Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW, when it launched on September 18, 2006. == History == === 1949–1993: Origins of the network === Paramount Pictures had played a pivotal role in the development of network television.
The Paramount Television Network was launched in 1949, but dissolved in the 1950s. In the wake of the successful Universal Studios ad hoc syndication package Operation Prime Time, which first featured a miniseries adaptation of John Jakes' novel The Bastard and went on to air several more productions, Paramount had earlier contemplated its own television network with the Paramount Television Service.
The Paramount Television Network was launched in 1949, but dissolved in the 1950s. In the wake of the successful Universal Studios ad hoc syndication package Operation Prime Time, which first featured a miniseries adaptation of John Jakes' novel The Bastard and went on to air several more productions, Paramount had earlier contemplated its own television network with the Paramount Television Service.
Set to launch in early 1978, it would have run its programming for only one night a week.
Independent stations, even more than network affiliates, were feeling the growing pressure of audience erosion to cable television in the 1980s and 1990s; there were unaffiliated commercial television stations in most of the major television markets, even after the foundation of Fox in 1986.
Independent stations, even more than network affiliates, were feeling the growing pressure of audience erosion to cable television in the 1980s and 1990s; there were unaffiliated commercial television stations in most of the major television markets, even after the foundation of Fox in 1986.
KSTW and WTOG's news departments were shut down in 1998 due to cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom; newscasts would briefly return to KSTW via a news sharing agreement with KIRO-TV between 2003 and 2005. Not all of UPN's news-producing stations were owned by the two companies that formed the nuclei of the network's affiliate group; WUAB/Cleveland, which started its news department in 1988, also continued its 10:00 p.m.
Independent stations, even more than network affiliates, were feeling the growing pressure of audience erosion to cable television in the 1980s and 1990s; there were unaffiliated commercial television stations in most of the major television markets, even after the foundation of Fox in 1986.
Meanwhile, Paramount, which had long been successful in syndication with repeats of Star Trek, launched several first-run syndicated series by the 1990s, including Entertainment Tonight, The Arsenio Hall Show, The Series, War of the Worlds, The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine. In 1993, Time Warner and Chris-Craft Industries entered into a joint venture to distribute programs via a prime time programming service, the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN).
Chris-Craft later became a partner in UPN, and Time Warner launched The WB in a joint venture with the Tribune Company at roughly the same time. === 1995–1999: Launch and early years === Paramount formed the Paramount Stations Group in 1991 when it purchased the assets of the TVX Broadcast Group, which owned several independent stations in major markets.
The new network would be owned by Chris-Craft Industries, while most of its shows were to be produced by Paramount Television. Originally, the network was to simply be called "U", but the "U Network" trademark was held by the now-defunct National Association of College Broadcasters (NACB), which had been operating a satellite television programming network featuring largely college student-produced programs since 1991.
Meanwhile, Paramount, which had long been successful in syndication with repeats of Star Trek, launched several first-run syndicated series by the 1990s, including Entertainment Tonight, The Arsenio Hall Show, The Series, War of the Worlds, The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine. In 1993, Time Warner and Chris-Craft Industries entered into a joint venture to distribute programs via a prime time programming service, the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN).
All indicators suggested that Paramount was about to launch a network of its own. On October 27, 1993, Paramount and Chris-Craft announced the formation of a new television network, later to be named the United Paramount Network, with initial plans to run two hours of programming in prime time for two nights per week.
Star Trek: Phase II was reworked as the theatrical film, The Motion Picture, absorbing the costs already incurred from the aborted television series. Paramount, and its eventual parent Viacom (which bought the studio's then-parent, Paramount Communications, in 1994), continued to consider launching their own television network.
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995.
Chris-Craft later became a partner in UPN, and Time Warner launched The WB in a joint venture with the Tribune Company at roughly the same time. === 1995–1999: Launch and early years === Paramount formed the Paramount Stations Group in 1991 when it purchased the assets of the TVX Broadcast Group, which owned several independent stations in major markets.
A merger would ultimately come in 2006 with the creation of The CW. UPN launched on January 16, 1995, initially carrying programming only on Monday and Tuesday nights from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m.
