Editing UPN (section)

== Affiliates ==
{{Main|List of former UPN affiliates}}
UPN had approximately 143 full-power owned-and-operated or primary affiliate stations in the United States, and another 65 stations aired some UPN programming as secondary affiliates. Although it was considered a major network by [[Nielsen Holdings|Nielsen]] for [[Nielsen ratings|ratings]] purposes, UPN was not available in every American [[media market|television market]]. In some areas, UPN programming was shown off-pattern by affiliates of other networks (airing immediately after programming from their primary network on some Fox and WB stations, or during overnight timeslots on major network affiliates) or by otherwise independent stations, such as in the case of [[KIKU|KIKU-TV]] in [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]], [[Hawaii]]. Some affiliates were also known to extensively preempt network programming in order to broadcast local sporting events.

By 2003, UPN had an estimated audience reach of 85.98% of all U.S. households (equivalent to 91,689,290 households with at least one television set). In contrast, The WB was viewable in 91.66% of all U.S. television homes. This is mainly because UPN did not have wide distribution in areas ranked below the top 100 Nielsen-designated media markets, whereas The WB operated [[The WB 100+ Station Group]] – a [[cable television|cable]]-only station group that was launched by the network in September 1998 – to provide broad coverage to those markets (from January 1995 to October 1999, The WB's programming was carried over the [[WGN America|superstation feed]] of the network's Chicago affiliate [[WGN-TV]] through a programming agreement with its owner Tribune Broadcasting). Despite the fact that UPN would not be able to have extensive small-market coverage at launch due to a lack of commercial television stations in those areas, Paramount Television denied [[Advance Publications|Advance Entertainment Corporation]] permission from distributing the network's programming over the [[WWOR EMI Service]], the [[superstation]] feed of New York City affiliate WWOR-TV, preventing the network from reaching markets without an exclusive or secondary UPN affiliate. The network proposed launching a cable-originated service to increase its distribution to markets without an over-the-air affiliate in July 1998; however, the service, which was to have been named UPN Plus, ultimately never launched.<ref>{{cite web |title = UPN Working on 24-Hour Cable Channel |url = https://variety.com/1998/tv/news/upn-working-on-24-hour-cable-channel-1117478702/ |first1 = John |last1 = Dempsey |first2 = Jenny |last2 = Hontz |periodical = Variety |date = July 22, 1998 |access-date = September 2, 2015 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151015094526/http://variety.com/1998/tv/news/upn-working-on-24-hour-cable-channel-1117478702/ |archive-date = October 15, 2015 }}</ref> UPN did have one cable-only affiliate in its station form, [[WNFM-TV]] in [[Fort Myers, Florida|Fort Myers]], [[Florida]], which joined the network in 1998.

In markets where Viacom had a CBS/UPN [[Duopoly (broadcasting)|duopoly]] after its 2000 merger with CBS, the UPN station was used to air CBS network programs if local sporting events or extended [[breaking news]] coverage would air on the CBS station, sometimes resulting in UPN programs being pre-empted outright, as the CBS-owned outlets were usually the senior partner in the duopolies (an exception being [[Detroit]], where [[WKBD-TV]] is considered the senior partner to [[WWJ-TV]] due to WKBD being longer-established). One such event occurred on September 26, 2004, when [[Hurricane Jeanne]] forced a scheduled [[National Football League|NFL]] game between the [[Pittsburgh Steelers]] and [[Miami Dolphins]] in [[Miami]] to be postponed from its scheduled start time of 1:00&nbsp;p.m. to 8:30&nbsp;p.m. ET; the game aired locally on [[KDKA-TV]] and [[WFOR-TV]] while their respective UPN sister stations, [[WPKD-TV|WNPA-TV]] and [[WBFS-TV]], aired CBS's regular Sunday night programming instead.

