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A&E Network
Launched	February 1, 1984
Owned by	A&E Television Networks (Hearst Corporation (42.5%), Disney-ABC Television Group (42.5%), NBCUniversal (15%))
Slogan	Real Life. Drama.
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Formerly called	Arts & Entertainment Network
Sister channel(s)	History H2 The Biography Channel Lifetime Lifetime Movie Network Lifetime Real Women
Website	aetv.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 265 (SD/HD) Channel 1265 (VOD)
Dish Network	Channel 118 (SD/HD) Channel 9419(HD)
Dish Network Mexico	Channel 214
Bell TV (Canada)	Channel 615 (SD) Channel 813 (HD)
Shaw Direct (Canada)	Channel 520 (SD) Channel 278 (HD)
Foxtel (Australia)(from 16/02/12)	Channel 230 (SD) Channel 607 (SD/HD)
Cable
Available on many cable systems in the US & Canada	Check local cable listings, channels may vary
IPTV
Bell Fibe TV (Canada)	Channel 615 (SD) 1615 (HD)
Verizon FiOS	Channel 1641 (SD) 681 (HD)
AT&T U-verse	Channel 166 (SD) 1166 (HD)

The A&E Network is a United States-based cable and satellite television network^{[clarification needed]} with headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, London, Los Angeles and Stamford. A&E also airs in Canada and Latin America. Initially named the Arts & Entertainment Network, A&E launched February 1, 1984, to 9.3 million homes in the U.S. and Canada.^[1] In May 1995, the channel's name officially changed to the A&E Network,^[2] to reflect its declining focus on Arts and Entertainment.^[3] The network is now better known for shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter, Intervention, Storage Wars, Criss Angel Mindfreak and Paranormal State.^[4]

Description and programming[link]

The channel, which originally focused programming on biographies, documentaries, and drama series (especially crime dramas and mysteries), and has expanded to include reality television programming, reaches more than 85 million homes in the United States and Canada. A&E is a joint venture of the Hearst Corporation (42.5% ownership), The Walt Disney Company (42.5%), and NBCUniversal (15%). The network is a result of a merger in 1984 between Hearst/ABC's Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) and (pre–General Electric merger) RCA-owned The Entertainment Channel.^[5]

The A&E Network is the flagship of the A&E Television Networks group, which also includes The History Channel and The Biography Channel. It had often shown programming from abroad, particularly BBC network productions from the United Kingdom.^[5] Examples of British programming frequently broadcast on the channel include the documentary Freud.^[5]

However, the use of British programming has diminished greatly since A&E began scheduling more reality shows. For example, the network waited almost a year and a half to show the fourth season of MI-5, programmed it after prime time on Friday nights at 11pm Eastern, then stopped showing it after only two episodes, and programmed the rest of the season in one day on October 21, 2006.^[6]

Its fine arts programs have also been completely retired. Thursday nights once featured an anthology series called A&E Stage, hosted by John Mauceri, which featured telecasts of notable plays, concerts, full-length documentaries related to the arts, and complete operas, although shown with commercials. Such programs as Otto Schenk's 1978 production of Fidelio, with Leonard Bernstein conducting, were rebroadcast on this anthology. The final fine arts-related show to air on the network, Breakfast with the Arts, once featured a higher quantity of classical music than in its final years, and fewer interviews. The show was cancelled in July 2007.^[7]

History[link]

1984–2002[link]

Time share with Nickelodeon (1984–1985)[link]

When A&E debuted, the channel took over the satellite transponder timeslot that one of its predecessors, ARTS, occupied from its launch in 1981. Children's television channel Nickelodeon signed off just before 9 p.m. Eastern Time, and A&E took over at 9 p.m. with a three-hour programming block, repeated at 9 p.m. Pacific Time. In 1985 A&E moved to its own dedicated transponder to deliver 24-hour programming, and Nickelodeon added its present-day Nick at Nite block. However, some cable providers continued to carry Nickelodeon and A&E on the same channel and would usually make the switch at 8 p.m. Eastern. It wasn't until the early 1990s that these companies found separate channels for both networks.

