Comments README Page

I receive many pieces of e-mail from UPN viewers that do not understand the concepts of United States network programming and distribution. This page will attempt to educate you, the UPN/television viewer, regarding this topic.

First off, if you accessed this page from the UPN area of this web site, you have NOT accessed the official UPN web page. You have not reached anyone at UPN. I do not work for UPN.

Here is the official UPN Web site.

Secondly, the UPN pages only cover programs that UPN distributes to its affiliates and not any of the other programming that is aired by your local UPN affiliate. The simple rule is this, if the program you see is not one of those listed on the main UPN web page that I have or UPN has, it is NOT a UPN program, it is a program that your local station purchased to air when it is not airing any of the UPN shows.

OK, with those main points out of the way, let's dig into the main topic. United States television stations fit into one of three main categories, 1) a primary network affiliate; 2) a secondary network affiliate or 3) independent.

Network Programming

A primary network affiliate is a station that airs programing in pattern, which means it airs the programming provided by the network at the same time the network distributes it. The networks that exist are ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, UPN, The WB and Pax. PBS is not listed because it is a different beast. ABC, CBS and NBC air their prime-time programming each night from 8 p.m. (ET) to 11 p.m. (ET). Sunday night starts at 7 p.m. (ET). FOX starts at the same time each night, as the big three, but only goes until 10 p.m. (ET). Each of the four networks just mentioned also have weekday and weekend daytime programming. UPN airs its prime-time programming Monday through Friday, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. (ET). They also have a UPN movie on Saturday afternoon. The WB airs its network programming Sunday through Friday. They have the same start and ending time as FOX.
All other programming is local and usually syndicated (see below). This is a major point to remember. Just because it airs on a network affiliate (primary or secondary), doesn't mean that the program is produced or distributed by that network.
A secondary affiliate is a station that is a primary affiliate, but has also signed a contract to air programming from another network. This normally happens when there aren't enough TV stations in an area to have a separate TV station for each network. A station that has a primary contract with ABC, CBS or NBC may have a secondary affiliate contract with FOX, UPN or The WB. If your market has a primary FOX affiliate, it may be a secondary affiliate for UPN or The WB. Secondary affiliates air the primary affiliate programs in pattern (see above) and secondary affiliate programs late night and weekends.
An independent station is one that has no contracts with any of the networks listed above. They get all of their programming via syndicated contracts.

Syndicated Programming

There are more hours in a broadcast day than there are hours produced and distributed via the networks. All of the remaining broadcast time is filled with local programming (mostly news) and syndicated programs.

A syndicated program is a show that is produced and distributed on its own. It is sold to TV stations directly. These programs are called first-run syndicated shows. Old network shows are also sold via syndication (in this case called secondary syndication, or off-net, because the program originally aired via a network, or were originally sydicated but no longer produced). An example of a first-run syndicated show is Earth: Final Conflict. Examples of secondary syndicated shows are Frazier and Star Trek: The Next Generation. The first one is currently on a network (NBC), but the older shows have been sold via syndication (also called off-net). The second one was first produced for syndication, but no longer. A show can be in first-run and secondary syndication at the same time. There currently are no examples of this. The world of syndication can be quite complex. A simple rule to remember is that if it isn't aired via a network, it is probably syndicated.

No UPN Affiliate in Your Area?

There isn't much you can do about it. UPN is constantly trying to get independent stations to sign primary affiliate contracts and ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX primary affiliates to sign secondary affiliate contracts. The most you can do is talk to the General Manager of the stations in your area about getting them to sign a contract with UPN. If they get enough viewers in their market that are interested in UPN programming, one of them just might sign a contract.

Cable TV and UPN

If you have a UPN affiliate in your area that is within a certain distance from your cable company, they are required by law to carry that station on the cable system. But, if you do not have a UPN affiliate in your broadcast area, the cable company is not required to import a UPN station. There are no UPN affiliates available via C-Band that can be used by the cable company.

Satellites and UPN

Only one of the Pizza-Pan dish systems is carrying a UPN affiliate for national distribution. The Digital Sky Highway network (aka Dish Network, (1-800-333-DISH) carries 2 East Coast UPN stations for national distribution, WSBK/Boston and WWOR/New York, in their Superstations package. With a change in the law, there will be UPN affiliates on the pizza-pan dishes, but only for local-into-local, i.e., Chicago affiliates for the Chicago area. Check with the satellite provider before signing a contract.

UPN is distributed to its primary and secondary affiliates via C-band DCII 4:2:2 digital. No consumer receiver can get the UPN digital feed.

What to do if you have a comment/complaint about UPN programming

The first thing you don't do is send me e-mail bitching about a program that was removed or moved to a different time-slot on your local station. As mentioned above, I do not work for UPN and I specifically have nothing to do with the programming on your local TV station. Here are the steps to do to determine your course of action:

Are you sure that it is a UPN program that has been affected? Look at the list of current UPN shows listed on my main UPN web page. If it isn't listed, (I will make note of cancelled UPN shows and place links to the old shows further on in the main UPN web page), it isn't a UPN program. Skip to the next step, otherwise read the rest of this step.
If it is a UPN show, you have to send your comments/complaints to UPN via USnail mail. If there is an e-mail address, I don't know it. The USnail mail address is as follows:

United Paramount Network
11800 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025-9425
(310) 575-7000

You should also call your local UPN affiliate and talk to the program director. Whatever you do, don't send me e-mail, it won't do any good.
If it isn't a UPN program, do NOT send me e-mail. Call the program director of the local TV station and talk to that person, politely, about your complaint. As mentioned above, all other programs are purchased by your local station and programmed by your local station. If the station has dropped the show, or moved it to a different location, the local station did it, not UPN and definately not me.

What to do if you want to send an actor/actress some e-mail

Because I have no connection to UPN, I cannot forward e-mail to any actor or actress (see exception below). Your only choice is to send the actor/actress some USnail mail using the following address:

[Actor/actress name]
c/o United Paramount Network
11800 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90025-9425

The exception is e-mail for Lamont Bentley. USnail mail for Lamont can be sent to the address listed on his page.

What to do if you want to send a Star Trek actor/actress/producer some e-mail

Because I have no connection to Paramount, I cannot forward e-mail to any actor or actress. Your only choice is to send the actor/actress/producer some USnail mail using the following address:

[Actor/actress/producer name]
c/o Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3197

Closing comments

After reading all of the above, you should come to the conclusion that you should send all of your comments about UPN programs to UPN, via USnail mail, UPN e-mail, or send all of your comments to the local TV station. You NEVER send me e-mail complaining about a TV program, because I have nothing to do with the program or the TV station that airs it. You shouldn't send me e-mail that contains comments about UPN shows or e-mail for stars of UPN shows, because I do not forward the e-mail to UPN. After reading all of this and you still have a question, e-mail me.

This page downloaded on Thursday, 28-Nov-2024 06:54:06 GMT

vidiot at vidiot dot com
Last modified on Sunday, 12-Sep-2010 23:22:20 CDT.