MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as "My Network") is an Americantelevision network/broadcast syndication service that is owned by the Fox Entertainment Group division of News Corporation. MyNetworkTV began operations on September 5, 2006 with an initial affiliate lineup covering about 96% of the country, most of which were former affiliates of The WB and UPN.

On September 28, 2009, following disappointment with the network's results, MyNetworkTV dropped its status of a television network and transitioned into a syndication programming service, similar to the Universal Action Pack, Warner Bros.' Prime Time Entertainment Network and Ion Television.

Origins 
See also: 2006 United States broadcast TV realignment
MyNetworkTV arose from the January 2006 launch announcement of The CW Television Network, which essentially merged The WB and UPN. As a result of several deals earlier in the decade, Fox Television Stations owned several UPN affiliates, including its three largest: WWOR-TV/New York City, KCOP-TV/Los Angeles and WPWR-TV/Chicago. Fox had bought much of these stations after acquiring most of the television holdings of UPN founding partner Chris-Craft Industries, while WPWR was bought in 2003 from Newsweb Corporation. Despite concerns about UPN's future at the time that Fox purchased these three stations, UPN signed three-year affiliation renewals with them in 2003. That agreement's pending expiration, along with some others, in 2006 gave UPN parent CBS Corporation and The WB's parent company Time Warner the rare opportunity to merge their respective struggling networks into The CW.

The CW's initial affiliation agreements did not include any Fox-owned stations. In fact, as part of a ten-year affiliation deal with The WB's co-owner, Tribune Broadcasting, the coveted New York, Los Angeles and Chicago affiliations all went to Tribune-owned stations (WPIX, KTLA and WGN-TV, respectively). In response to the announcement, Fox promptly removed all UPN references from its UPN affiliates' logos and promotions, and had stopped promoting UPN's programs altogether. However, in all three cases (especially in the cases of Los Angeles and Chicago), the WB affiliate was the stronger station; CW executives were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN affiliates.

Media reports speculated that the Fox-owned UPN affiliates would all revert to being independent stations, or else form another network by uniting with other affiliates of UPN and The WB that were left out of The CW's affiliation deals. Fox parent News Corporation chose the latter route, and announced the launch of MyNetworkTV on February 22, less than a month after CBS and Warner Bros. announced The CW on January 24.

Programming 
Main article: List of programs broadcast by MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV began operations on September 5, 2006 with premieres of its two initial series. Some affiliates unofficially began branding their stations on September 4, 2006 – Labor Day – with supplied preview specials. Initially, programming aired Monday through Saturdays from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. (ET/PT). As of April 2013, MyNetworkTV broadcasts 10 hours each week of primetime programming on Monday through Friday evenings from 8:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT; MyNetworkTV is one of only two broadcast networks that do not currently run any primetime programming on weekends (The CW had initially ran primetime shows on Sundays from 2006 to 2009, when it turned over the five-hour block of programs that aired on Sunday late afternoons and evenings to its affiliates).

Depending on the market, many current and former affiliate stations have presented MyNetworkTV programs out of pattern – either to run syndicated programs or local newscasts, or because of an existing affiliation with another network:

KZJO/Seattle, Washington airs MyNetworkTV programs from 12 to 2 a.m. PT, with syndicated reruns airing during the 8 p.m. hour and a newscast produced by Fox-affiliated sister station KCPQ airing at 9 p.m.

KRON/San Francisco airs MyNetworkTV programming from 9 to 11 p.m. PT, following an hour-long 8 p.m. newscast.

KPDX/Portland, Oregon airs MyNetworkTV programs from 9 to 11 p.m. PT, due to an hour-long 8 p.m. newscast that is produced by Fox-affiliated sister station KPTV which debuted on September 8, 2008.

From MyNetworkTV's launch through September 19, 2009, KQCA/Sacramento, California aired MyNetworkTV programming one hour earlier (7 to 9 p.m.) than most other Pacific Time Zone affiliates since it aired repeats of The Oprah Winfrey Show at 9 p.m. as a lead-in to the station's 10 p.m. newscast that is produced by NBC-affiliated sister stationKCRA-TV. KQCA now presents MyNetworkTV programming in pattern, with the 7 to 8 hour now filled with off-network syndicated programming.