Programming[link]

A&E was envisioned as a commercial counterpart to PBS, and in its early days focused on such PBS-style programming as the Leonard Bernstein Fidelio, shown with commercial interruptions. Later it began to add programming originally seen on commercial networks, such as reruns of Columbo, Breaking Away, Quincy, The Equalizer and Law & Order, and Night Court. Highbrow British mysteries including Agatha Christie's Poirot, Cracker, Dalziel and Pascoe, Inspector Morse, Lovejoy, Midsomer Murders, the Joan Hickson Miss Marple series and Sherlock Holmes were also featured; several of these series were produced in association with A&E. By 1990 A&E's original programming accounted for 35 to 40 percent of the network's program content.^[8]

A&E's signature show was Biography, a one-hour documentary series that A&E revived in 1987.^[9] In 1994 Biography went from one night to five nights a week, which helped boost A&E's ratings to record levels.^[8] The nightly series became A&E's top-rated show and one of cable TV's most notable successes.^[9] Biography received primetime Emmy Awards in 1999 and 2002.^[10]

Until it was officially changed in 1995, the A&E Network's full name was the Arts & Entertainment Network.^[2] By 1997, the network had branded itself as simply A&E, and was using the taglines "Time well spent" and "Escape the ordinary."

"The word 'arts,' in regard to television, has associations such as 'sometimes elitist,' 'sometimes boring,' 'sometimes overly refined' and 'doesn't translate well to TV,'" said Whitney Goit, executive vice president for sales and marketing. "Even the arts patron often finds arts on TV not as satisfying as it should be … And the word 'entertainment' is too vague. Therefore, much like ESPN uses its letters rather than what they stand for — Entertainment Sports (Programming) Network — we decided to go to just A&E." Of the network's tagline, Goit said, "Intellectually, 'Time well spent' defines a comparison between those who view a lot of television as a wasteland, and their acknowledgment that there are good things on TV and that they'd like to watch more thought-provoking TV."^[11]

The A&E Network commissioned Horatio Hornblower (1999), winner of two Emmy Awards, and the seven subsequent dramas in the series; Dash and Lilly (1999), which received nine Emmy nominations; and The Crossing (2000), which won the Peabody Award. The network created two original weekly drama series, Sidney Lumet's 100 Centre Street (2001–02) and Nero Wolfe (2001–02).

Notable movies and miniseries produced or co-produced by the A&E Network include the following:

2002–present[link]

In the summer of 2002, A&E underwent an overhaul in management which moved the network's focus toward reality television to attract a younger demographic^[12] and cancelled the network's two original scripted series. In May 2003 A&E launched a marketing campaign with the network's new tagline, "The Art of Entertainment."^[13]Between 2003 and 2007, the channel gradually retired several long-running series, moving its classic mysteries to The Biography Channel and cancelling Breakfast with the Arts, in favor of reality programming such as Dog The Bounty Hunter, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, Growing Up Gotti, Family Plots, Airline, Inked, King of Cars, and Criss Angel Mindfreak. In addition, A&E has garnered favorable notice for true-crime documentary series such as Cold Case Files, American Justice, City Confidential, Investigative Reports, and The First 48. The station has also cut back on its broadcasts of Biography from originally twice daily to weekend mornings only.^[14]

The changes were criticized as causing A&E to become an aberration of its original focus on fine arts programming. For example, Maury Chaykin reflected on the cancellation of the A&E original series A Nero Wolfe Mystery in a 2008 interview: "I'm a bit jaded and cynical about which shows succeed on television. I worked on a fantastic show once called Nero Wolfe, but at the time A&E was transforming from the premiere intellectual cable network in America to one that airs Dog the Bounty Hunter on repeat, so it was never promoted and eventually went off the air."^[15]

A&E's most-watched program was the docudrama Flight 93, about the hijacking of the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania during the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to Nielsen, the program attracted 5.9 million viewers for its initial telecast on January 30, 2006. The previous record-holder for the network was a World War II docudrama, Ike: Countdown to D-Day, starring Tom Selleck and broadcast in 2004, with 5.5 million viewers.^[16] A&E has acquired rerun rights to The Sopranos from HBO. The program has garnered very good ratings for the network, as its A&E premiere on January 10, 2007 averaged 3.86 million viewers, making it the most-watched premiere of a rerun off-network series in cable television history.^[17] The series has continued to perform well for A&E, and the network now regularly ranks in the top ten basic U.S. cable channels in prime time ratings.^[18] On February 20, 2008, A&E announced that they will be resuming production on Dog the Bounty Hunter which was canceled after Duane "Dog" Chapman was caught on tape using the word "nigger" and his son sold it to the National Enquirer. On May 14, 2008, A&E announced that Dog the Bounty Hunter would return to the air on June 25, 2008.

A&E has stated that they will be filming Season 4 of Gene Simmons Family Jewels.

