payne admitted to the extramarital affair in a statement to the National Enquirer published on July 5 that included an apology to his wife, children and friends, this after having denied the claims prior to the suspension.
7	Savannah Guthrie celebrates her fifth anniversary as an anchor of Today, which featured a look back at some of her most memorable moments on the show (including her breaking news coverage reports, funniest moments and celebrity interviews). Guthrie, who joined the NBC morning news/talk show as co-host of the third hour (a precursor to the current Today's Take segment) and chief legal correspondent in June 2011 following Meredith Vieira's departure, became the show's anchor in July 2012 when Ann Curry stepped down to become a correspondent and anchor-at-large at NBC News (which she remained until early 2015).
11	Just one year after he fled to Kentucky to avoid arrest on a child rape that allegedly occurred in Nashville back in 2004 (The alleged victim is a female family member), followed by a lengthy and delayed trial, which in turn led to TLC to cancel the reality series The Willis Family (along with social media accounts being deleted or terminated) in 2016, patriarch and musician Toby Willis pleads guilty to four counts of child rape. Cheatham County, Tennessee Circuit Court Clerk Julie Hibbs confirmed that Willis received two 25-year sentences on two counts and two 40-year sentences on the other two. Those sentences will be concurrent, and served at 100 percent, giving Willis a total of 40 years in prison.
13	CBS News and BBC News announces an editorial and newsgathering partnership under which the networks would share content around the world via their respective television, radio, and social media platforms (this ends the partnership the BBC maintained since the mid-90s with ABC News). The content-sharing arrangement will begin immediately, with additional newsgathering elements being added in the coming months.
14	AT&T Sports Networks rebrands four of its five Root Sports-branded regional sports networks under the AT&T SportsNet moniker; the channels affected primarily serve Houston, Pittsburgh, Utah, and the Rocky Mountain region. The lone exception is Root Sports Northwest, as Baseball Club of Seattle LP, the operating company of the Seattle Mariners, holds a controlling interest in the channel (AT&T only owns 40% of that network). AT&T acquired the channels in its 2015 purchase of DirecTV.
	NBC flagship O&O WNBC/New York City anchor Chuck Scarborough steps down as the anchor of the station's 11:00 p.m. newscast. Scarborough, who has been the station's main anchor since he joined in 1974 (most notably, his team-up with former anchor Sue Simmons from 1980 to 2012) and will continue to anchor the 6:00 p.m. newscast afterwards, will be succeeded by 4:00 p.m. anchor Stefan Holt (son of NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt) on the station's late night newscast beginning July 17.
15	Olympic Channel launches over the former channel space of Universal HD which shut down the previous day. The channel, a linear Team USA focused version of the international Olympic Channel was launched by NBCUniversal in conjunction with the International Olympic Committee.
17	MyNetworkTV O&O WDCA/Washington D.C. rebrands as "Fox 5 Plus". The station's rebranding comes after Fox Television Stations' April 17 announcement that it will launch a new 8:00 p.m. primetime newscast produced by Fox owned-and-operated sister station WTTG, and will continue to air its current lineup of MyNetworkTV (on a one-hour delay from 9:00–11:00 p.m.) and syndicated programming to provide better name recognition with the latter sister station (the moniker change follows the May 2016 rebranding of San Francisco sister station KICU-TV, which rebranded as "KTVU Plus," in a similar tie to its Fox O&O duopoly partner KTVU).
19	Weigel Broadcasting reaches an agreement to acquire Heroes & Icons affiliate KCSG/Cedar City, Utah – which serves the Salt Lake City market – from West American Finance Corporation for $1.1 million (the agreement was not disclosed until the release of an FCC license transfer consent filing on August 1). The acquisition would make KCSG the first television station that Weigel has owned outside of its traditional Midwestern territory of Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana (the Chicago-based company already owns stations in the Chicago, Milwaukee, Rockford and South Bend, Indiana markets).
21	Spanish-language broadcaster Entravision Communications announces it was acquiring Palm Springs duopoly, KMIR-TV (NBC) and KPSE-LD (MyNetworkTV) from OTA Broadcasting for $21 million, pending FCC approval. The sale to Entravision, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2017, will make both stations a sister stations to KEVC-CD (UniMás) and KVER-CA (Univision).
22	Actor and YouTube personality Jake Paul and The Walt Disney Company announce his departure from the Disney Channel sitcom Bizaardvark as supporting character Dirk in the middle of its second season, days after Paul appears in an interview on KTLA/Los Angeles as unrepentant about disorderly conduct, pranks and disruptive parties at his West Hollywood home (which he shares the address to in order to draw crowds), to massive complaint from neighbors.
23	Former Olympic athlete Michael Phelps competes with a Great White shark in a Discovery Channel special Phelps vs. Shark: Great Gold vs. Great White, as part of its annual, week-long programming block Shark Week. The special, which saw the shark defeating Phelps by two seconds in a race between a man and a shark, sparked controversy among its viewers after it was revealed that the shark was actually computer generated, which Discovery and Phelps defended it.
24	Fusion relaunches its online presence under the brand "Splinter". The Univision Communications-owned website was merged into the parent company's recently acquired Gizmodo Media Group unit, with Fusion's website switching to the Fusion.kinja.com domain in May prior to the rebranding.
31	Discovery Communications announces it will acquire Scripps Networks Interactive in a cash-and-stock transaction valued at $11.9 billion (or $90 per share), plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in net debt held by Scripps. Expected to be finalized by the first quarter of 2018, the deal will result in the combined company – which would encompass more than 20 domestic and international television networks, most of which are educational or lifestyle-oriented, including Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, OWN, HGTV, Travel Channel and Food Network – controlling a 20% audience share among ad-supported U.S. cable channels, and operating five of the 20 highest-rated cable networks among female viewers. Scripps and Discovery had previously held merger discussions as recently as 2014, each of which failed to produce a deal due to disagreements over sale price and other issues. Discovery's main competitor for Scripps Networks was Viacom, which rescinded its all-cash offer (Scripps sought a bid comprising a cash offering of at least 50%) on July 27, due to concerns that a jump in Scripps' stock price would increase Viacom's valuation to a level that, had such a bid by the media conglomerate been accepted, would risk downgrading its credit rating.
	In the latest in a series of cyber attacks against American entertainment companies, hackers steal data totaling 1.5 terabytes from HBO's server networks. While representatives did not specify whether the leaked content came from any of the Time Warner-owned premium service's original series in confirming the hacking, reports state that the stolen content consists of unaired episodes of the sitcom Ballers and horror dramedy Room 104, as well as a script from the Game of Thrones episode "The Spoils of War" (scheduled to air on HBO on August 6). In an email sent to employees, Richard Plepler, chairman/CEO of Home Box Office Inc., referred to the hack as “disruptive, unsettling, and disturbing for all of us,” and stated that the incident was being investigated by senior leadership, technological staff and outside internet security experts.
	Sony Pictures Television Networks announces that it will acquire a 95% controlling interest in Flower Mound, Texas-based anime distributor Funimation for $143 million. The deal will allow Sony to provide synergies between Funimation (which includes the cable network Funimation Channel and streaming service FunimationNow) and its existing Animax and Kids Station network divisions, along with giving it rights to the company's program catalog (which includes more than 450 dubbed and subtitled anime titles such as Dragon Ball Z, Cowboy Bebop and One Piece). Funimation founder Gen Fukunaga will retain a 5% minority stake in the company, and remain as its CEO.

