United Paramount Network
The United Paramount Network ( UPN ) was an American television network that mainly showed productions by the former Paramount Pictures subsidiary Paramount Television . The network belonged to the media group CBS Corporation .
history
UPN started on January 16, 1995 as a joint venture between Paramount and United Television Group (now part of News Corporation ), exactly two days before the rival network The WB of Time Warner's subsidiary Warner Bros. Entertainment . The pilot film The Carer for Paramount's new series Star Trek: Spaceship Voyager opened the program. In 2000 Viacom acquired full control of the station, but had to part with some television stations for competitive reasons. Although UPN was seen as a full network, it was not available in all US markets (only about 85% in 2003). UPN, WB and the even smaller PAX network (now known as Ion Television ) were therefore also referred to as netlets .
UPN made headlines with the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in 2005 in Germany. The series was discontinued after only 4 seasons due to bad ratings. However, critics claim that the series just wasn't adequately promoted.
After the old Viacom group was split into two companies on January 1, 2006, UPN belonged to the CBS Corporation .
In September 2006 UPN and The WB merged to form the new network The CW . This was the first time since DuMont in 1956 that an American network ceased operations.
broadcasts
Examples of programs that were (first) broadcast on UPN are Moesha , Sonic Underground , WWE SmackDown! , America's Next Top Model , Half'n'Half , Hot Plaster Hawaii , Girlfriends , Veronica Mars , Star Trek: Enterprise , Star Trek: Spaceship Voyager , Jake 2.0 , Special Unit 2 , Seven Days - Das Tor zur Zeit , Buffy - Im The Vampire Slayer , Everyone Hates Chris and The Sentinel - In The Hunter's Eye .