On Memorial Day in 2008 in conjunction with the premiere of the original film The Andromeda Strain, A&E rebranded with a new logo and slogan, Real Life. Drama., with the new logo being an evolution of the older logo, along with a larger ampersand equal to the letters, and a strong resemblance to the logo of USA Network.^[19] At the same time, A&E began a heavy cross-promotional campaign of on-screen graphics promoting other programs as well as various features of the A&E website. Each segment of each program aired on A&E now contains one program cross-promo graphic and one website cross-promo graphic.

As part of its continuing efforts to include more scripted shows, A&E has ordered several dramas for Fall 2009. Among them will be projects from Jerry Bruckheimer, Shawn Ryan and Lynda Obst, and a western miniseries from Kevin Costner. Several unscripted series have also been renewed or ordered for fall, including Intervention, The First 48, Gene Simmons: Family Jewels, Dog the Bounty Hunter, Crime 360, Criss Angel Mindfreak, Paranormal State, Manhunters, Storage Wars and Parking Wars, and Shipping Wars.^[20]

In June 2009, it was reported that A&E's partners – Hearst, Disney, and NBCUniversal – were in talks to add Lifetime (then jointly owned by Hearst and Disney) to the A&E Television Networks partnership.^[21][22][23] The transaction was eventually consummated on August 27, 2009.^[24][25]

A&E HD[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

A&E HD is a 720p high definition simulcast of A&E Network that launched on September 4, 2006. It has found a home on many cable and satellite systems in Canada but was until recently rare in the U.S. However, A&E HD is in the process of becoming more widely available in the U.S., since Comcast, the largest US cable provider, is expanding the number of systems including A&E HD in its lineup in preparation of greater competition from HD satellite service. A&E HD is notable for being one of several cable networks stretching standard definition content horizontally to fill the display area of widescreen HDTVs, rather than preserving the original aspect ratio of 4:3.^{[citation needed]}

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• aetv.com, A&E's official website
• A&E Latin America Site
• AETN Corporate Site
• A&E Community Site
• Biography Channel
• Biography Community Site
• The History Channel
• History Channel Community Site
• MediaLifeMagazine web site (source of cable network prime time ratings)

E!
Launched	July 31, 1987 as Movietime, June 1, 1990 as E! (U.S.) December 2, 2002 (Germany)
Owned by	NBCUniversal
Slogan	Everything entertainment.
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California, United States
Formerly called	Movie Time (1987–1990)
Sister channel(s)	NBC NBCUniversal Cable Networks
Website	http://www.eonline.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV (US)	Channel 236 (SD/HD) Channel 1236 (VOD)
DirecTV (Latin America)	Channel 222
Dish Network (US)	Channel 114 (SD/HD)
Dish Network Mexico	Channel 212
Sky (UK & Ireland)	Channel 151
SKY Italia (Italy)	Channel 129
Foxtel (Australia)	Channel 121
Austar (Australia)	Channel 121
SKY Network Television (New Zealand)	Channel 011
DStv (Southern Africa)	Channel 124
CanalSat (France)	Channel 29
TrueVisions (Thailand)	Channel 53
Astro Nusantara (Indonesia)	Channel 46
Astro (Malaysia)	Channel 712 (SD) Channel 742 (HD)
Cyfrowy Polsat (Poland)	Channel 32
NOVA (Greece)	Channel 210
Digiturk (Turkey)	Channel 112
TotalTV (Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Macedonia)	Channel 17 (Serbia)
Dialogtv (Sri Lanka & Canada)	Channel 19
SKY Brasil (Brasil)	Channel 33
TVCabo (Portugal)	Channel 75
Net Digital (Brasil)	Channel 84
Tring Digital (Albania)	Channel 30
yes (Israel)	Channel 26
Orbit Showtime (Arab World)	channel385
Indovision (Indonesia)	Channel 242
Dolce (Romania)	Channel 144
Bell TV (Canada)	Channel 621
TVCable (Ecuador)	Channel 20
Cable
First Media (Indonesia)	Channel 70
Available on most cable systems	Check local listings
UPC Ireland	Channel 501
Virgin Media (United Kingdom)	Channel 156
StarHub TV (Singapore)	Channel 441
HOT (Israel)	Channel 31
TelstraClear InHomeTV (New Zealand)	Channel 11
UPC (Netherlands)	Channel 115
UPC Austria	Channel 148
UPC Romania	Channel 54
naxoo (Switzerland)	Channel 33
UPC Poland	Channel 113
SBB Serbia	Channel 311
SkyCable (Philippines)	Channel 57
Verizon FiOS
IPTV
AT&T U-Verse (US)	Channel 134 (SD) Channel 1134 (HD)
Now TV (Hong Kong)	Channel 531
Vodafone Casa TV (Portugal)	Channel 102
Fetch TV (Australia)	Channel 118
A1 Kabel TV (Austria)	Channel 519
meo (Portugal)	Channel 84 (SD) Channel 83 (HD)

E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.