Two more stations would join them later on: KSTW/Seattle, also owned by Viacom at the time, after it affiliated with UPN in 1997 through the reversal of a 1995 affiliation switch with CBS affiliate KIRO-TV (which also kept its news department as a UPN affiliate), and KMAX-TV/Sacramento, which joined UPN after being acquired by Viacom in 1998 and began producing newscasts shortly after its 1995 affiliation with The WB.
newscast as a UPN affiliate (it would begin producing newscasts for sister station WOIO-TV in February 1995, after that station became a CBS affiliate; though WOIO eventually took over production of the newscast by 2002).
Harrisburg affiliate WLYH-TV briefly continued its newscasts after switching to UPN from CBS in 1995, until WHP-TV began operating the station under a local marketing agreement that fall.
newscast continuing to be produced by ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV until its eventual cancellation in 2005. === Children's programming === When the network launched in January 1995, UPN debuted a weekend morning cartoon block called UPN Kids (later called "The UPN Kids Action Zone" during the 1998–99 season).
The network was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television; Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which produced most of the network's series) turned the network into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in the network, and subsequently purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000.
As a result of the lack of viewership, UPN operated on a loss and had lost $800 million by 2000. Within nearly two years of the network's launch, on December 8, 1996, Paramount/Viacom purchased a 50% stake in UPN from Chris-Craft for approximately $160 million.
The first program that UPN acquired from another network was In the House, which moved to the network from NBC (which cancelled the LL Cool J sitcom after its second season) in 1996.
Three days later on February 8, Chris-Craft subsequently filed a lawsuit against Viacom in the New York Supreme Court to block the latter's merger with CBS, claiming that a pact signed between the two partners in 1997 had prevented either from owning "any interest, financial or otherwise" in "any competing network," including CBS, for a four-year period through January 2001.
Two more stations would join them later on: KSTW/Seattle, also owned by Viacom at the time, after it affiliated with UPN in 1997 through the reversal of a 1995 affiliation switch with CBS affiliate KIRO-TV (which also kept its news department as a UPN affiliate), and KMAX-TV/Sacramento, which joined UPN after being acquired by Viacom in 1998 and began producing newscasts shortly after its 1995 affiliation with The WB.
In 1997, UPN added two teen-oriented series to the lineup with reruns of the syndicated Sweet Valley High (based on the young adult book series by Francine Pascal) and a new series, Breaker High (which co-starred a then-unknown Ryan Gosling); both shows filled the weekday morning block for the 1997–98 season, while they were also included along with the animated series on Sunday mornings.
Many UPN affiliates at the network's launch were already airing The Disney Afternoon, a block supplied by Disney-owned syndication distributor Buena Vista Television; however, that block would be discontinued in August 1997.
Some titles would be shown on Showtime first, which allowed the premium cable channel to cooperate in advertising the movies. UPN completed its prime time expansion in the 1998–99 season, with Thursdays and Fridays as the last nights of programming to be added to the network's evening slate.
Two more stations would join them later on: KSTW/Seattle, also owned by Viacom at the time, after it affiliated with UPN in 1997 through the reversal of a 1995 affiliation switch with CBS affiliate KIRO-TV (which also kept its news department as a UPN affiliate), and KMAX-TV/Sacramento, which joined UPN after being acquired by Viacom in 1998 and began producing newscasts shortly after its 1995 affiliation with The WB.
KSTW and WTOG's news departments were shut down in 1998 due to cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom; newscasts would briefly return to KSTW via a news sharing agreement with KIRO-TV between 2003 and 2005. Not all of UPN's news-producing stations were owned by the two companies that formed the nuclei of the network's affiliate group; WUAB/Cleveland, which started its news department in 1988, also continued its 10:00 p.m.
newscast continuing to be produced by ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV until its eventual cancellation in 2005. === Children's programming === When the network launched in January 1995, UPN debuted a weekend morning cartoon block called UPN Kids (later called "The UPN Kids Action Zone" during the 1998–99 season).
The network proposed launching a cable-originated service to increase its distribution to markets without an over-the-air affiliate in July 1998; however, the service, which was to have been named UPN Plus, ultimately never launched.
The network was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television; Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which produced most of the network's series) turned the network into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in the network, and subsequently purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000.
As a result of the lack of viewership, UPN operated on a loss and had lost $800 million by 2000. Within nearly two years of the network's launch, on December 8, 1996, Paramount/Viacom purchased a 50% stake in UPN from Chris-Craft for approximately $160 million.
