| Date |
Event |
| January 1 |
The History Channel is launched. |
| January 2 |
WBZ-TV Channel 4 switches from NBC to CBS as a CBS owned-and-operated station in Boston. In Baltimore, CBS switched affiliations to WJZ-TV Channel 13 after 46 years as an ABC affiliate. ABC transferred its affiliation to WMAR Channel 2. NBC returned to WBAL-TV Channel 11 after 13 years, during which it was a CBS affiliate. |
| January 5 |
All My Children celebrates 25th anniversary and broadcasts a prime-time special. |
| January 11 |
The WB Television Network launches. |
| Former SNL cast member, Ellen Cleghorne broadcasts her television series, Cleghorne!, on The WB (with other African American family situation comedies, The Wayans Bros. and The Parent 'Hood, the series is only broadcast for one entire season); it also features past Saturday Night Live cast member, Garrett Morris, who would be featuring with Jamie Foxx on The Jamie Foxx Show which is broadcast a year later. |
| January 16 |
The United Paramount Network (UPN) launches, with a 2-hour premiere of Star Trek: Voyager. |
| In Bay City, Michigan, WNEM-TV and WEYI-TV swapped affiliations with CBS and NBC. With CBS affiliation moved to WNEM-TV and NBC affiliation moved to former CBS outlet, WEYI. |
| Hercules: The Legendary Journeys debuts 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 |
ESPN Classic (formerly known as Classic Sports Network) launches. |
| February 2 |
Seinfeld broadcasts its 100th episode. |
| 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 became a massive success and launched the careers of many individuals in animation such as Butch Hartman, Craig McCracken, and Seth MacFarlane. |
| March 6 |
On an the The Jenny Jones Show episode "Same-Sex Crushes", Scott Amedure revealed a crush on his heterosexual friend Jonathan Schmitz. Schmitz killed Amedure several days after the show.[citation needed] |
| March 13 |
In Seattle-Tacoma, KSTW gains the CBS affiliation for the second time while KIRO-TV gains the UPN affiliation. |
| April 12 |
Drew Barrymore appears on the 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 first television series distributed via internet.[1][2][3] |
| May 12 |
As the World Turns broadcasts its milestone 10,000th episode. |
| 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 all defect their respective longtime CBS and ABC affiliations. As a result, independent station KTVT (channel 11) in Dallas takes the CBS affiliation, as does former Fox affiliate KBVO (channel 42) in Austin, which changed its calls to KEYE, while KDNL (channel 30) in St. Louis took the ABC affiliation from KTVI. Additionally, former Fox-owned station KDAF-TV (channel 33) in Dallas-Fort Worth took over The WB affiliation from KXTX-TV (channel 39), which went independent again; due to a temporary arrangement in which KXTX would carry WB programming, until such time Fox was cleared to move to channel 4. |
| 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) had purchased from Burnham Broadcasting to switch its affiliation to Fox. Two more NBC-affiliated stations WALA-TV in Mobile, Alabama, and KHON-TV in Honolulu, along with ABC affiliated WVUE in New Orleans switched their affiliations to Fox on January 1, 1996. |
| August 22 |
Larry Hagman, former main actor of Dallas and I Dream of Jeannie, undergoes a liver transplant. |
| September 4 |
Xena: Warrior Princess debuts 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 8 |
After longtime ABC affiliate WGHP-TV (channel 8) in High Point, North Carolina was sold directly to Fox (which originally acquired by New World Communications from Citicasters, along with WBRC-TV and the latter due to ownership conflicts) and resulting became a Fox-owned station. The ABC affiliation swapped to WNRW-TV (channel 45, which changes its current callsign to WXLV-TV). The UPN affiliation went to WGGT-TV (channel 48, now WMYV-TV). |
| September 9 |
Kids WB debuts, including Animaniacs which transferred over from Fox Kids. |
| September 10 |
WPRI-TV and WLNE-TV reverse their 1977 swap, with WPRI becoming a CBS-owned station after the network purchased it and WLNE rejoining ABC. |
| 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: KCNC-TV, KUTV-TV and KYW-TV become CBS-affiliated stations (and quickly after that CBS-owned stations after Westinghouse merged with CBS), KUSA-TV, KSL-TV and WCAU become NBC affiliates (and WCAU an NBC-owned station), and CBS's WCIX (channel 6) and NBC's WTVJ (channel 4) in Miami swap channel positions, with WCIX becoming WFOR-TV as a result of the change. KMGH-TV switches to ABC in Denver as well. |
| The 47th Primetime Emmy Awards are aired on Fox. |
| September 11 |
UPN Kids launched on some stations, featuring two new series, Space Strikers and Teknoman. |
| 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. This was after an America's Most Wanted special, "Springfield's Most Wanted". |
| 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 28 |
In Toledo, Ohio, WTVG becomes an owned-and-operated ABC station. Former ABC affiliate WNWO affiliates with NBC. |
| 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 joined the cast of Saturday Night Live. |
| November 20 |
One Life to Live broadcasts its 7,000th episode and has 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 |
WHBQ-TV (channel 13) in Memphis, Tennessee, ends its ABC affiliation after 45 years, as it is acquired by Fox Television Stations from Communications Corporation of America and joins Fox. Former Fox station WPTY-TV (channel 24) joins ABC. |
| December 11 |
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 for the last time. |
