Primetime 24 was a special package offered on C band satellite sent out to viewers who mainly live in remote and distant locations. The package consisted of local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox affiliates on the East Coast: The service was broadcast via the AMC-3 satellite, encrypted using DigiCipher 2. Until 2012, the service was owned by Lorac Communications, based in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada.
History
When Primetime 24 first started in 1992, the group originally consisted of:
In 1994, however, the two Chicago stations were replaced with WRAL-TVRaleigh, North Carolina for CBS and WSVN Miami for Fox; by 1997, PT24 dropped Fox, and WRAL, due to many pre-emptions of CBS programming, was replaced with WSEE-TVErie, Pennsylvania, which has been PT24's CBS affiliateever since. WABC and WXIA still remained the ABC and NBC affiliates for PT24 through 2008; however, for a time, WABC was replaced with WJLA-TV of Washington, D.C. and later WKRN-TV of Nashville, Tennessee; WXIA was replaced with WNBC of New YorkCity, and later was replaced by WTVJ in Miami. WABC was dropped in favor of WPLG on January 1, 2009, and Fox was restored by adding WUTV of Buffalo, New York. W32DZ-D and WCVI-TV replaced WSEE in the fall of 2019 after Lilly Broadcasting acquired the non-license assets of both stations, allowing CBS programs to be distributed over-the-air in those regions.
At one point, PT24 offered a package called "The Denver 5", featuring that city's KMGH-TV, KCNC-TV, KUSA, KDVR, and even a PBS station, KRMA. At one point, WB affiliate KWGN-TV was added to the mix. Stations on the West Coast were also included in the late 1990s and early 2000s, featuring Seattle, Washington's KOMO-TV, San Francisco's KPIX-TV, and Los Angeles' KNBC.
Similar packages
Netlink offered a network package called "A3" for a time that included WPLG, WUSA-TV Washington, and WBZ-TV Boston for NBC.
Before PT24 began, a package called "Atlantic Coast" was used, which included WPLG, WUSA and WBZ, plus WTXF-TV from Philadelphia for Fox.
In the US, Dish Network and DirecTV still offer local channels nationally as well, where local service is not available terrestrially or on satellite. In Canada, Bell TV and Shaw Direct offer US networks on their services, as do most cable systems, though American commercial stations are subject to simultaneous substitution regulations.
