UPN

The United Paramount Network (UPN) is an American free-to-air commercial television network that is owned as a joint venture between the Paramount Stations Group, a subsidiary of Paramount and Dorado Media, and by E-Media.
== History ==
=== Launch (1994-2000) ===
Paramount formed the Paramount Stations Group when it purchased the assets of the TVX Broadcast Group, which owned several independent stations in major markets, in 1991. This was not unlike the purchase of the Metromedia stations by News Corporation five years earlier, which were used as the nuclei for Fox. 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. 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. The new network would be owned by Chris-Craft Industries, while most of its shows were to be produced by Paramount Television. The "U" in UPN stood for Chris-Craft subsidiary United Television, which owned the network's two largest stations, Chris-Craft and Paramount/Viacom each owned independent stations in several large and mid-sized U.S. cities, and these stations formed the nuclei of the new network.
UPN launched on January 16, 1995, initially carrying programming only on Monday and Tuesday nights from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. The first telecast, the two-hour pilot episode of Star Trek: Voyager, was an auspiciously widely viewed start – being watched by 21.3 million viewers; however, Voyager would never achieve such viewership levels again, nor would any of the series debuting on UPN's second night of broadcasting survive the season. In contrast, The WB debuted one week earlier, on January 11, with four series – only one of which, Muscle, would not survive its first season. The first comedy series to debut on UPN were Platypus Man, starring Richard Jeni, and Pig Sty, with both shows airing Monday nights in the 9:00 p.m. hour; both received mixed reviews, and neither lasted long.
Other early UPN programs included the action series Nowhere Man, starring Bruce Greenwood and Marker, starring Richard Grieco; the comic western Legend starring Richard Dean Anderson; the science-fiction themed action series, The Sentinel; and Moesha, a sitcom starring Brandy Norwood. Of the network's early offerings, only Star Trek: Voyager, Moesha and The Sentinel would last longer than one season. As a result of the lack of viewership, UPN operated in 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. Like Fox had done nine years earlier, UPN started with a few nights of programming each week, with additional nights of primetime shows gradually being added over the course of several seasons. Because of this, UPN's affiliates were basically independent stations for all intents and purposes during the network's early years, with these stations airing either syndicated programs or movies during primetime on nights when the network did not provide programming. The first expansion of its primetime lineup came with the addition of programming on Wednesday nights in the 1996–97 season.
UPN completed its primetime 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. That season saw the debut of The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer, a sitcom set during the Civil War that centered on a black English nobleman who becomes the valet to Abraham Lincoln; even before its debut, the series was riddled by controversy and protests from several African American activist groups (including the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP, who picketed outside of Paramount Studios one week before the originally scheduled pilot episode) and some advertisers for its perceived lighthearted take on American slavery in the 19th century, protested against the premise of the series. Despite what publicity Desmond received from its controversial topicality, the series suffered from low ratings (with the first episode on October 5, 1998 placing 116th out of 125 programs aired that week on network television) and was cancelled after four episodes.
=== Viacom Era and Decline (2000-06) ===
Six months after the company announced its $36 billion merger with (the original) CBS Corporation, on February 4, 2000, Viacom exercised a contractual clause that would – within a 45-day grace period – force Chris-Craft to either buy Viacom out of UPN, or have the former sell its ownership stake in the network to Viacom. 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. On March 17, New York Supreme Court judge Herman Cahn ruled against Chris-Craft's move for a permanent injunction to curtail the Viacom-CBS merger and the enforcement of Viacom's ultimatum.
Unable to find a suitable partner, on March 20, Chris-Craft allowed Viacom to buy out its 50% stake for $5 million, giving Viacom full control of the network. This gave UPN the rare distinction of being one of the only broadcast networks to not have had owned-and-operated stations (O&O) in the three largest media markets, New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago (with The WB – the only network never to have had an O&O – being the only other, as minority owner Tribune Broadcasting-owned most of its charter affiliates including those in all three markets, while majority owner Time Warner instead owned certain affiliates of New Line Network, Warner Bros. Television Network, TNT, and TBS).
Viacom's purchase of CBS a few months before (which resulted in the merger of that network's owned-and-operated stations into Viacom's Paramount Stations Group unit. Viacom's purchase of CBS was said to be the "death knell" for the Federal Communications Commission's longtime ban on television station duopolies.
