Satellite Program Network (SPN) was a satellite and cable television network that broadcast in the United States from 1979 to 1989. Following a name change to Tempo Television in 1986, it was bought by NBC and relaunched as CNBC in 1989.

History

SPN was created by Ed Taylor, an associate of Ted Turner and the head of the Southern Satellite Systems company. The network, which began in 1979, was the second-oldest cable-only network. In 1985, SPN was acquired by Satellite Syndicated Systems. Among the programs broadcast on SPN were ''

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'', an early music video show (before the launch of

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

); ''News from Home'', a program for Canadians in the US, hosted by early CNN news anchor Don Miller; ''

The Shopping Game ''The Shopping Game'' is an American game show created and produced by Nick Nicholson and E. Roger Muir that aired on the Satellite Program Network (SPN). The program aired mainly during 1982, and was taped in Nashville, TN and hosted by Art James ...

'', a Nicholson-Muir game show produced in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

and hosted by Art James; ''The Susan Noon Show'', featuring celebrity interviews; ''Nutrition Dialogue'', hosted by Dr. Betty Kamen; ''

Sewing with Nancy ''Sewing with Nancy'' is an American television show about sewing, hosted by Nancy Zieman. It made its debut on the now-defunct Satellite Program Network (SPN, later Tempo Television) in September 1982. On September 1, 1982, PBS began airing the ...

''; ''The

Paul Ryan Paul Davis Ryan (born January 29, 1970) is an American former politician who served as the List of Speakers of the United States House of Representatives, 54th speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 2015 to 2019. A member o ...

Show'', another celebrity interview program with the actor/interviewer of the same name; and ''Moscow Meridian'', a current-affairs program produced by Soviet authorities and hosted by Vladimir Posner. Reruns of old situation comedies and movies, mostly from low-budget studios, rounded out the schedule. In 1984, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) paid SPN to broadcast some

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

games of the Division I-AA playoffs, including that season's championship game, following a

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

ruling ('' NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma'') that halted the NCAA's practice of negotiating television contracts for its members.

Tempo Television

In March 1986, Satellite Syndicated Systems changed its name to Tempo Enterprises, and SPN and SPN International were changed to Tempo Television and TEMPO International, respectively. Tempo Television was a 24-hour national cable network serving all contiguous states, Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Using a counter-programming philosophy, Tempo Television fulfilled viewer needs by dividing its program schedule into various dayparts including international programming, finance, sports, leisure and classic films. Market studies clearly indicated that this unique programming approach attracted and retained upscale audiences who were looking for entertainment that was informative and substantially different from the standard options. A Canadian regulatory description of the channel in 1988 said that Tempo's "schedule consists of outdoors, travel, general information and entertainment programming and classic feature films that are in the public domain." In May 1988, by which time Tempo had 12 million subscribers, the channel was purchased by NBC, mainly for its existing carriage and not its programming. It was relaunched on April 17, 1989, in a new guise as the business news channel CNBC.

History

Tempo Television

References

Further reading