August

Date	Event
1	One day after sister company Scripps Networks Interactive was acquired by Discovery Communications, the E.W. Scripps Company announces that it will acquire Katz Broadcasting (operator of digital multicast networks Bounce TV, Grit, Escape and Laff) for $302 million, a deal which would give Scripps full control of the Katz properties (it had already owned a 5% interest in the group, at a valuation of $10 million). Company founder Jonathan Katz will remain with Katz Broadcasting – which will continue to be headquartered in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia – to oversee operation of the networks as CEO of the new Scripps subsidiary after the purchase is finalized, pending regulatory approval.
	Fox News Channel contributor and former homicide detective Rod Wheeler files a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the 21st Century Fox-owned cable network, correspondent Malia Zimmerman and Dallas-based investor/Fox News commentator Ed Butowsky had worked in concert with the administration of President Donald Trump to concoct a since-discredited report on the murder of Seth Rich, a Democratic National Committee aide who was killed in a July 2016 shooting, which aired on Fox News on May 16. Wheeler alleges that he was misquoted in the story, claiming that the defendants intended to establish that Rich leaked DNC emails to WikiLeaks as part of a conspiracy to blame the Russian government to allay accusations that Trump had colluded with Russian lawyers and Kremlin associates to influence the outcome of the 2016 Presidential election, a move which Wheeler claims discredited his account when he made a correction to the disclosure. Butowsky and White House officials deny the accusations, with Butowsky accusing Wheeler's attorney, Douglas Wigdor (who has represented several Fox News employees in other lawsuits filed against the network), of fabricating the claims.
2	NBC’s Meet the Press and the American Film Institute announce a partnership to launch a film festival to be held in November in Washington D.C. The event, organized by Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, will offer submissions for what is expected to be a slate of seven short-length documentary films that are being accepted. The "Meet the Press film festival" will feature contemporary documentaries of up to 40 minutes in length that focus on untold stories of American politics. Films selected for the festival will be eligible for up to $5,000 in finishing support from NBC News for post-production costs, including licensing of third‐party material, and are likely to get some sort of nod during the Sunday morning “Meet the Press” broadcast or during the week on MSNBC's MTP Daily.
5	Fox News suspends Eric Bolling, a commentator and host of the Fox News Specialists and Cashin' In, pending the results of an investigation into sexual harassment allegations first disclosed by The Huffington Post on August 4, in which Bolling reportedly had sent lewd, unsolicited text messages – including one enclosed with a photo of his genitalia – to at least three female colleagues employed with parent subsidiary Fox News Networks (one with Fox News Channel and two employed with Fox Business Network). In response, Fox Business pre-empted the August 5 edition of Cashin' In, replacing it with a live half-hour newscast. A rotating stable of hosts will fill-in for Bolling on the Fox News and Fox Business programs during his suspension.
7	Fox Television Stations-owned KUTP/Phoenix rebrands as "Fox 10 Xtra," aligning its brand with that of sister Fox O&O KSAZ-TV. Coinciding with the rebranding, KUTP – which will continue to carry programming from MyNetworkTV in prime time each weeknight – also begins simulcasting a two-hour-long late morning block of KSAZ's Fox 10 News Now streaming service each Monday through Friday (the moniker change marks the third MyNetworkTV O&O that Fox has rebranded to de-emphasize the programming service's brand, after its May 2016 rebranding of KICU-TV/San Francisco as "KTVU Plus" and its rebranding of WDCA/Washington, D.C. as "Fox 5 Plus" in July of this year).
	Nexstar Media Group announces that it will acquire the non-license assets of CW affiliate WLWC/Providence, Rhode Island from OTA Broadcasting for $4.1 million. The transaction – which is not subject to FCC approval and is expected to close during the fourth quarter of 2017 – involves only the operational and programming assets of WLWC, which had its broadcast spectrum sold by OTA earlier in the year in the FCC incentive auction, and will likely enter into a channel sharing agreement with either CBS affiliate WPRI-TV or Fox primary/MyNetworkTV subchannel-only affiliate WNAC-TV (both of which Nexstar had assumed operational responsibilities in January, following the closure of its purchase of Media General).
8	ESPN transforms its sister network ESPNU to "ESPN8: The Ocho" (a parody of the former name of ESPN2: The Deuce) on this date. The one-day only, rebranded faux sports network, which draws inspiration from the 2004 hit sports comedy film DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story and the former alternative sports/extreme sports format of ESPN2, features a lineup of unconventional sporting events including Disc Golf, Ultimate Trampoline Dodgeball, Firefighters World Challenge, Roller derby, and Arm wrestling, playing off the mantra highlighted in the film, "Bringing You the Finest in Seldom Seen Sports".
	The Walt Disney Company purchases an additional 42% stake (worth $1.58 billion) in digital technology provider BAMTech from MLB Advanced Media, giving it majority ownership (75%) in the venture. With the deal, Disney also announced that BAMTech would help the company launch over-the-top services for Disney's content library and ESPN, giving subscribers access to content ranging from live sports to the live-action Lion King film. The streaming services will include an ESPN-branded sports streaming service (offering live games from Major League Baseball, NHL, Major League Soccer and college sports events, and Grand Slam tennis coverage) that will launch in early 2018, and a OTT streaming service offering family-oriented films and television programs from Disney's content library as well as newer film releases that will debut in 2019 (the latter service will replace an existing content deal with Netflix that, in turn, displaced a film rights agreement with pay-cable service Starz in 2016).
10	CNN fires conservative commentator and American Spectator columnist Jeffrey Lord – a supporter of President Donald Trump, who joined the network as a political contributor in August 2015 – after he tweeted the Nazi victory salute "Sieg Heil" at Angelo Carusone, president of the progressive watchdog group Media Matters for America, who has been campaigning for Fox News Channel to fire popular host Sean Hannity (Carusone forwarded a screenshot of Lord's tweet to CNN's Twitter account, asking for the Time Warner-owned network to comment on “on air talent issuing Nazi victory salutes [in a serious and non-ironic manner]"). In a telephone interview, Lord defended the use of the salute as satirizing Media Matters for its advertiser boycotts of controversial conservative pundits (equating such boycotts to fascism, and viewing them as infringing on the free speech rights of Hannity and other conservative pundits) and not as an endorsement of Nazism.
	The NBC medical drama The Night Shift airs a special veteran-themed episode titled "Keep the Faith." The episode – in which the main characters, employed as doctors at the fictional San Antonio Memorial Hospital, are tasked with treating military veterans injured by anti-gay protesters at a military funeral – was written, directed by and guest starred several military veterans, including episode writer/show co-producer Brian Anthony (an Army veteran), director Timothy Busfield (a Navy veteran), and guest stars Dan Lauria (who served as an officer in the United States Marine Corps and fought in the Vietnam War), Josh Kelly (who served as an Army Ranger in the Iraq War), and Yvonne Valadez (a former Air Defense Operator in the U.S. Army).

Future events

August

Date	Event
19	Cops will celebrate its 1,000th episode with a live special on Spike called "Cops: Beyond the Bust," hosted by Terry Crews, which will include historical clips from the run of the series as well as reunions of officers and the suspects that they arrested.
27	The 2017 MTV Video Music Awards – which will be held at The Forum in Inglewood, California – will air on MTV. Building on its prior elimination of gender-specific categories from the MTV Movie & TV Awards (which were held on May 7), the 34th edition of the VMAs marks the first time in which male and female nominees will compete jointly in the "Best Video" categories (the separate Best Female and Best Male Video awards were replaced with the singular "Artist of the Year" category). Rapper/songwriter Kendrick Lamar leads the list of nominees with eight VMA nominations.

September

Date	Event
11	Six years after he was dropped for making comments in which he compared a meeting between then-President Barack Obama and John Boehner to a hypothetical meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benjamin Netanyahu, ESPN will bring Hank Williams, Jr. back to Monday Night Football and reinstate his 1984 signature song "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" as its theme song, this time as a collaboration with country duo Florida Georgia Line and R&B singer Jason Derulo. The song, also known as "All My Rowdy Friends Are Here on Monday Night" since it was first used on the program in 1989 (during MNF's run on sister network ABC), will return "Heavy Action" to being the show's second main theme, itself having been in use since 1975. Meanwhile, Beth Mowins will become the first woman to serve as a play-by-play announcer on a nationally televised NFL game when she calls the Chargers-Broncos MNF contest in Denver, and just the second woman ever to do NFL play-by-play (Gayle Sierens, longtime anchor at WFLA-TV/Tampa from 1977 to 2015, accomplished the feat first on a regional NBC telecast in 1987).
17	The 69th Primetime Emmy Awards will air on CBS with Stephen Colbert as host.
24	Star Trek returns to television on CBS All Access with the premiere of a new Star Trek series, subtitled Discovery. This ends the absence of a first-run Star Trek series on television since Enterprise was cancelled by UPN in 2005.
	E! will celebrate the tenth anniversary of its longest-running family-oriented reality series Keeping Up With The Kardashians with a 90-minute special hosted by executive producer Ryan Seacrest, which will have the Kardashian/Jenner family (Kris, Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie, and Kendall) get together for a sit-down interview and discussion about how the show and their lives has changed since its 2007 debut.
28	NBC will return the "Must See TV" branding for the first time in three years with the premiere of returning comedies (Superstore, The Good Place, Will & Grace, and Great News) and drama Chicago Fire (This Is Us and Law & Order True Crime were originally part of its Thursday night lineup until the network's decision on May 30 that it will move those programs to Tuesday night – the former of which returning to its original Tuesday night 9:00 p.m. (ET) timeslot – in order to accommodate the former lineup's two-hour comedy block).

October

Date	Event
1	The ABC reality series Shark Tank will begin its ninth season with former Major League Baseball player Alex Rodriguez joining the panel of "shark" investors as a guest shark, becoming the first Hispanic shark to be featured on the show.

November

Date	Event
8	The 51st Country Music Association Awards will air on ABC with Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood as hosts for the tenth consecutive year.

December

Date	Event

Television programs

Programs debuting in 2017

These shows are scheduled to premiere in 2017. The premiere dates may be changed depending on a variety of factors.

