Editing 1998 in American television (section)

==Events==

===January===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!3
|[[Jim McKay]] announces that ''[[Wide World of Sports (American TV series)|Wide World of Sports]]'' has been cancelled by [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] after 37 years.
|-
!12
|[[CBS]] acquires the rights to the [[American Football Conference|AFC]] of the [[National Football League|NFL]] as part of a $4 billion, eight-year contract; [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] and [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] renew their agreements for the [[National Football Conference|NFC]] and ''[[Monday Night Football]]'', respectively ([[Super Bowl XXXII]], broadcast on January 25, would be [[NBC]]'s last NFL game until [[2006 NFL season|2006]]).
|-
!15
|Many of Sinclair's stations that were previously affiliated with [[UPN]] were converted to affiliates of [[The WB]].
|-
!30
|[[CBS]] [[List of CBS television affiliates (by U.S. state)|affiliate]] in [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], WCPX-TV changes its name to [[WKMG-TV]] following its purchase by [[Graham Media Group|Post-Newsweek]].
|}

===February===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!9 
|Prevue Channel (now [[Pop (American TV network)|Pop]]) revamps its programming to include short-form segments. The revamp lasts until January 31, 1999, when the channel is renamed TV Guide Channel.
|}

===March===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!2
|The "Powerhouse" era begins on [[Cartoon Network]]. The animated bumpers were all done by Primal Screen, an [[Atlanta]]-based studio. The era's colorful backgrounds typically represent the time periods: Yellow (mornings), Green (afternoons), Blue (evenings/weekends), Black/Dark Blue (midnights) and Purple (action shows). Red was originally the color for midnights but this was later removed due to older TVs were struggling to display it. The era was named after [[Raymond Scott]]'s [[Powerhouse (instrumental)|instrumental song from 1937]].
|-
!18
|A wanted child molester named Matthew Fenwick appears as a contestant on the game show ''[[Wheel of Fortune (American game show)|Wheel of Fortune]]'' and wins $4,400. At the time of the episode's airing, Matthew was on the run after being accused of molesting two underage girls, ages 8 and 10, who discovered Matthew on the game show after a warrant was issued for him in November 1997 by the police. He was arrested two days after his appearance on the game show and subsequently pled guilty in July 1998 for two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
|-
!29
|[[World Wrestling Federation]] wrestler [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] defeats [[Shawn Michaels]], winning his first [[WWE Championship|WWF World Heavyweight Championship]] at [[WrestleMania XIV]]. With this, it has been cited to be the full beginning of the "[[Attitude Era]]".
|}

===April===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!4
|''[[CatDog]]'' premieres on Nickelodeon following the [[1998 Kids' Choice Awards]]. The show did not air every day until October. 
|-
!6
|Long-running British children's television series ''[[Teletubbies]]'' begins its U.S. television debut on [[PBS Kids]].
|- 
!9
|''[[The Price Is Right (American game show)|The Price Is Right]]'''s 5,000th episode is broadcast on [[CBS]]. On the show, every pricing game is played for a car (something ''Price'' had only done once before. It has been repeated only once since then). At the beginning of the show, CBS announces it has renamed Studio 33 (the studio at [[CBS Television City]] where ''The Price Is Right'' has taped since its 1972 return) the [[Bob Barker]] Studios in honor of the show's then-host and executive producer.
|-
!11
|The [[National Cable Television Association]] announces they will discontinue the [[CableACE awards]], due to the [[Emmy Awards]] recognizing cable programming.
|-
!24
|A second special episode of ''[[Dallas (TV series)|Dallas]]'', ''[[Dallas: War of the Ewings]]'', airs on [[CBS]] seven years after the original series finished.
|-
!30
|Seven television stations broadcast the suicide of maintenance worker [[Daniel V. Jones]] on live television. The incident causes many to criticize Los Angeles television stations' practice of airing police pursuits live and calls for proposed changes in the way live coverage of events are handled in the future.
|}

