Paramount Network

The Nashville Network first launched on March 7, 1983; it was dedicated to the culture and lifestyle of country music and the U.S. South.[5] 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.[6][7]

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.[8] 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 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.[9]

Some of TNN's popular on-air talent included local Nashville media personalities Ralph Emery,[10] 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.[6]

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 Championship Bull Riding; a TNN executive described bull riding as being "the original extreme sport".[11][12][13][14]

In November 1999, TNN announced new programming and primetime theme blocks it planned to introduce in 2000, including a new, female-oriented Movie Monday, 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.[15] Despite ECW reportedly driving a 200% increase in young male viewership in its timeslot, relations were strained with the nework, as TNN gave ECW little promotion.[11][12]

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."[16][6][17]

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.[18] 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,[19] The Wonder Years,[20] The Rockford Files,[20] WKRP in Cincinnati,[20] Newhart, Hangin' With Mr. Cooper, Miami Vice[20] and Taxi.[20][21] 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.[22][23]

By late 2002, the channel had picked up more male-oriented shows, such as Baywatch, Monster Jam, the hidden camera game show Oblivious, Robot Wars Extreme Warriors, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Slamball.[24]

In April 2003, it was announced that the network would be relaunched as Spike TV on June 16.[25] Promoted with the slogan "The First Network for Men", Viacom 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 would include a slate of new adult animation series such as Gary the Rat, Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon" (an adult-oriented revival of the former Nickelodeon series The Ren & Stimpy Show, led by its original creator John Kricfalusi), and Stripperella, as well as other new series such as Ride with Funkmaster Flex, joined by its recent acquisitions CSI, Star Trek, and Raw.[25] Other planneded programming included interstitial segments on health, technology, and finance in collaboration with Men's Health, Stuff, and MarketWatch.[25]

Three days before the planned launch date, film director Spike Lee won a New York Supreme Court injunction preventing Viacom from using the name "Spike TV". Lee claimed that because of his well-known popularity in Hollywood, viewers would therefore assume that he was associated with the new channel.[26] Lee stated in court papers that: "The media description of this change of name, as well as comments made to me and my wife, confirmed what was obvious—that Spike TV referred to Spike Lee."[27][25] Spike Jones Jr., son of comic musician Spike Jones, became a party to the lawsuit as part of Viacom's defense to protect the rights to his father's name.[28]

Most of the new programming would premiere on the originally-planned date as a soft launch; at this time, the TNN name and logo was downplayed heavily in favor of the "First Network for Men" tagline. The suit was settled on July 8, 2003, in announcing the settlement, Lee admitted that he did not believe that the channel intentionally tried to trade on his name.[29] On July 28, 2003, it was announced that Spike TV would officially launch on August 11, 2003 — eight weeks later than initially scheduled. Its launch night programming featured two programs originally intended to air on June 16, including Party with Spike—a launch special filmed at the Playboy Mansion, and the premiere of Most Extreme Elimination Challenge—a comedic dub of the Japanese game show Takeshi's Castle.[30] Klasky Csupo's Immigrants and the John Leguizamo-produced Zilch & Zero were originally slated to run on Spike TV's animation block,[31] but these plans never materialized and the former was broadcast as a film instead.[32][33] Later that year, the networked debuted The Joe Schmo Show, and the Spike Video Game Awards.

On January 17, 2005, Spike TV premiered The Ultimate Fighter, a reality competition series produced by mixed martial arts Ultimate Fighting Championship. The show's success led to an expanded partnership between the UFC and Spike, which saw the network air other UFC series such as UFC Unleashed, UFC Primetime and UFC All Access. The Ultimate Fighter would run for 14 seasons, ending its run on the network in 2011 following the announcement that Fox Sports had acquired the U.S. television rights to the UFC under a new, seven-year deal.[34][35]

In March 2005, Viacom announced that it would not renew its contract with WWE when it expired in September 2005. Spike's new president, Doug Herzog, stated that the network had planned to "expand its investments in original programming and new acquisitions for its core audience", including new scripted programming. The following month, it was announced that WWE Raw would return to USA Network.[36][37] Spike subsequently reached a deal with another wrestling promotion, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, which saw TNA Impact! premiere on Saturday, October 1, 2005.[38] Later in the month, Spike TV debuted the video game news show Game Head, hosted by Geoff Keighley.

