# 1968 in American television

This is a list of American television-related events in 1968.

## Events

| Date | Event |
| January 20 | The TVS Television Network broadcasts the first-ever syndicated primetime college basketball game at the Houston Astrodome. Billed as "The Game of the Century", the Houston Cougars defeat the UCLA Bruins 71–69. |
| February 6 | ABC's coverage of the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble, France became the first Olympics, Summer or Winter, to be telecast in color on any American network. |
| April 2 | NBC broadcasts a television special in which British singer Petula Clark appears with Harry Belafonte as her guest. An innocent, affectionate gesture between the two during a song (Clark touches Belafonte on the arm) prompts concern from the show's sponsor (Chrysler Corporation) due to the difference in their races. |
| April 4 | Singer James Brown appears on national television in an attempt to calm feelings of anger following the assassination of Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. |
| September 9 | Two CBS soap operas, Search for Tomorrow and The Guiding Light, expand to 30 minutes per episode. |
| October 12–27 | ABC broadcasts coverage of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, D.F., Mexico. This is the first Summer Olympics to be telecast in color in the United States. |
| October 14 | First live television broadcast from a spacecraft in orbit, during the Apollo 7 mission. There are six broadcasts during the eleven-day mission. |
| October 19 | Bea Benaderet makes her final physical appearance as Kate Bradley on the CBS sitcom Petticoat Junction. This particular episode actually airs six days after her death from lung cancer. Benaderet's final overall episode of Petticoat Junction would air one week later and would feature only her voice with her stand-in filmed from the rear. |
| November 17 | Protest ensues when NBC breaks away from the final minutes of an American Football League game to air a TV movie adaptation of Heidi, much to the outrage of the network's AFL viewers. After the break away, the Oakland Raiders scored two touchdowns to defeat the New York Jets, 43–32, in the final minute of play. |
| November 17 | WABC-TV debuts the Eyewitness News format on behalf of news director Al Primo. |
| November 22 | On NBC, an interracial kiss is aired in the Star Trek episode "Plato's Stepchildren". The kiss is shared by William Shatner (James T. Kirk) and Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhura). |
| December 24 | The reading a passage from the Book of Genesis from Apollo 8 is telecast worldwide, with a report that there is a Santa Claus. This marked the fourth television broadcast from the spacecraft during the space mission. |

### Other events and statistics in 1968

* The last round-screen color TV sets were produced by all American manufacturers.

## Television programs
### Debuts

| Date | Debut | Network |
| January 6 | Happening '68 | ABC |
| January 8 | The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau | ABC |
| January 22 | Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In | NBC |
| February 19 | Mister Rogers' Neighborhood | NET |
| June 12 | Black Journal | NET |
| June 16 | Animal World | NBC |
| July 1 | Premiere | CBS |
| July 15 | One Life to Live | ABC |
| September 7 | Arabian Knights | NBC |
| September 7 | The Banana Splits | NBC |
| September 7 | Danger Island | NBC |
| September 12 | Soul! | WNDT |
| September 14 | The Adventures of Gulliver | ABC |
| September 14 | The Archie Show | CBS |
| September 14 | Fantastic Voyage | ABC |
| September 14 | Go Go Gophers | CBS |
| September 14 | Wacky Races | CBS |
| September 15 | The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn | NBC |
| September 17 | Julia | NBC |
| September 18 | The Outsider | NBC |
| September 20 | Hawaii Five-O | CBS |
| September 20 | The Name of the Game | NBC |
| September 21 | Adam-12 | NBC |
| September 21 | The Ghost & Mrs. Muir | NBC |
| September 23 | Mayberry R.F.D. | CBS |
| September 23 | The Outcasts | ABC |
| September 24 | 60 Minutes | CBS |
| September 24 | The Doris Day Show | CBS |
| September 24 | The Mod Squad | ABC |
| September 24 | That's Life | ABC |
| September 25 | The Good Guys | CBS |
| September 25 | Here Come the Brides | ABC |
| September 26 | Blondie | CBS |
| September 26 | Journey to the Unknown | ABC |
| September 26 | The Ugliest Girl in Town | ABC |

