[8] MyNetworkTV arose from the January 2006 announcement of the launch of The CW, a television network formed by CBS Corporation and Time Warner which essentially combined programming from The WB and UPN onto the scheduling model of the former of the two predecessors.

[12] It was reported by The Guardian that Fox would utilize MySpace, the social networking website; its parent company, News Corporation, had acquired in 2005, to help promote MyNetworkTV.

[16][17] Last-minute changes to MyNetworkTV's 2007-08 Fall schedule included the re-titling of the reality series Divorce Wars to Decision House, and the addition of Celebrity Exposé and Control Room Presents to the network's Monday lineup as well as a one-hour IFL Battleground, followed by NFL Total Access on Saturdays.

[18] In response to the telenovela lineup's poor ratings performance, highlighted by an average household rating of 0.7%, reports surfaced[19] that Fox executives were planning a major revamp of MyNetworkTV's programming, decreasing its reliance on telenovelas and adding new unscripted programs to the schedule such as reality shows, game shows (such as My GamesFever), movies and sports, and a possible revisit to a deal with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

[20] However, MyNetworkTV instead signed a deal with another mixed martial arts organization, the International Fight League, in conjunction with Fox Sports Net.

[21] On February 1, 2007, Greg Meidel, who was named to the newly created position of network president just ten days earlier, confirmed the rumors and unveiled a dramatically revamped lineup.

MyNetworkTV also reduced its telenovela programming to a single night each week, with American Heiress and Saints & Sinners airing for one hour each on Wednesdays until their unexpected termination, due to incompatible flow with IFC Battleground from Monday to Tuesday as far as promotions.

Of the six broadcast networks, Nielsen Media Research said that only MyNetworkTV had increased viewership, with 1.76 million viewers per night, up 750,000 from the previous season.

The highest-rated program to have ever aired on MyNetworkTV is a December 10, 2008 broadcast of the 1990 comedy film Home Alone, which brought in 3.70 million viewers (although not a record), but earned a 1.4 rating among the 18-49 adult demographic.

MyNetworkTV began airing more syndicated programming in the fall, which included game shows and dramas, five nights a week.

As of April 2013, MyNetworkTV broadcasts ten hours of primetime programming each week, airing on Monday through Friday evenings from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific.

With the service's switch to an all-rerun schedule in 2009, this effectively allows stations to pre-empt repeat programming at will to fit in sporting events (mainly those provided by syndication services such as ESPN Regional Television and the ACC Network, as some local events that had aired on its affiliates have moved to regional sports networks in the time since MyNetworkTV launched) without much consequence.

The fifth and sixth series, American Heiress and Saints and Sinners, appeared one hour per week on Wednesdays before abruptly vanishing from the schedule.

Later announcements by Fox regarding additional programming to air on MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations – such as Desperate Housewives repeats in traditional weekend syndication, a trial run of the sitcom Tyler Perry's House of Payne (which later moved to TBS), and the daytime viewer-participation game show My GamesFever[45] – never applied to the network as a whole.

[48][49][50][51] MyNetworkTV has 186 owned-and-operated or affiliate stations in the United States, reaching 84.39% of all U.S. households with at least one television set (totaling approximately 263,699,742 homes).

[54][55] One day later on March 7, Raycom Media announced that its WB and UPN stations (including WUAB—Cleveland, Ohio, KFVE—Honolulu, Hawaii and WBXH-CA—Baton Rouge, Louisiana) would also become charter affiliates of MyNetworkTV.

In May, WAWB in Huntsville, Alabama officially announced that it would become a MyNetworkTV affiliate, and subsequently changed its call letters to WAMY.

On July 12, 2006, the network announced affiliation agreements with seven additional stations (including WBFS-TV—Miami, KTVD—Denver, WUPL—New Orleans and WAWS—Jacksonville, Florida (WAWS, along with WSYX—Columbus, Ohio and WHP-TV—Harrisburg, Pennsylvania carry MyNetworkTV on digital subchannels).

[60] The deal with CBS Television Stations to have MyNetworkTV affiliate with stations that were left out of The CW's affiliation deals with the group came as a surprise in the broadcasting industry, especially after the icy reception between CBS and News Corporation (which became 21st Century Fox through the July 2013 spin-off of the company's publishing unit and Australian television properties) that began after both it and The CW came into the picture, as they refused to allow WBFS, WUPL and Boston's WSBK-TV to affiliate with MyNetworkTV as a response to pulling UPN branding from that network's Fox-owned stations.

This was due to WFGX's weak analog signal, which was not receivable west of Pensacola, and the lack of a must-carry agreement with Comcast's Mobile system, most likely a remnant of the station's former status as a low-rated Jewelry Television affiliate prior to MyNetworkTV's launch); WFGX has since relocated its digital transmitter to Robertsdale, Alabama (where the Mobile-Pensacola market's other television stations maintain transmitters), providing an over-the-air MyNetworkTV affiliate in the Mobile area proper for the first time.

CW affiliate KCWI-TV picked up the local rights to SmackDown, and for nearly a year afterward, aired it in a manner very similar to its scheduling on WLMT.

On February 10, 2014, St. Louis affiliate WRBU disaffiliated from MyNetworkTV, and converted into an Ion Television O&O, as a result of its sale to Ion Media Networks (now E. W. Scripps Company) through Roberts Broadcasting's gradual sale of its television stations in order to raise money to pay off creditors in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings; this resulted in St. Louis temporarily displacing Spokane, Washington as the largest market without a MyNetworkTV affiliate until November 17, 2014, when CBS affiliate KMOV began carrying it on a digital subchannel.

[67][68] Due to the availability of "instant duopoly" digital subchannels that are likely easily available on cable and satellite, and the overall lack of a need to settle for a secondary affiliation with shows aired in problematic time slots, both The CW and MyNetworkTV launched with far greater national coverage than that enjoyed by UPN and The WB when those networks started in January 1995.

The arrival of WWE SmackDown to the network has made this issue the most visible, as wrestling fans complained about the lack of availability for MyNetworkTV in several markets that have CW affiliations.

This was most evident in Lexington, Kentucky, where local SmackDown viewers actually protested that they could not watch the program because low-powered MyNetworkTV/Retro Television Network affiliate WBLU-LP lacked carriage on cable providers in the market, and as an Equity Media Holdings station with no local presence outside of engineering staff, had no communication with the station to speak of.