After losing a 15-year court battle over the legality of its business relationship with The Herald-Traveler, CBS' Boston, Massachusetts affiliate WHDH-TV Channel 5 signs off the air. At 3 a.m. on March 19, WCVB takes over the Channel 5 frequency, simultaneously switching affiliations to the ABC network following CBS' loss of interest in the channel during the long legal wrangle.
Effective with this issue, TV Guide discontinues the practice of using a "C" to indicate color programs, and instead starts using a "BW" for monochrome, saving a lot of printer's ink in the process. At the time about half of the TV households in the U.S. had color sets.
September 4
The Price Is Right premieres on CBS. As of 2021, it is the longest-running game show on American television.
September 4 – The New Price Is Right (1972–present), The Joker's Wild (1972–1975, 1977–1986), and Gambit (1972–1976) all on CBS. Any Number, Bonus Game, and Double Prices were the three games played on the first episode of The New Price Is Right, which loses the "New" by mid-1973, and is currently television's longest running game show in history, having started its 50th season in September 2021.
October 3 – 4 Country Reporter on then-CBS affiliate KDFW Channel 4 (now a FoxO&O station); in 1986, the show moves into first-run syndication under the new name Texas Country Reporter, eventually airing nationally on the RFD-TV satellite/cable channel (As of October 2007, the show will mark 35 years on television)