Editing Virtual channel (section)

===United States and Canada===
{{see|Program and System Information Protocol}}
An example of the ATSC major and minor numbers would be to have main programming airing on say channel 8 (the "major channel") with analog on 8.0 and digital on 8.1 (the first two "minor channels") with other entertainment channels below 8.99 on channels 8.2, 8.3, and up and informational data channels ranging from 8.100 to 8.999. The channels can be displayed using a hyphen (such as 8-1) or a space; however, on a common [[seven-segment display]], a decimal point would save one segment. The decimal point is more familiar to [[FM broadcasting|FM radio]] listeners who tune by frequency rather than channel, and avoids confusion with ranges of values (for example, 2-4 may be misinterpreted as the range 2 to 4 instead of the fourth sub-channel of channel 2).

Most US stations follow ATSC numbering guidelines; however, low-power stations such as New York City's [[WNYZ-LD]] are exceptions. It was temporarily broadcasting on VHF channel 6 in digital, but used the virtual channel 1.1, instead of 6. This persisted for approximately one year, after which [[WNYZ-LD]] reverted to low-power analog.

The assignment of virtual channels in the US is defined within the stream via terrestrial or cable versions of a "Virtual Channel Table" as outlined by ATSC document "A/65", Annex B.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.atsc.org/cms/standards/a_65-2009.pdf|title=ATSC Standard: Program and System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable(PSIP)|date=23 December 1997|access-date=29 November 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100918181123/http://atsc.org/cms/standards/a_65-2009.pdf|archive-date=18 September 2010|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0LktvPgIGuAC|title=PSIP: program and system information protocol; naming, numbering, and navigation for digital television|last=Eyer|first=Mark|author2=Mark C. Whitaker |pages=105–107|year=2002|publisher=McGraw Hill Professional |isbn=9780071389990}}</ref> Rules for assignment of major channel numbers are:
*Existing analog stations were assigned a major channel number matching their analog number.
*New digital stations assigned to a channel whose matching major channel number is not active use that number.
*New digital stations assigned to a channel whose matching major channel number is in use (by a former analog station) must reciprocate, using the major channel number that matches the actual channel of the station in question.
These rules generally prevent overlapping, although in the case of stations where large numbers of stations in adjacent markets are in close proximity, it is possible that overlaps can happen (see, for example, the cases of [[WJLP]] and [[WDPN-TV]]). Additionally, stations may broadcast some of their subchannels under major channel(s) in the 70–99 range, so long as multiple stations do not attempt to use the same major channel(s). These numbers are certain to be unused, as 69 was the highest assigned channel prior to digital broadcasting. The document does not address the use of certain other major channel numbers:
*Numbers below 70 that were never used in NTSC (0, [[Channel 1 (NTSC-M)|1]] and [[Channel 37|37]])
*The real numbers of stations that are using virtual channels from 38 to 69 (these stations are not covered by the reciprocity rule, as real station numbers are not assigned above 36.)
*Numbers in the range of 38–69 that are not used by a former analog station
Broadcasters that own more than one station with overlaps in coverage area may have all of their channels use the major channel of one of the stations, so long as minor channel numbers do not overlap.

When the US began buying licenses in a broadcast spectrum auction in 2017, it allowed companies that had a duopoly in a market to sell one license, but continue to use the virtual channel of the sold channel on a subchannel of the other. For example, [[Sunbeam Television]] sold [[WLVI]] in the auction, but was allowed to use its virtual channel 56 on [[WHDH (TV)|WHDH]], which uses virtual channel 7 for its main channel; thus, the WHDH license uses both virtual channels, 7 and 56, on the same license.

The range for pay TV free-to-air local stations is from 2 to 29. All other channels are based on the service provider's preference.