The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. The network was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries/United Television; Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which produced most of the network's series) turned the network into a joint venture in 1996 after acquiring a 50% stake in the network, and then purchased Chris-Craft's remaining stake in 2000; UPN was spun off to CBS Corporation in December 2005, when CBS and Viacom split up into two separate companies.
As a result of CBS Corporation and Time Warner's joint announcement on January 24, 2006, that the companies would respectively shut down UPN and competitor The WB to launch a new joint venture network – The CW – later that same year, UPN shut down on September 15, 2006, with select programs from both it and The WB (which itself shut down two days later) moving to The CW when it launched three days after the former of the two predecessors ceased operations, on September 18.
