USA Network

USA Network
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaNationwide
Headquarters30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City
Programming
Language(s)English
Spanish
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerUA-Columbia Cablevision (1977–1981)
Time Inc. (1981–1987)
Paramount/Viacom (1981–1997)
NBCUniversal Media Group
ParentNBCUniversal
Sister channels
History
Launched
  • September 22, 1977 (1977-09-22) (as MSG)
  • April 9, 1980 (1980-04-09) (re-launch as USA Network)
Former namesMadison Square Garden Sports Network (1977–1980)
Links
Websiteusanetwork.com
Availability
Streaming media
Streaming ServicesYouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Stream, FuboTV

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.

As of September 2018,[needs update] 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]

  1. ^ Bucholtz, Andrew (September 10, 2018). "Nielsen coverage estimates for September see gains at ESPN networks, NBCSN, and NBA TV, drops at MLBN and NFLN". AwfulAnnouncing.com. Retrieved November 2, 2019.
  2. ^ "How many homes the sports networks are available in".