E! currently has an audience reach of 88 million cable and satellite viewers in the U.S. and 600 million homes internationally.

History[link]

E! Entertainment Television was founded by Larry Namer and Alan Mruvka.^[1][2]

The network launched on July 31, 1987 as Movietime, a service that aired movie trailers, entertainment news, event and awards coverage, and interviews as an early example of a national barker channel.^[3] Early Movietime hosts included Greg Kinnear, Paula Abdul, Katie Wagner, Julie Moran, Suzanne Kay (daughter of Diahann Carroll), Mark DeCarlo, Sam Rubin and Richard Blade. Three years later, in June 1990, Movietime was renamed E! Entertainment Television^[4] to emphasize its widening coverage of the celebrity-industrial complex, contemporary film, television and music, daily Hollywood gossip, and fashion.

Controlling ownership was originally held by a consortium of five cable companies (Comcast, Continental Cablevision, Cox Cable, TCI, and Warner Cable), HBO/Warner Bros., and various founding shareholders, with HBO directly programming and managing the network. In 1989, after Time-Life bought Warner Brothers to fend off a takeover bid by Paramount, the new Time Warner company held four of the eight major ownership positions and took over management control of Movietime and renamed the network E! Entertainment Television. In 1997, Comcast, one of the minority partners, teamed up with The Walt Disney Company to buy the channel after Time-Warner had exercised their put agreement.^[5] In November 2006, Comcast (which eventually had the largest ownership stake in most of the network through mergers of forerunners of TCI and Continental under various circumstances) acquired Disney's 39.5% share of E! for $1.23 billion to gain full ownership of the network as part of a broader programming carriage agreement between Disney/ABC and Comcast.^[6]

Comcast Entertainment Group, the company's television unit, became a division of NBCUniversal Television Group, after Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake in NBCUniversal in January 2011.^[7] E!'s only sister networks prior to the NBC Universal merger were Style Network and G4, along with Comcast's sports networks: Versus, Comcast SportsNet and Golf Channel. In the case of Versus, E! staff produced that network's Sports Soup, while the Orlando-based Golf Channel featured no crossovers with E! at all due to incompatible audiences and operations. Versus and Golf Channel were taken under the direct control of the NBC Sports division, with the former being renamed NBC Sports Network in January 2012, and are no longer connected to their former sister networks beyond advertising and in-house operations.

On July 9, 2012, E! will undergo a brand refresh with the introduction of a revised logo (the first change to its logo since the network rebranded as E! in 1990), removing the exclamation mark background behind the "E" but retaining the exclamation point underneath, along with a new slogan "Pop of Culture"; the brand refresh will coincide with the premiere of the music-based reality series Opening Act. In addition, the network will eventually introduce scripted series programming, in addition to its existing reality and documentary series. The changes were announced during E!'s programming upfront presentation on April 30, 2012.^[8]

Programming[link]

News[link]

E! is one of the only U.S. general-entertainment cable channels that broadcasts a daily news program; its flagship entertainment news program is E! News, which debuted on September 1, 1991. The weekday program (which also has an hour-long weekend edition) features stories and gossip about celebrities, and the film, music and television industry, and has been broadcast under various formats since its launch, even being aired live for a time in the mid-2000s. First hosted by Dagny Hultgreen, it has been hosted by Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic since 2006.

E! News was the only entertainment news show on the channel for much of its history, until 2006 when the channel launched The Daily 10, hosted by Sal Masekela and Catt Sadler (Debbie Matenopoulos also co-hosted from the show's inception until 2008); the series was cancelled in September 2010 after E! announced that the weekday editions of E! News would be expanded to one hour starting on October 25, 2010,^[9] and in the midst of controversy over a joke by Loveline co-host Mike Catherwood, who filled in for Masekela on the show frequently during 2010, that openly gay singer and ex-American Idol contestant Adam Lambert would enjoy being in jail with all men, during a story on the September 17, 2010 edition of The Daily 10 on an altercation Lambert allegedly had with a paparazzi.