During its time as a MyNetworkTV affiliate KJZZ/Salt Lake City, Utah aired MyNetworkTV programming from midnight to 2 a.m. (MT), and branded their station by its call letters rather than My 14; the reasons included a local marketing agreement with then-CBS owned-and-operated station KUTV, which allowed KJZZ to rebroadcast some syndicated programs from KUTV. It had originally aired from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the network's launch. St. George independent station KCSG replaced KJZZ as Utah's MyNetworkTV affiliate on August 18, 2008. KUSG, a former KUTV satellite and current This TV affiliate (whose programming is also simulcast on KUTV's second digital subchannel), added MyNetworkTV to its schedule on September 20, 2010; however, it delays MyNetworkTV programming by one hour (airing from 8 to 10 p.m.) to accommodate a KUTV-produced 7 p.m. newscast. In November 2010, KUSG completely replaced KCSG as Utah's MyNetworkTV affiliate and changed its call letters to KMYU.

KEVU-CD/Eugene, Oregon airs the MyNetworkTV schedule from 9 to 11 p.m. PT, following a two-hour block of syndicated talk shows.

KWKB/Iowa City, Iowa initially carried dual affiliations with both The CW and MyNetworkTV, and aired MyNetworkTV programming from 9 to 11 p.m. CT weeknights, immediately following CW programming. On September 19, 2011, KWKB dropped its affiliation with the network (filling the timeslot with local programming), which temporarily left the market without an MyNetworkTV affiliate. In early October 2011, Cedar Rapids ABC affiliate KCRG-TV picked up the market's MyNetworkTV affiliation for its second digital subchannel; however, it delays MyNetworkTV programming to 12:05 to 2:05 a.m. on Tuesday through Saturday mornings with locally produced and syndicated programs airing during the prime time hours.

KDMI/Des Moines, Iowa, which rejoined MyNetworkTV on October 3, 2011 as a secondary affiliation, airs the service's programming weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. CT due to programming commitments because of its This TV affiliation. Prior to dropping the network in September 2009, it had aired MyNetworkTV programming in pattern. For nearly one year after KDMI initially dropped MyNetworkTV, CW affiliate KCWI-TV aired WWE SmackDown from the service on Saturday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. but did not air the remainder of the service's programming.

During its time as a dual CW-MyNetworkTV affiliate, KNVA/Austin, Texas aired MyNetworkTV programming Monday-Saturdays from 9 to 11 p.m. CT, immediately following CW programming. In the month prior to the relaunch of Llano's KBVO (a former KXAN-TV semi-satellite) as a standalone MyNetworkTV affiliate, it aired MyNetworkTV programming weeknights from 10 p.m. to midnight CT, following a KXAN-produced 9 p.m. newscast which debuted on September 28, 2009 (coinciding with MyNetworkTV's transition to a syndication programming service) and a repeat of The Office.

KRBK/Osage Beach, Missouri (serving the Springfield market) switched to a primary Fox affiliation on September 1, 2011, shifting MyNetworkTV to 9 to 11 p.m. CT, immediately following Fox programming. During its time as a sole MyNetworkTV affiliate, it aired the service's programming schedule in pattern.

WLMT-DT2/Memphis, Tennessee, which began airing MyNetworkTV in October 2010, presented the MyNetworkTV programming lineup on Monday-Thursdays in pattern but aired the service's Friday lineup on Saturdays from 9 to 11 p.m. CT until November 14, 2011 when it dropped its Retro Television Network affiliation in favor of Me-TV. Since then, WLMT-DT2 has presented all MyNetworkTV programming in pattern with Me-TV airing at all other times. In the year prior to WWE SmackDown's move to cable channel Syfy in October 2010, WLMT's main channel aired that program on Saturday evenings from 7 to 9 p.m. but did not air the remainder of the MyNetworkTV lineup.

WNTZ-TV/Alexandria, Louisiana-Natchez, Mississippi and WEVV-DT2/Evansville, Indiana, both secondary MyNetworkTV affiliates, air MyNetworkTV programming weeknights from 9 to 11 p.m. CT, immediately following Fox programming. Prior to July 1, 2011, when WEVV-DT2 replaced WTVW as Evansville's Fox affiliate, WEVV-DT2 aired MyNetworkTV programming at its normal time.

WCIX/Springfield, Illinois airs MyNetworkTV programming on a one-hour delay weeknights from 8 to 10 p.m. CT, in order to accommodate a weeknight 7 p.m. newscast produced by sister station WCIA.