===May===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!7
|The infamous ''[[Seinfeld]]'' episode, "[[The Puerto Rican Day]]" is broadcast on [[NBC]]. In it, [[Cosmo Kramer]] accidentally burns and then stomps on the [[Flag of Puerto Rico|Puerto Rican flag]]. NBC was forced to apologize and had it banned from airing on the network again. Also, it was not initially part of the syndicated package. In the summer of 2002, the episode started to appear with the flag-burning sequence intact.
|-
!14
|76.3 million people tune in to [[The Finale (Seinfeld)|The Finale]] of ''[[Seinfeld]]'' on [[NBC]].
|-
!28
|Former ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' actor and comedian [[Phil Hartman]], then featuring on the NBC [[sitcom]] ''[[NewsRadio]]'', the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] animated [[sitcom]] ''[[The Simpsons]]'', and announcer of [[Cartoon Network]] is shot and killed by his wife (who then kills herself). 
|}

===June===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!1
|The anime ''[[Sailor Moon (TV series)|Sailor Moon]]'' debuts on [[Cartoon Network]]'s after school programming block, [[Toonami]].
|-
!11
|United Video Satellite Group, parent company of the Prevue Channel (now [[Pop (American TV network)|Pop]]), acquires ''[[TV Guide]]'' from [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]] for [[United States dollar|$]]800 million and 60 million shares of stock worth an additional $1.2 billion. In recognition of this, Prevue Channel will rebrand to the TV Guide Channel on February 1, 1999.<ref name="Gemstar">{{cite news|title=News Lite: TV Guide Deal Sets Up Broadcast Opportunity|url=https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83826997.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140611061805/https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-83826997.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 11, 2014|newspaper=[[Daily News (Los Angeles)|Los Angeles Daily News]]|publisher=HighBeam Research|date=June 12, 1998|access-date=June 25, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=The $2 Billion Acquisition of TV Guide|url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-53557420|work=[[Folio (magazine)|Folio]]|publisher=|date=January 1, 1999|access-date=|archive-date=April 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210401084016/https://www.gale.com/databases/questia|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
!14
|[[Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals|Game 6]] of the [[1998 NBA Finals|NBA Finals]] between the [[1997–98 Chicago Bulls season|Chicago Bulls]] and [[1997–98 Utah Jazz season|Utah Jazz]] is broadcast on [[NBA on NBC|NBC]]. The game registered a 22.3 [[Nielsen rating]] and 38 share with average 35.9 million viewers. This made it the highest rated and most watched game in the history of the [[National Basketball Association]]. 72 million people in the US watched at least part of the game.<ref>{{cite news|title=72 million saw Bulls take the prize|url=https://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/e/a/1998/06/17/STYLE1021.dtl|access-date=July 29, 2011|newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle|date=June 17, 1998|agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> The previous record was a 21.2 rating and 37 share for Game 7 of the [[1988 NBA Finals]] between the [[1987–88 Los Angeles Lakers season|Los Angeles Lakers]] and [[1987–88 Detroit Pistons season|Detroit Pistons]] on [[NBA on CBS|CBS]].<ref name="la times">{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jun-17-sp-60729-story.html|title=NBA Players Removed from U.S. Rosters|date=June 17, 1998|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=February 13, 2009}}</ref>
|}

===August===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
|-
!3
|The feud between [[UPN]] and [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] has been ended, with many of the Milwaukee, Birmingham, Raleigh and Charleston stations that were temporary independent stations went back to being [[UPN]] affiliates.
|-
!15
|A pre-season football game in [[Vancouver]], [[British Columbia]] between the [[San Francisco 49ers]] and [[Seattle Seahawks]] is [[CBS]]'s first [[National Football League|NFL football]] broadcast since January 1994. 
|-
!16
|[[KATH-LD|KATH-LP]] in [[Juneau, Alaska]] signs on the air, giving the Juneau market its first full-time [[NBC]] affiliate. The sign-on was delayed for a month due to delays in receiving the equipment required to place the station on the local GCI cable system (Sister station [[KATH-LD|KSCT-LP]] in [[Sitka, Alaska|Sitka]], the market's former [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate, had already switched to NBC).<ref name="je-kathnearlaunch">{{cite news|title=Juneau-based television station to hit airwaves soon|url=https://juneauempire.com/stories/062698/tv.html|access-date=June 25, 2016|work=[[Juneau Empire]]|date=June 26, 1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422140034/http://juneauempire.com/stories/062698/tv.html|archive-date=April 22, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="je-kathstart">{{cite news|title=New local television station to hit airwaves Monday|url=https://juneauempire.com/stories/081698/newtv.html|access-date=June 25, 2016|work=[[Juneau Empire]]|date=August 16, 1998|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422140315/https://juneauempire.com/stories/081698/newtv.html|archive-date=April 22, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|}

