The sensor-to-controller and the controller-to-actuator delays in networked control systems are investigated for the first time with respect to their different effects on the system performance. The study starts with identifying the delay-independent and delay-dependent control laws in networked control systems, and confirms that only two delay-dependent control laws can cause different delay effects in different channels. The conditions under which the different delays in different channels can cause different effects, are then given for both delay-dependent control laws. The results are verified by numerical examples. Potentially these results can be regarded as important design principles in the practical implementation of networked control systems.