| Date |
Event
|
| January 1
|
The History Channel is launched.
|
| January 2
|
The 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment continues in two major markets: as a by-product of an affiliation deal between ABC and The E.W. Scripps Company, and a related deal between CBS and Westinghouse Broadcasting, Westinghouse-owned WBZ-TV channel 4 in Boston, Massachusetts switches from NBC to CBS, while NBC aligns with former CBS affiliate WHDH until New Year's eve 2016. In Baltimore, CBS switches affiliations to Westinghouse-owned WJZ-TV channel 13 after 46 years as an ABC affiliate, while ABC joins Scripps-owned WMAR channel 2 and NBC reunites with WBAL-TV channel 11 after 13 years as a CBS affiliate. Later that year, Westinghouse acquires CBS, making both WBZ-TV and WJZ-TV CBS owned-and-operated stations.
|
| January 5
|
All My Children celebrates its 25th anniversary and broadcasts a prime-time special on ABC.
|
| January 11
|
The WB Television Network launches. Among the programs offered are three family situation comedies: The Wayans Bros., The Parent 'Hood, and Cleghorne!, starring former Saturday Night Live cast member Ellen Cleghorne. While The Wayans Bros. and The Parent Hood both last five seasons, Cleghorne! fails to survive its first season.
|
| January 16
|
The United Paramount Network (UPN) launches, with a 2-hour premiere of Star Trek: Voyager.
|
| The 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment continues in the Flint/Tri-Cities, Michigan market, as NBC affiliate WNEM-TV in Bay City and CBS affiliate WEYI-TV in Saginaw swap affiliations. The move is deemed necessary by CBS to restore coverage in areas underserved by its then-new affiliate WGPR in adjacent Detroit, since WNEM-TV's signal is stronger than that of WEYI-TV.
|
| Hercules: The Legendary Journeys debuts in syndication, starring Kevin Sorbo as "Hercules" and Michael Hurst as "Iolaus".
|
| January 24
|
Live broadcasts of the O. J. Simpson trial begin; as a result, many network soap operas are partially pre-empted, more or less, for nine months.
|
| January 27
|
The Golf Channel, a TV channel dedicated to the sport of golf, launches.
|
| February 1
|
Classic Sports Network (now known as ESPN Classic) launches.
|
| February 2
|
Seinfeld broadcasts its 100th episode on NBC.
|
| February 20
|
What a Cartoon! launches on Cartoon Network as "World Premiere Toons" with the first short being "Changes", a pilot for Dexter's Laboratory. The show becomes a massive success and will prove to launch the careers of many prominent animators such as Butch Hartman, Craig McCracken, and Seth MacFarlane.
|
| March 5
|
Deborah Norville begins assuming her duties as host of Inside Edition.
|
| March 6
|
On an episode of The Jenny Jones Show entitled "Same-Sex Crushes", Scott Amedure reveals a crush on his heterosexual friend Jonathan Schmitz. Schmitz will kill Amedure several days after the show airs in syndication.[citation needed]
|
| March 13
|
The 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment continues in Seattle-Tacoma, as Gaylord Broadcasting-owned KSTW joins CBS for the third time while former CBS affiliate KIRO-TV joins the UPN network.
|
| April 12
|
Drew Barrymore appears on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman. In honor of Letterman's birthday, guest Barrymore dances on his desk and flashes him "on-air".
|
| April 18
|
Rox becomes the first television series distributed via internet.[1][2][3]
|
| May 12
|
As the World Turns broadcasts its milestone 10,000th episode on CBS.
|
| May 24
|
ABC announces that an episode of the soap opera All My Children was deleted from broadcasting due to the then-recent Oklahoma City bombing; in the story, villainess Janet Green was supposed to explode the church in which her ex Trevor Dillon was to marry her rival Laurel Banning.