First aired	Show	Channel	Source
January 1	The Mick	Fox
	Ransom	CBS
January 2	My Knight and Me	Cartoon Network
	Beyond	Freeform
January 6	Emerald City	NBC
	One Day at a Time	Netflix
January 7	Dragon Ball Super	Adult Swim
	Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096
January 9	Big Fan	ABC
January 10	Taboo	FX
January 12	My Kitchen Rules	Fox
January 13	A Series of Unfortunate Events	Netflix
January 15	Victoria	PBS
	The Young Pope	HBO
	Mickey and the Roadster Racers	Disney Channel / Disney Junior
	First Family of Hip Hop	Bravo
January 16	Meet the Putnams	TLC
	Summer House	Bravo
January 22	Hunted	CBS
January 26	Riverdale	The CW
February 1	The Quad	BET
February 2	Powerless	NBC
	Training Day	CBS
February 3	Santa Clarita Diet	Netflix
February 5	24: Legacy	Fox
February 6	APB
	Nella the Princess Knight	Nickelodeon
February 7	Imposters	Bravo
February 8	Legion	FX
February 15	Doubt	CBS
February 19	Big Little Lies	HBO
	Crashing
	The Good Fight	CBS / CBS All Access
February 20	The Breaks	VH1
February 21	Bunsen Is a Beast!	Nickelodeon
February 23	The Blacklist: Redemption	NBC
February 27	Taken
March 1	The Deed	CNBC
	Chicago Justice	NBC
March 5	Making History	Fox
	Time After Time	ABC
March 6	Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs	Cartoon Network
March 9	Kicking & Screaming	Fox
March 10	Buddy Thunderstruck	Netflix
March 13	Hunter Street	Nickelodeon
March 14	Trial & Error	NBC
March 17	Iron Fist	Netflix
	Julie's Greenroom
March 20	Sweet Home Oklahoma	Bravo
	The Twins: Happily Ever After?	Freeform
March 22	Shots Fired	Fox
March 24	Tangled: The Series	Disney Channel
March 28	Rebel	BET
March 29	Imaginary Mary	ABC
March 31	13 Reasons Why	Netflix
April 5	Brockmire	IFC
April 7	Andi Mack	Disney Channel
	First Dates	NBC
	The Toy Box	ABC
	You the Jury	Fox
April 8	The Son	AMC
April 10	Ben 10	Cartoon Network
April 14	Puppy Dog Pals	Disney Channel / Disney Junior
April 15	Class	BBC America
April 18	Famous in Love	Freeform
April 21	Bill Nye Saves the World	Netflix
	Girlboss
April 25	Great News	NBC
	Genius	National Geographic Channel
April 27	The President Show	Comedy Central
April 28	Dear White People	Netflix
April 30	American Gods	Starz
May 1	The Fox News Specialists	Fox News Channel
May 2	Truth & Iliza	Freeform
May 4	Second Wives Club	E!
May 8	Southern Charm Savannah	Bravo
May 14	Invite Only Cabo
May 17	Downward Dog	ABC
May 25	Beat Shazam	Fox
	Cyrus vs. Cyrus: Design and Conquer	Bravo
May 29	Still Star-Crossed	ABC
May 30	World of Dance	NBC
May 31	The F Word	Fox
June 3	Billy Dilley's Super-Duper Subterranean Summer	Disney XD
June 4	I'm Dying Up Here	Showtime
	The Next Revolution	Fox News Channel
	Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly	NBC
June 5	Daytime Divas	VH1
June 6	The Jim Jefferies Show	Comedy Central
June 11	Steve Harvey's Funderdome	ABC
	Claws	TNT
June 12	Superhuman	Fox
	MTV Live	MTV
June 14	Blood Drive	Syfy
	Emogenius	GSN
June 21	Little Big Shots: Forever Young	NBC
June 22	The Mist	Spike
	Boy Band	ABC
June 23	G.L.O.W.	Netflix
June 25	Hotel Transylvania: The Television Series	Disney Channel
June 27	Tales	BET
June 28	Hood Adjacent with James Davis	Comedy Central
June 29	Morning Dose	First-run syndication (exclusive to select CW and MyNetworkTV stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting)
July 5	Snowfall	FX
July 6	Real Estate Wars	Bravo
July 9	Apollo Gauntlet	Adult Swim
	Candy Crush	CBS
	The Spouse House	TLC
July 10	Will	TNT
July 11	The Bold Type	Freeform
July 12	I'm Sorry	TruTV
	Salvation	CBS
July 13	Hooten & the Lady	The CW
July 14	Friends from College	Netflix
July 15	Polaris Primetime	Disney XD
July 17	Loaded	AMC
July 20	Flip or Flop Atlanta	HGTV
July 21	Ozark	Netflix
	Raven's Home	Disney Channel
July 24	Midnight, Texas	NBC
	Somewhere Between	ABC
	Welcome to the Wayne	Nickelodeon
July 28	The Last Tycoon	Amazon Video
	Room 104	HBO
July 31	The Beat With Ari Melber	MSNBC
	CBSN: On Assignment	CBS / CBSN
August 1	OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes	Cartoon Network
August 2	The Sinner	USA Network
August 3	The Guest Book	TBS
	What Would Diplo Do?	Viceland
August 11	Atypical	Netflix
August 13	Get Shorty	Epix
August 16	Marlon	NBC
August 21	Sunny Day	Nickelodeon
August 25	Disjointed	Netflix
	The Tick	Amazon Video
Summer	The Jellies	Adult Swim
September 5	Steve	First-run syndication
September 10	The Orville	Fox
September 24	Star Trek: Discovery	CBS / CBS All Access
September 25	The Brave	NBC
	The Good Doctor	ABC
	Me, Myself & I	CBS
	The Opposition with Jordan Klepper	Comedy Central
	Young Sheldon	CBS
September 26	Law & Order True Crime	NBC
September 27	SEAL Team	CBS
September 29	Inhumans	ABC
September	DailyMailTV	First-run syndication
October	Damnation	USA Network
October 1	Ghosted	Fox
	Ten Days in the Valley	ABC
	Wisdom of the Crowd	CBS
October 2	9JKL	CBS
	The Gifted	Fox
October 9	Valor	The CW
October 11	Dynasty	The CW
November 2	S.W.A.T.	CBS
Fall	Hot Streets	Adult Swim
TBA	FLCL
	Britannia	Amazon Video
	Jean-Claude Van Johnson
	Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams
	The Terror	AMC
	Stripped	Bravo
	Big Hero 6	Disney XD
	Marvel's Spider-Man
	The Magic School Bus 360°	Netflix
	The Punisher
	Stretch Armstrong
	True and the Rainbow Kingdom
	Lip Sync Battle Shorties	Nickelodeon
	I Am Frankie
	Ghost Wars	Syfy
	The Last O.G.	TBS
	Ricky Martin Project	VH1
	90's House
	Baller Wives
	Scared Famous
	Love & Hip-Hop: Miami
	Black Ink Crew: Atlanta
	Queens of Trap

Miniseries debuting in 2017

First aired	Title	Channel	Source
January 24	The New Edition Story	BET
February 1	Madiba
February 27	When We Rise	ABC
April 16	The White Princess	Starz
May 16	The Challenge: Champs vs. Pros	MTV
August 9	The Story of Diana	ABC
August 18	The Defenders	Netflix

Television films and specials

First aired	Title	Channel	Source
February 7	Michael Bolton's Big, Sexy Valentine's Day Special	Netflix
March 31	The Discovery
April 7	Win It All
April 28	Casting JonBenet
May 7	The Last 100 Days of Diana	ABC
May 24	Dirty Dancing
May 26	War Machine	Netflix
June 4	Ariana Grande’s One Love Manchester Benefit Concert Live	ABC/Freeform
July 21	Descendants 2	Disney Channel
November	Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie	Nickelodeon
December	Bye Bye Birdie Live!	NBC
	Psych: The Movie	USA Network
TBA	A Few Good Men Live!	NBC

Programs changing networks in 2017

Show	Moved from	Moved to	Source
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee	Crackle	Netflix
Nashville	ABC	CMT
Pokémon	Cartoon Network	Disney XD
Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir	Nickelodeon	Netflix
The Fairly OddParents		Nicktoons
Harvey Beaks
Pig Goat Banana Cricket
Archer	FX	FXX
Dino Dan	Nick Jr.	Amazon Video
The Chris Gethard Show	Fusion	TruTV
The Shannara Chronicles	MTV	Spike
The Breaks	VH1	BET
Hit the Floor	VH1	BET
The Hunt with John Walsh	CNN / HLN	HLN
RuPaul's Drag Race	Logo TV	VH1