Spike's logo, used from May 9, 2006, to March 2, 2015

In 2005, Viacom conducted research which found that word-of-mouth knowledge narrowly perceived Spike TV's programming as being predominantly "low-brow", violent, and reliant on sex appeal. These findings led Viacom to pursue a rebrand in an effort to clarify the network's focus. At its upfront presentations in 2006, Viacom unveiled a new logo for the channel (officially shortening its name to simply "Spike"), and the new slogan "Get More Action". The new brand was described as being "authentic" and "unapologetically" masculine, and emphasizing action as a core genre of programming for the network. The new branding would launch alongside the premiere of Blade: The Series in June 2006. Spike also attracted advertisers with product placement opportunities, such as the "Men of Action" promos, which featured homages and parodies of "classic action moments".[39]

On September 5, 2006, Spike premiered the documentary film Metal of Honor: The Ironworkers of 9/11 by filmmaker Rachel Maguire, which profiled the ironworkers' efforts in the attempts for rescue and recovery following the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center site. The film proceeds through the ironworkers' dismantling of the fallen towers.[40] On October 10, 2006, Spike debuted the Scream Awards, the first awards show honoring horror, science fiction, fantasy and comic book-based entertainment.

In October 2007, Kevin Kay was appointed network president after serving as executive vice president and general manager of the channel for the previous two years.[41] The post had been vacant since December 2006.[42] In 2008, the network debuted DEA, a reality series based on the Drug Enforcement Administration.[43]

On April 7, 2008, Spike acquired cable syndication rights for the sitcom Married... with Children.[44] Five new unscripted series were also picked up for the channel's Summer 2008 lineup, including 1000 Ways To Die.[45]

In the fall of 2009, Spike broadcast live Australian rugby league semifinal games from the National Rugby League and also showed the grand final, as part of efforts by David Niu to bring the National Rugby League USA to the United States.[46][47] On June 1, 2010, Spike launched into the first crowd-sourced pilot episode contest with Scripped, a web-based screenwriting community.[48]

In 2011, Spike's began a large shift to reality television, which was described at that year's network upfront presentation as way to evolve the network's brand by targeting a broader audience of males 18–45 years old, and shifting away from overtly masculine imagery; they described the changes as making the channel more akin to Esquire magazine than Maxim. A promotional campaign emphasized adversity as a common theme in Spike's programming.[49][50][51] New programming introduced during this time included original series such as Bar Rescue, Car Boss, Coal, Ink Master, Repo Games.[52]

In 2013, Bellator MMA made its network debut with the premiere of its eighth season; the now Viacom-owned mixed martial arts promotion previously aired on sibling channel MTV2.[53][54] Later that year, Fox reality series Cops moved to Spike beginning September 14.[55] In the fall, kickboxing promotion Glory made its network debut with Glory 11: Chicago.[56] This was not Spike's first time broadcasting a kickboxing event as, in 2012, they partnered with K-1 to broadcast several events on their website.[57] The end of the year saw the Video Game Awards revamped and become known as VGX.[58] The event was held on December 7, 2013, on Spike's website.

At the end of the year, Impact Wrestling would air its last episode on Spike on December 24, 2014, before moving to Destination America in 2015.[59] Spike also announced that they would drop their video game award show;[60] Geoff Keighley would go on to create his own award show in the form of The Game Awards. In January 2015, following a similar deal made by NBC, Spike announced they would air monthly fight cards by the Haymon Boxing-created "Premier Boxing Champions".[61][62][63]

Final Spike logo used from March 3, 2015, to January 17, 2018, in the United States; Currently used by local versions in international markets.

During its upfronts on March 3, 2015, Spike unveiled a new logo and tagline, "The Ones to Watch".[64] The re-branding aimed to make the network more inclusive to women, emphasizing a focus on "big talent, engaging shows and hits that get people talking" and further expansions into scripted series. Alongside the miniseries Tut and the announcement of an expanded episode order for the series Lip Sync Battle (a spin-off of a segment from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon), the network announced an output deal with Dwayne Johnson's Seven Bucks Productions for a series of specials, Emergency Broadcast, an original drama co-created by Max Brooks, and Sweat Inc., a fitness-oriented reality series hosted by Jillian Michaels.[65][66][67]

