Local news in journalism refers to coverage of happenings in a local context that would not be of interest to another location or that would otherwise be of national or worldwide scale. Local newspapers are an important source of information about events occurring within their communities. National newspapers may cover topics of interest to more than one city, but they usually have a focus that makes sense for a small town: sports teams, crime, weather, etc. A television station that covers news on a local level is called a "local news channel". The three major networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) each have a number of local stations that broadcast during the day across the country. These are referred to as "affiliate stations" because they are affiliated with one of the major networks. Each network has several other channels that show syndicated programming; these are generally aimed at a specific audience such as comedy channels, science channels, etc. There are also many cable news channels that provide 24-hour coverage of current events that attract viewers across geographic boundaries. Most local news channels are owned by larger media companies that also own other channels that broadcast nationally. However, some smaller companies operate only one channel that covers local news. In addition to covering local news, some local news channels also produce original content.