|
| July 1
|
After being purchased by New World Communications from Argyle Television, three additional stations switch to Fox as part of the 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment: KDFW (channel 4) in Dallas-Ft. Worth, KTBC (channel 7) in Austin, Texas and KTVI (channel 2) in St. Louis. KDFW and KTBC both defect from CBS, while KTVI leaves ABC. Independent station KTVT (channel 11) in Dallas takes the CBS affiliation in that area through an affiliation deal between the network and Gaylord Broadcasting (owners of KTVT); in Austin, former Fox affiliate KBVO (channel 42) swaps affiliations with KTBC and changes its calls to KEYE; and in St. Louis, KDNL (channel 30) swaps its Fox affiliation with KTVI and joins ABC. Former Fox-owned station KDAF-TV (channel 33) joins The WB, taking that affiliation from KXTX-TV (channel 39) due to a temporary arrangement in which KXTX would carry WB programming, until such time Fox was cleared to move to channel 4. KXTX-TV then becomes an independent station.
|
| Outdoor Life Network is launched.
|
| July 24
|
WFMZ-TV initiates their very first daytime Berks Edition at 5:30 pm and the First Nighttime Newscast at 10:30 pm, covering the entire Berks County and all across the Lehigh Valley of Eastern Pennsylvania and Western New Jersey.
|
| July 31
|
The Walt Disney Company announces that it will purchase ABC and ESPN; the deal is finalized during January 1996.
|
| August 21
|
As a result of the 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment, longtime NBC affiliate WLUK-TV in Green Bay becomes the first of four "Big three" affiliates that SF Broadcasting (a joint venture of Savoy Communications and Fox Broadcasting) has purchased from Burnham Broadcasting to switch its affiliation to Fox. NBC eventually aligns with former Fox affiliate WGBA-TV. Two more NBC-affiliated stations (WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama, and KHON-TV in Honolulu), along with ABC affiliate WVUE in New Orleans switch their affiliations to Fox on January 1, 1996. NBC again swaps affiliations with the former Fox affiliates in Mobile and Honolulu (WPMI and KHNL respectively), while ABC joins WB affiliate WGNO and former Fox affiliate WNOL joins The WB.
|
| August 22
|
Larry Hagman, former main actor of Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie, undergoes a liver transplant.
|
| September 4
|
Xena: Warrior Princess debuts in syndication, featuring Lucy Lawless as "Xena" and Renee O'Connor as "Gabrielle".
|
| September 5
|
Alan Kalter becomes the second announcer of the Late Show with David Letterman replacing Bill Wendell.
|
| September 6
|
In front of a nationwide audience watching on ESPN and on HTS in the Baltimore market, Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. surpasses New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig on Major League Baseball's list for most consecutive games played.
|
| September 8
|
The 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment continues when longtime ABC affiliate WGHP-TV (channel 8) in High Point, North Carolina is sold directly to Fox (acquired via New World Communications from Citicasters, along with WBRC-TV in Birmingham, Alabama due to ownership conflicts) and as a result, becomes a Fox-owned station. Former Fox affiliates WNRW-TV (channel 45)/WGGT-TV (channel 48, now MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYV-TV) assume the ABC affiliation, and WNRW-TV changes its callsign to WXLV-TV to reflect the new affiliation. Both stations retain a secondary UPN affiliation until WGGT-TV leaves its WXLV-TV simulcast to become a full-time UPN affiliate the next year.
|
| September 9
|
Kids' WB debuts on The WB, anchored by Animaniacs, which transfers over from Fox's children's programming block, Fox Kids. It debuted on Fox Kids 2 years before.
