Line #7 Creator/PTEN


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/PTEN_logo.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:[[AcronymConfusion Explosive Entertainment!]][[note]][[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prime_Time_Entertainment_Network note]][[/note]]]]
3	Creator/WarnerBros and [[Creator/{{UPN}} Chris-Craft/United Television's]] first attempt at creating a broadcast network resulted in the Prime Time Entertainment Network, or PTEN. This was an ''ad hoc'' network of independent stations that was intended to standardize the scheduling and marketing of Warner's first-run syndicated dramas. In truth, it was actually little more than a UsefulNotes/{{syndication}} package like Operation Prime Time of the 1970s and '80s, the Creator/{{Paramount}} service that was planned to launch in 1978, but was scuttled (the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' series intended for that evolved into ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''), or Creator/{{Universal}}'s ''Creator/ActionPack'', a collection of shows sold as a block to the participating stations. Warner hoped that it would eventually grow into a true network, but that was not to be.
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5	PTEN had not one, but '''three''' strikes against it going in, which all but scuttled the intent to turn it into a real network:
6	#The participating stations generally got to choose when on their schedule the PTEN programs would air. Presumably, an interest in getting a return on their investment would lead to scheduling the programs in UsefulNotes/PrimeTime broadcast slots, but this was not always the case (in large part because close to half of its stations were already Fox affiliates), as fans of the nascent network's offerings [[ScrewedByTheNetwork would soon find out]].
7	#A completely different division of Warner Bros. TV was already in the process of setting up an actual broadcast network, which would become Creator/TheWB.
8	#Chris-Craft, a boat maker which happened to get into television (by way of United Television/BHC Communications), decided to hitch its wagon to Paramount Pictures and, with their stations and those of Paramount [[note]]Paramount had acquired TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 -- which had gotten many of its stations from the former Taft Broadcasting -- and renamed it as the '''Paramount Stations Group'''; this later merged with the group of CBS O&Os after the Viacom-CBS merger. These stations are currently either Creator/MyNetworkTV, Creator/TheCW, or independent; now, only one of the original six Paramount stations, KTXA-21 in Dallas (currently an independent), is still owned by CBS[[/note]] as the nucleus, launched Creator/{{UPN}}, which ate up PTEN's prime time slots and pushed their shows into the FridayNightDeathSlot, late night or Saturday afternoons, which were among the busiest timeslots for syndicated programming in TheNineties.
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10	The internal conflict within Warner Bros. and Chris-Craft's apathy guaranteed that one of their projects would be killed, and [[NetworkDeath PTEN was the loser]].
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12	PTEN lasted only four years (1993-1997), and in its final seasons was kept alive solely by its one surviving program: ''Series/BabylonFive''.
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14	Only four shows were ever aired on PTEN, those being:
15	* ''Series/BabylonFive'' (pilot 1993, 1994-1997) [[ChannelHop Hopped]] to Creator/{{TNT}} for its last season.
16	* ''Series/KungFuTheLegendContinues'' (1993-1997)
17	* ''Pointman'' (1995)

Context Creator / PTEN