On February 9, 2017, Viacom announced that Spike TV would relaunch as Paramount Network in 2018 and move its headquarters to Paramount Pictures in Hollywood to give the network a closer association with the film studio. This was part of a restructuring plan by new Viacom CEO Bob Bakish to refocus the majority of its media business around six flagship brands, which included Paramount, BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., and MTV.[68][69][70] Spike signed off on the night of January 18, 2018 at around 8:59 p.m. ET after an airing of Pitch Perfect, leading to the network's relaunch as Paramount Network that was marked by a live, Michael Jackson-themed Lip Sync Battle special broadcast from the Dolby Theatre.[71] New original series announced in the first half of 2018 included the miniseries Waco and Yellowstone, along with American Woman and Heathers—two comedies originally slated for TV Land. The Shannara Chronicles, which moved to Spike for season 2 from MTV, was not renewed by Paramount Network.[72][73][74][75]

Paramount Network is being positioned as a "premium" basic cable network, similar to AMC and FX.[76] Network president Kevin Kay explained that Bakish wanted Viacom to have a "flagship" outlet for scripted programming, as opposed to making inefficient investments into them across individual channels. He added that Paramount Network's offerings would be distinguished from other "premium" basic cable networks by continuing to emphasize Middle America as a key viewer base. Even with its subsequent rebrandings, Paramount Network still had significant carriage strength and viewership in the Midwest and South due to its heritage as TNN. Kay argued that its initial slate of original dramas were not as "dark", citing the setting of Yellowstone as making it "brighter and a bit more blue sky than some of the things that are on premium cable TV now".[76]

In regards to the programs moved to Paramount Network from TV Land, American Woman was moved to take advantage of its prominent leads Alicia Silverstone and Mena Suvari, while Heathers was moved because, in Kay's opinion, the show was not appropriate for TV Land's target audience.[76] In June 2018, Heathers was dropped by Paramount Network and Viacom, citing network concerns over the content of the series in the wake of recent shootings in the U.S., such as the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.[77] The series would eventually air on Paramount Network in October 2018 in an edited form, with two episodes dropped due to the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.[78][79][80]

Paramount Network began a viral marketing campaign to promote its launch in December 2017. The campaign included a Times Square advertisement asking viewers to phone and email Paramount Network's chief marketing officer Niels Schuurmans to protest Spike's "firing", as well as a string of self-deprecating posts by the network's Twitter account about its history and programming (including that "My favorite number is 329 because it's the number of times Cops is on every night", "We had a show called The Joe Schmo Show. Apparently every decent show name was taken", and that "There's a reason all our early shows were CSI, UFC, TNA, MXC, UTI. No one around here knew how to read"). A network executive stated that the campaign was meant to represent a "public meltdown" by a fired employee. Spike additionally held a Facebook live streaming event on January 17, 2018, where users could vote on various ways a crew would deface a large model of the former Spike logo, culminating in its demolition.[81][82][83][84]

In May 2019, the Spike brand was relaunched in the U.S. as two streaming channels on Pluto TV, which was acquired by Viacom in March 2019. The relaunch consisted of a main Spike-branded channel and a second channel called "Spike Outdoors".[85]

In early 2020, Paramount Network began to cut back on scripted series development, having dropped upcoming projects such as Emily in Paris (which was subsequently picked up by Netflix), and cancelling 68 Whiskey after a single season.[86] On September 11, 2020, it was announced that Bellator would move to CBS Sports Network in October 2020.[87] It would later move to Showtime in April 2021.[88]

On September 22, 2020, ViacomCBS president of Entertainment and Youth Brands Chris McCarthy told Variety in an exclusive that Paramount Network would relaunch as a movie channel "within the next year" (to be tentatively known as Paramount Movie Network). The relaunched network was to focus primarily on original made-for-TV films featuring major talent, with a plan to premiere 52 films per-year.[86] These films would have been largely produced by Paramount Pictures and MTV Studios, with plans for co-productions with Paramount International properties such as Argentina's Telefe, Australia's Network 10, and the United Kingdom's Channel 5.[86]

The reformatted network would continue to carry at least one scripted series or miniseries per-quarter, including Yellowstone (albeit with episodes premiering in a different format), but would abandon non-scripted programming. Shows like Bar Rescue and Lip Sync Battle would have moved to other Paramount Global networks, while Ink Master was ultimately moved to Paramount+, and Wife Swap was cancelled.[86] These changes would mirror a similar shift in programming that McCarthy undertook at sister channel Comedy Central, which also dropped live-action series development in favor of television specials, original films, and a focus on adult animation.[86] In the interim, new seasons of Bar Rescue and Yellowstone (the latter in its regular format) would premiere on the network in 2021.[89]

In January 2022, Deadline reported that the network relaunch had been shelved, partly due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TV and film production, in addition to Yellowstone's ratings success.[89]

