Law & Order: Special Victims Unit originally aired on NBC. The network launched the series on September 20, 1999, making SVU the first spin-off of the original Law & Order.
NBC was central to the show’s early identity and to the growth of the Law & Order franchise. The series follows detectives and prosecutors handling sex-crime cases in New York City, and its familiar opening, casting style, and dramatic format connected it clearly to the original NBC series.
The word “originally” matters because television programs can later appear through syndication, cable reruns, streaming services, or international broadcasters. Those outlets do not change the show’s original U.S. network. Fox, ABC, and CBS are other major American broadcast networks, but none originally launched Law & Order: SVU.