Programs returning in 2017

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

Show	Last aired	Previous channel	New/returning/same channel	Return date	Source
The Celebrity Apprentice	2015	NBC	same	January 2
Samurai Jack	2004	Cartoon Network	Adult Swim	March 11
Prison Break	2009	Fox	same	April 4
Mystery Science Theater 3000	1999	Syfy	Netflix	April 14
My Super Sweet 16	2008	MTV	same	May 14
Twin Peaks	1991	ABC	Showtime	May 21
Love Connection	1999	First-run syndication	Fox	May 25
The Gong Show	1989		ABC	June 22
Battle of the Network Stars	1988	ABC	same	June 29
Man v. Food	2012	Travel Channel	same	August 7
Saturday Night Live Weekend Update Thursday	2012	NBC	same	August 10
DuckTales	1990	First-run syndication	Disney XD	August 12
Will & Grace	2006	NBC	same	September 28
Total Request Live	2008	MTV	same	October 2
Dynasty	1989	ABC	The CW	October 11
Cyberchase	2015	PBS Kids	same	TBA
Angelina Ballerina	2010		TBA
Barney & Friends	2009
Young Justice	2013	Cartoon Network

Milestone episodes in 2017

Show	Network	Episode #	Episode title	Episode air date	Source
Days of Our Lives	NBC	13,000th	"episode 13,000"	January 10
America's Funniest Home Videos	ABC	600th	N/A	January 15
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	NBC	400th	"Motherly Love"	February 8
SpongeBob SquarePants	Nickelodeon	200th	"Goodbye, Krabby Patty?"	February 20
Survivor	CBS	500th	"The Stakes Have Been Raised"	March 8
Love Thy Neighbor	OWN	100th	"Digging The Hole Deeper"	March 11
Dancing with the Stars	ABC	400th	"First Dances/400th Episode Week"	March 20
Scandal		100th	"The Decision"	April 13
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver	HBO		N/A	May 7
Clarence	Cartoon Network		"Clarence's Stormy Sleepover Episode 6: Flood Brothers"	June 5
Nashville	CMT		"(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I"	June 15
Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta	VH1		"Reality Bites"	June 19
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon	NBC	700th	"Pharrell Williams/Chris Coffer/Vince Staples"	June 26
Cops	Spike	1,000th	"Cops: Beyond the Bust"	August 19
Suits	USA Network	100th	"Skin In The Game"	August 30

Programs ending in 2017

End date	Show	Channel	First aired	Status	Source
January 2	Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything	Disney XD	2015	Canceled
January 6	The Kelly File	Fox News Channel	2013	Ended
January 7	Ultimate Spider-Man	Disney XD	2012
January 16	Regular Show	Cartoon Network	2010
January 17	No Tomorrow	The CW	2016	Canceled
January 20	Girl Meets World	Disney Channel	2014
January 25	Salem	WGN America
	Incorporated	Syfy	2016
	Frequency	The CW
January 26	Pure Genius	CBS
January 29	Conviction	ABC
January 30	The Odd Couple	CBS	2015
February 19	Son of Zorn	Fox	2016
February 20	Dinosaur Train	PBS Kids	2009
February 22	Fox Sports Live	FS1	2013
	Garbage Time with Katie Nolan		2015
February 28	Celebrity Name Game	First-run syndication	2014
March 3	Emerald City	NBC	2017
March 8	Man Seeking Woman	FXX	2015
March 10	The Vampire Diaries	The CW	2009	Ended
March 14	The Real O'Neals	ABC	2016	Canceled
March 15	Workaholics	Comedy Central	2011	Ended
March 24	Liv and Maddie	Disney Channel	2013
March 26	Time After Time	ABC	2017	Canceled
March 28	Bones	Fox	2005	Ended
March 29	Duck Dynasty	A&E	2012
March 30	Review	Comedy Central	2014
March 31	Dr. Ken	ABC	2015	Canceled
	Grimm	NBC	2011	Ended
	Sleepy Hollow	Fox	2013	Canceled
	Last Man Standing	ABC	2011
April 2	Black Sails	Starz	2014	Ended
April 11	Switched at Birth	Freeform	2011
April 13	The Blacklist: Redemption	NBC	2017	Canceled
April 14	You the Jury	Fox
April 16	Girls	HBO	2012	Ended
April 17	2 Broke Girls	CBS	2011	Canceled
	24: Legacy	Fox	2017
April 20	Powerless	NBC
April 21	The O'Reilly Factor	Fox News Channel	1996
April 24	APB	Fox	2017
	Bates Motel	A&E	2013	Ended
April 25	Outsiders	WGN America	2016	Canceled
April 28	Rosewood	Fox	2015
April 30	60 Minutes Sports	Showtime	2013
	American Crime	ABC	2015
May 8	The Great Indoors	CBS	2016
May 10	Underground	WGN America
May 11	The Catch	ABC
May 14	Chicago Justice	NBC	2017
May 17	Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders	CBS	2016
May 20	Samurai Jack	Adult Swim	2001	Ended
	Training Day	CBS	2017	Canceled
May 21	Making History	Fox
May 22	Baby Daddy	Freeform	2012	Ended
May 26	Bloodline	Netflix	2015	Canceled
May 30	Imaginary Mary	ABC	2017
June 4	The Leftovers	HBO	2014	Ended
June 16	Reign	The CW	2013
June 27	Downward Dog	ABC	2017	Canceled
	Pretty Little Liars	Freeform	2010	Ended
June 28	EyeOpener	First-run syndication (exclusive to select CW and MyNetworkTV stations owned by Tribune Broadcasting)	2011	Canceled
June 30	Uncle Grandpa	Cartoon Network	2013
July 13	Steve Harvey	First-run syndication	2012	Ended
July 28	Penn Zero: Part-Time Hero	Disney XD	2014	Canceled
August 2	Kingdom	Audience		Ended
August 4	@midnight	Comedy Central	2013	Canceled
August 9	The Carmichael Show	NBC	2015
August 12	Doubt	CBS	2017
	Orphan Black	BBC America	2013	Ending
	Turn: Washington's Spies	AMC	2014
August 19	Love Thy Neighbor	OWN	2013
Summer	T.D. Jakes	First-run syndication	2016	Canceled
September	The Insider		2004	Ending
September 17	The Strain	FX	2014
October 8	Episodes	Showtime	2011
October 14	Halt and Catch Fire	AMC	2014
TBA	Teen Wolf	MTV	2011
	Harvey Beaks	Nicktoons	2015	Canceled
	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	Nickelodeon	2012	Ending
	Longmire	Netflix
	The Thundermans	Nickelodeon	2013

Programs entering syndication in 2017

A list of programs (current or canceled) that have accumulated enough episodes (between 65 and 100) or seasons (three or more) to be eligible for off-network syndication and/or basic cable runs.

Show	Seasons	In Production	Source
Mom	5	Yes
The Goldbergs	5
Brooklyn Nine-Nine	5
Impractical Jokers	10
Dateline NBC	25

Networks and services

Network launches

Network	Type	Launch date	Notes	Source
PBS Kids	Over-the-air multicast	January 16	The 24/7 digital broadcast network, available on many PBS member stations as a digital subchannel (particularly those which in the past, PBS had routinely supplied content for their independently programmed, kid-targeted subchannels) and through apps and streaming services, features a broad mix of the public television service's current inventory of children's programming. The PBS Kids channel marks PBS' third national children's television network venture; the service operated a DirecTV-funded cable/satellite channel from 1999 to 2005, and formerly co-owned Sprout in conjunction with Comcast and several minority partners from 2005 to 2013.
TBD	Over-the-air multicast	February 13	Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and initially soft-launching on five Sinclair-owned-or-operated stations in Des Moines, Green Bay, Portland, San Antonio, and Syracuse, the network features programming and content originating from various premium internet partners catering to millennial audiences.
Charge!	Over-the-air multicast	February 28	Operating as a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and MGM Television (which also jointly own the science fiction-focused multicast network Comet), Charge focuses on action- and adventure-themed films, as well as a very limited number of television series, sourced primarily from the MGM library.

