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 | |
| TVPlayer | Watch live (UK only) (TVPlayer Plus subscription required) |
| Lifetime Latin America | |
|---|---|
Lifetime Latin America logo
|
|
| Launched | July 1, 2014 |
| Owned by |
A+E Networks Sony Pictures Television |
| Country |
 United States Venezuela Brazil
|
| Language | Spanish, Portuguese |
| Broadcast area | Latin America |
| Replaced | Sony Spin |
| Sister channel(s) |
A&E History H2 Canal Sony AXN |
| Website | Lifetime Latin America |
| LRW | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Launched | August 20, 2001 |
| Owned by | A+E Networks (Hearst (50%) Disney-ABC Television Group (50%) |
| Sister channel(s) | (see main infobox) |
|
Availability
|
|
| IPTV | |
| Verizon FiOS | 142 |
| AT&T U-verse | 364 |
Lifetime is an American cable and satellite television channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A+E Networks, which is jointly owned by the Hearst Corporation and The Walt Disney Company. The channel features programming that is geared toward women or features women in lead roles.
As of July 2015, approximately 95,020,000 American households (81.6% of households with television) receive Lifetime.
Daytime, originally called BETA, was launched in March 1982 by Hearst-ABC Video Services. The cable service operated four hours per day on weekdays. The service was focused on alternative women's programming.
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.
Lifetime was established on February 1, 1984 as the result of a merger of Hearst/ABC's Daytime and Viacom's Lifetime Medical Television. 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. It was not an initial success, reportedly losing $36 million in its first two years of operation, and did not become profitable until 1986. The channel suffered from low viewership, with a poll reportedly finding that some TV viewers erroneously believed it carried religious content.
In 1985, Lifetime started branding itself as "Talk Television" with a nightly lineup of talk shows and call-in programs hosted by people like Regis Philbin and Dr. Ruth Westheimer. In the process, the creators dropped the apple from their 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. 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. 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."
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Wikipedia