Television stations can be classified as "commercial" or "public," depending on whether their source of funding is advertising revenue or government subsidy (although some stations rely on both). Most television stations are divided into departments according to the primary functions of the station. The programming department is responsible for procuring and/or producing programming for the station and scheduling the individual programs into a program schedule. The engineering department is responsible for the technical upkeep of station equipment, including transmitters, video recorders, switching equipment, and production equipment. The production department is responsible for producing local programs, commercial announcements, and other materials needed for broadcast. Most stations also have a news department that  specializes in the production of news broadcasts. Commercial stations have a sales department responsible for selling commercial advertisements; many noncommercial stations have a similar "underwriting" department responsible for soliciting funds for the station. The promotions department is responsible for informing the audience about the program schedule using announcements on the station and in other media, such as newspapers and radio. Finally, Many stations also have a business department responsible for collecting and distributing the revenues of the station. These departments are usually supervised by a station manager, general manager, or both.

     An organization that owns or operates more than one station is known as a "station group." There is a great deal of diversity in the manner in which groups operate individual stations. Some groups operate all the stations as a single unit, buying and scheduling programming for the station group as a unit in order to take advantage of economies of scale in negotiating the purchase price of programming or equipment. Other groups operate each station autonomously, with minimal group control over the daily operation of each station.

     In the United States, the size of a station group is limited by federal regulations. As a result, the concentration of ownership of local television stations is extremely low, with 1.333 commercial television stations in the United States being operated by more than 100 station groups as of early 2003. There are a number of methods of determining the top station group. with the companies holding those rankings constantly changing as new ownership rules allow an increase in the number of stations a company may own. The FCC, in computing the maximum, legal reach of a station group, weights UHF (ultrahigh frequency) stations (channels 14-69) as having only half the reach of VHF (very high frequency) stations (channels 2-13). This "UHF handicap" allows some companies to own stations covering a greater percentage of the United States than the legal maximum.

     As of April 2003, Broadcasting & Cable magazine ranked Viacom as the top station group in the United States, owning 39 television stations covering 39 per­ cent of the U.S. population. Paxson Communications Corporation controlled more commercial television stations than any other group, owning 61 (mostly UHF) stations that provide an FCC-weighted coverage of 31 percent of the United States.

     Changes in broadcast ownership restrictions in the United States are expected to lead to larger station groups and increasing cross-ownership of television stations and other media, especially newspapers. Most television stations and stations groups are owned by companies with interests in other media, ranging from radio stations and newspapers to cable television networks, movie studios, and websites.