Network closures

Network	Type	Closure date	Notes	Source
Northwest Cable News	Regional cable & OTA	January 6	Launched in December 1995 by the Providence Journal Company, the Tegna Media-owned Seattle-based news channel drew resources and content from Tegna stations in Seattle, Portland, Spokane, and Boise. NWCN's shutdown on this date arrives after the retirements or contract buyouts of several high-profile on- and off-screen talent in April 2016, and also comes at a time when the channel's viewership decreased in the face of increased news consumption on other non-TV platforms, along with KTVB's carriage ending due to a corporate mandate to carry the Justice Network. Approximately 25 employees were affected, more than half of whom moved to new positions at other Tegna stations.
Cloo	Cable and satellite	February 1	The channel launched in 1994 as the CBC-owned arts and culture channel Trio, and was eventually acquired by NBCUniversal, which will convert the channel to Sleuth in 2006, carrying crime and mystery content from the NBCUniversal library. Under Comcast's ownership, the channel rebranded to Cloo in August 2011, but declined due to a drift in format, no original programming output, the easy availability of its programming through other outlets, and its being dropped by several key cable/satellite providers.
The Works	OTA digital broadcast	February 27	Launched in January 2015, the MGM-owned general entertainment multicast network featured a mix of feature films, classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through the 1980s, and some limited news and interview programming. The majority of the network's former affiliates – most of which were owned by Titan Broadcast Management – replaced The Works with Sinclair Broadcast Group/MGM joint venture network Charge!, when that network launched on February 28.
Esquire Network	Cable and satellite	June 28	The Comcast-owned network launched in 1998 as Style, but rebranded to Esquire in 2013 (under a license deal with Esquire publisher Hearst Corporation) in an effort to reach male viewers. (It had been set to replace G4, which was later shut down, but the plan was changed due to G4's lack of satellite distribution, which Esquire lost in subsequent contract cycles.) Esquire's viability diminished after DirecTV dropped the channel in December 2016 over low viewership and carriage fees (Charter/Spectrum was about to follow suit; it ended carriage of it and Chiller on April 25 nationwide). The channel will migrate to a digital platform during the transition, with some programming migrating to other NBCU networks, such as Friday Night Tykes moving to USA Network as a lead-out from WWE Raw in April.
Seeso	over-the-top subscription streaming service	Date TBA	Launched on January 16, 2016 by NBCUniversal Digital Enterprises under its founder Evan Shapiro, the service, which focused on the Comedy genre utilizing original content and a library of properties from the NBCUniversal vaults, announce on August 9 that it would shut down operations, which came just 3 months after Shapiro exited the company and due to increased competition from rival streaming services as well as lackluster interest from viewers. The original programming that was featured on Seeso (like HarmonQuest, My Brother, My Brother and Me, Hidden America with Jonah Ray and The Cyanide and Happiness Show) will move over to the online video app VRV, while upcoming programs that had been in development are expected to find new homes before it ceases operations.

Network conversions

Old network name	New network name	Type	Conversion Date	Notes	Source
FamilyNet	The Cowboy Channel	Cable and satellite	July 1	The sister network to RFD-TV, which formerly had carried a classic sitcom and television format for several years after RFD's parent company purchased the network from various religious interests which had owned the network since its 1979 launch, will see their format changed in order to feature more Western and rodeo sports such as the Calgary Stampede and bull riding, bullfighting and chuckwagon racing, along with livestock auctions. The conversion also ended the last affiliations with the network for over-the-air stations.
Universal HD	Olympic Channel	Cable and satellite	July 14	A high definition-exclusive network which originated as Bravo HD+ in July 2003 during the format's infant era, the network has declined to featuring mainly repeats from the Universal Television library, along with lower-profile Universal Pictures films, and is being ended due to those issues. Comcast division Xfinity let the network's fate be known through a legal notice on the provider's website. The same day, Comcast, the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee launched an Americanized version of its Olympic Channel (sub-branded as "The Home of Team USA") using Universal HD's existing satellite slot (and all existing cable/satellite carriage, albeit with some providers moving it to their sports tier), which features much of the Olympic sports content that moved to Universal HD after Universal Sports Network's 2015 closure. The network remains exclusively offered in HD.
Sprout	Universal Kids	Cable and satellite	September 9	NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment Group will convert Sprout's general branding on this date to Universal Kids, which will cater to children aged 2–11 in primetime, and feature content from NBCU-owned DreamWorks Animation as well as child-specific reality shows such as Top Chef Junior (which finally will launch nine years after it was first proposed to air on Bravo). However, Sprout's preschool-specific programming will remain a major part of the schedule, as a programming block airing from 3:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET.

Television stations

Station launches

Date	Market	Station	Channel	Affiliation	Source
January 1	Boston, Massachusetts (Lawrence)	WMFP	60.5	NBC (simulcast of WBTS-LD)
February 11	Norfolk, Nebraska Columbus, Nebraska	KNEN-LD KMJF-LD	35.2 48.2	Telemundo
February 15	Lake Charles, Louisiana	KSWL-LD	17.1	CBS
March 15	San Diego, California	XHDTV-TDT	49.2	Azteca (temporary home)
June 1	Charlotte, North Carolina (Kannapolis)	WAXN-TV	64.4	Laff (migrated from sister station WSOC-DT2)
	St. Joseph, Missouri	KNPG-LD	21.3	Telemundo
June 21	Lincoln, Nebraska	KFDY-LD	27.2
July 1	San Diego, California	KNSD	39.20
	Lafayette, Indiana	WPBY-CD	35.1	ABC

Stations changing network affiliation

Date	Market	Station	Channel	Prior affiliation	New affiliation	Source
January 1	Boston, Massachusetts (Merrimack, New Hampshire)	WHDH	7.1	NBC	Independent
		WBTS-LD	8.1	Independent/Cozi TV	NBC
		WNEU-DT2	60.2
	Wilmington, North Carolina	WILM-LD	10.1	CBS	Independent
		WWAY-DT2	3.2	The CW	CBS
		WWAY-DT3	3.3	Cozi TV	The CW
January 18	Albuquerque, New Mexico	KASA-TV	2.1	Fox	Telemundo
		KRQE	13.2	GetTV	Fox
January 29	Kingsport, Tennessee	WKPT-TV	19.1	MyNetworkTV	Cozi TV
			19.3	Cozi TV	Laff
		WAPK-CD	36.3	Laff	Bounce TV
March 1	Buffalo, New York (Springville)	WBBZ-DT2	67.2	This TV	Heroes & Icons
May 1	San Diego, California	KFMB-DT2	8.2	MeTV	temporarily vacant
		KGTV-DT2	10.2	Transitional newscast loop (instituted after disaffiliation from Azteca América)	MeTV
		KZSD-LP	41
May 31		XETV-TDT	6.1	The CW	Canal 5
		KFMB-DT2	8.2	temporarily vacant	The CW
June 1	St. Joseph, Missouri	KCJO-LD	30.1	Telemundo (migrated to sister station KNPG-LD3)	CBS
	Charlotte, North Carolina	WSOC-DT2	9.2	Laff	Telemundo
June 21	Lincoln, Nebraska	KFDY-LD	27.2	3ABN Proclaim	Telemundo (3ABN moved to digital channel 27.3 on June)
June 23	Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Fond du Lac)	WIWN	68.1	Sonlife	Cozi TV (Sonlife moved to digital channel 68.8 on May 1)
July 1	San Diego, California	XHAS-TDT	33.1	Telemundo	Azteca América

Station closures

Station	Channel	Affiliation	Market	Date	Notes	Source
WHTV	18.#	MyNetworkTV	Jackson/Lansing, Michigan	August 31	WHTV was sold in the broadcast spectrum incentive auction by owner Venture Technologies Group. No announcements have been made to where its programming and affiliation will move, with the existing schedule dumped on May 1 to carry the former DT2 affiliation of Jewelry Television until it ends operations on August 31, a date that has changed multiple times. The station is programmed by E.W. Scripps Company via a JSA with Fox affiliate WSYM-TV.
WBIN-TV	50.#	Independent	Manchester, New Hampshire/Boston, Massachusetts	TBD	WBIN owner Carlisle One Media announced on February 17 its intent to exit the television business by divesting the channel 50 license as part of the spectrum auction and announcing plans to sell translators to other broadcasters. In addition, WBIN immediately shut down its in-house news department, which was part of the Binnie-owned NH1 News division, which will retain a radio and digital presence. This marks the second time that the channel 50 license in the Boston market has been returned to the FCC (after WXPO-TV), with the sale leaving Manchester-based ABC affiliate WMUR-TV as the only full-power English language television station licensed to New Hampshire. On May 4, 2017, Binnie Media filed an application for WBIN-TV to enter into a channel sharing agreement with UniMás owned-and-operated station WUTF-DT (channel 66), in which Univision Communications would be granted the option of acquiring the WBIN license. Univision exercised that option on May 8, purchasing the channel 50 license for $16.76 million; it is not yet known if Univision plans to convert WBIN into either a repeater of WUTF or a Univision O&O (Univision is currently available in Boston through Entravision-owned affiliate WUNI (channel 27)).
WCMZ-TV	28.#	PBS	Flint/Saginaw/ Bay City, Michigan	TBD	Central Michigan University, owner of WCMU-TV and several satellite stations of the PBS member in the Northern Michigan region, announced it will sell WCMZ-TV's broadcast spectrum in the FCC spectrum auction for $14 million to reduce redundancy of PBS programming in the market, which is also served by Delta College-owned PBS member WDCQ-TV.
WUSF-TV	16.#	PBS	Tampa/ St. Petersburg/ Clearwater, Florida	TBD	The University of South Florida announced on February 9 that it will sell WUSF-TV's broadcast spectrum as part of the FCC's spectrum auction for $18.8 million. PBS programming will remain available in the Tampa–St. Petersburg market through its primary member station in the area, WEDU.
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.
WRNN-TV	48.#	Independent	Kingston, New York and the Hudson Valley	TBD	WRNN-TV was sold in the broadcast spectrum auction for $212 million, in what is believed to be the highest payout for any station in the spectrum auction. The "Regional News Network" programming will continue through some other, unspecified method after the station goes off the air.
WPBO	42.#	PBS	Portsmouth, Ohio/Huntington/ Charleston, West Virginia	TBD	WPBO, a satellite station of Columbus-based WOSU-TV, was sold in the spectrum auction by owner Ohio State University, which cited an "incredible duplication of PBS signals" in WPBO's broadcast area (far southern Ohio, western West Virginia, and northeastern Kentucky). Proceeds from the $8.8 million sale of WPBO will remain with WOSU-TV, which will continue operations.
WCGV-TV	24.#	MyNetworkTV	Milwaukee, Wisconsin	TBD	WCGV-TV was sold in the spectrum auction for $84.3 million, and owner Sinclair Broadcast Group had originally indicated it would enter a channel sharing agreement with sister CW affiliate WVTV. However with Sinclair's attempted acquisition of Tribune Media, which would include Milwaukee Fox affiliate WITI, Sinclair revealed in its FCC filing regarding the merger that it now intends to sign off WCGV-TV completely without any channel sharing agreement in order to allow it to acquire WITI and retain WVTV. WCGV's program schedule, MyNetworkTV affiliation (and "My 24" branding) and subchannels are expected to be dispersed among WVTV and WITI after it ends operations in its present form.

