 At its peak in 1954 , DuMont was affiliated with around 200 television stations . In those days , television stations were free to " cherry @-@ pick " which programs they would air , and many stations affiliated with multiple networks , depending mainly on the number of commercial television stations available in a market at a given time ( markets where only one commercial station was available carried programming from all four major networks ) . Many of DuMont 's " affiliates " carried very little DuMont programming , choosing to air one or two more popular programs ( such as Life Is Worth Living ) and / or sports programming on the weekends . Few stations carried the full DuMont program lineup . 