UPN reached a four-year affiliation agreement 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. 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. New shows began to breathe life into the network starting in the fall of 2001 with Reba, followed up by the fall 2003 premiere of the sitcom All of Us (which was produced by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith) the fall 2004 premiere of the mystery series Veronica Mars, and then by the Chris Rock-produced and narrated sitcom Everybody Hates Chris in 2005.
On June 14, 2005, Viacom announced that it would be split into two companies due to declining performance of the company's stock; both the original Viacom – which was renamed CBS Corporation – and a new company that took the Viacom name would be controlled by the original Viacom's parent National Amusements (controlled by Sumner Redstone). UPN became part of CBS Corporation, while the new Viacom kept Paramount Pictures among other holdings each company acquired in the deal. Like The WB, most of its affiliates were moved to independent or another network.
=== New life (2006-Present) ===
On January 24, 2006, after announcing the creation of The CW with Time Warner (owners of The WB) UPN parent CBS Corporation announced that they would give UPN back to Viacom. For about two years, UPN was in the red. Viacom (who was also running the Paramount Network), decided to sell 50% of the company. In 2009, Viacom began the Paramount Stations Group who bought 50% of the company, with the option to buy Viacom out in 10 years. As part of the agreement, Paramount Television agreed to produce some programming for UPN and help establish UPN Sports. Also, Paramount agreed to turn some of their affiliates to UPN affiliates, even if it meant adding UPN on their subchannels. The Paramount Stations Group has recently announced that the UPN News Network will begin broadcasting in December 2015, officially forming the new UPN News division with the help of Lady Luck Communications.
Lady Luck left UPN on December 21, 2019, and was then replaced with E-Media.
==Schedule==
All Times
Eastern	Monday 	Tuesday 	Wednesday 	Thursday 	Friday 	Saturday 	Sunday
7 AM 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
7:30 AM 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
8 AM 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
8:30 AM 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	The Morning Show 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
9 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
9:30 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
10 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
10:30 AM	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
11 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
11:30 AM	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
12 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
12:30 PM	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
1 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
1:30 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
2 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
2:30 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
3 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
3:30 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	UPN Kids Block
4 PM 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
4:30 PM 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
5 PM 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
5:30 PM 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
6 PM 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
6:30 PM 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Afternoon News 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
7 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Channel 99
7:30 PM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	NYPD Mounted
8 PM 	Chevy 	Mix 	The King of 7B 	The Adversaries 	Friday
Night Hockey
on
UPN Sports	The UPN
Movie
of
the
Week	The Cameleon
8:30 PM 	Delores & Jermaine 	Mix 	Happy Life 	The Adversaries 	Friday
Night Hockey
on
UPN Sports	The UPN
Movie
of
the
Week	The Cameleon
9 PM 	Family Fortune 	Warrior 	48 Hours 'Til Monday 	The Advocate 	Friday
Night Hockey
on
UPN Sports	The UPN
Movie
of
the
Week	Daytona Beach
9:30 PM 	The 46 Percenters 	Warrior 	The Perfect Stanley's	The Advocate 	Friday
Night Hockey
on
UPN Sports	The UPN
Movie
of
the
Week	Daytona Beach
10 PM 	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News
10:30 PM	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News
11 PM 	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News
11:30 PM	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News	Local Late Night News
12 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
12:30 AM	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
1 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
1:30 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
2 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
2:30 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
3 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
3:30 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
4 AM 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming 	Local Programming
4:30 AM 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	 	
5 AM 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	 	
5:30 AM 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	 	
6 AM 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	 	
6:30 AM 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	Local Morning News 	 	
===UPN Daytime===
UPN only airs two game shows as part of their daytime lineup: Temptation: The New Sale of the Century and The Weakest Link.
=== UPN Kids ===
Unlike Kids' WB, UPN airs their children's programming weekday mornings from 7-9 AM (regardless of the time zone).Since 2006, UPN runs UPN Kids block weekday mornings and Sunday Afternoons.
