Last updated: February 1, 2004. This version: 8.00
Answer: A network is a collections of stations in different TV markets which combine together to show common programming at commonly defined times. Such stations may be owned directly by the network company, or they may be an independently owned stations which have entered into an agreement with the network to become a network affiliate.
The "Big 3" networks are the best known networks in the U.S., and they also are the most "complete" networks. These three networks provide common programming in the morning (e.g. the morning news/talk shows), in the daytime (e.g. daytime soap operas, and talk shows), in the evening (e.g. network news), in "Prime Time" (e.g. nighttime dramas, soaps, comedies and news shows; see section 3.5 below for more info on "Prime Time"), and in late night (e.g. the late night talk shows, and latenight news). The "Big 3" achieve 100% viewing coverage in the U.S. (though after the FOX-CBS swap over the early 1990's, I am not sure whether CBS still has 100% coverage.)
In foreign nations, the most "complete" networks are BBC and C4 in the U.K., CBC and CTV in Canada, and ABC (Note: This stands for "Australian Broadcasting Company"; not to be confused with the U.S.'s "ABC" which stands for the "American Broadcasting Company") and C7 in Australia, and TVNZ in New Zealand
In the U.S., there are several other "baby" or smaller networks. The biggest of these is FOX, which was formed in the mid 80's from a collection of then-independent stations; as a result, FOX does not have coverage in 100% of the country like the "Big Three" networks do (FOX achieves about ~95% national coverage these days). FOX is now almost considered a "big" network, as its programming now extends beyond "Prime Time" to daytime and late night. There is also PBS, the publicly-supported network, which was formed in the late 1960's from a collection of "public" broadcast stations. PBS has nearly 100% coverage in the U.S.
Finally, in 1994, two new "baby" networks were formed by Paramount and Chris-Craft (UPN) and Time/Warner Brothers (WBN) by cobbling together some of the few remaining independent stations as affiliate stations. These new networks are still well short of 100% coverage in the U.S.: WBN achieves about 90% coverage and UPN achieves about 87% coverage, from their so-called "primary affiliates". The "baby nets" then attempt to reach the remaining markets through so-called "secondary affiliates" (i.e. those stations in which the network's programs have been syndicated to local stations in markets which are not covered by the networks themselves) and through cable "super" stations (though that method seems to have been abandoned recently).
Network programming is not to be confused with programming on the "cable" networks (which do not have affiliate stations), or "syndicated" programming which is not shown at a set time and is sold independently to stations in different markets (see Section 3.7 for more information).
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