Satellite Program Network (SPN) was a satellite and cable

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

that broadcast in the United States from 1979 to 1989. Following a name change to Tempo Television in 1986, it was bought by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and relaunched as

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

in 1989.

History

SPN was created by Ed Taylor, an associate of

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he fo ...

and the head of the Southern Satellite Systems company. The network, which began in 1979, was the second-oldest cable-only network. In 1985, SPN was acquired by

Satellite Syndicated Systems Satellite Syndicated Systems, Inc. (SSS) was a company founded in 1978 as a division of Southern Satellite Systems, Inc., dedicated to the exploration and development of new satellite communication opportunities, especially for the then-new industry ...

. Among the programs broadcast on SPN were '' Video Concert Hall'', an early

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

show (before the launch of MTV); ''News from Home'', a program for Canadians in the US, hosted by early

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

news anchor Don Miller; '' The Shopping Game'', a Nicholson-Muir

game show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, ...

produced in Nashville and hosted by

Art James Art James (born Arthur Simeonovich Efimchick; October 15, 1929 – March 28, 2004) was an American game-show host, best known for shows such as ''The Who, What, or Where Game'', ''It's Academic''. and ''Pay Cards!'' He was also the announcer a ...

; ''The Susan Noon Show'', featuring celebrity interviews; ''Nutrition Dialogue'', hosted by Dr. Betty Kamen; '' Sewing with Nancy''; ''The Paul Ryan Show'', another celebrity interview program with the actor/interviewer of the same name; and ''Moscow Meridian'', a current-affairs program produced by

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

authorities and hosted by Vladimir Posner.

Rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

s of old situation comedies and movies, mostly from

low-budget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

studios, rounded out the schedule. In 1984, the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) paid SPN to broadcast some college football games of the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

playoffs, including that season's

championship game In sport, a championship is a Competition#Sports, competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match sy ...

, following a Supreme Court ruling (''

NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma ''NCAA v. Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma'', 468 U.S. 85 (1984), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) television plan violated the Sherman and Cla ...

'') that halted the NCAA's practice of negotiating television contracts for its members.

Tempo Television

In March 1986, Satellite Syndicated Systems changed its name to Tempo Enterprises, and SPN and SPN International were changed to Tempo Television and TEMPO International, respectively. Tempo Television was a 24-hour national cable network serving all contiguous states,

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

and

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. Using a counter-programming philosophy, Tempo Television fulfilled viewer needs by dividing its program schedule into various dayparts including international programming, finance, sports, leisure and classic films. Market studies clearly indicated that this unique programming approach attracted and retained upscale audiences who were looking for entertainment that was informative and substantially different from the standard options. A Canadian regulatory description of the channel in 1988 said that Tempo's "schedule consists of outdoors, travel, general information and entertainment programming and classic feature films that are in the public domain." In May 1988, by which time Tempo had 12 million subscribers, the channel was purchased by

, mainly for its existing carriage and not its programming. It was relaunched on April 17, 1989, in a new guise as the

business news Business journalism is the part of journalism that tracks, records, analyzes and interprets the business, economic and financial activities and changes that take place in societies. Topics widely cover the entire purview of all commercial activ ...

channel

History

Tempo Television

References

Further reading