The network quickly added a mix of college and less well-known professional sports held at other venues, similar to those found during the early years of ESPN.

[9] The said clause would cause Time Inc. to drop out of the venture in 1987, as the company attempted (but failed) to buy CNN from Ted Turner and run it independently from USA.

C-SPAN finally stopped sharing satellite space with USA on April 1, 1982, after having launched its own 24-hour feed two months earlier.

[11] USA began operating on a 24-hour schedule, programming its new daytime block with the British soap opera Coronation Street, a health-oriented show named Alive and Well, and an afternoon movie.

Weekends featured a mix of movies, some older drama series and talk shows during the morning hours, and sports during the afternoons and evenings.

[14] One tradition on USA was an afternoon lineup of game show reruns mixed in with several original low-budget productions that aired over the years.

More shows were progressively added soon afterward such as The Joker's Wild, Tic-Tac-Dough, Press Your Luck, High Rollers, and Hollywood Squares (with John Davidson as its "Square-Master", or host), along with Wipeout, Face the Music, and Name That Tune.

Up All Night became a cult favorite among viewers for the comedic wraparound segments that were usually shown during breaks leading into (and sometimes, out of) commercials and between films that were hosted by comedian Gilbert Gottfried and model/actress Rhonda Shear, the latter of whom had replaced original co-host Caroline Schlitt in 1991.

USA was the first basic cable channel to pre-empt the syndicated television market by purchasing a package of 26 films from Disney's Touchstone Pictures library in October 1989.

In November 1994, the game show block was cut back to only two hours, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. On September 24, 1992, USA launched a sister network, the Sci-Fi Channel (now Syfy), focusing on science fiction series and films.

In September 1993, USA adopted a new on-air look centering on the slogan "The Remote Stops Here", with flat graphics suggesting a television camera's in-lens symbols and music consisting of electric guitar and synthesized noises, though the movie presentation openers were retained from the previous design.

[20] A judge presiding over the case sided with MCA,[21] and Viacom subsequently sold its stake in USA and the Sci-Fi Channel to Seagram for $1.7 billion.

Opening sequences leading into movie telecasts showed people running through the "USA Studios Film Vault".

In 2000, USA Networks bought Canadian media company North American Television, Inc. (a joint partnership between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Power Corporation of Canada), owner of cable television channels Trio and Newsworld International (the CBC continued to handle programming responsibilities for NWI until 2005, when eventual USA owner Vivendi sold the channel to a group led by Al Gore, who relaunched it as Current TV).

The campaign was designed to reflect the channel's current focus on "rich, captivating stories about unlikely heroes who defy the status quo, push boundaries and are willing to risk everything for what they believe in".

[39] USA had quietly discontinued the "Characters Welcome" tagline in the lead-up to the rebranding, whose associated programming shift was led by the premieres of Mr.

[27] The Washington Post felt that the re-branding symbolically marked the end of USA's "blue sky" era, as the channel had been increasingly producing more "intense" series with darker themes.

[37][29] NBCUniversal marketing executive Alexandra Shapiro explained that the "Characters Welcome" campaign and associated programming was reflective of the "weirdly optimistic" mood of the network's key demographic at the time.

[43][44] With the announcement that NBCSN would shut down on December 31, 2021, it was subsequently revealed that USA and Peacock would collectively assume its remaining sports broadcasts.

[46] USA Network has achieved a viewership foothold with its original programming; this began in the 1990s with initial hits such as Silk Stalkings, Duckman and La Femme Nikita, which were gradually followed in the following two decades by series such as Monk, Psych, Shooter, White Collar, Mr.

[47][48] The PGA Tour on USA covered the opening two rounds of the Masters Tournament from 1982 to 2007,[49][50][51] Ryder Cup matches from 1989 to 2010, and various other events.

USA also participates in NBC Sports' broader effort of carrying all ten Survival Sunday matches across its numerous channels during the final matchday of the Premier League season.

[52] In September 2020, a Notre Dame Fighting Irish football game was scheduled for USA Network due to NBC's commitments to the 2020 U.S.

[58] USA Network also carried eight games as part of the inaugural season of the revived USFL, and is one of the broadcast partners of the SuperMotocross World Championship and its Supercross and Motocross feeder series.

WWF Prime Time Wrestling broadcast on USA Network from 1985 to 1993 until it was superseded by WWE's flagship cable program Raw.

[60][61] In September 2023, it was announced that SmackDown would return to USA in 2024 under a five-year deal with NBCUniversal, which would also include a slate of four annual primetime specials on NBC per-year.

[69] In February 2007, Shaw Communications submitted an application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to carry the USA Network in Canada as a foreign service that would be eligible for carriage by domestic cable and satellite providers (and to automatically allow all English-language general interest cable networks from the United States into Canada).

On October 17, 2024, NBCUniversal announced an agreement with Bell Media to launch a Canadian version of USA Network on January 1, 2025.

[73] The new channel will also mirror some of USA Network's sports offerings via content sublicensed from TSN, including All Elite Wrestling and NASCAR Xfinity Series coverage.

Even with the pivot to a general entertainment format, some of the original factual programming it aired as Discovery (including documentary series Mayday and reality show Highway Thru Hell) remain on USA Network's schedule.