The network was hindered by the prohibitive cost of broadcasting, by a freeze on new television stations in 1948 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that restricted the network's growth, and even by the company's partner, Paramount Pictures. Despite several innovations in broadcasting and the creation of one of television's biggest stars of the 1950s, Jackie Gleason, the network never found itself on solid financial ground. Forced to expand on UHF channels during an era when UHF tuning was not yet a standard feature of television sets, DuMont fought an uphill battle for program clearances outside its three owned-and-operated stations in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pittsburgh. It ended network operations on August 6, 1956.