• Cable television

Canada is host to several 24-hour cable news channels, consisting of domestically-operated, U.S.-based cable channels and news channels operated outside of North America. Domestic national news channels include CTV News ChannelandSun News Network, which offer general news programming,Business News Network, which carries business news andThe Weather Network, which offers national and local forecasts. TheCanadian Broadcasting Corporationoperates two national news networks: English-languageCBC News Networkand French-languageRDI. Other Canadian specialty news channels broadcasting in French include general news networksArgentandLe Canal Nouvelles, andMétéoMédia, a French-language sister to The Weather Network.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commissionauthorizes somecable channels from foreign countriesto be carried on cable and satellite operators provided that they are linked to a Canadian network. Amongst news channels, all four major U.S. cable news networks: CNN, HLN, MSNBC and Fox News Channel are available on most providers, along with channels from outside North America such asAl Jazeera EnglishfromQatar,BBC World Newsfrom theUnited Kingdom,Deutsche WellefromGermanyandRTfromRussia.

Regionally-based news channels are fairly uncommon in Canada in comparison to the United States. Two 24-hour regional news channels currently exist in the country: the Toronto-centered CP24and theVancouver-focusedGlobal News: BC 1(although CHCH-DT, a general entertainment station with a rolling daytime news block on weekdays (currently from 4 a.m.-4:30 p.m.) that has existed since August 2009 and hour-long local newscasts nightly at 6 and 11 p.m., serves as ade factoregional news channel forSouthernOntario'sGolden Horseshoeregion);CityNews Channelformerly operated as a competitor to CP24, though that channel shut down after a year-and-half of operation in May 2013.

• United States

  • Broadcast television

    • Local newscasts

Local TV stations in the United States normally broadcast local news 3-4 times a day: 5, 5:30 and/or 6 a.m. in the morning; noon; 5 and 6 p.m. in the early evening; and 10 or 11 p.m. at night. Some stations carry morning newscasts at 4, 4:30, 7, 8 or 9 a.m., midday newscasts at 11 or 11:30 a.m., late afternoon newscasts at 4 or 4:30 p.m., or early evening newscasts at 5:30 or 6:30 p.m. Many Foxaffiliates, affiliates of minor networks (such asThe CWandMyNetworkTV) and independent stations air newscasts in the final hour of primetime (i.e., 10 p.m. in theEasternandPacifictime zones or 9 p.m. in theMountainandCentraltime zones in the U.S.). Stations that produce local newscasts typically produce as little as one to as much as ten hours of local news on weekdays and as little as one hour on weekends; news programming on weekends are typically limited to morning and evening newscasts as the variable scheduling of network sports programming usually prevents most stations from carrying midday newscasts (however a few stations located in the Eastern and Pacific time zones do produce weekend midday newscasts).

Since the early 1990s, independent stations and stations affiliated with a non-Big Three networkhave entered into "news share agreements", in which news production is outsourced to a major network station (usually an affiliate of ABC, NBC or CBS), often to avoid shouldering the cost of starting a news department from scratch. These commonly involve Fox, CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates (and previously affiliate stations of the now-defunct predecessors of the latter two networks,The WBandUPN) and in some cases,independent stations; however such agreements exist in certain markets between two co-owned/co-managed Big Three affiliates. News share agreements are most common with stationsco-ownedwith a larger network affiliate or whose operations are jointly managed through ashared serviceorlocal marketing agreement. In cases where a station with an existing news department enters into a news share agreement, it will result either the two departments merging or the outright conversion of newscast production from in-house to outsourced production. Minor network affiliates involved in news share agreements will often carry far fewer hours of local newscasts than would be conceivable with an in-house news department to avoid competition with the outsourcing partner's own newscasts, as a result, minor network affiliates involved in these NSAs often will carry a morning newscast from 7-9 a.m. (in competition with the national network newscasts instead of airing competing with the Big Three affiliates' newscasts) and/or a primetime newscast at 10 p.m. ET/PT or 9 p.m. CT/MT, with no midday, late afternoon or early evening newscasts.

Unlike international broadcast stations which tend to brand under uniform news titles based solely on network affiliation, U.S. television stations tend to use varying umbrella titles for their newscasts; some title their newscasts utilizing the station's on-air branding (such as combining the network affiliation and channel number with the word "News"), others use franchised brand names (like Eyewitness News,Action NewsandNewsChannel) for their news programming. Conversely, the naming conventions for a station's newscast are sometimes used as a universal on-air branding for the station itself, and may be used for general promotional purposes, even used in promoting syndicated and network programming. Many stations title their newscasts with catchy names likeDaybreak,Good Morning (insert city or region here),First at Four,Live at Five,Eleven @ 11:00orNightcast. These names are intended to set one station apart from the rest, especially for viewers who are chosen foraudience measurementsurveys. If the respondent was unable to provide a channel number orcall letters, the newscast title is often enough for the appropriate station to receiveNielsen ratingscredit.