GSN (Game Show Network) is an American cable television and direct broadcast satellite channel dedicated to game shows and interactive television games. The channel was launched on December 1, 1994.
Game Show Network is received by about 56 million homes, and is jointly-owned by Liberty Media and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Game Show Network airs many classic game shows, like Match Game, Password, Press Your Luck, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and Family Feud, along with more recent hits like Greed, The Weakest Link, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. It also produced original programming like Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck, Friend or Foe (a game based around the Prisoner's Dilemma), Russian Roulette, WinTuition , Lingo, National Lampoon's Funny Money , Cram, and Extreme Dodgeball. It has a late night programming block featuring games shows from the 1950s and 1960s known as Black & White Overnight which currently is showing What's My Line and during the week, The Name's The Same with Beat the Clock on the weekends. In the past it has featured I've Got a Secret, To Tell the Truth and other black-and-white classics.
On March 15, 2004, the network officially changed its name to GSN, as they expanded their programming to include the genre of reality television.
The newly renamed GSN also introduced their original series World Series of Blackjack, Celebrity Blackjack, Extreme Dodgeball, and Fake-a-Date. It also began airing reruns of The Mole, Average Joe, Dog Eat Dog, Arsenio Hall's Star Search, Kenny vs. Spenny, Spy TV, Win Ben Stein's Money and Street Smarts.
Despite the addition (and subsequent subtraction) of several reality series, GSN's programming has always remained mostly game shows. As the only U.S. cable/satellite network largely devoted to game shows for adults, GSN is a prototypical niche operation.
It remains to be seen whether focusing so heavily on game shows is a viable long-term strategy. GSN is available in only about half of U.S. households, at least partly due to what are viewed as the unfavorable demographics of the typical game show audience. Still, the financial performance of the network has improved in recent years.
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