. for other uses see upn disambiguation . united paramount network type defunct broadcast television network country united states availability united states canada headquarters los angeles california owner united television chris craft television 1995 united television chris craft television viacom 1996 2000 viacom 2000 2006 cbs corporation 2006 key people lucie salhany chief executive officer 1995 1997 michael sullivan president of entertainment 1994 1997 1 dean valentine chief executive officer 1997 2001 tom nunan president of entertainment 1997 2001 2 3 adam ware chief operating officer 1999 2002 dawn ostroff president of entertainment 2002 2006 3 launch date january 16 1995 ; 21 years ago 1995 01 16 dissolved august 31 2006 ; 10 years ago 2006 08 31 on current mynetworktv affiliates september 15 2006 ; 10 years ago 2006 09 15 officially replaced by the cw mynetworktv fox the united paramount network upn was an american broadcast television network that launched on january 16 1995 . the network was originally owned by chris craft industries united television ; viacom through its paramount television unit which produced most of the network s series turned the network into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50 % stake in the network and then purchased chris craft s remaining stake in 2000 ; upn was spun off to cbs corporation in december 2005 when cbs and viacom split up into two separate companies . as a result of cbs corporation and time warner s joint announcement on january 24 2006 that the companies would respectively shut down upn and competitor the wb to launch a new joint venture network the cw later that same year 4 upn shut down on september 15 2006 with select programs from both it and the wb which itself shut down two days later moving to the cw when it launched three days after the former of the two predecessors ceased operations on september 18 . 4 5 contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1949 1993 1.2 launch 1994 2000 1.3 viacom era and decline 2000 2006 1.4 network closure 2 programming 2.1 news programming 2.2 children s programming 2.3 television movies 2.4 shows that almost aired on upn 3 affiliates 3.1 station standardization 4 see also 5 notes 6 external links history edit origins 1949 1993 edit paramount pictures had played a pivotal role in the development of network television . it was a partner in the dumont television network and the paramount theaters chain which was spun off from the corporate studio parent merged with abc in a deal that helped cement that network s status as a major network . the paramount television network was launched in 1949 but dissolved in the 1950s . in the wake of the successful universal studios ad hoc syndication package operation prime time which first featured a miniseries adaptation of john jakes novel the bastard and went on to air several more productions paramount had earlier contemplated its own television network with the paramount television service . set to launch in early 1978 it would have run its programming for only one night a week . thirty movies of the week would have followed star trek phase ii on saturday nights . plans for the new network were scrapped when sufficient advertising slots could not be sold though paramount would contribute some programs to operation prime time such as the mini series a woman called golda and the weekly pop music program solid gold . star trek phase ii was reworked as the theatrical film star trek the motion picture absorbing the costs already incurred from the aborted television series . paramount and its eventual parent viacom which bought the studio s then parent paramount communications in 1994 continued to consider launching their own television network . independent stations even more than network affiliates were feeling the growing pressure of audience erosion to cable television in the 1980s and 1990s ; there were unaffiliated commercial television stations in most of the major television markets even after the foundation of fox in 1986 . meanwhile paramount which had long been successful in syndication with repeats of star trek launched several first run syndicated series by the 1990s including entertainment tonight the arsenio hall show friday the 13th the series war of the worlds star trek the next generation and star trek deep space nine . in 1993 time warner and chris craft industries entered into a joint venture to distribute programs via a prime time programming service the prime time entertainment network pten . pten can be seen as the ancestor of both upn and the wb citation needed chris craft later became a partner in upn and time warner launched the wb in a joint venture with the tribune company at roughly the same time . launch 1994 2000 edit the upn colorful shapes logo used from 1995 to 1998 and in various iterations from 1998 to 2002 though the primary colors variant continued on some affiliates and in print advertising until 2002 . silver variant of upn logo used from 1998 to 2002 . paramount formed the paramount stations group in 1991 when it purchased the assets of the tvx broadcast group which owned several independent stations in major markets . this was not unlike the purchase of the metromedia stations by news corporation five years earlier which were used as the nuclei for fox . in another parallel 20th century fox the news corporation subsidiary behind the fox network which was spun off with the company s other entertainment assets to 21st century fox in july 2013 like paramount had long been a powerhouse in television syndication . all indicators suggested that paramount was about to launch a network of its own . on october 27 1993 paramount and chris craft announced the formation of a new television network later to be named the united paramount network with initial plans to run two hours of programming in prime time for two nights per week . 