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Spike TV is an American cable network that caters to a young male demographic. The network began as The Nashville Network (TNN), founded by Gaylord Entertainment Company and Group W Satellite Communications on March 7, 1983. In 2000, after seventeen years of country music-related programming, Viacom renamed the network The National Network and realigned it as a general interest network. TNN was renamed Spike TV in 2003 with its new focus, despite a brief lawsuit by filmmaker Spike Lee. The network now airs a combination of original programming ( The Series) and reruns of network programming, including series from the Crime Scene Investigation and Star Trek franchises, MXC, Game Head, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, and Ultimate Fighting Championship programming. It is part of MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom. Spike TV's issue moving forward will be its ability to deliver on its strategy of going after young men. As of 2006, Spike TV's viewership is almost half women (45%). Furthermore, the average age of the network's viewers is 42 years old.
The Nashville Network (1983-2000)
The Nashville Network was based at the now-defunct Opryland USA theme park near Nashville, Tennessee. During its first TNN era, the network focused on country music-related programming and reruns of country-themed network shows. TNN's flagship shows included Nashville Now and Grand Ole Opry Live, both of which were broadcast live from Opryland USA.
The Gaylord era
Much of TNN's programming during the Gaylord era was originally produced by Opryland Productions, also owned by Gaylord Entertainment. Shows included variety shows, talk shows, game shows, outdoors shows, and lifestyle shows, all centered in some way around country music. Some of TNN's popular on-air talent included local Nashville media personalties 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. TNN even created stars, such as wily fisherman Bill Dance.TNN had two self-operating and self-promoting sub-divisions, TNN Outdoors and TNN Motor Sports. TNN Outdoors was responsible for the programming of hunting and fishing shows. TNN Motor Sports was responsible for production of all the network's racing coverage, including NASCAR Winston Cup and smaller outfits such as USAC, NHRA, and ARCA. Motorcycle and speedboat racing was also broadcast. TNN Outdoors and TNN Motor Sports also marketed themselves, selling a variety of merchandise and branding themselves onto video games.
The Westinghouse-CBS era
Westinghouse Electric Corporation, who at the time owned the CBS networks and had an existing relationship with TNN through its Group W division, purchased TNN and its sister network CMT outright in 1995 to form CBS Cable (along with a short-lived startup network entitled "Eye On People").Most of the original entertainment-oriented programming ceased production, and the network began to rely more on TNN Outdoors and TNN Motor Sports for programming. The network's ties to CBS allowed it to pick up country-themed CBS dramas from the 1980s such as The Dukes of Hazzard and Dallas, neither of which had been seen on television since their original runs ended.
During this time, Ralph Emery retired from Nashville Now. Upon Emery's exit, the show was overhauled and renamed Music City Tonight (hosted by Lorianne Crook and Charlie Chase). After a very short run, Crook and Chase left the show to launch a syndicated daytime show, Crook & Chase, which would eventually make a daytime home on TNN after failing in the syndication market. Music City Tonight was again overhauled to resemble its original Nashville Now format, but was rebranded as Prime Time Country. This version was originally hosted by actor Tom Wopat. He was later replaced with singer/songwriter Gary Chapman, who enjoyed relative success with the show until its cancellation in 1999.
In 1997, "The Nashville Network" moniker was dropped and the official title of the channel was shortened to the simpler TNN. The network's new logo had to be altered after officials from Turner Broadcasting pointed out the fusion of the T and the first N was strikingly similar to their TNT logo (used until 2001). TNN relented after the threat of a lawsuit and separated the T and the N.
Ownership shifted to Viacom in the late 1990s after its acquisition of Westinghouse's media efforts. TNN and CMT were subsequently folded into Viacom's MTV Networks division.
The National Network/The New TNN (2000-2003)
In September 2000, Viacom sensed redundancy among its related TNN and CMT networks when it merged them into its MTV Networks unit. The decision was made to refocus TNN, and in the process, the channel dramatically scaled back its country-western trappings and changed its name to The National Network (also referred to as The New TNN).
During this time, the network's operations were moved from Nashville to New York. The name change also triggered a significant programming change in an attempt to appeal to a broader audience. This change was catalyzed by Viacom's acquisition of the rights to WWF programming, including its flagship show Raw Is War.
By 2002, all country-western programming had been purged from TNN. Some of The Nashville Network's former programming was picked up by CMT. Other classic TNN shows were picked up by GAC. As time went on, the words "The National Network" were dropped from the official title. By late 2002, the network was known simply as "The New TNN", in an effort to further distance itself from its former identity as a country music-based network.
The subtle rebranding effort was, to a lesser extent, also attempting to help the network shed the identity of a channel based mostly on reruns of old programs, as it had been shortly after the flip to "The National Network."
Spike TV lawsuit (June-August 2003)
In early 2003, another name change was announced. The new brand, Spike TV, was marketed as the first network for men. The name change was slated to coincide with a change in programming, including original shows like the adult-oriented animated series Stripperella, Gary the Rat, and the Ren & Stimpy's Adult Party Cartoon, as well as imports such as MXC (a.k.a. Most Extreme Elimination Challenge).
