Vahan
01-03-2014, 01:00 AM
It was 35 years ago today, on Wednesday January 3, 1979, that the Madison Square Garden Network relaunched as USA Network. It was the result of a joint operating agreement by cable provider UA-Columbia Cablevision and the then-MCA Inc./Universal City Studios.
At first, it was more or less the same as its predecessor by running a mix of college and less well-known professional sports similar to ESPN. The channel began its broadcast day after 5 p.m. ET on weekdays and 12 p.m. ET on weekends. That fall, USA began signing on at 12 p.m. ET on weekdays and began to run some talk shows and a children's program called Calliope. In the fall of 1981, USA began its daily programming at 6 a.m. ET, with talk shows and children's programs until 12 p.m., sports from 12 p.m. onward during weekends and until 3 p.m. weekdays, talk shows from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays, and sports again after 6 p.m. ET.
Then in 1982, Time Inc. and Gulf+Western's Paramount Pictures unit bought 50% of the network, with MCA maintaining the other 50%. As a result of the buyout, USA began running everything from talk shows, to children's programs, to low-budget movies. Weekday evenings featured classic cartoons that were part of USA Cartoon Express, with sports programming after 7 p.m. Weekends had a mix of movies, some older drama series and talk shows during the morning hours, and sports in the afternoons and evenings. Overnights consisted of old low-budget films and film shorts, and music as part of a show called Night Flight.
From 1984 to 1986, USA began slowly moving away from sports programming to showcase programs not shown anywhere else. One of these was the beginning of game shows, starting in October 1984 with The Gong Show and Make me Laugh. In September 1985, the network began airing a revival of the mid-1970s game show Jackpot, and another original show was added in September 1986: Love Me, Love Me Not. More shows were progressively added soon after such as The Joker's Wild, Tic-Tac-Dough, Press Your Luck, High Rollers, and Hollywood Squares with John Davidson, along with Wipeout, Face the Music and Name That Tune. Another original game show was added in June 1987, called Bumper Stumpers. When it began, the game show block ran for an hour, but expanded significantly the following year. By 1989, the network ran game shows from 12 to 5 p.m. five days a week.
The tradition of game show reruns continued into the 1990s with the $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids, the early 1990s revivals of The Joker's Wild and Tic-Tac-Dough plus other well-known shows such as Scrabble, Sale of the Century, Talk About and Caesars Challenge. Additionally, two more original shows were added in June 1994: Free 4 All and Quicksilver. The block was decreased in September 1991 to only three hours, from 2 to 5 p.m. However, another hour was added in March 1993. In November 1994, it was cut back to only two hours, from 2 to 4 p.m. On September 24, 1992, USA launched a sister network, the Sci Fi Channel, which in July 2009 was renamed Syfy.
In October of 1995, USA did away with the afternoon game shows, and replaced it with USA Live, which featured reruns of The People's Court and Love Connection. That block ended in 1997.
In 1997, three years after the Paramount/Viacom merger, that company sold its stake in the networks to Universal. Seagrams/Universal subsequently sold the networks to Barry Diller. In exchange, Seagram acquired a 45% stake in Diller's HSN conglomerate, creating USA Networks, Inc.
In 2000, USA Networks bought Canadian media company North American Television, Inc. (a joint partnership between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Corporation of Canada), owner of cable television channels Trio and Newsworld International (the CBC continued to program NWI until 2005, when eventual USA owner Vivendi sold the channel to a group led by Al Gore, who relaunched it as Current TV).
In 2001, USA Networks sold its non-shopping television and film assets (including the USA Network, the Sci Fi Channel, the Trio channel, USA Films (which was rechristened as Focus Features) and Studios USA) to Vivendi Universal. USA and the other channels were folded into Vivendi's Universal Television Group. The comedy-drama police procedural Monk made its debut in 2002 and became one of USA Network's first breakout hit series, it ran for eight seasons until it ended on December 4, 2009.
In 2003, General Electric's NBC agreed to acquire an 80% ownership interest in Vivendi Universal's North American-based filmed entertainment assets, including Universal Pictures and Universal Television Group in a multi-billion dollar purchase, renaming the merged company NBC Universal. NBC Universal officially took over as owner of USA and its sibling cable channels (except for Newsworld International, as stated above) in 2004. That year, USA premiered the sci-fi series The 4400.
In 2011, control and majority ownership of then-parent NBCUniversal passed from General Electric to Comcast. Comcast would purchase GE's stock in NBCU two years later.
And that's the history of USA Network.
Some of you may be asking what are my thoughts on USA Network's as a whole.
Well, let's just say that my fondest memories were watching the USA Cartoon Express, the afternoon game shows (my favorite being Press Your Luck), and a lot of the movies they would show. I think the channel slowly started going downhill when they got rid of the game shows. But the final nail in the coffin came when Barry Diller took over in 1998, predating the NBC-Universal buyout by five years. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, Barry Diller made the network more popular than ever.