6 the new network would be owned by chris craft industries while most of its shows were to be produced by paramount television . the u in upn stood for chris craft subsidiary united television which owned the network s two largest stations wwor tv in new york city and kcop tv in los angeles ; the p represented paramount television the studio that formed a programming partnership with chris craft to create the network . chris craft and paramount viacom each owned independent stations in several large and mid sized u.s. cities and these stations formed the nuclei of the new network . upn launched on january 16 1995 initially carrying programming only on monday and tuesday nights from 8 00 to 10 00 p.m. eastern and pacific time . 7 the first telecast the two hour pilot episode of star trek voyager was an auspiciously widely viewed start being watched by 21.3 million viewers ; however voyager would never achieve such viewership levels again nor would any of the series debuting on upn s second night of broadcasting survive the season . in contrast the wb debuted one week earlier on january 11 with four series only one of which muscle would not survive its first season . the first comedy series to debut on upn were platypus man starring richard jeni and pig sty with both shows airing monday nights in the 9 00 p.m. hour ; both received mixed reviews and neither lasted long . 8 other early upn programs included the action series nowhere man starring bruce greenwood and marker starring richard grieco ; the comic western legend starring richard dean anderson ; the science fiction themed action series the sentinel ; and moesha a sitcom starring brandy norwood . of the network s early offerings only star trek voyager moesha and the sentinel would last longer than one season . as a result of the lack of viewership upn operated on a loss and had lost 800 million by 2000 . 9 within nearly two years of the network s launch on december 8 1996 paramount viacom purchased a 50 % stake in upn from chris craft for approximately 160 million . 10 11 like fox had done nine years earlier upn started with a few nights of programming each week with additional nights of primetime shows gradually being added over the course of several seasons . because of this upn s affiliates were basically independent stations for all intents and purposes during the network s early years with these stations airing either syndicated programs or movies during primetime on nights when the network did not provide programming . the first expansion of its prime time lineup came with the addition of programming on wednesday nights in the 1996 97 season . upn ordered 36 science fiction films for its movie night beginning in 1998 from four producers with most coming from paramount . some titles would be shown on showtime first so the cable channel would aid in advertising the movies . 12 upn completed its prime time expansion in the 1998 99 season with thursdays and fridays as the last nights of programming to be added to the network s evening slate . that season saw the debut of the secret diary of desmond pfeiffer a sitcom set during the civil war that centered on a black english nobleman who becomes the valet to abraham lincoln ; even before its debut the series was riddled by controversy and protests from several african american activist groups including the los angeles chapter of the naacp who picketed outside of paramount studios one week before the originally scheduled pilot episode and some advertisers for its perceived lighthearted take on american slavery in the 19th century protested against the premise of the series . despite what publicity desmond received from its controversial topicality the series suffered from low ratings with the first episode on october 5 1998 placing 116th out of 125 programs aired that week on network television and was cancelled after four episodes . 13 14 15 16 17 viacom era and decline 2000 2006 edit proposed logo for the stillborn paramount network . six months after the company announced its 36 billion merger with the original cbs corporation on february 4 2000 viacom exercised a contractual clause that would within a 45 day grace period force chris craft to either buy viacom out of upn or have the former sell its ownership stake in the network to viacom . three days later on february 8 chris craft subsequently filed a lawsuit against viacom in the new york supreme court to block the latter s merger with cbs claiming that a pact signed between the two partners in 1997 had prevented either from owning any interest financial or otherwise in any competing network including cbs for a four year period through january 2001 . on march 17 new york supreme court judge herman cahn ruled against chris craft s move for a permanent injunction to curtail the viacom cbs merger and the enforcement of viacom s ultimatum . 18 19 20 unable to find a suitable partner on march 20 chris craft allowed viacom to buy out its 50 % stake for 5 million giving viacom full control of the network . 21 22 23 this gave upn the rare distinction of being one of the only broadcast networks to not have had owned and operated stations o & o in the three largest media markets new york city los angeles and chicago with the wb the only network never to have had an o & o being the only other as minority owner tribune broadcasting owned most of its charter affiliates including those in all three markets while majority owner time warner only owned an independent station that originated then superstation tbs . with viacom taking full ownership control of upn kcop tv and wwor tv lost their statuses as o & os