WISE-DT2/Fort Wayne, Indiana, during its short-lived term as a secondary MyNetworkTV affiliate, aired MyNetworkTV programming from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. ET following a local newscast produced by WISE-TV, a primary affiliate of NBC. Prior to August 1, 2011, when WISE-DT2 replaced WFFT-TV as Fort Wayne's Fox affiliate, and since March 1, 2013, when WFFT rejoined Fox while WISE-DT2 became an exclusive MyNetworkTV affiliate once again, WISE-DT2 has aired MyNetworkTV programming in pattern.

WNAC/Providence, Rhode Island, also a secondary affiliate, aired MyNetworkTV weeknights from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET, with Saturday primetime shows running on early Sunday mornings from 1:30 to 3:30 a.m. (WNAC has since moved the MyNetworkTV affiliation to a digital subchannel, which presents MyNetworkTV programming in pattern.)

WGGB-DT2/Springfield, Massachusetts, also a secondary affiliate, airs MyNetworkTV shows from 11:35 p.m. to 1:35 a.m. weeknights.

WTRF-DT2/Wheeling, WV/Steubenville and WLIO-DT2/Lima, Ohio, both secondary affiliates, air MyNetworkTV programming weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. ET.

Until 2012, WXTX/Columbus, Georgia aired MyNetworkTV as a secondary affiliation, with programming airing from 12:05 to 2:05 a.m. Currently, there is no over-the-air MyNetworkTV affiliate in the Columbus television market.

WTHI-DT2/Terre Haute, Indiana – which became the Terre Haute market's first ever MyNetworkTV affiliate on September 1, 2011, when WTHI-DT2 also replaced WFXW (nowABC affiliate WAWV-TV) as Terre Haute's Fox affiliate – airs MyNetworkTV programming as a secondary affiliation from 11 p.m. to 1:05 a.m..
Heavy local sports preemptions are a problem for MyNetworkTV, as they have been for all the networks that have debuted since the January 1995 launch of The WB and UPN. However, they have become less of an issue with the end of the network's telenovela strategy, where an airing of the pre-empted telenovela episode as soon as possible on the same day was required by default rather than the flexibility to push a show off to the weekend that came with an affiliation with UPN, The WB or The CW. Affiliates often scheduled contractual "make goods" of its daily line between 3 and 6 a.m. Not only are these light viewing hours, but they air after Nielsen processes its preliminary morning network ratings.

Telenovelas 
The network's original format focused on the 18-to-49-year-old, English-speaking population with programing consisting exclusively oftelenovelas, starting with Desire and Fashion House. Originally, each aired Monday to Friday in continuous cycles of thirteen-week seasons, with a one-hour recap of the week's shows airing on Saturdays; when one series ended, another unrelated series would begin the following week. The fifth and sixth series, American Heiress and Saints and Sinners, appeared one hour per week on Wednesdays before abruptly vanishing from the schedule. The MyNetworkTV serial lineup was broadcast in Australia as FOXTELENOVELA on the W. Channel. In Canada, the first Desire/Fashion House cycle aired weekday afternoons onToronto station CKXT-DT, but the station decided not to air subsequent cycles for unknown reasons.

Proposed programming 
The announcement of the network also stated that additional unscripted reality-based and current-affairs programming were in development. These included:
Catwalk, a series similar to America's Next Top Model

On Scene, a crime-based news magazine produced by Fox News

An American version of the quiz show Britain's Brainiest

An American version of the ITV series Love Island.

MyNetworkTV abandoned development of these programs in Summer 2006 and focused solely on telenovelas.

Later announcements by Fox regarding additional programming to air on MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations – such as Desperate Housewives repeats in traditional weekend syndication, a trial run of the sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne (which later moved to TBS), and the daytime viewer-participation game show My GamesFever – never applied to the network as a whole.

Other programming 
MyNetworkTV does not air children's programming, or any news or sports programming supplied by the service. New York City owned-and-operated station WWOR-TV (whose news department is separate from Fox-owned sister station WNYW stemming from license requirements imposed by WWOR's 1983 license transfer from New York City to Secaucus, New Jersey) and San Francisco affiliate KRON-TV (which has maintained a news department since it launched as an NBC affiliate in 1949) are the only stations aligned with MyNetworkTV that produce their own local news programming, giving MyNetworkTV the fewest news-producing stations of the six major broadcast networks (The CW has eight news-producing stations within its portfolio).

