Spike (network)

Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel and the flagship property of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, who operates it through the MTV Entertainment Group. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles. The channel was originally founded by a partnership between radio station WSM and Westinghouse Broadcasting as The Nashville Network (TNN) and began broadcasting on March 7, 1983.

It initially featured programming catering towards the culture of the Southern United States, including country music, variety shows, outdoors programming, and motor racing coverage (such as NASCAR). TNN was purchased by the Gaylord Entertainment Company in 1983. After Gaylord bought CMT in 1991, TNN's music programming was shifted to CMT, leaving TNN to focus on entertainment and lifestyle programming.

In 1995, TNN and CMT were acquired by Westinghouse (owner of CBS), which was in turn acquired by Viacom in 1999. Under Viacom ownership, TNN would phase out country-influenced programming in favor of a general entertainment format appealing to Middle America. It was renamed The National Network in September 2000, coinciding with the network premiere of '' WWF Raw''. In August 2003, TNN relaunched as Spike TV, which targeted a young adult male audience. From June 2006, the network's programming had a more explicit focus on the action genre, while in 2010, the network had an increased focus on original reality series. This culminated with a final rebrand in 2015 to emphasize gender-balanced series (such as ''Lip Sync Battle'') and a return to original scripted programming.

On January 18, 2018, the channel took its current name, aiming to align the network with its Paramount Pictures (which previously lent its name to the United Paramount Network, which is now The CW), and to position Spike as a flagship, "premium" channel (similar to pay television networks HBO and Cinemax, which are both owned by Home Box Office, Inc.). Paramount Network's most successful original program was ''Yellowstone—''which quickly became its flagship series, and has spawned multiple spin-offs on Paramount+, the streaming service owned by its parent company Paramount Global. The network has also featured limited engagements of new Paramount+ original series by ''Yellowstone'' co-creator Taylor Sheridan, using ''Yellowstone'' as a lead-in.

Between 2020 and 2021, most of Paramount Network's original programming would either be cancelled, or moved to other Paramount Global outlets, as part of a proposed plan to relaunch the network with a focus on made-for-TV films. By January 2022, these plans had been scrapped due to the impact of COVID-19, and the success of the ''Yellowstone'' franchise; leaving it, and Spike holdover ''Bar Rescue'', as the channel's only original, first-run programs. , approximately 61.33 million pay television households in the United States received Paramount Network; down from 80.24 million in September 2018.

History

The Nashville Network (1983–2000)

The Nashville Network first launched on March 7, 1983; it was dedicated to the culture and lifestyle of country music and the Southern United States. It originally operated as a joint venture of WSM, Inc., at the time owned by National Life and Accident Insurance Company, and Group W Satellite Communications. TNN operated from the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park near Nashville, Tennessee. Country Music Television (CMT), founded by Glenn D. Daniels, beat TNN's launch by two days, robbing them of the claim of the "first country music cable television network." TNN's flagship shows included ''Nashville Now'', ''The Statler Brothers Show'', ''American Sports Cavalcade'' and ''Grand Ole Opry Live''. ''Nashville Now'' and the ''Grand Ole Opry'' were broadcast live from Opryland USA.

The Gaylord Entertainment Company purchased WSM, along with TNN and the Opryland properties, in the latter half of 1987. Much of TNN's programming (except for its sports) during the Gaylord era was originally produced by Opryland Productions, also owned by Gaylord Entertainment. From 1983 to 1992, all of TNN's auto racing and motor sports coverage was produced by Diamond P Sports. Starting in 1993, TNN started having its NASCAR coverage produced by World Sports Enterprises, and the American Speed Association (ASA) coverage produced by Group 5 Sports, while Diamond P continued to produce most of the rest of the racing coverage. Programming included variety shows, talk shows, game shows, outdoor shows (such as hunting and fishing), and lifestyle shows; all centered in some way around country music or the country style of living.

Some of TNN's popular on-air talent included local Nashville media personalities Ralph Emery, Dan Miller, Charlie Chase and Lorianne Crook, as well as established stars such as country music singer Bill Anderson and actresses Florence Henderson and Dinah Shore. By 1995, TNN was acquired by Westinghouse Electric Corporation, which had recently acquired CBS around that time; two years later, Westinghouse bought CMT, TNN's chief competitor. In 1998, the channel dropped its "The Nashville Network" moniker and shortened its official name to TNN. Ownership shifted to Viacom in the late 1990s after its acquisition of CBS Corporation, Westinghouse's successor.