Station spectrum transitions

Former station	New station	Channel	Affiliation	Market	Date	Notes	Source
KSPR	KSPR-LD	33.1	ABC	Springfield, Missouri	February 1	KSPR's full-power spectrum was sold in the spectrum auction, with KSPR's owner Schurz Communications transferring its ABC affiliation to Gray Television as it withdrew from broadcasting and to what was Gray's KYCW-LD, Springfield's CW affiliate four months in advance, which was re-called as KSPR-LD and assumed the ABC affiliation and channel 33 virtual channel (The CW moved to KSPR-LD2). KSPR was re-called as KGHZ in reference to the spectrum auction, and remained on the air with an Antenna TV affiliation also carried by KSPR-LD3 until the license was returned to the FCC by Schurz on May 31; the former KSPR transmitter was repurposed for Branson-licensed low-power station KYCW-LD, which carries The CW, Cozi TV and WeatherNation over three subchannels.
WAGT	WAGT-CD	26.1	NBC	Augusta, Georgia	May 31	WAGT's full-power license was sold in the spectrum auction for $40.7 million by owner Gray Television. WAGT-CD would have assumed WAGT's virtual channel number and subchannels a year earlier if not for ownership complications involving Schurz's sale of WAGT and an existing joint sales and shared services agreements with Media General at the time which required sorting out. WAGT-CD departed from a transitional affiliation with Youtoo America.
WIFR	WIFR-LD	23.1	CBS	Freeport/Rockford, Illinois	May 31	WIFR's full-power license was sold in the spectrum auction for slightly over $50 million. Gray acquired the low-power license W22EE-D from DTV America in 2016 (which had never gone on the air), and used that license to transfer over WIFR's CBS affiliation, virtual channel number, and subchannels to maintain its existing operations (including existing transmitter) at a lower power which claims service of 95% of the market over-the-air, while turning the full-power WIFR license into the FCC.