Many other affiliates carry local newscasts produced through a news share agreement with a major network affiliate (most often, newscasts produced by stations that are owned or managed alongside the local MyNetworkTV-affiliated station), and may serve as broadcasters for local sports teams.

Revamping the schedule 
In response to the telenovela lineup's poor ratings performance, highlighted by a rating of 0.7% average households, reports surfaced that Fox executives were planning a major revamp of the MyNetworkTV's programming, decreasing its reliance on telenovelas and adding new unscripted programming to the schedule such as reality shows, game shows (such as My GamesFever), movies and sports, and a possible revisit to a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The deal was not signed with UFC, but rather with another mixed martial arts organization, the International Fight League, in conjunction with Fox Sports Net.

On February 1, 2007, Greg Meidel, who was named to the newly-created position of network president just 10 days earlier, confirmed the rumors and unveiled a dramatically revamped lineup. The intent of the shakeup was to increase viewer awareness of the network (and in turn viewership), as well as to satisfy local affiliates who were disappointed over the poor ratings performance. After March 7 (when Wicked Wicked Games and Watch Over Me finished their runs), telenovelas occupied only two nights of programming, airing in two-hour movie-style blocks rather than on multiple nights. The remainder of the schedule includes theatrical movies and the new IFL Battleground (originally titled Total Impact). In addition, the Saturday night telenovela recaps ended immediately, with movies running on that night until March. The 1986 film Something Wild aired on February 3, becoming the network's first non-telenovela presentation.

Specials and reality programming were also a part of the network's reformatting. The first two specials aired on March 7. Also, MyNetworkTV permanently reduced its telenovela programming to a single night each week, with American Heiress and Saints & Sinners airing one hour each on Wednesdays until their unexpected termination, due to incompatible flow with IFC Battleground from Monday to Tuesday as far as promotions. Also, the Thursday night movie block featured mostly action/adventure films, with Friday night featuring a mix of contemporary classic films, beginning June 5.

A side effect of the new programming schedule was the loss of the network's claim that they were the only U.S. broadcast network to have their entire programming schedule available in high definition, due to the IFL, some of the network's movies and the additional programming being produced exclusively in 480i standard definition. In Fall 2007, MyNetworkTV removed telenovelas and began to air reality series and sports programs.

On September 1, 2007, the network aired its first live program, the men's final of the AVP Croc Tour's Cincinnati Open. Under One Roof, the network's first sitcom starring Flavor Flav began airing on April 16, 2008; because the program used Canadian writers, it was unaffected by the 2007-2008 Writers Guild strike.

On February 26, 2008, the network announced it had picked up the rights to air WWE SmackDown, which left The CW at the end of September 2008. The first Smackdown!episode aired on October 3, 2008. The first episode of WWE SmackDown pulled in the highest audience in MyNetworkTV history of 3.2 million viewers and for the first time rated fifth for the night ahead of The CW and won the night in the male 18-34 and 18-49 demographics.

Ratings and sponsors 
Original format 
See also: MyNetworkTV telenovelas
MyNetworkTV's debut was far from successful. Desire scored a 1.1 household rating/2 share; Fashion House went up to 1.3/2. Fox had sold about half of its projections of $50 million in advance commercial sales. As of March 7, 2007, MyNetworkTV was included in Nielsen's daily "Television Index" reports, alongside the other networks, although they were still not part of the "fast nationals" that do feature the others. Last-minute changes to the Fall 2007 MyNetworkTV schedules included the title of Divorce Wars being changed to Decision House and the addition of Celebrity Exposé and Control Room Presents to the network's Monday line-up as well as a one-hour IFL Battleground, followed byNFL Total Access on Saturdays.

The network's shift from telenovelas to reality shows and movies produced only a small bump in the ratings. It averaged only a .7 household rating during September 2007.MyNetworkTV continues to be the second lowest-rated English-language broadcast network in the United States, ahead of only Ion Television. The night MyNetworkTV debutedWWE SmackDown, the network took fifth place in household ratings ahead of The CW, but shortly afterwards went back to sixth place as time went on. Of the six broadcast networks, Nielsen Media Research said only MyNetworkTV went up in the ratings, with 1.76 million viewers per night, up 750,000 from the previous season.

On January 5, 2009, MyNetworkTV aired episodes of The Twilight Zone. The episodes helped MyNetworkTV rise in the ratings along with WWE SmackDown, being the second highest-rated show on the network. The highest rated program to have ever aired on MyNetworkTV is a December 10, 2008 broadcast of Home Alone, which brought in 3.70 million viewers (not a record) but had a 1.4 demo among the 18-49 year old demographic.