For this reason, some doubt was cast on UPN's future after Fox Television Stations bought most of Chris-Craft's television stations for $5.5 billion on August 12, 2000, which included several UPN affiliates (including WWOR and West Coast flagship KCOP).
This left UPN as one of only two major broadcast networks that did not air a children's programming block, the other being Pax TV, which discontinued its Pax Kids lineup in 2000, before reviving children's programming as Ion Television through the 2007 launch of Qubo.
The Movie Trailer block was discontinued in 2000 to give stations that opted for them room for a two-hour block of select UPN series that aired in primetime during the previous week.
Three days later on February 8, Chris-Craft subsequently filed a lawsuit against Viacom in the New York Supreme Court to block the latter's merger with CBS, claiming that a pact signed between the two partners in 1997 had prevented either from owning "any interest, financial or otherwise" in "any competing network," including CBS, for a four-year period through January 2001.
Despite the uncertainty of the network's future following the Fox purchases, UPN reached four-year affiliation agreements with Fox Television Stations' nine UPN affiliates on September 24, 2003. In 2001, UPN entered into a public bidding war to acquire two series from The WB - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell - from producing studio 20th Century Fox Television.
The network also produced some special programs, including 2001's Iron Chef USA.
Viacom also proposed a rebranding of UPN into the "Paramount Network", using a prototype logo based on Paramount Pictures' mountain logo, which served as the basis for the "P" triangle in the network's original logo that was used until September 2002.
Fox later bought the third-largest UPN affiliate, Chicago's WPWR-TV, through a separate deal with Newsweb Corporation for $450 million in June 2002.
UPN eventually outbid The WB for the shows and aired them together on Tuesday nights until Roswell ended its run in 2002; Buffy ended its run the following year.
In January 2002, Viacom President and COO, Mel Karmazin restructured the network, resulting in UPN being taken out of the ownership of Paramount Television, and being placed under the oversight of CBS Television, with CBS President Leslie Moonves being given responsibility for the network.
UPN had planned to air a second season of the XFL in 2002, but it also demanded that SmackDown! be reduced by 30 minutes; McMahon did not agree to the change and the football league folded not long afterward. === News programming === Like Fox and The WB, UPN never aired national morning or evening newscasts; however, several of its affiliates and owned-and-operated stations did produce their own local news programs.
newscast as a UPN affiliate (it would begin producing newscasts for sister station WOIO-TV in February 1995, after that station became a CBS affiliate; though WOIO eventually took over production of the newscast by 2002).
WKBD shut down its news department (which was later shared with WWJ-TV) in December 2002, with its 10:00 p.m.
In September 2002, Digital Monsters moved to UPN from Fox Kids, due to Disney's acquisition of Fox's children's program inventory as well as the Fox Family Channel, which was renamed ABC Family the previous year.
WNPA/Pittsburgh originally branded itself as "UPN 19", but rebranded itself as "UPN Pittsburgh" soon after the network introduced its second and final logo in September 2002, making it one of the few that had carried both standardization styles.
KMSP's news division success despite UPN affiliation was one of the pushes for Fox Television Stations to acquire United Television overall, then convert KMSP-TV to a Fox owned-and-operated station in the fall of 2002.
Despite the uncertainty of the network's future following the Fox purchases, UPN reached four-year affiliation agreements with Fox Television Stations' nine UPN affiliates on September 24, 2003. In 2001, UPN entered into a public bidding war to acquire two series from The WB - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Roswell - from producing studio 20th Century Fox Television.
KSTW and WTOG's news departments were shut down in 1998 due to cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom; newscasts would briefly return to KSTW via a news sharing agreement with KIRO-TV between 2003 and 2005. Not all of UPN's news-producing stations were owned by the two companies that formed the nuclei of the network's affiliate group; WUAB/Cleveland, which started its news department in 1988, also continued its 10:00 p.m.
UPN subsequently chose not to renew its contract with Disney, with the network dropping all children's programming after August 31, 2003.
Some affiliates were also known to extensively preempt network programming in order to broadcast local sporting events. By 2003, UPN had an estimated audience reach of 85.98% of all U.S.
One such event occurred on September 26, 2004, when Hurricane Jeanne forced a scheduled NFL game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins in Miami to be postponed from its scheduled start time of 1:00 p.m.