### Ending this year

| Date | Show | Network | Debut |
| January 6 | Iron Horse | ABC | September 26, 1966 |
| January 6 | Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor | CBS | September 9, 1967 |
| January 6 | The Herculoids | CBS | September 9, 1967 |
| January 15 | The Man from U.N.C.L.E. | NBC | 1964 |
| January 20 | Birdman and the Galaxy Trio | NBC | 1967 |
| January 20 | Shazzan | CBS | September 9, 1967 |
| February 10 | Maya | NBC | September 26, 1967 |
| March 2 | ABC Scope | ABC | November 11, 1964 |
| March 6 | Lost in Space | CBS | 1965 |
| March 7 | Cimarron Strip | CBS | September 7, 1967 |
| March 11 | The Lucy Show | CBS | 1962 |
| March 12 | He & She | CBS | September 6, 1967 |
| March 14 | Garrison's Gorillas | ABC | 1967 |
| March 14 | Batman | ABC | 1966 |
| March 18 | The Rat Patrol | ABC | 1966 |
| March 19 | Good Morning World | CBS | 1967 |
| March 25 | The Monkees | NBC | 1966 |
| March 25 | The Bell Telephone Hour | NBC | 1959 |
| March 25 | The Fulton Sheen Program | Syndication | 1961 |
| March 27 | Run for Your Life | NBC | 1965 |
| March 28 | The Second Hundred Years | ABC | September 6, 1967 |
| Narch 29 | The Invaders | ABC | 1967 |
| March 31 | Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea | ABC | 1964 |
| April 1 | The Andy Griffith Show | CBS | 1960 |
| April 1 | Cowboy in Africa | ABC | September 11, 1967 |
| April 5 | Tarzan | ABC | 1966 |
| April 15 | I Spy | NBC | 1965 |
| June 3 | The Danny Thomas Hour | NBC | 1967 |
| August 31 | Samson & Goliath | NBC | September 9, 1967 |
| September 8 | Milton the Monster | ABC | October 9, 1965 |
| September 9 | Premiere | CBS | 1968 |
| September 21 | The Fantastic Four | ABC | September 9, 1967 |
| November 2 | The Adventures of Superboy | CBS | 1966 |
| December 28 | Super President | NBC | September 16, 1967 |
| Unknown | The Gumby Show | Syndication | 1957 |
| Unknown | The Road Runner Show (returned in 1971) | CBS | 1966 |

### Television specials

| Title | Network | Date(s) of airing | Notes/Ref, |
| He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown | CBS | February 14 | |
| Elvis | NBC | December 3 | Elvis Presley's first television appearance in seven years; highest rated television special of 1968. |

## Networks and services
### Network launches

| Network | Type | Launch date | Source |
| Kentucky Educational Television | Regional Over-the-air public broadcast | September 23 | |

### Network conversions and rebrandings

| Network | Type | Conversion date | Source |
| Sports Network Incorporated | Hughes Television Network | Unknown | |