And I leave you now with a history of USA Network logos, dating back to 1979.
http://ryxxo.com/USA.jpg
1979-1996 logo. Slogans used:
1979-1989: It's a Great Place to Stay/America's All Entertainment Cable Network
1989-1993: America's Favorite Cable Network
1993-1996: The Remote Stops Here
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/USA_Network_1996.svg
1996-1999 logo. Slogan used:
The Cure for the Common Show
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/USA_Network_logo_1999.png
1999-2005 logo. Slogan used:
You are Here
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/USA_Network_logo_%282006%29.svg
Current logo. Slogan used:
Characters Welcome
At first, it was more or less the same as its predecessor by running a mix of college and less well-known professional sports similar to ESPN. The channel began its broadcast day after 5 p.m. ET on weekdays and 12 p.m. ET on weekends. That fall, USA began signing on at 12 p.m. ET on weekdays and began to run some talk shows and a children's program called Calliope. In the fall of 1981, USA began its daily programming at 6 a.m. ET, with talk shows and children's programs until 12 p.m., sports from 12 p.m. onward during weekends and until 3 p.m. weekdays, talk shows from 3 to 6 p.m. weekdays, and sports again after 6 p.m. ET.
Then in 1982, Time Inc. and Gulf+Western's Paramount Pictures unit bought 50% of the network, with MCA maintaining the other 50%. As a result of the buyout, USA began running everything from talk shows, to children's programs, to low-budget movies. Weekday evenings featured classic cartoons that were part of USA Cartoon Express, with sports programming after 7 p.m. Weekends had a mix of movies, some older drama series and talk shows during the morning hours, and sports in the afternoons and evenings. Overnights consisted of old low-budget films and film shorts, and music as part of a show called Night Flight.
From 1984 to 1986, USA began slowly moving away from sports programming to showcase programs not shown anywhere else. One of these was the beginning of game shows, starting in October 1984 with The Gong Show and Make me Laugh. In September 1985, the network began airing a revival of the mid-1970s game show Jackpot, and another original show was added in September 1986: Love Me, Love Me Not. More shows were progressively added soon after such as The Joker's Wild, Tic-Tac-Dough, Press Your Luck, High Rollers, and Hollywood Squares with John Davidson, along with Wipeout, Face the Music and Name That Tune. Another original game show was added in June 1987, called Bumper Stumpers. When it began, the game show block ran for an hour, but expanded significantly the following year. By 1989, the network ran game shows from 12 to 5 p.m. five days a week.
The tradition of game show reruns continued into the 1990s with the $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids, the early 1990s revivals of The Joker's Wild and Tic-Tac-Dough plus other well-known shows such as Scrabble, Sale of the Century, Talk About and Caesars Challenge. Additionally, two more original shows were added in June 1994: Free 4 All and Quicksilver. The block was decreased in September 1991 to only three hours, from 2 to 5 p.m. However, another hour was added in March 1993. In November 1994, it was cut back to only two hours, from 2 to 4 p.m. On September 24, 1992, USA launched a sister network, the Sci Fi Channel, which in July 2009 was renamed Syfy.
In October of 1995, USA did away with the afternoon game shows, and replaced it with USA Live, which featured reruns of The People's Court and Love Connection. That block ended in 1997.
In 1997, three years after the Paramount/Viacom merger, that company sold its stake in the networks to Universal. Seagrams/Universal subsequently sold the networks to Barry Diller. In exchange, Seagram acquired a 45% stake in Diller's HSN conglomerate, creating USA Networks, Inc.
In 2000, USA Networks bought Canadian media company North American Television, Inc. (a joint partnership between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Corporation of Canada), owner of cable television channels Trio and Newsworld International (the CBC continued to program NWI until 2005, when eventual USA owner Vivendi sold the channel to a group led by Al Gore, who relaunched it as Current TV).
In 2001, USA Networks sold its non-shopping television and film assets (including the USA Network, the Sci Fi Channel, the Trio channel, USA Films (which was rechristened as Focus Features) and Studios USA) to Vivendi Universal. USA and the other channels were folded into Vivendi's Universal Television Group. The comedy-drama police procedural Monk made its debut in 2002 and became one of USA Network's first breakout hit series, it ran for eight seasons until it ended on December 4, 2009.
In 2003, General Electric's NBC agreed to acquire an 80% ownership interest in Vivendi Universal's North American-based filmed entertainment assets, including Universal Pictures and Universal Television Group in a multi-billion dollar purchase, renaming the merged company NBC Universal. NBC Universal officially took over as owner of USA and its sibling cable channels (except for Newsworld International, as stated above) in 2004. That year, USA premiered the sci-fi series The 4400.
In 2011, control and majority ownership of then-parent NBCUniversal passed from General Electric to Comcast. Comcast would purchase GE's stock in NBCU two years later.
And that's the history of USA Network.
Some of you may be asking what are my thoughts on USA Network's as a whole.
Well, let's just say that my fondest memories were watching the USA Cartoon Express, the afternoon game shows (my favorite being Press Your Luck), and a lot of the movies they would show. I think the channel slowly started going downhill when they got rid of the game shows. But the final nail in the coffin came when Barry Diller took over in 1998, predating the NBC-Universal buyout by five years. Unfortunately, much to my dismay, Barry Diller made the network more popular than ever.
And I leave you now with a history of USA Network logos, dating back to 1979.
http://ryxxo.com/USA.jpg
1979-1996 logo. Slogans used:
1979-1989: It's a Great Place to Stay/America's All Entertainment Cable Network
1989-1993: America's Favorite Cable Network
1993-1996: The Remote Stops Here
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d4/USA_Network_1996.svg
1996-1999 logo. Slogan used:
The Cure for the Common Show
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/be/USA_Network_logo_1999.png
1999-2005 logo. Slogan used:
You are Here
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/USA_Network_logo_%282006%29.svg
Current logo. Slogan used:
Characters Welcome