These factors led to the network struggling in the ratings over much of UPN's existence, with its later ''Star Trek'' franchise, ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise]]'', perhaps suffering the most and ultimately being canceled by the network in a controversial decision in February 2005. The most consistent ratings performer for the network was ''[[WWE SmackDown]]''. During the 2004–2005 season, the network was getting consistently better ratings than The WB, much of this thanks to its carriage of the WWE.<ref>{{cite news |title = UPN's Start-of-Week Blues |first = John |last = Consoli |work = Mediaweek |date = October 23, 2004 }}</ref>

=== Station standardization ===
When the network launched, UPN began having most of its stations branded using a combination of "UPN" or "Paramount" (the latter having been used only by the network's Viacom-owned stations, some of whom adopted the "Paramount" branding prior to UPN's launch), and the affiliated station's channel number. By the late 1990s, affiliates were simply branded under the "UPN (channel number or city)" scheme (for example, Chicago affiliate WPWR-TV called itself "UPN Chicago" and New York City O&O-turned-affiliate WWOR-TV was referred to as "UPN 9", until The CW's launch was announced in January 2006).

However, most of the UPN owned-and-operated stations under Viacom/CBS Corporation branded themselves by the network/city conventions (for example, [[KPYX|KBHK-TV]]/[[San Francisco]] was branded as "UPN Bay Area", [[WKBD-TV|WKBD]]/[[Detroit]] was branded as "UPN Detroit", [[WUPA]] was branded as "UPN Atlanta" and [[WUPL]]/[[New Orleans]] was branded as "UPN New Orleans"). That type of branding did not always apply though, as for example, [[WSBK-TV]]/[[Boston]] was branded "UPN 38" and [[KMAX-TV]]/[[Sacramento, California|Sacramento]] was branded "UPN 31". [[WPKD-TV|WNPA]]/[[Pittsburgh]] originally branded itself as "UPN 19", but rebranded itself as "UPN Pittsburgh" soon after the network introduced its second and final logo in September 2002, making it one of the few that had carried both standardization styles. Many UPN-affiliated stations followed the same branding scheme (for example, [[KHII-TV|KFVE]]/[[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]] used the brand "UPN Hawaii").

This would be a continuation of the trend of networks using such naming schemes, which originated at Fox (and even earlier by the Canadian [[CBC Television|CBC]]), and was also predominately used at CBS (which has most of its owned-and-operated stations, with a few exceptions, brand using a combination of the network's name and over-the-air channel number) and The WB (with the exception of its Tribune Broadcasting-owned affiliates in Los Angeles and Chicago, and certain other stations); NBC and ABC also use similar branding schemes, but not to the same broad level outside their O&Os. While the "Big Three" networks do not require their affiliates to have such naming schemes (though some affiliates choose to adopt it anyway) and only on the network's O&Os is the style required, UPN mandated it on all stations – though in one case, [[Milwaukee]] affiliate [[WCGV-TV|WCGV]] branded as "Channel 24" from 1998 to 2001, excluding UPN imagery from its station branding (WCGV, which previously branded as "UPN 24", had disaffiliated from the network for eight months in 1998 due to a compensation dispute; it received a rare waiver from the network to air a marathon of the last half of [[Star Trek: Voyager (season 4)|season four of ''Star Trek: Voyager'']] which it had not aired in August 1998, before the fifth season's premiere in September.<ref>{{cite web |title = Sinclair Pulling More UPN Affiliations |url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20115938.html |first = Joe |last = Schlosser |periodical = Broadcasting & Cable   |date = January 5, 1998 |access-date = September 2, 2015 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924151246/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-20115938.html |archive-date = September 24, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title = UPN, Sinclair Make Up |url = http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-50228020.html |first = Steve |last = McClellan |periodical = Broadcasting & Cable   |date = August 3, 1998 |access-date = September 2, 2015 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150924155249/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-50228020.html |archive-date = September 24, 2015 }}</ref>).

One Chris-Craft/United Television-owned station, [[KMSP-TV]] in [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]], only branded as "UPN 9" for its entertainment and network programming. Due to the station's circumstances of holding full cable carriage across the state of [[Minnesota]] and into [[The Dakotas]] as a [[superstation]], local management preferred to retain their pre-UPN "Minnesota 9" branding in some manner, as most of the UPN schedule was of low appeal to the station's rural viewers, and it was building a successful and competitive news department that did not depend on the success or failure of UPN. KMSP's news division success despite UPN affiliation was one of the pushes for Fox Television Stations to acquire United Television overall, then convert KMSP-TV to a Fox owned-and-operated station in Fall 2002. The UPN affiliation thus moved to new sister station [[WFTC]], which followed all UPN branding guidelines until Fox pulled their support for the network in January 2006.