TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and classic television series (ranging from the 1960s to the 2010s), original scripted series and limited theatrically released movies. The network is headquartered at One Astor Plaza in New York City. TV Land is available to about 90 million households in the United States as of January 2016. History Launch and debut The network launched at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on April 29, 1996, as Nick at Nite's TV Land. Following a seven-minute short film introducing the network, the first program aired was a syndicated edit of The Best of The Ed Sullivan Show featuring the Beatles' American debut along with routines by Joan Rivers, Richard Pryor and Señor Wences. The show led off a launch-day lineup that rebroadcast numerous series premieres, pilot episodes and television firsts. The network's original lineup consisted of Hill Street Blues; St. Elsewhere; The Ed Sullivan Show; Gunsmoke; That Girl; The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour; Honey West; The Addams Family; Love, American Style; Petticoat Junction; Green Acres; The Phil Silvers Show; and Hogan's Heroes. The channel launched during a time when retransmission consent was becoming more common with subscription networks and terrestrial television stations nationwide as a result of a provision in the 1992 Cable Act. However, MTV Networks offered TV Land to subscription providers for free for its five years of operation if providers would agree to add the channel to their expanded basic tiers during the 1996 calendar year. USSB, then one of two services that used the DirecTV satellite, offered TV Land as a free channel to USSB and DirecTV satellite users, without requiring a subscription, for its first years on air. Shortly after TV Land's debut, MCA filed a lawsuit against Viacom. Because MCA's original agreement with Paramount Pictures to operate USA Network prohibited either partner from operating other pay-television networks outside the joint venture, Viacom had been in breach of contract ever since the company bought Paramount in 1994, because it had operated MTV Networks (including Nickelodeon, MTV and VH1) since its founding in 1983, and Showtime Networks (owners of Showtime, The Movie Channel and Flix) since it was founded in 1985. MCA claimed that the intention of TV Land was to compete