USA Networks
The USA Network is a popular cable TV network based in the United States with about 87 million household subscribers as of 2003. The network shows a variety of original and second-run programming, from syndicated TV series to edited movies. USA also shows some sports coverage, such as select golf and tennis tournaments, as well as the annual Westminister Kennel Club dog show. USA will broadcast portions of the 2004 Olympic Games as will every other NBC Universal basic cable channel. In the past, it had a weekly boxing show named USA Tuesday Night Fights. The show ran for approximately eight years. USA was the home of the WWE's flagship TV show WWE RAW from its inception in 1993 until early 2001. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily been gaining popularity recently, almost single-handedly due to the breakout hit detective series Monk.
USA Network Timeline
- 1977: Originally organized as the Madison Square Garden Network (not to be confused with the New York City regional sports network), the channel became one of the first national television channels when it chose to use satellite delivery as opposed to traditional television broadcasting.
- 1980: The channel changed its name to USA Network after the ownership structure was reorganized under a joint operating agreement by the UA-Columbia Cablevision cable system (now known as Cablevision Systems Corporation) and MCA Inc. (currently a part of Vivendi Universal).
- 1981: Time Inc. (now Time Warner) and Paramount Pictures Corp. (now a part of Viacom) took minority ownership stakes in the USA.
- 1987: Ownership consolidates under Paramount and MCA, each with 50 percent ownership.
- 1992: USA launches a sister network, the Sci Fi Channel
- 1994: Viacom buys Paramount.
- 1995: The Seagram Company buys MCA Inc.
- 1997: Seagram buys out Viacom's interest and gains complete ownership of USA and Sci Fi and sells both channels to Barry Diller's Home Shopping Network, which renames itself USA Networks, Inc.
- 1999: From bankrupt Polygram, USA Buys October Films and Gramercy Pictures, renaming them Canada's North American Television, Inc. (a joint partnership between the CBC and Power Corporation), owner of cable TV channels Trio and News World International. (The CBC continued to program NWI)
- 2001: USA Networks sells its non-shopping TV and film assets (including the USA Network, the Sci Fi Channel, the Trio channel, USA Films (which is rechristened as Focus Features) and Studios USA) to Vivendi Universal. USA and the other channels are folded into Vivendi's Univeral Television Group.
- 2003: General Electric's NBC agrees to buy Universal Television Group as part of an entertainment asset purchase from Vivendi.
- 2004: NBC Universal officially takes over as owner of USA and its sibling cable channels except for News World International, which is bought by an investment group led by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt.
USA Original Programming
See Also