UPN Kids
(Saturday Morning)	UPN Kids
(Sunday Afternoons)
7-7:30 AM: X-Men
7:30-8 AM: Spider-Man
8-8:30 AM: Iron Man
8:30-9 AM: The Incredible Hulk	12-12:30 PM: X-Men
12:30-1 PM: Spider-Man
1-1:30 PM: Iron Man
1:30-2 PM: The Incredible Hulk
2-2:30 PM: Fantastic Four
2:30-3 PM: Bettleborgs
3-3:30 PM: Breaker High
3:30-4 PM: Sweet Valley High
==Affiliates==
*Call Signs listed in italics are O&O Stations
===U.S.===
CallSign	Channel/DT	Market 	State
KASM 	14.1 	Sprawl City 	TX
KCOS-LP 	28.1 	Phoenix 	AZ
KCYW 	28.1 	Tulsa 	OK
KDES 	3.2 	Des Moines 	IA
KFAI 	29.1 	Flagstaff 	AZ
KFDP 	8.1 	Dallas 	TX
KGLH 	30.1 	Amarillo 	TX
KUPR 	30.1 	Prattsville 	NE
KGNR 	10.1 	El Paso/Las Cruces 	TX/NM
KHFQ 	38.1 	Junction 	TX
KHMM-CA 	38.1 	Angel Grove 	CA
KJOP 	3.2 	Joplin 	MO
KKAH 	28.1 	Kahului 	HI
KLBU 	53.1 	Lubbock 	TX
KLCL 	
57.1 	
Lake Charles 	
LA
KLVJ 	46.1 	Chickasha 	OK
KMBQ 	7.1 	Anchorage 	AK
KMSU 	16.1 	Missoula 	MT
KNJO-LP 	28.1 	Eloy 	AZ
KNUP 	38.1 	New Texas/Jenkinsville/Preton 	Arizona
KNYP 	32.1 	New York 	NY
KOAK 	20.1 	Juneau 	AK
KPAL 	68.1 	Tucson 	AZ
KPLA 	25.1 	Los Angeles 	CA
KUBU 	18.1 	Sherman Oaks 	CA
KUHF 	30.1 	Benegine/Michaelsville/El Sendero	AZ
KUOK-CA 	11.1 	Oklahoma City 	OK
KUPD 	3.1 	Denver 	CO
KUTA 	9.1 	Salt Lake City 	UT
KVFA 	20.1 	Yreka 	CA
KVLE-DT 	60.1 	Brownsville 	TX
KVUP 	39.1 	Ventura Bay 	CA
KWCO 	40.1 	Wichita Falls/Lawton 	TX/OK
KWED 	57.1 	Weed 	CA
KXGO 	27.1 	Eugene 	OR
KXYZ 	69.1 	Houston 	TX
WAKN 	11.1 	Cleveland 	OH
WAUP 	28.1 	Atlantic City 	NJ
WBNO 	41.1 	Bend 	OR
WCHP 	20.1 	Chicago 	IL
WEGE 	5.1 	Albany 	NY
WHKF 	40.1 	Pittsburgh 	PA
WHTM 	4.1 	Hagerstown 	MD
WLOT 	28.1 	Charlotte 	NC
WPDC 	7.1 	Washington 	DC
WPEN 	2.2 	Baltimore 	MD
WPXJ-LP 	21.1 	Maimi 	FL
WQBH 	60.1 	Clearwater 	FL
WQDA 	23.1 	Columbus 	GA
WRVO 	4.1 	Rome 	GA
WSMR-DT 	20.1 	Richmond 	VA
WTGQ 	13.1 	Erie 	PA
WTLB 	61.1 	Toledo 	OH
WTLE-LP 	13.1 	Fort Myers 	FL
WTSE 	44.1 	Largo 	FL
WUMV 	16.1 	Benton Harbor 	MI
WUPA 	9.1 	Aurora 	OH
WUPN 	13.1 	New Britain 	CT
WUPO 	57.1 	Orlando 	FL
WUPV 	45.1 	Ponyville 	EQ
WUPT 	28.1 	Memphis 	TN
WWBI 	51.1 	Burlington/Plattsburgh 	VT/NY
WYEZ 	68.1 	South Bend 	IN
WXMS-LP 	28.1 	Tupelo 	MS
=== Elsewhere ===
CallSign	Channel/DT	Broadcast area 	Country
CRUPN-TV	9.1 	Pearl City, Seminole	Cheyenna
DYDPN-DT	28.1 	Thrasher, Calikota 	Dahrconia
WUPV 	45.1 	Ponyville 	Equestria
== Gallery ==
UnitedParamountNetwork.png|Logo from 1995 to 2019.
Sports 1.png|CHL on UPN Sports logo
UPN Sports 2.png|SWAC on UPN Sports logo
File:UPN Sports 3.png|Southern Heritage Classic on UPN Sports Logo
Category:Fictional television networks
Category:Television channels and stations established in 1995
Category:Paramount Global
Category:Fictional major networks
Category:E-Media