Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index 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 movies. USA also shows some sports coverage, such as select golf and tennis tournaments. In the past, it had a weekly boxing show named USA Tuesday Night Fights. The show ran for approximately eight years. Table of contents 1 USA Network Timeline 2 USA Original Programming 3 External Links USA Network Timeline 1977: Originally organized in 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 chenged 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 ownerhsip 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 USA Films, and PolyGram Video, renaming it USA Home Video. 2000: USA Networks buys Canada's North American Television, Inc., owner of cable TV channels Trio and News World International. 2001: USA Networks sells its non-shopping TV and film assets (including the USA Network, the Sci Fi Channel, the Trio Channel, USA Films 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. USA Original Programming D.C. Sniper: 23 Days of Fear, movie The Dead Zone, series Duckman, animated series Monk, series Silk Stalkings, series U.S. Open Tennis Championships USA Up!! All Night!!, variety with Rhonda Shear Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show External Links USA Network This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.