Current format 
On February 9, 2009, it was announced that MyNetworkTV would convert from a television network to a programming service, similar to that of Ion Television (with the execption ofFlashpoint). Litton Entertainment had expressed interest in MyNetworkTV's Saturday evening time slots. MyNetworkTV began airing more syndicated programming in the fall, which included game shows and dramas, five nights a week.

In 2010, the WWE announced that WWE SmackDown would be move to the Syfy cable channel that October; the move left MyNetworkTV with no first-run programming other than that it shares with its syndicatiors. Despite the lack of first-run programming, MyNetworkTV renewed its affiliation contracts for three more years in February 2011. The programming service has seen significant viewership growth in viewership since its 2006 startup as a television network. Although ratings on MyNetworkTV do not match those of the other broadcast networks, Nexstar Broadcasting Group CEO Perry Sook said, "I get more inventory per hour than I would get from Fox or ABC."

In announcing its fall schedule for the 2012-13 schedule, MyNetworkTV executives revealed the programming service increased ratings over last year and it rates as the #6 most-watched network in the 2011-2012 season with around 2.5 million viewers.

Affiliates 
To date, 172 stations are affiliated with the network, reaching approximately 106 million households and covering 96% of the US. This number includes six stations owned at the time by companies involved in the founding of the competing CW network: three owned by Tribune Broadcasting(located in Atlanta, Georgia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Seattle, Washington), and three owned by CBS Corporation; however, Gannett Companypurchased Atlanta's WATL from Tribune shortly after Fox confirmed it as a MyNetworkTV affiliate (Gannett's acquisition of WATL was finalized on August 7, 2006). The Tribune Company sold its stake in The WB in exchange for long-term affiliation contracts with The CW and does not maintain an ownership stake in The CW (Time Warner and CBS jointly own the network).

On March 6, 2006, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced an affiliation deal with MyNetworkTV for 17 of its stations (consisting mostly affiliates of The WB, but also a few UPN affiliates and independent stations). This occurred despite the widespread presumption that affiliations with The CW, which at that point was in the process of signing affiliates in most markets, would be more valuable; however, Sinclair implied that MyNetworkTV was more financially attractive for the company (of the Sinclair stations that initially affiliated with MyNetworkTV, San Antonio's KMYS has since disaffiliated from the service and switched to The CW on August 30, 2010, making its swap with Fredericksburg-based CW affiliate KCWX the first and so far only known affiliation switch between same-market affiliates of the two netlets since their formation in 2006). One day later on March 7, Raycom Media announced that its WB and UPN affiliates (includingWUAB/Cleveland, Ohio, KFVE/Honolulu, Hawaii and WBXH-CA/Baton Rouge, Louisiana) would join MyNetworkTV that September.

One of the stations named in an April 26, 2006 announcement of MyNetworkTV affiliates was KNVA/Austin, Texas, which The CW had added to its list of confirmed affiliates a week previously. On May 1, 2006, another previously-confirmed CW affiliate, KWKB/Iowa City, Iowa, signed on to carry MyNetworkTV. Until October 2009, these two stations were the only ones to be aligned with both new networks (KNVA has since become a sole CW affiliate as parent station KXAN-TV converted its semi-satellite KBVO into a standalone MyNetworkTV affiliate); KNVA branded MyNetworkTV shows as "MyNetworkTV on The CW Austin", while KWKB's website features station logos labeled as both "KWKB The CW" and "My KWKB". In May, WAWB/Huntsville, Alabama became an official MyNetworkTV affiliate, changing its call letters to WAMY.

On July 12, 2006, the network added seven stations (including WBFS-TV/Miami, KTVD/Denver, WUPL/New Orleans and WAWS/Jacksonville, Florida. WSYX and WAWS, along with WHP-TV/Harrisburg, Pennsylvania carry MyNetworkTV on their digital subchannels. The deal with CBS to affiliate their stations that were left out of The CW's affiliation deals with MyNetworkTV came as a surprise in the broadcasting industry, especially after the icy reception between CBS and News Corporation that began after both it and The CW came into the picture, as they refused to allow WBFS, WUPL and Boston's WSBK-TV to affiliate with MyNetworkTV as a response to pulling UPN branding from that network's Fox-owned stations.