## Television stations
### Sign-ons

| Date | City of License/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| January 1 | Macon, Georgia | WMUM-TV | 29 | NET | Part of the Georgia Public Broadcasting television network |
| January 2 | San Francisco, California | KBHK-TV | 44 | Independent | |
| January 4 | Joplin, Missouri | KUHI-TV | 16 | CBS | |
| January 6 | Dayton, Ohio | WSWO-TV | 26 | Independent | |
| January 19 | Cleveland, Ohio | WKBF-TV | 61 | Independent | |
| February | Galveston, Texas | KVVV-TV | 16 | Independent | |
| February 4 | Brookings, South Dakota | KESD-TV | 8 | NET | Part of South Dakota Public Broadcasting |
| February 5 | Dallas, Texas | KDTV | 39 | Independent | |
| February 13 | Lexington/Jackson, Tennessee | WLJT-TV | 11 | NET | |
| February 15 | Vincennes, Indiana | WVUT | 22 | NET | |
| February 26 | St. Johnsbury, Vermont | WVTB | 18 | NET | Satellite of WETK/Burlington; part of the Vermont ETV network |
| March 15 | Las Vegas, Nevada | KLVX | 10 | NET | |
| March 18 | Rutland, Vermont | WVER | 9 | NET | Satellite of WETK/Burlington; part of the Vermont ETV network |
| March 18 | Windsor, Vermont | WVTA | 24 | NET | Satellite of WETK/Burlington; part of the Vermont ETV network |
| April 1 | San Francisco, California | KEMO-TV | 20 | Bilingial independent | |
| April 11 | Hanover, New Hampshire | WHED-TV | 15 | PBS | Part of New Hampshire Public Television |
| May 12 | Binghamton, New York | WSKG-TV | 46 | NET | |
| May 21 | Keene, New Hampshire | WEKW-TV | 49 | NET | Satellite of WENH-TV/Durham, NH as part of New Hampshire Public Television |
| June 2 | Lexington, Kentucky | WBLG-TV | 62 (now on 36) | ABC | |
| June 10 | Kalispell, Montana | KCFW | 9 | CBS | |
| June 10 | Meridian, Mississippi | WHTV | 24 | CBS | |
| August 1 | Fon du Lac, Wisconsin | KFIZ-TV | 34 | Independent | |
| August 1 | Newport, Kentucky (Cincinnati, Ohio) | WXIX-TV | 19 | Independent | |
| August 4 | Paterson, New Jersey/New York City, New York | WXTV | 41 | Independent | |
| August 19 | Burlington, Vermont ((Plattsburgh, New York) | WEZF-TV | 22 | ABC | |
| August 19 | Olney, Illinois | WUSI-TV | 16 | NET | Satellite of WSIU-TV/Carbondale, Illinois |
| September 9 | Louisville, Alabama | WGIA | 43 | NET | Part of the Alabama Educational Television network. |
| September 15 | Lorain/Cleveland, Ohio | WUAB | 43 | Independent | |
| September 15 | Detroit, Michigan | WXON-TV | 62 (now 28) | Independent | |
| September 15 | Palm Springs, California | KMIR-TV | 36 | NBC | |
| September 15 | Poplar Bluff, Missouri | KPOB-TV | 15 | ABC | Satellite of WSIL-TV of Harrisburg, Illinois |
| September 22 | Springfield, Missouri | KMTC | 27 | ABC | |
| September 23 | Ashland, Kentucky | WKAS | 25 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Bowling Green, Kentucky | WKGB-TV | 53 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Elizabethtown, Kentucky | WKZT-TV | 23 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Hopkinsville, Kentucky | W64BR | 64 | NET | Translator of WKMA/Madisonville, Kentucky; part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Lexington, Kentucky | WKLE | 46 | NET | Flagship of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Madisonville, Kentucky | WKMA-TV | 35 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Morehead, Kentucky | WKMR | 38 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Owenton, Kentucky | WKON | 52 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 23 | Somerset, Kentucky | WKSO-TV | 29 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| September 30 | Macon, Georgia | WCWB-TV | 41 | NBC | |
| October 5 | Palm Springs, California | KPLM-TV | 42 | ABC | |
| October 9 | Murray, Kentucky | WKMU | 21 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| October 26 | Sacramento, California | KTXL | 40 | Independent | |
| November 4 | Durham/Raleigh, North Carolina | WRDU-TV | 28 | NBC | |
| November 4 | Tampa, Florida | WTOG | 44 | Independent | |
| November 11 | Lubbock, Texas | KSEL-TV | 28 | Independent | |
| November 18 | Hastings, Nebraska | KHNE-TV | 29 | NET | Part of Nebraska ETV |
| December 4 | Little Rock, Arkansas | KETS | 2 | NET | Flagship of the Arkansas Educational Television Network |
| December 6 | Fort Lauderdale/Miami, Florida | WSMS-TV | 51 | Independent | |
| December 9 | Merriman, Nebraska | KRNE-TV | 12 | NET | Part of Nebraska ETV |
| December 11 | El Centro, California (Yuma, Arizona, USA/Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico) | KECC-TV | 9 | ABC | |
| December 14 | Ventura/Los Angeles, California | KKOG-TV | 16 | Independent | |
| December 16 | Hazard, Kentucky | WKHA | 35 | NET | Part of Kentucky Educational Television |
| December 18 | Fort Myers, Florida | WBBH-TV | 20 | NBC (primary) ABC (secondary) | |
| December 24 | Augusta, Georgia | WAGT | 26 | NBC | |
| December 28 | San Francisco, California | KUDO | 38 | Independent | |
| Unknown date | Corpus Christi, Texas | KVDO-TV | 22 | Independent | |
| Unknown date | Hollywood/Miami, Florida | WYHS | 69 | Independent | Satellite of WCIX-TV (now WFOR-TV) Miami |

### Network affiliation changes

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Old affiliation | New affiliation | Notes/Ref. |
| January 1 | Joplin, Missouri | KODE-TV | 12 | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | ABC (exclusive) | KUHI would take the CBS affiliation in Joplin, Missouri, three days later. |
| June 2 | Lexington, Kentucky | WLEX-TV | 18 | NBC (primary) CBS/ABC (secondary) | NBC (exclusive) | |
| June 2 | Lexington, Kentucky | WKYT-TV | 27 | ABC (primary) CBS (secondary) | CBS (exclusive) | |
| September 30 | Macon, Georgia | WMAZ-TV | 13 | CBS (primary) ABC and NBC (secondary) | CBS (primary) ABC (secondary) | |

### Station closures

| Date | City of license/Market | Station | Channel | Affiliation | Sign-on date | Notes |
| August 23 | Lebanon, New Hampshire | WRLH | 31 | NBC | July 29, 1966 | Would return to the air in August 1971 |