Deaths

Date	Name	Age	Notability	Source
January 2	Richard Machowicz	51	Former Navy SEAL and host of Discovery Channel's Future Weapons
January 5	Sam Lovullo	88	Producer (co-creator of Hee Haw)
January 6	Francine York	80	American actress, model, and fitness activist, notable for playing Lydia Limpet on Batman, Venus DeMilo in Bewitched, a regular role as Lorraine Farr Temple on Days of Our Lives, and guest roles in Shirley Temple's Storybook, The Mindy Project and Hot in Cleveland; recurring roles on All My Children, One Life to Live, and Santa Barbara
January 10	Tony Rosato	62	Canadian actor, most noteworthy for being a cast member on SCTV and Saturday Night Live
January 12	William Peter Blatty	89	American Oscar-winning screenwriter and author/novelist, whose best-selling thriller novel The Exorcist became the basis for the franchise that included the film and TV series.
January 13	Dick Gautier	85	American-born Canadian actor, singer, voice actor, comedian, game show panelist, author and artist, notable for playing Hymie the robot on Get Smart, Robin Hood in When Things Were Rotten, and the voice of Rodimus Prime in the Transformers television series universe
January 15	James Reiher	73	Fijian professional WWE Hall of Fame wrestler, better known as Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka
January 19	Loalwa Braz	63	Brazilian singer/songwriter and former member of Kaoma (appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show and Sabado Gigante)
	Miguel Ferrer	61	American actor (Dr. Garret Macy on Crossing Jordan, Owen Granger on NCIS: Los Angeles, and Albert Rosenfield on Twin Peaks; other starring roles include Shannon's Deal, Broken Badges, On the Air, Cruel Doubt, The Stand, LateLine, Bionic Woman and The Protector).
January 21	Maggie Roche	65	American singer/songwriter and member of the family trio The Roches (TV credits include Tiny Toon Adventures, Saturday Night Live, and Tracey Takes On)
January 22	Connor Vernon	63	Meteorologist who worked at Alabama stations WTVY-TV and WDHN in Dothan (the latter from 2014 until his death), and WSFA in Montgomery
January 25	Mary Tyler Moore	80	American Emmy-award-winning actress, singer, activist, and businesswoman, best known as Laura Petrie on The Dick Van Dyke Show and Mary Richards on her self-titled series, as well as co-founder of MTM Enterprises, among numerous other series and telefilm credits
January 26	Mike Connors	91	American actor, notable for playing Joe Mannix in the 1967-75 series Mannix, as well as lead roles in Tightrope! and Today's FBI
	Barbara Hale	94	American actress, notable for playing Della Street in the Perry Mason TV series and subsequent TV movie versions.
January 27	Stan Boreson	91	Comedian and TV personality, best known as the host of King's Klubhouse on KING-TV/Seattle for 12 years
January 31	Frank Pellegrino	72	Actor and restaurateur, best known as Frank Cubitoso on The Sopranos
February 6	Irwin Corey	102	American improviser, comedian, actor and humorist (TV credits include The Phil Silvers Show and The Donald O'Connor Show, numerous game shows, and promos for WJAR-TV/Providence and WTMJ-TV/Milwaukee)
February 7	Richard Hatch	71	Actor, best known as Captain Apollo in the original 1978 Battlestar Galactica and Tom Zarek in its 2004 remake
February 11	Chavo Guerrero Sr.	68	Professional wrestler who worked in the Universal Wrestling Federation, the American Wrestling Association, and the WWE from 1970 to 2010; oldest WWE Cruiserweight Champion; father of Chavo Guerrero Jr.
	Howard Leeds	97	Canadian-born American television producer, writer, and creator (notable for creating and producing My Living Doll, Diff'rent Strokes, The Facts of Life, Small Wonder, The Brady Bunch, Silver Spoons, The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, and Hello Larry; writer for Bewitched, Bachelor Father, My Three Sons, Meet Millie, Make Room for Daddy, and Barney Miller; co-writer on specials featuring Bob Hope, Lucille Ball, Benny Hill, among others)
February 12	Jay Bontatibus	52	American actor (The Young and the Restless, General Hospital and Days of Our Lives)
	Al Jarreau	76	American Grammy-award-winning singer/songwriter, notable for recording the theme song from Moonlighting and appearing as himself on The Soul Man
February 15	Bruce Lansbury	87	British-born American television/film producer, founder of Bruce Lansbury Productions, and "Vice President of Creative Affairs" (as shown on closing credits) for Paramount Television (Notable work includes The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, Wonder Woman, Knight Rider, The Fantastic Journey, The Brady Bunch, Happy Days, The Odd Couple, and producer/co-writer on Murder, She Wrote, starring his sister, Angela)
February 16	Nicole Bass	52	Professional wrestler who worked with the WWE and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the 90's and a member of Howard Stern's Wack Pack; guest roles on The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of Our Lives, General Hospital and Guiding Light
	Jim Myers	79	WWE Hall of Fame professional wrestler better known as George "The Animal" Steele
February 17	Warren Frost	91	Actor, best known as Will "Doc" Hayward on Twin Peaks. Also recurring roles on Seinfeld and Matlock and guest spots on Another World, Loving, and As the World Turns.
February 18	Oreal Perras	74	Former WWWF and NWA professional wrestler, better known as "The Russian Bear" Ivan Koloff
February 20	Brenda Buttner	55	American business/financial news reporter (correspondent on Bulls & Bears, host of The Money Club, and contributor on Your World with Neil Cavuto) and reporter for KRNV-DT/Reno
February 23	Ward Chamberlin	95	Executive with WETA-TV/Washington, D.C. and WNET/New York City and original chairman of Corporation for Public Broadcasting
	Alan Colmes	66	American political commentator and TV/radio personality (co-host of Hannity & Colmes, frequent guest on The O'Reilly Factor, Red Eye, The Greg Gutfeld Show, and Fox News Watch)
February 25	Neil Fingleton	36	English-American actor and basketball player, notable for playing Mag the Mighty in Game of Thrones
	Bill Paxton	61	American film/television actor and filmmaker, notable for portraying characters roles such as Frank Roake on Training Day, John Garrett in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bill Henrickson in Big Love, Billy Joe Robb in Fresno and Randolph McCoy in Hatfields & McCoys; guest roles on Miami Vice, The Hitchhiker, Tales from the Crypt, Frasier, narrator on JFK: The Day That Changed Everything, and appearances in music videos for Barnes and Barnes ("Fish Heads", which he also directed), Pat Benatar ("Shadows of the Night") and Limp Bizkit ("Eat You Alive")
	Chez Pazienza	47	American TV producer at cable news channels MSNBC and CNN; Los Angeles stations KCBS, KNBC and KCAL; and Miami stations WTVJ and WPLG
	Ron Savage	63	Anchor/reporter at WJBK/Detroit and volunteer firefighter/EMT for the Milford Fire Department
February 26	Joseph Wapner	97	Former Judge in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, who became better known as the Judge on The People's Court from 1981 to 1993 and Judge Wapner's Animal Court; appeared as an alternate version of himself (as a "Soviet Judge") in Sliders, and an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson to resolve a dispute between the host and David Letterman
February 28	Paul Kangas	79	Anchor of Nightly Business Report from 1979–2009
March 3	Míriam Colón	80	Puerto Rican actress (Studio One in Hollywood, Shirley Temple's Storybook, Dr. Kildare, The Great Adventure, Gunsmoke, The Edge of Night, Streets of Laredo, One Life to Live, Guiding Light, All My Children, Third Watch, Jonny Zero, Hawthorne, How to Make It in America and Better Call Saul)
	Tommy Page	46	American singer/actor, VJ, record executive, and journalist/editor at Billboard (appeared on Full House and hosting duties for programs on MTV and MTV Asia)
	Ron Heard	68	Former NWA and WWF professional wrestler, better known as "Outlaw" Ron Bass
March 6	Robert Osborne	84	Host on Turner Classic Movies since the network's launch in 1994, The Movie Channel from 1986–1993 and entertainment critic on KTTV from 1982–1987. Also author/film historian (columnist at The Hollywood Reporter) and actor (appeared in The Beverly Hillbillies and The Californians).
March 7	Doug Paul	59	Voice-over announcer for promos on Tribune Broadcasting's stations, including WGN-TV, WPIX and KTLA in the 80's and 90's and Peachtree TV and Grit in the present day, along with commercial clients like JoS. A. Bank and Coca-Cola.
March 8	Lou Duva	94	American boxing promoter, manager and trainer; member of the Boxing Hall of Fame (ABC's Wide World of Sports, Showtime Championship Boxing, ESPN Top Rank Boxing, HBO Boxing, Friday Night Fights, ESPN SportsCentury)
March 11	Joni Sledge	60	American singer/songwriter/producer and a member of family musical group Sister Sledge (TV credits include The Jeffersons, American Bandstand, Fridays, Soul Train, and The Midnight Special)
March 13	John Andariese	78	Sports journalist, reporter and analyst, nicknamed "Johnny Hoops" for his play-by-play of the New York Knicks broadcasts on TV and radio; also served as commentator on TBS, NBC, ESPN and NBA TV, the latter as TV host
	Mike Aktari	28	Reality TV star (Jerseylicious)
March 17	Lawrence Montaigne	86	Actor (guest spots on Star Trek, Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Blue Light, Mission: Impossible, The Time Tunnel, The Invaders, Perry Mason, McCloud, and The Feather and Father Gang).
March 18	Chuck Berry	90	American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music can be heard in numerous TV shows
March 21	Chuck Barris	87	Game show producer (Creator of The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, The Family Game, and The Parent Game). Also host/creator of The Gong Show and founder of Chuck Barris Productions
March 22	Vince Jones	46	Bounty hunter and star of Big Rig Bounty Hunters
	Tomas Milian	84	Cuban-born American-Italian actor (Miami Vice, The Equalizer, Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, L.A. Law, Frannie's Turn, Murder, She Wrote, Oz, Law & Order, and UC: Undercover)
March 23	Lola Albright	92	Actress (guest appearances on Lux Video Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Thin Man, Gunsmoke, Rawhide, The Dick Van Dyke Show, My Three Sons, The Beverly Hillbillies, Bonanza, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Medical Center, Kojak, Columbo, McMillan & Wife, Quincy, M.E., Starsky & Hutch, The Incredible Hulk, Peter Gunn, Mr. Broadway, and Peyton Place)
March 24	Rich Fisher	67	News anchor at Detroit stations WJBK, WWJ-TV, and WXYZ-TV
	Jean Rouverol	100	Screenwriter (co-head writer on Guiding Light in the early 1970s, wrote episodes of Little House on the Prairie, Search for Tomorrow and As the World Turns). Also served on the board of directors of the Writers Guild of America, West.
March 26	Clay Adler	27	Actor and reality star (Newport Harbor: The Real Orange County, Make It or Break It)
March 27	Noreen Fraser	63	Producer (Entertainment Tonight, The Home Show, The Richard Simmons Show). Also co-founder of Stand Up to Cancer.
March 28	Kelley Williamson	57	Storm chasers who worked for The Weather Channel
	Randy Yarnall	55
March 31	Scott Brown	59	Political/investigative journalist for WGRZ/Buffalo, New York
April 5	Chelsea Brown	69	American comedic actress/singer/dancer, who was a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and later a successful television actress and personality in Australia (TV credits include Love, American Style, Marcus Welby, M.D., Ironside, Matt Lincoln, and Mission: Impossible)