|
| September 10
|
A major compensation deal between NBC and CBS after the Westinghouse-Group W/CBS deal as a result of the 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment becomes effective: two NBC O&O's (KCNC-TV in Denver and KUTV-TV in Salt Lake City) and the network's Philadelphia affiliate KYW-TV become CBS-affiliated stations (and quickly after that CBS-owned stations after Westinghouse merged with CBS), while former CBS affiliate KSL-TV in Salt Lake City joins NBC and CBS O&O WCAU in Philadelphia becomes an NBC-owned station. Meanwhile in Miami, CBS-owned WCIX (channel 6) and NBC-owned WTVJ (channel 4) swap channel positions, with WCIX becoming WFOR-TV as a result of the change. Two related swaps also occur in Denver, as former ABC affiliate KUSA-TV joins NBC, and former CBS affiliate KMGH-TV switches to ABC as a result of an affiliation deal between the network and McGraw-Hill, KMGH's owners.
|
| The 47th Primetime Emmy Awards are aired on Fox.
|
| CBS acquires ABC affiliate WPRI-TV from Narragansett Television and swaps affiliations with WLNE-TV, thus reversing a swap that took place in 1977.
|
| UPN Kids launches on UPN, featuring two new series, Space Strikers and Teknoman.
|
| September 11
|
Sailor Moon premieres in the United States for the first time.
|
| September 17
|
Part 2 of "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" serves as the season 7 premiere of The Simpsons on Fox. An America's Most Wanted special, "Springfield's Most Wanted", precedes the episode.
|
| October 2
|
In Major League Baseball's first "do or die" tie-breaker game since 1980, the Seattle Mariners defeat the California Angels 9–1 to clinch the American League West title and their first ever postseason berth. The game is nationally televised on ESPN with Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on the call.
|
| October 3
|
More than 150 million people tune in to watch the verdict in the O.J. Simpson murder trial, which ends with Simpson being found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The verdict is met with both praise and criticism.
|
| October 18
|
In the Michiana region of Indiana, Elkhart-based ABC affiliate WSJV swaps affiliations with South Bend-based Fox affiliate W58BT (which will become WBND-LP by the end of the year). The rush for W58BT to switch to ABC (at the insistence of network executives, who didn't want to wait for W58BT to sign-on a new transmitter) causes a partial transmitter failure, which is fixed within a few days.[4][5]
|
| October 21
|
ABC and NBC begin their unprecedented shared coverage of the World Series through their soon to be concluding revenue sharing joint-venture with Major League Baseball called The Baseball Network. ABC, who last broadcast a World Series in 1989 airs Games 1, 4, and 5 (with Al Michaels, Jim Palmer and Tim McCarver on the call) while NBC, who last broadcast a World Series in 1988, airs Games 2, 3 and the decisive Game 6 (with Bob Costas, Joe Morgan and Bob Uecker on the call). (A seventh game, if necessary, would have been televised by ABC.) While NBC will continue to hold some MLB rights for the next few years, Game 5 on October 26 proves to be, to date, the last Major League Baseball game to be broadcast by ABC.
|
| October 28
|
In Toledo, Ohio, NBC affiliate WTVG swaps affiliations with ABC affiliate WNWO and becomes an ABC owned-and-operated station.
|
| November 13
|
ABC's 30-minute soap opera Loving (1983–1995) is turned into The City.
|
| November 18
|
Will Ferrell, Cheri Oteri, and Darrell Hammond join the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live.
|
| November 20
|
On ABC, One Life to Live broadcasts its 7,000th episode and debuts a new opening sequence.
|
| ROX and Computer Chronicles are broadcast via the Internet—these are the first Internet broadcasts in the history of television.
|
| December 1
|
The 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment continues as WHBQ-TV (channel 13) in Memphis, Tennessee ends its ABC affiliation after 45 years. WHBQ-TV is acquired by Fox Television Stations from Communications Corporation of America and joins Fox, while former Fox affiliate WPTY-TV (channel 24) joins ABC.
|
| December 11
|
On NBC, The Today Show becomes the highest-rated morning news program (and would remain so until 2012).
|
| December 29
|
CNNfn, a financial news network from CNN, launches.
|
| Robert MacNeil anchors The MacNeil/Lehrer Newshour on PBS for the last time.
|
