Lifetime (TV network)
| Lifetime | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Launched | February 1, 1984 |
| Owned by | |
| Picture format |
|
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | National |
| Headquarters | New York City, New York |
| Replaced |
|
| Sister channel(s) | |
| Website | www |
Availability
| |
| Satellite | |
| DirecTV | 252 (SD/HD) |
| Dish Network | 108 (SD/HD) |
| Cable | |
| Available on most U.S. cable providers | Check local listings |
| IPTV | |
| Verizon FiOS |
|
| Zazeen (Canada) | 117 (HD) |
| AT&T U-verse |
|
| VMedia (Canada) | 83 (HD) |
| Streaming media | |
| Sling TV | Internet Protocol television |
| TVPlayer | Watch live (UK only) (TVPlayer Plus subscription required) |
| Amazon Video | www.amazon.com (requires subscription to access content) |
Contents
[hide]Predecessors[edit]
Daytime[edit]
Daytime, originally called BETA, was launched in March 1982 by Hearst-ABC Video Services.[4][5][6] The cable service operated four hours per day on weekdays. The service was focused on alternative women's programming.[5]Cable Health Network[edit]
Cable Health Network was launched as a full-time channel in June 1982 with a range of health-related programming. In November 1983, Cable Health Network adopted a new name, Lifetime Medical Television.[5]History[edit]
Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment Services[edit]
Lifetime was established on February 1, 1984 as the result of a merger of Hearst/ABC's Daytime and Viacom's Lifetime Medical Television.[4][5] A board for the new network was formed with equal representation from Hearst, ABC and Viacom, and the board elected Thomas Burchill as the new network's first CEO.[7] It was not an initial success, reportedly losing $36 million in its first two years of operation, and did not become profitable until 1986.[8] The channel suffered from low viewership, with a poll reportedly finding that some TV viewers erroneously believed it carried religious content.[8]In 1985, Lifetime started branding itself as "Talk Television" with a nightly lineup of talk shows and call-in programs hosted by people including Regis Philbin and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. In the process, the creators dropped the apple from the logo.
In 1988, Lifetime hired Patricia Fili as its head of programming. In the first three years of her tenure, she changed 60 percent of Lifetime's programming, by her own estimate.[8] In addition to overhauling Lifetime's signature talk show, Attitudes, by hiring a new producer and refocusing it on current women's issues, Fili acquired the rights to syndicated network hits like Moonlighting and L.A. Law. She also oversaw the production of the first Lifetime movies ever made, along with carrying the final three seasons of the Blair Brown–starring dramedy The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd from NBC after the network canceled it. The network also showed movies from the portfolios of its owners, Hearst, ABC, and Viacom.[7] In 1991, reporter Joshua Hammer stated, "Considered one of cable TV's backwaters, [...] Lifetime network was replete with annoying gabfests for housewives and recycled, long-forgotten network television series, such as Partners in Crime and MacGruder and Loud. [...] Under Fili's direction, Lifetime has gone a long way toward shedding its low-rent image."[8]
Lifetime began airing a limited amount of women's sports coverage, including the WNBA and the America's Cup, in which it sponsored the first women's crew team to compete. McCormick also strengthened the network's ties with women's organizations such as the National Organization for Women, and began airing public service announcements about women's issues, such as breast cancer awareness. Lifetime also adopted a new tagline. "Lifetime – Television for Women."[7]
Meanwhile, the channel's original programming was aimed not just at women aged 24–44, but these women's spouses, who research showed watched the network in the evenings with their wives. This was done by making the male characters in Lifetime's original programming – such as the film series Spencer for Hire – more appealing to men by making them more masculine. These roles were more stereotypical than previous Lifetime movies, which usually featured women protagonists on their own. This helped Lifetime take advantage of a known bias in the Nielsen ranking system that favored "upscale" couples who shared a television set. By January 1995, Lifetime was the sixth most-highly rated cable network by Nielsen.[7]
Lifetime Entertainment Services[edit]
In 1996, TCI, one of the United States' largest cable providers, announced that it would no longer carry Lifetime in certain markets to make room for the soon-to-be-launched Fox News Channel, in which TCI held a financial stake.[9] According to Lifetime executives, the network stood to lose up to one million subscribers due to TCI's move.[9] However, Lifetime published advertisements in some of the markets that would be affected – including Eugene, Oregon and Newport, Rhode Island – informing customers that TCI was removing the only network that was made for women.[7] After TCI customers called the company to complain, TCI cut back the number of homes that would lose Lifetime to approximately 300,000. Still, women's groups and politicians rallied behind Lifetime.[9] Colorado representative Patricia Schroeder called TCI's decision a "power play" between TCI chief executive John Malone and Fox executive Rupert Murdoch, and said, "Women kind of feel like they're being rolled over so that the guys who run these companies can make more money."[9]Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank said that the decision showed that Fox "might have an agenda of its own that is anti-woman."[9] TCI executives were surprised and angry about the public's reaction. TCI's vice president of programming was quoted in The New York Times as saying, "I resent the implication that they are the women's network. Other networks come in to us and say Lifetime is not telling the truth. Lifetime is a women's channel only in name and advertising. [...] It programs for ratings." TCI senior vice president Robert Thomson stated that the reaction was "laughably out of scale," based on the fact that less than 10 percent of Lifetime's audience would be affected. TCI executives chalked the politicians' reactions up to lobbying by Lifetime and it being an election year, and suggested to the Times that in retaliation, Disney (one of Lifetime's parent companies), may have trouble launching a new network on TCI.[9] In 1997, it was reported that Lifetime had 67.7 million subscribers.[10]
A&E ownership[edit]
On August 27, 2009, Lifetime was acquired by A&E Networks; the company was already owned by Lifetime's shareholders Hearst and Disney, but with additional shares owned by NBC Universal (owner of Lifetime competitor Oxygen).[11][12][1][2]In May 2012, Lifetime unveiled a new logo and branding campaign.[13] The new slogan, "Your Life. Your Time.", "reflects how women value and experience time."[14] The logo was the 11th in twenty years.[15] In July 2012, NBC Universal, now owned by Comcast, exercised an option to sell its stake in A&E Networks, putting Lifetime back under the ownership of Disney and Hearst.[16]
On February 2, 2017, Lifetime unveiled another new logo, this being a red circle with the wordmark LIFETIME in white in the center.
Programming[edit]
Lifetime airs a mix of original broadcast content – which comprise film, reality (such as Dance Moms and Preachers' Daughters), and dramatic programming (such as Devious Maids and Witches of East End) – and second-run syndicated series (such as How I Met Your Mother, and Grey's Anatomy). The network states that it "is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families."[17]In the past, Lifetime used to air several game shows in daytime and early evenings, including Supermarket Sweep, Shop 'til You Drop, and Debt. Lifetime also produced one original game show (Who Knows You Best?, starring Gina St. John), with a format based on The Newlywed Game; it was canceled after one season.
Lifetime has also purchased the rights to programs that originally aired on broadcast networks and produced new episodes. In 1988, it bought the rights to the existing 26 episodes of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd from its original broadcaster NBC, and produced 13 additional episodes of the series. Lifetime did not renew the show reportedly because of low ratings and the high cost to produce the program.[8] In late 2011, the network began to air new episodes of America's Most Wanted, a program canceled in series form by Fox at the end of the 2010–11 season,[18] although special feature episodes continued to air intermittently on Fox. Lifetime aired more than 40 new episodes of the program before cancelling it in 2013
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