April 6	Don Rickles	90	Comedian and actor who made numerous appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Late Show with David Letterman, and The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast. Won a Primetime Emmy Award for his autobiographical documentary, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. Also lead roles in the sitcom C.P.O. Sharkey, two series named The Don Rickles Show, and the short-lived sitcom Daddy Dearest.
	Tom Johnston	46	Meteorologist at WCSH/Portland, Maine. Found dead April 6; likely died several days prior.
April 7	Frank Bramhall	83	Radio and Television personality in the Omaha market, notably as a meteorologist at WOWT
April 9	Peter Hansen	95	Actor, best known as Lee Baldwin on General Hospital and its spinoff Port Charles. Also guest spots on The Public Defender, Ben Jerrod, The Goldbergs, Cheers, The Golden Girls, Broken Arrow, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Maverick, Petticoat Junction, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C., How The West Was Won, Magnum, P.I., L.A. Law, Night Court, and Growing Pains.
April 11	Dorothy Mengering	95	Mother of David Letterman, made numerous appearances on his programs Late Night and Late Show
April 12	Charlie Murphy	57	Actor and comedian (writer and cast member on Chappelle's Show, recurring roles on Are We There Yet? and The Boondocks). Brother of actor/comedian Eddie Murphy.
April 15	Clifton James	96	Actor (recurring roles on Captains and the Kings, Lewis & Clark, and All My Children; guest spots on The Dukes of Hazzard, City of Angels, The A-Team, and Gunsmoke).
April 17	Trish Vradenburg	70	Screenwriter (Designing Women, Kate & Allie, Family Ties, and Everything's Relative)
April 20	Doug Smith	81	On-air personality at WIVB-TV in Buffalo, New York
April 21	Sandy Gallin	76	American film, stage, and television producer, manager, and promoter (co-creator and co-producer of Live... and In Person, Babes, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
April 22	Erin Moran	56	American actress best known for her role of Joanie Cunningham in Happy Days and its spinoff Joanie Loves Chachi
April 23	Chris Bearde	80	Australian writer and producer (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Ray Stevens Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Ken Berry 'Wow' Show, The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The Sonny Comedy Revue, The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show, That's My Mama, Cos, The Gong Show, The Bobby Vinton Show, Sherman Oaks and The Gong Show with Dave Attell)
	Kathleen Crowley	87	American actress (Chevron Theatre, Waterfront, Fireside Theatre, Schlitz Playhouse, Climax!, Matinee Theatre, Bat Masterson, 77 Sunset Strip, Surfside 6, Hawaiian Eye, Bronco, Maverick, Tales of Wells Fargo, Perry Mason, Batman, Bonanza and Family Affair)
April 26	Jonathan Demme	73	American Oscar-winning film, television, and music video director and producer (TV credits include Columbo, Saturday Night Live, American Playhouse, Subway Stories, Enlightened, A Gifted Man, The Killing, The New Yorker Presents and Shots Fired)
May 4	Ed Sherin	87	Director/producer, most notably on Law & Order
May 5	Quinn O'Hara	76	Scottish-born American actress, singer, and model (TV credits include Burke's Law, I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, The Real McCoys, My Three Sons, The Red Skelton Hour, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Ironside, One Day at a Time and CHiPs)
	Robert Wilson	75	Co-Founder and General Manager of KERA-TV & FM Dallas-Ft. Worth, credited for introducing Monty Python's Flying Circus to American viewers; father of Luke and Owen Wilson
May 8	Curt Lowens	91	German-American actor and Holocaust survivor (Combat!, Twelve O'Clock High, Hogan's Heroes, Garrison's Gorillas Run for Your Life, Mission: Impossible, The F.B.I., It Takes a Thief, Medical Center, M*A*S*H, Cannon, The Streets of San Francisco, The Six Million Dollar Man, Wonder Woman, The French Atlantic Affair, Barnaby Jones, Galactica 1980, Romance Theatre, V, Dynasty, Knight Rider, The A-Team, and Babylon 5)
May 9	Christopher "Big Black" Boykin	45	Actor and reality television personality (Rob & Big, Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory)
	Michael Parks	77	American singer and actor (Zane Grey Theater, The Detectives, The Dick Powell Show, Gunsmoke, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Wagon Train, Channing, Route 66, Then Came Bronson, Police Woman, Fantasy Island, The Riverman, The Colbys, The Equalizer, Twin Peaks, Shades of LA, and Walker, Texas Ranger)
May 10	Douglas Netter	96	American producer (The Sacketts, Buffalo Soldiers, Wild Times, Roughnecks, Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Babylon 5, The Wild West, Siringo, Hypernauts, Crusade and Dan Dare: Pilot of the Future)
May 13	John Cygan	63	Actor (several roles, most notably Lt. Paulie Pentangeli on The Commish)
May 14	Powers Boothe	68	Emmy-winning actor (Philip Marlowe on Philip Marlowe, Private Eye, Cy Tolliver on Deadwood, Noah Daniels on 24, Lamar Wyatt on Nashville, Gideon Malick on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the voice of Gorilla Grodd on Justice League).
May 18	Roger Ailes	77	CEO of Fox News Channel and Fox Television Stations, creator of America's Talking and former host of Straight Forward.
May 19	Wayne Walker	80	Retired football player (Detroit Lions) and later sportscaster/sports director at KPIX-TV/San Francisco from 1974–1994. Also color commentator for NFL on CBS in the 1980s, and host of Incredible Idaho on KTVB-TV/Boise in the 1990s.
May 22	Dina Merrill	93	American actress, socialite, businesswoman and philanthropist (credits include a regular role in Hot Pursuit, Calamity Jan in Batman alongside then-husband Cliff Robertson, Bonanza, The Love Boat, and The Nanny; TV movies include Seven in Darkness, The Lonely Profession, Family Flight, and The Tenth Month)
May 23	Roger Moore	89	British actor best known as James Bond in seven movies. (TV credits include Ivanhoe, The Alaskans, Maverick, The Saint, and The Persuaders!)
May 25	Jared Martin	75	American actor (starring roles in The Fantastic Journey, One Life to Live, and War of the Worlds and a notable recurring role in Dallas, as Steven "Dusty" Farlow, and guest roles in The Young Lawyers, The Bold Ones: The Lawyers, Night Gallery, The Rookies, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Waltons, How the West Was Won, Wonder Woman, The Love Boat, Murder, She Wrote, Hotel, and Knight Rider)
May 28	Frank Deford	78	American sportswriter and commentator, correspondent for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, winner of Emmy, Peabody and CableACE awards
May 30	Robert Michael Morris	77	Playwright and actor, best known as Mickey Deane in The Comeback and Mr Lunt in Running Wilde. Also guest spots on Will & Grace, How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, and several other shows.
	Elena Verdugo	92	Actress (most notably on Meet Millie and Marcus Welby M.D.)
June 3	Danny Dias	34	Reality star (appeared in season 13 of Road Rules)
June 4	Roger Smith	84	Actor best known as Jeff Spencer on 77 Sunset Strip
June 5	Marilyn Hall	90	Writer (Love, American Style and Lights, Camera, Monty) and producer (A Woman Called Golda, Do You Remember Love, and The Ginger Tree). Wife of game show host Monty Hall.
June 8	Glenne Headly	62	Actress (recurring roles in Lonesome Dove, ER, Encore! Encore!, Monk, and The Night Of)
June 9	Adam West	88	American television, film, and voice actor, best known for playing and voicing the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in the 1966-68 original TV series and in its related DC television universe franchises featuring the character, as well as the voice of Mayor West in Family Guy, a regular role in The Detectives, pitchman for Nestle Quik, among other numerous performances; alumni of KGMB-TV/Honolulu
June 15	Bill Dana	92	Actor, best known as José Jiménez on his eponymous show. Also made numerous appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show
June 16	Stephen Furst	62	Actor best known as Dr. Elliot Axelrod on St. Elsewhere and Vir Cotto on Babylon 5. Also guest spots on Newhart, CHiPs, and The Jeffersons
June 23	Gabe Pressman	93	News anchor in New York City for over 50 years, mostly at WNBC, but also at WNEW
June 26	Warren Doremus	91	News anchor at WHEC/Rochester, New York for 45 years. Won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award in 1976.
June 27	Michael Bond	91	British author who created the characters in the show Paddington Bear
July 1	Stevie Ryan	33	Reality show personality, star of Stevie TV
July 6	Joan Lee	95	Model, author, and voice actress (Iron Man, Fantastic Four and Spider-Man). Wife of legendary Marvel Comics writer/editor Stan Lee.
	Nancy Jeffett	88	Tennis promoter who arranged the first network television broadcast of women's tennis in 1972.
July 7	Nelsan Ellis	39	Actor, best known for playing Lafayette Reynolds in True Blood
July 9	Wally Burr	91	Voice actor (Crying Freeman, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, Jem, Spider-Man, The All-New Super Friends Hour, The Skatebirds, The Transformers)
July 10	Jack Shaheen	81	Consultant on Middle East affairs for CBS News
July 12	John Bernecker		Stuntman on The Walking Dead and numerous films
July 15	Martin Landau	89	Oscar-winning actor (TV work includes starring roles on Mission: Impossible, The Evidence and Space: 1999; and recurring spots on Without a Trace, Entourage and Spider-Man; and several TV movies)
	Bob Wolff	96	Sportscaster (announcer for the Washington Senators, and reporter on NBC Sports, News 12 Long Island, MSG Network, and YES Network)
July 16	George A. Romero	77	Horror film/TV director, writer, producer and actor (creator/executive producer of Tales from the Darkside)
July 17	Harvey Atkin	74	Actor, best known as Sergeant Ronald Coleman on Cagney & Lacey
July 18	Red West	81	Actor, best known as Sgt. Andy Micklin on Black Sheep Squadron
July 21	John Heard	72	Actor (TV roles including recurring spots on The Client, The Sopranos, CSI: Miami, and Prison Break)
July 22	Jim Vance	75	News anchor on WRC-TV/Washington, DC for 45 years
July 25	Barbara Sinatra	90	Model, dancer, writer, and widow of Frank Sinatra. Appeared as herself in several documentaries.
July 26	Patti Deutsch	73	American comedic television, film and voice actress (notable for being a regular on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, This Is Tom Jones, Grandpa Goes to Washington, Tattletales, and Match Game; voice work for The Smurfs, Capitol Critters, As Told by Ginger, The Electric Company, The Emperor's New School, and The Wild Thornberrys)
	June Foray	99	Actress and voiceover artist (most notably the voices for Rocky J. Squirrel and Natasha Fatale on The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Granny from the Looney Tunes Series)
July 27	Sam Shepard	73	Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, screenwriter, director and actor (TV roles include recurring spots on Bloodline, Streets of Laredo, and Klondike)
August 4	Dick Albert	73	Meteorologist at WCVB-TV/Boston from 1978–2009
August 7	Rich O'Brien	60	Creative director at Fox News Channel, CNBC, and America's Talking
August 8	Glen Campbell	81	Country music singer/songwriter and actor (host of The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, appeared in the TV movies Strange Homecoming and Christmas in Disneyland, and an episode of The F.B.I.)
	Barbara Cook	89	Singer and actress (appeared in episodes of Babes in Toyland, Golden Windows, Bloomer Girl, Armstrong Circle Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Perry Como Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, The United States Steel Hour, and Play of the Week)

See also

• 2017 in the United States