In the United States, unlike Canada's O&O-heavy geography, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) currently mandates that the total number of television stations owned by any company (including a television network) can only reach a maximum market coverage of 39% of the country. Given this restriction, television networks only have O&Os in a fraction of the 210 designated market areas around the country (the remainder of the markets are served by affiliates that are owned by other media companies). Periodically, networks may sell O&Os to comply with this FCC restriction.