===September===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!6
|[[CBS]] resumes its regular season [[NFL on CBS|coverage]] of the [[National Football League]] for the first time since [[1993 NFL season|1993]].
|-
!7
|The ''[[Pokemon (TV series)|Pokemon]]'' anime debuts in first run syndication with the episode "Battle aboard the St. Anne", which aired as a sneak peek. The series would make official debut the next day with the episode "[[Pokemon, I Choose You]]".
|-
!8
|In front of a nationwide audience watching on [[Major League Baseball on Fox|Fox]], [[Mark McGwire]] hits his [[1998 Major League Baseball home run record chase|62nd home run]] of the [[1998 Major League Baseball season|Major League Baseball season]], breaking the [[1961 Major League Baseball season|37 year old]] [[List of Major League Baseball progressive single-season home run leaders|record]] held by [[Roger Maris]].
|-
!13
|The [[50th Primetime Emmy Awards]] is broadcast on [[NBC]]. The NBC sitcom ''[[Frasier]]'' is announced as the winner of [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series|Outstanding Comedy Series]], becoming the first show to win one of the two main series prizes for five consecutive years. Meanwhile, [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]]'s ''[[The Practice]]'' would win the award [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series|Outstanding Drama Series]]. This is to date, the last Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony where all the nominees for Outstanding Drama Series are from the broadcast networks. The [[51st Primetime Emmy Awards|following year]], [[HBO]]'s ''[[The Sopranos]]'' would become the first [[Cable television in the United States|cable television]] series to be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series.
|-
!17
|''[[Frasier]]'' appears for the first time on Thursday nights in the 9:00 slot, NBC had been discussing in May, displacing ''[[Seinfeld]]'', although ''[[Just Shoot Me!]]'' has been moved to Tuesdays two days earlier. The show produced new episodes in its slot next week.
|}

===October===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!4
|[[UPN]] adds two additional nights of programming to its schedule with primetime series added to Friday nights, including a movie block on Thursday nights.
|-
!21
|[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] [[Fox Major League Baseball|broadcasts]] the Game 4 of its second [[1998 World Series|World Series]]. The [[1998 New York Yankees season|New York Yankees]] defeat the [[1998 San Diego Padres season|San Diego Padres]], winning their 24th championship and second since [[1996 World Series|1996]].
|-
!19
|[[Fox Family Channel]] debuts its new annual event [[31 Nights of Halloween|13 Nights of Halloween]].
|}

===November===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|-
!8
|The Milwaukee, Raleigh, Birmingham and Charleston stations owned by [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] air many ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' [[List of Star Trek: Voyager episodes|episodes]] viewers left out of the last season, with the permission of [[UPN]] and [[Paramount Television]].
|-
!17
|''[[Barney & Friends]]'' airs its [[List_of_Barney_and_Friends_episodes#Season_5_(1998)|100th episode]] on [[PBS Kids]].
|-
!18
|''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' premieres on [[Cartoon Network]].
|-
!20
|''[[The Rugrats Movie]]'', based on [[Nickelodeon]]'s hit series ''[[Rugrats]]'' is released in theaters. The movie introduces the character of [[List of Rugrats characters#Main characters|Dil Pickles]], who became a main character in ''Rugrats'' the following January. ''The Rugrats Movie'' was a commercial success, making a grand total of [[United States dollar|$]]100,494,675 domestically and another $40,400,000 in international markets.<ref name="mojo">{{cite web | url=https://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=rugratsmovie.htm |date= |title=THE RUGRATS MOVIE |first= |last= |publisher=Box Office Mojo | access-date=June 25, 2016}}</ref> To promote the movie, Nickelodeon put all ''Rugrats'' episodes on hiatus for the week. It was the first time since 1994 that Rugrats was not part of Nick's daily schedule.
|}

===December===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Date
! Event
|}