The National Network, the New TNN, and professional wrestling (2000–2003)

In 1999, TNN began to downplay its previous country lifestyle programming to appeal to a wider demographic, including younger viewers; capitalizing on the success of '' RollerJam'' (a roller derby-inspired series with elements of professional wrestling), TNN reached a three-year deal to broadcast a weekly television series from the Philadelphia-based wrestling promotion Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), which would air on Friday nights beginning in late August 1999. Under the contract, ECW also agreed to revenue sharing with TNN for all of the promotion's events (including live shows and pay-per-views) and merchandising. These two programs would air as part of a Friday-night block themed around extreme sports programming, alongside '' Motor Madness'' and bull riding from the Professional Bull Riders (PBR); a TNN executive described bull riding as being "the original extreme sport".

In November 1999, TNN announced new programming and primetime theme blocks it planned to introduce in 2000, including ''Movie Monday'' (which would target female viewers), ''Action Wednesday'', ''Friday Night Thrill Zone'', ''Classic Country'' on Saturday nights, and ''TNN Outdoors'' on Sundays. The new schedule, along with new series such as the action drama '' 18 Wheels of Justice'', collegiate bowling competition series ''Rockin' Bowl'', reruns of the Western anthology ''Dead Man's Gun'', and a new promotional campaign targeting younger viewers, were intended to introduce a broader audience to the network.

Despite ECW reportedly driving a 200% increase in young male viewership in its timeslot, the promotion had a strained relationship with TNN's management—which had given the program little advertising, among other issues. ECW would reference these difficulties in its storylines with its stable "The Network,” whose leader Cyrus criticized the ECW program for its content, and showed a blatant adoration for TNN shows such as ''RollerJam''.

On September 25, 2000, TNN was folded into the MTV Networks division based in New York City, and was renamed The National Network. The rebranding coincided with major changes to the network's programming, including the network premiere of '' Raw Is War—''the flagship weekly program of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, later WWE)''—''which moved to TNN from USA Network as part of a new contract with Viacom. As WWF programs were among USA Network's top programs, the move was considered a major coup for TNN. MTV Networks chairman Tom Freston described TNN as now being a general entertainment service, albeit one with a "sort of populist middle-America flavor" rather than "another network for New York or Los Angeles."

Football also became more prominent on the network, as it began airing games of the original Arena Football League (AFL) with Eli Gold as an announcer. TNN was also one of three networks to air games of the ill-fated, WWF-backed XFL (along with NBC and UPN). As part of its contract, TNN had the rights to a late Sunday afternoon game each week except for the first week, when UPN aired the afternoon game instead. In 2001, TNN aired CBS Sports-produced coverage of the inaugural opening round game of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The opening round game would later move to ESPN in 2002.

In 2001, TNN added off-network sitcoms and dramas such as ''Diff'rent Strokes'', ''The Wonder Years'',TNN Shooting for Lineup that's 50% More Original
''Broadcasting & Cable'': January 22, 2001 ''The Rockford Files'', ''WKRP in Cincinnati'', ''Newhart'', '' Hangin' With Mr. Cooper'', ''Miami Vice'' and ''Taxi''. It also became the first channel to air reruns of ''MADtv''. These moves went unnoticed for the most part, due to TNN's lack of popularity. By this time, all country-western programming had been purged from the network; some of The Nashville Network's former programming was picked up by CMT, while other classic TNN shows were picked up by Great American Country, including eventually the ''Grand Ole Opry'', which was pushed off to CMT and eventually removed by Viacom after they did not renew the agreement to carry the series. In 2001, TNN began to market itself as "The New TNN", an inadvertent pleonasm in its full context.

By late 2002, the channel had picked up more male-oriented shows, such as ''Baywatch'', ''The A-Team'', ''Monster Jam'', the hidden camera game show '' Oblivious'', '' Robot Wars Extreme Warriors'', and ''Slamball''.

Spike (2003–2018)

In April 2003, Viacom would announce that TNN would be relaunched as Spike TV on June 16. Promoted with the slogan "The First Network for Men", They aimed to target young adult males aged 18–34 — a demographic they believed were being served insufficiently by other cable networks. Spike's launch programming started with three animated shows including ''Gary the Rat'', ''Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon"'' (an adult-oriented revival of the original Nickelodeon ''The Ren & Stimpy Show''), and '' Stripperella'', as well as other new series such as '' Ride with Funkmaster Flex'', ''CSI'', ''Star Trek'', and ''Raw.'' Other planned programming included interstitial