In August 2006, MyNetworkTV filled in its remaining gaps within the top 100 television markets. On August 11, the network announced affiliations with WNAC/Providence, Rhode Island (as a secondary affiliate) and WNGT-LP/Toledo, Ohio. Additionally, on August 22, the network added KAUT/Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and a digital subchannel ofWRGT/Dayton, Ohio to the affiliate list on its website. Also that month, WZMY/Derry, New Hampshire was announced as the Boston-market affiliate. WBIN's (the former WZMY's) affiliation with MyNetworkTV ran out in September 2011, and WSBK (which had shunned MyNetworkTV at its formation in 2006) took over the Boston-market MyNetworkTV affiliation at that time.

From MyNetworkTV's inception until July 2010, Mobile, Alabama was the largest city without a MyNetworkTV affiliate, although Fort Walton Beach, Florida station WFGX serves as the the area's affiliate for the Mobile-Pensacola-Fort Walton Beach television market; this is due to WFGX's weak analog signal, which was not available west of Pensacola, and the lack of a must-carry agreement with Mobile's Comcast system, most likely a remnant of the station's former status as a low-rated Jewelry Television affiliate prior to MyNetworkTV's launch), however, WFGX has relocated their digital transmitter to Robertsdale, Alabama (where other stations in the Mobile-Pensacola area maintain transmitters), providing an over-the-air MyNetworkTV affiliate in the Mobile area proper for the first time.

On September 28, 2009, three stations owned by Ion Media Networks that cleared MyNetworkTV (WPXX-TV/Memphis, Tennessee and WEPX-TV – along with its satellite stationWPXU-TV – in the Greenville-New Bern-Washington, North Carolina market), due to an affiliation agreement made by their previous owners, dropped their affiliations and became full-time Ion Television owned-and-operated stations as they had been prior to September 2006 (a digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WITN-TV took over full affiliation in Greenville-New Bern).

Memphis CW affiliate WLMT – which picked up MyNetworkTV for the sole purpose of carrying SmackDown, and due to the network's reclassification as a programming service – elected to not carry the remainder of the network's schedule; eventually, after SmackDown moved to Syfy, WLMT's RTV-affiliated second digital subchannel picked up the remainder of the MyNetworkTV lineup as a secondary affiliation.

Also in September 2009, KDMI/Des Moines, Iowa dropped MyNetworkTV to air This TV full-time. For nearly a year afterwards, local CW affiliate KCWI-TV picked up SmackDownand aired it in a very similar manner to WLMT. Until October 3, 2011, when KDMI re-affiliated with the service, Des Moines was the largest media market without a MyNetworkTV affiliate – either over-the-air or on cable. On September 19, 2011, KWKB/Cedar Rapids, Iowa dropped the service in order to become a full-time CW affiliate; ABC affiliate KCRG-TVlater picked up MyNetworkTV for its second digital subchannel.

Due to the availability of "instant duopoly" digital subchannels that are likely easily available on cable and satellite, and the overall lack of a need to settle for a secondary affiliation with shows aired in problematic time slots, both The CW and MyNetworkTV launched with far greater national coverage than that enjoyed by UPN and The WB when they started in 1995. UPN for several years had gaps in the top 30 markets, and by 2005 managed to reach only 86% of the population. This resulted in secondary affiliations with stations carrying other networks. In those markets, programs (such as Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise) were either shown out of their intended time-slots or not at all, leading to many viewer complaints. There are a handful of smaller markets, however, that have MyNetworkTV as a secondary affiliation – even on digital subchannels – because those markets have only very few stations, and want to place more emphasis on ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliations that those markets may have previously lacked on those subchannels.

Nevertheless, because MyNetworkTV was announced after the formation of The CW and thus got most of the "leftover" stations shut out by The CW, there are still availability issues in some markets. In addition, the network is mostly relegated to low-powered stations in some smaller markets, which do not have must-carry status. The arrival of WWE SmackDown to the network has shown this the most, as wrestling fans have complained about the availability issues in several markets that have The CW but not MyNetworkTV. This was most evident in the Lexington, Kentucky market, when local SmackDown viewers actually protested that they could not watch the program because of low-powered MyNetworkTV/Retro Television Network affiliate WBLU-LP not having carriage on area cable providers. That was solved shortly afterward when ABC affiliate WTVQ agreed to move its weather forecast digital subchannel to 36.3 and convert its former spot on 36.2 into a MyNetworkTV affiliate, stripping WBLU of its affiliation in the process.