During the 2004–2005 season, the network was getting consistently better ratings than The WB, much of this thanks to its carriage of the WWE. === Station standardization === When the network launched, UPN began having most of its stations branded using a combination of "UPN" or "Paramount" (the latter having been used only by the network's Viacom-owned stations, some of whom adopted the "Paramount" branding prior to UPN's launch), and the affiliated station's channel number.
In December 2005, UPN was spun off to CBS Corporation when Viacom split into two separate companies.
The split took effect on December 31, 2005. On January 24, 2006, UPN parent CBS Corporation and Time Warner, the majority owner of The WB, announced that they would shut down the two respective networks and launch a new broadcast network that would be operated as a joint venture between both companies, The CW, which incorporated UPN and The WB's higher-rated programs with newer series produced exclusively for The CW.
In the summer of 2005, UPN aired R U the Girl, in which R&B group TLC searched for a woman to join them on a new song.
KSTW and WTOG's news departments were shut down in 1998 due to cost-cutting measures mandated by Viacom; newscasts would briefly return to KSTW via a news sharing agreement with KIRO-TV between 2003 and 2005. Not all of UPN's news-producing stations were owned by the two companies that formed the nuclei of the network's affiliate group; WUAB/Cleveland, which started its news department in 1988, also continued its 10:00 p.m.
newscast continuing to be produced by ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV until its eventual cancellation in 2005. === Children's programming === When the network launched in January 1995, UPN debuted a weekend morning cartoon block called UPN Kids (later called "The UPN Kids Action Zone" during the 1998–99 season).
Eastern Time; the game aired locally on KDKA-TV and WFOR-TV while their respective UPN sister stations, WNPA-TV and WBFS-TV, aired CBS's regular Sunday night programming instead. These factors led to the network struggling in the ratings over much of UPN's existence, with its later Star Trek franchise, Enterprise, perhaps suffering the most and ultimately being cancelled by the network in a controversial decision in February 2005.
CBS Corporation and Time Warner jointly announced on January 24, 2006 that the companies would shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network later that year.
UPN ceased broadcasting on September 15, 2006, with The WB following suit two days later.
Select programs from both networks moved to the new network, The CW, when it launched on September 18, 2006. == History == === 1949–1993: Origins of the network === Paramount Pictures had played a pivotal role in the development of network television.
A merger would ultimately come in 2006 with the creation of The CW. UPN launched on January 16, 1995, initially carrying programming only on Monday and Tuesday nights from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m.
The split took effect on December 31, 2005. On January 24, 2006, UPN parent CBS Corporation and Time Warner, the majority owner of The WB, announced that they would shut down the two respective networks and launch a new broadcast network that would be operated as a joint venture between both companies, The CW, which incorporated UPN and The WB's higher-rated programs with newer series produced exclusively for The CW.
One month later on February 22, Fox announced the formation of MyNetworkTV, a new network that would also debut in September 2006 that would use the company's soon-to-be former UPN affiliates as the nuclei.
Programming-wise, six UPN shows – America's Next Top Model (which was the last surviving series from UPN that remained on The CW's schedule until it moved to VH1 in 2016), Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, All of Us, and WWE SmackDown – were chosen to move to The CW for its inaugural 2006–07 fall schedule. UPN quietly went off the air on Friday, September 15, 2006, at 9:59 PM EDT, ending the network's existence after 11 years.
KTTV took over production of sister station KCOP's newscasts in 2007, before discontinuing news programming on that station in 2013.
This left UPN as one of only two major broadcast networks that did not air a children's programming block, the other being Pax TV, which discontinued its Pax Kids lineup in 2000, before reviving children's programming as Ion Television through the 2007 launch of Qubo.
In another parallel, 20th Century Fox (the News Corporation subsidiary behind the Fox network, which was spun off with the company's other entertainment assets to 21st Century Fox in July 2013), like Paramount, had long been a powerhouse in television syndication.
KTTV took over production of sister station KCOP's newscasts in 2007, before discontinuing news programming on that station in 2013.
Programming-wise, six UPN shows – America's Next Top Model (which was the last surviving series from UPN that remained on The CW's schedule until it moved to VH1 in 2016), Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, All of Us, and WWE SmackDown – were chosen to move to The CW for its inaugural 2006–07 fall schedule. UPN quietly went off the air on Friday, September 15, 2006, at 9:59 PM EDT, ending the network's existence after 11 years.
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