many fans of the Star Trek franchise with Voyager and Enterprise). Launch repercussions The announcement of The CW caused the largest single shakeup in U.S. broadcast television since the affiliation alliance between Fox and New World Communications in 1994 (as well as a separate alliance with Burnham Broadcasting that began a year later) and the subsequent launches of UPN and The WB the following year. While The CW's debut affected more markets, it likely did not cause the same degree of viewer confusion, as no affiliates of the four major networks dropped those affiliations to join The CW (some "Big Four" affiliations did change at this time, but for unrelated reasons). The WB and UPN were the first major television networks to shut down since the collapse of the DuMont Television Network in August 1955, although other small broadcast television networks have also ceased operations over the years. It became clear that Fox Television Stations, which purchased several UPN-affiliated stations from that network's former co-owner Chris-Craft Industries in 2002, would be affected. Its UPN affiliates in five major markets (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Houston) did not receive affiliations with The CW, due to the agreement with Tribune, and Fox made it clear it would not even seek carriage of the network for its UPN stations in four other markets. All network logos and references were quickly removed from Fox's UPN stations. Shortly thereafter, Fox parent News Corporation (now Fox Corporation) announced that it would launch MyNetworkTV, a programming service meant to fill the two nightly prime time hours that UPN would vacate on the network's Fox-owned affiliates after The CW launched. Fox also offered the service to stations owned by other broadcasting groups. In markets where The WB and UPN were carried on separate stations, one of the two local outlets was left out in the merger; most of the stations that did not join The CW had signed affiliation agreements with MyNetworkTV instead, while others elected to become independent stations. Some stations (mainly digital subchannels, some cable channels that were formerly part of The WB 100+ Station Group, and struggling low-power stations) which did not affiliate with either network opted instead to shut down permanently. Affiliate distribution Like its predecessors UPN and by technicality, The WB (as none of Tribune Broadcasting's WB stations were considered to be O&Os since Time Warner held majority ownership