Branding 
In the months before the network's launch, several stations changed their on-air identities to accommodate for the then-upcoming network, including all of the network's charter affiliates owned by sister company Fox Television Stations. Affiliates also began to show promotions for the network featuring the theme of "Entertainment you can call your own." At first, many Fox-owned stations branded local programming on their soon-to-be MyNetworkTV O&Os with the "My" moniker (for example, WWOR-TV was branded as "My 9"). However, by the third week in October, at least one station, KCOP-TV/Los Angeles, went to a two-column brand – with the network logo on the left side and the channel number, 13, on the right – rendering the verbal identification as "MyNetworkTV, Channel 13" (KCOP reverted to the simpler "My 13" branding in May 2007).

However while this is the conventional branding style for the network, at least fourteen MyNetworkTV affiliates (as of March 2013) currently do not use the "My" branding in any capacity: KTRV-TV/Boise, Idaho (referred to as "12KTRV"), KPDX/Portland, Oregon (referred to as "PDX TV"), KARZ-TV/Little Rock (which goes by "Z42", but was branded "My 42" until 2009), WPME/Portland, Maine (which identifies by its callsign, though it was branded as "MyTV WPME" until 2009), WSTR-TV/Cincinnati (referred to by their longtime branding of "Star 64", though branded as "My64" until 2009), KZJO/Seattle (referred to as "JOEtv" since a 2010 callsign change, though it was branded as "MyQ²" until 2010),WPHL-TV/Philadelphia (referred to by longtime moniker "PHL 17", though it was branded "MyPHL17" prior to 2010), a digital subchannel of Madison, Wisconsin CBS affiliate WISC-TV (branded as "TVW", but was known as "My Madison TV" until 2009), KFVE/Honolulu (which has branded with its call letters since it moved to virtual channel 9, and previously "K-5" when it was on channel 5), KSMO-TV/Kansas City (which brands with its call letters, though branded "myKSMO TV" until 2011), San Antonio affiliate KCWX/Fredericksburg, Texas (which has simply used its call letters since it switched from The CW to MyNetworkTV in 2010, though previous affiliate KMYS had branded as "My 35"), KBVO/Austin, Texas (which identifies by its callsign) – however, WSTR, WPHL and KSMO's respective on-air logos are still patterned after the MyNetworkTV logo. Two former affiliates also did not use any MyNetworkTV branding on-air: now-independent station KAUT-TV/Oklahoma City (branded under a unique format appealing to the market's military population as "Freedom 43 TV", and previously "OK43") and former Boston affiliate WBIN-TV/Derry, New Hampshire (referred to as "The New WBIN-TV" since a 2011 call change, though it was branded as either "My TV New England" or simply "My TV" prior to 2011). WUAB/Cleveland, Ohio uses a block logo with the branding "my 43 the block", a logo first introduced in 1998 and reintroduced in 2010. In Youngstown, Ohio, a digital subchannel of WYTV-DT2 uses a logo that is similar to sister station's WYTV-TV, WYFX-LD, and WKBN-TV.

The network has no digital on-screen graphic logo in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen, allowing their local stations to use their own logo instead if they choose to do so. On November 13, 2006, the network added a translucent show logo to the bottom left side of the screen, but discontinued it in March with the beginning of the third telenovela cycle.

At the time plans for MyNetworkTV were announced, there was at least one station that was using a similar moniker. WZMY-TV in Derry, New Hampshire filed a trademark for the "MyTV" name in the summer of 2005, and for a short time there was speculation the station might sue Fox for the use of "MyTV". However, on July 21, 2006, an e-mail was sent to WZMY's MyTV e-mail subscribers that the station would become the Boston area's MyNetworkTV affiliate. The official announcement came the following week. (as noted above, what is now WBIN-TV stopped using the branding prior to ending its MyNetworkTV affiliation on September 16, 2011). On September 19, WSBK-TV (as noted above) took over the MyNetworkTV affiliation in the Boston market from WBIN-TV and now uses both the "My" branding and its existing "TV 38" branding, with the logo patterned after the MyNetworkTV logo (the blue on the lower right hand corner of the logo has been replaced with the orange of the station's "TV 38" logo; Miami sister station WBFS followed suit the same day).

Network slogans 
Entertainment You Can Call Your Own. (2006)
My Place for Movies is MyNetworkTV! (2007–2009)
Total Variety (2009)