USA Network

USA Network
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaNationwide
Headquarters30 Rockefeller Plaza, New York City
Programming
Language(s)English
Spanish
Picture format1080i HDTV
4K (upscaled from 1080i, special occasions[1])
(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; 47 years ago (1977-09-22) (as MSG)
  • April 9, 1980; 44 years ago (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 (or 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.

It was relaunched under its current name on April 9, 1980, and in the years since then, USA steadily gained popularity through its original programming, a long-established partnership with WWF/WWE and, for many years, limited sports programming. USA would increase its sports coverage significantly in 2022, after the shutdown of NBCSN, and now serves as the main cable component of NBC Sports.

As of November 2023, USA Network is available to approximately 70,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 100,000,000 households.[2]

  1. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/how-to-watch-olympics-hdr/
  2. ^ "U.S. cable network households (universe), 1990 – 2023". wrestlenomics.com. May 14, 2024. Retrieved July 28, 2019.