Katana VentraIP

USA Network

USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Media Group division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports cable television channels, before being relaunched under its current name on April 9, 1980. Since then, USA steadily gained popularity through its original programming, a long-established partnership with WWF/WWE and, for many years, limited sports programming that increased significantly in 2022 after the shutdown of NBCSN.

Country

United States

Nationwide

English
Spanish

1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)

  • September 22, 1977 (1977-09-22) (as MSG)
  • April 9, 1980 (1980-04-09) (re-launch as USA Network)

Madison Square Garden Sports Network (1977–1980)

As of September 2018, USA Network was commercially available to about 90.4 million households (98% of households with pay television) in the US.[1] By June 2023, this number has dropped to 72.4 million households.[2]

1912

Universal Pictures is founded

NBC is founded

MCA Inc. establishes Revue Studios (later Universal Television)

NBC begins first compatible color broadcasts, preceding other networks by nine years

NBC's first peacock logo debuts

American Cable Systems is founded

NBC broadcasts the first Super Bowl

American Cable Systems rebrands to Comcast

Comcast began trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)

Universal releases Jaws

PolyGram renames Casablanca Record & Filmworks to PolyGram Pictures

Universal releases E.T. The Extra Terrestrial

Walter Lantz Productions is sold to Universal

Universal releases Back to the Future

General Electric buys RCA for $6.4 billion, including NBC and a stake in A&E

NBC relaunches Tempo Television as CNBC

Universal Studios Florida opens
Law & Order premieres on NBC
Sky Television and British Satellite Broadcasting merge to form British Sky Broadcasting
Universal Cartoon Studios (later Universal Animation Studios) is established

Universal releases Jurassic Park

NBC and Microsoft launch MSNBC

Barry Diller purchases Universal's domestic television assets

Seagram acquires PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Universal Television is renamed Studios USA Television

PolyGram Filmed Entertainment is folded into Universal Pictures
Universal Studios Florida expands to become Universal Orlando Resort

Grand opening of Universal Studios Japan
Universal releases The Fast and the Furious
Vivendi purchases Studios USA

NBC acquires Telemundo and Bravo
Studios USA assets are folded into Universal
Focus Features is formed
Comcast acquires AT&T Broadband for $44.5 billion

Universal becomes the first studio with five summer releases breaking the $100 million mark

GE and Vivendi merge NBC and Universal into NBCUniversal

The Office premieres on NBC
Comcast sets up a joint-venture with PBS, Sesame Workshop & HIT Entertainment to form PBS Kids Sprout
Comcast & Time Warner Cable jointly acquire Adelphia Cable assets for $17.6 billion

USA Network begins 13-year streak as #1 cable network in total viewers

Illumination is founded

Universal releases Illumination's first film Despicable Me

Vivendi divested in NBCU; Comcast buys 51% of NBCU from GE, turning it into a limited liability company
NBCUniversal Archives is founded

Universal celebrates its 100th anniversary
NBCUniversal divests its A&E Networks minority stake

Comcast buys GE's remaining 49% of NBCU
Comcast/NBCU assumes full ownership of Sprout

Comcast attempts to acquire Time Warner Cable for $45.2 billion
NBCUniversal reaches a new long-term deal with WWE

NBCU acquires DreamWorks Animation

Sprout relaunches as Universal Kids

Comcast acquires Sky after a heated bidding war with 21st Century Fox

NBCU acquires Cineo Lighting

NBCU launches Peacock

Grand opening of Universal Beijing Resort

The Super Mario Bros. Movie becomes Illumination's highest-grossing film

High definition[edit]

High-definition simulcasts of USA Network sports coverage, and reruns of original programs produced in the format, were originally carried by Universal HD.[62][63] In 2007, USA Network launched a HD feed.[64]

International[edit]

Canada[edit]

In February 2007, Shaw Communications submitted an application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to carry the USA Network in Canada as a foreign service that would be eligible for carriage by domestic cable and satellite providers (and to automatically allow all English-language general interest cable networks from the United States into Canada). However, because of programming rights issues with other Canadian specialty channels, certain programs would be subjected to blackout restrictions, including WWE Raw.[65]


In September 2007, the CRTC refused Shaw's request to carry USA Network in Canada on the basis that the channel carried too much programming that overlapped with the English language digital cable specialty channel Mystery TV (which is then owned by Canwest – later Shaw Media – and formerly, Groupe TVA).[66] However, on September 20, the CRTC stated that it would reconsider their denial of the eligible foreign carriage proposal for USA Network at a later date, when Shaw instead offered to carry the channel on the digital cable tiers of its Shaw Cable systems.[67] In spite of this, the CRTC has since rejected the restructured proposal on the basis that USA's programming would be competitive with Mystery TV.


Many of USA's original programs currently air on either Showcase or CTV Drama Channel. WWE programming that airs on USA also airs on Rogers Media-owned Sportsnet 360.

Official website