The name change was supposed to be official on June 16, 2003. However, on June 13, 2003, film director Spike Lee won a New York State Supreme Court injunction preventing the name change, which Lee feared viewers would associate with him.
What made matters even worse was that due to the injunction, a planned special that showed the name revealing party at The Playboy Mansion had to be heavily edited (The party took place before Lee won the injunction). Lee's injunction became the subject of ridicule in the media and talk shows.
During the lawsuit, even the name "TNN" was significantly scaled back, as logos and voice-overs referred to the network only as "The First Network for Men." Spike Jones Jr., son of comic musician Spike Jones, became a party of the lawsuit as part of Viacom's defense to protect the rights to his father's name. Partly as a result of Jones' involvement, the suit was settled on July 8, 2003, and TNN was allowed to call itself Spike TV.
There is some speculation that Lee had been paid a significant sum to file the lawsuit as a publicity stunt to promote the network, although this has never been proven. The name change became official on August 11, 2003.
Spike TV (2003-present)
Spike TV continues to operate as part of MTV Networks, owned by Viacom. It has scored some major coups in terms of its programming, receiving syndication rights to several Star Trek series (which was produced by another Viacom branch, Paramount Pictures), as well as most of the James Bond movie series. It is also the cable home to TV's #1 show, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and cult favorite MXC, an overdubbed version of the Japanese series Takeshi's Castle.
In November 2004, Spike TV purchased the cable/satellite syndication rights to NY for a record price of States dollar|$" target="_blank" >*1.9 million per episode. It is unclear when the show will join the lineup.
In September 2005, all WWE (formerly the WWF) programming on Spike TV left the network as a result of acrimonious contractual matters between WWE and Viacom. WWE RAW moved back to its original cable home, NBC Universal's USA Network while WWE Sunday Night HEAT and WWE Velocity moved to WWE.com due to failure to gain a timeslot for the shows in the United States.On October 1, 2005, wrestling promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling began airing its weekly program TNA iMPACT! in the Saturday night timeslot formerly occupied by WWE Velocity. In WWE's last Monday Night RAW broadcast on the network, executives decided to censor WWE whenever they tried to mention their debut on the USA Network, scheduled for the following week. In what turned out to be a hectic night of sound suddenly vanishing, WWE's commentators finally succeeded in slipping the words, "USA Network next week," past the censors at Spike TV, most likely from the executives finally giving in.
On January 18, 2005, Spike TV debuted The Ultimate Fighter (TUF), an original reality show based around the sport of Mixed Martial Arts which proved to be a surprise hit and was subsequently extended for two more seasons. Spike later extended their UFC coverage with a programming block dubbed UFC Unleashed.
In October 2005, Spike TV debuted Game Head with Geoff Keighley, a weekly video game show, and later followed up with Fresh Baked Videogames, making them both part of their Slammin' Saturday Night lineup.
Spike TV is also home to the annual Video Game Awards.
In June 2006, Spike TV debuted The Series, a TV series based on the Blade films. Rapper Kirk "Sticky Fingaz" Jones plays Blade in the series. David S. Goyer, writer of all three Blade films (and director of the third), wrote the pilot episode and serves as executive producer on the series.
In April 2008, Spike TV will become the first basic cable network in the U.S. to air all six Star Wars movies on the same network, including holding premiere broadcast rights to Revenge of the Sith. Spike TV beat out NBC Universal and Turner Broadcasting for the lucrative deal (worth up to $80 million, although most of the two network systems had previously aired some or all of the original trilogy films).
Spike TV no longer refers to itself as the "first network for men." This may be due to the earlier existence of the mentv channel in Canada, complaints from people who found the channel's programming controversial and disliked that it was said to be "men's" entertainment, which they felt was derisive of the male sex, or due to a desire to attract female viewers by not portraying itself as an exclusively male network.
In May 2006, the station was rebranded to accentuate its masculinity, including a new logo and the "Get More Action" tagline.
During the Viacom/CBS Corporation split of 2005, Spike TV became a part of the "new" Viacom with its sibling networks in the MTV Networks family.
Trivia
- Due to licensing restrictions and programming rights issues, Canadian viewers of Spike TV see alternate programming whenever Spike airs a James Bond film, or other certain programs such as World's Wildest Police Videos. Most often, the substituted show is V.I.P., or Oblivious. Also, because Canadian network TSN aired Monday Night RAW in Canada, the program did not air on Spike TV's Canadian feed.
- Spike TV was involved in a controversial episode of Monday Night RAW. It was RAW's last night on the station and Vince McMahon had said that Spike and WWE were a good 'tag team'. He then went on to admit the move to the USA Network, which was censored out on television by executives on Spike TV.
External links
MTV Networks | 1983 establishments | Westinghouse Broadcasting
"Spike TV"