In April 1984, while as TNN, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved the channel for carriage by Canadian cable and satellite television providers.[93] Following its re-branding as Spike TV, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters filed a complaint with the CRTC on behalf of Canwest Global, demanding the channel be removed from Canadian television providers. The CAB felt that its new general entertainment format would unduly compete with various Canadian-run specialty channels, arguing that there was overlap in its niche and its then-current schedule with Men TV (men's lifestyle), Space (now CTV Sci-Fi Channel) (Star Trek), sports channels (The Score, now Sportsnet 360)is the WWE's Canadian broadcast partner), Discovery Health (interstitial segments focusing on men's health, although the network did not air any full-length programs on the topic), along with the inexplicable naming of Report on Business Television and T+E for reasons unknown.[94]

In January 2005, the CRTC dismissed the CAB's complaint, ruling that it provided insufficient evidence that Spike was directly competing with Canadian specialty channels. The CRTC ruled that Spike did not unduly compete with Men TV, since it was licensed to broadcast lifestyle programming oriented towards men (in contrast to Spike, which the CRTC classified as being a general entertainment channel targeting a male audience), and that the remaining allegations of overlap with domestic Canadian specialty channels represented only a minority of Spike's overall programming.[94][95]

Due to programming rights issues, programs which the channel does not hold rights to air outside of the U.S. are replaced with alternate programs.[96][97]

Prima Comedy Central was rebranded as Paramount Network on January 12, 2021.[98]

In May 2018, Viacom announced that it would rebrand Paramount Channel in Spain under the Paramount Network name on June 10, 2018, marking Viacom's first property outside of the U.S. to adopt the brand. Paramount Channel in Spain had been among Viacom's most successful international properties. The channel adopted a similar general entertainment format to the U.S. version, with its launch lineup featuring the fifth season of Alaska y Mario (moving from MTV Spain), and a lineup of imported dramas and films.[99]

On December 17, 2020, Paramount Channel in Hungary rebranded as the Paramount Network.[100]

Paramount Network launched in the UK on July 4, 2018, it is operated by the Viacom-owned network Channel 5.[101] It is the second Paramount-branded property in that market; its domestic version of Comedy Central launched as the Paramount Channel in 1995, then was Paramount Comedy from 1997 until 2009, when it took the Comedy Central name. On January 7, 2020, it replaced the British version of Spike in its channel allotments on Freeview, cable, and satellite.[102]

On April 14, 2020, ViacomCBS rebranded the Latin American version of Paramount Channel into Paramount Network.[103]

Viacom began to launch localized versions of Spike in 2015.

• On April 15, 2015, a British version of Spike was launched; owned by Viacom International Media Networks Europe, it is operated as a sister digital terrestrial television channel to Channel 5, which Viacom had acquired the previous year. Its launch lineup primarily featured Spike's original programs and reruns from its parent network, acquired U.S. drama imports (such as Breaking Bad, Justified and The Walking Dead), along with Bellator MMA and the domestic MMA promotion BAMMA.[104] On 31 October 2017, the channel changed its name to 5Spike to better-signify its connection to Channel 5's other digital networks. On 7 January 2020, 5Spike was shut down, with its channel allotments and selected programs being assumed by the British version of Paramount Network.[102]
• On August 18, 2015, Viacom announced that a Dutch version of Spike would launch in the Netherlands and Flanders. The channel began as a timeshare on the Dutch Nickelodeon channel, airing from 21:00 to 02:30 CET daily.[105] On December 12, 2016, Spike launched in the Netherlands as a 24-hour channel on Ziggo. Spike and Nickelodeon continued time-sharing in Flanders until January 6, 2021, when Nickelodeon became a 24-hour channel again.[106][107][108][109] From may 24, 2022 Spike will cease and will be replaced by Paramount Network Nederland.
• In July 2016, an Australian version of Spike was launched on Fetch TV.[110][111][112][113]
• On December 1, 2016, a Hungarian version of the channel named RTL Spike was launched, via brand licensing and advertising sales agreements with the RTL Group.[114] On October 20, 2020, ViacomCBS announced the channel's closure, and the closure date was confirmed on November 23 that year. RTL Spike was shut down on January 12, 2021, and was replaced by TeenNick.[115][116]
• On March 15, 2017, a Russian version of Spike was launched as a separate channel, airing alongside the local version of Paramount Channel.[117] This channel was shut down on June 1, 2021.
• On October 22, 2017, an Italian version of Spike was launched in the country as a free-to-air channel, replacing Fine Living on Digital TV channel 49.[118] The channel, however, ceased broadcasting on January 16, 2022.