Outside of E! News telecasts, the channel runs an E! News-branded ticker displaying entertainment news headlines each half-hour during regular programming (except during airings of E! News and The Soup, and the channel's early morning infomercial block), which is updated daily; fast-breaking entertainment headlines (e.g., celebrity arrest or death) may also be displayed on a ticker, during any program when warranted.

Original series[link]

E! is known for its live red carpet pre-shows for the industry's three prominent award shows, the Primetime Emmy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards and the Academy Awards, famous for its fashion critiques by Joan Rivers; Rivers has also hosted post-awards specials titled Fashion Police, which became a regular weekly series in September 2010. The network also produces a decent amount of documentary and biographical series, most notably E! True Hollywood Story; many of E!'s original specials are entertainment-related ranging from light fare such as 25 Cutest Child Stars All Grown Up to serious fare such as 15 Most Unforgettable Hollwood Tragedies. It also produces specials centering on investigative and crime stories including E! Investigates, which features topical investigative reports on subjects ranging from child prostitution to teenage pregnancy.

In recent years, the network has become popular for its reality television programs. Its most popular series as of 2011 is Keeping Up with the Kardashians, which has spawned three spinoffs (Kourtney and Khloé Take Miami, Kourtney and Kim Take New York, and Khloe and Lamar). Other reality programs that have aired on E! include The Anna Nicole Show, Sunset Tan, Gastineau Girls, The Girls Next Door (which itself has spawned two spinoffs Holly's World and Kendra), The Spin Crowd, Married to Rock, and most recently, Ice Loves Coco, and Dirty Soap.

E! airs three comedy programs: the late night talk show Chelsea Lately, hosted by comedienne Chelsea Handler, its spinoff After Lately, and The Soup (based on the popular 1991-2002 E! series Talk Soup), featuring clips of the previous week's TV shows with humorous commentary delivered by the host, actor/comedian Joel McHale.

Uncharacteristic for any television network, E! airs the full credits of the current program at the show's beginning rather than the end; some programs, most prominently E! News, air their copyright tags in a similar fashion, and many series often feature production company credits at the start of the final segment of a program. However, feature films airing on the channel display the credits at the traditional end of program placement.

Acquired series[link]

Over the years, E! has occasionally run acquired programming including reruns of Alice, Absolutely Fabulous, several 20/20 news programs from ABC, and edited 60-minute versions of Saturday Night Live, though fewer of these programs currently air. The only programming currently airing on E! that they do not produce are reruns of the former HBO series Sex and the City and films under the banner "Movies We Love"; the latter was part of a since-abandoned initiative by the network to use films to increase their ratings. The network has also begun to air second runs of NBC series such as The Voice, Fashion Star, Whitney, and Are You There, Chelsea?, and in the past has aired previews of G4 programming to give that network an extended promotional platform due to their lower carriage due to being removed from DirecTV in November 2010.

E! HD[link]

The network launched a high definition simulcast on December 8, 2008, like the rest of E!'s sister lifestyle and sports networks owned by former parent Comcast Entertainment Group and subsequently the NBC cable networks, airing in the 1080i format. Currently filmed content and all of the network's post-2010 content, along with limited pre-2010 content are carried in the format, with HD programming airing in a letterbox format on the SD channel (films remain in 480i due to contractual or technical reasons). The HD feed is available in the United States on DirecTV,^[10] Dish Network, Verizon FiOS, and AT&T Uverse; and in Malaysia on Astro.

During E!'s run as a broadcast service in Canada, the E! Ontario version of the service until the December 2008 discontinuation of the E! broadcast television system was available in HD over Hamilton, Ontario-based CHCH-TV (channel 11) on their channel 18 digital signal.

E! Online[link]

E! Online is the online arm of E!, featuring live updates on entertainment news stories; the website includes a online-only entertainment news bulletin titled E! News Now, which is updated each weekday. The website also provides live streaming video of major red carpet events including movie premieres and award shows such as the Academy Awards and the Emmys, along with some blogs involving shows such as The Soup. Columnists featured on the website include Kristin dos Santos (the "Watch with Kristin" television blog), Ted Casablanca ("The Awful Truth" gossip blog) and Marc Malkin (writer of an eponymous gossip blog and host of a daily videoblog on the site).

As part of the rebrand of the cable channel on July 9, 2012, EOnline.com will undergo a redesign their website to be compatible for tablet computers.^[11]

International versions[link]

Canada[link]

Unlike most international cable channels that have licensed an American cable channel's branding and programming, E! has existed as two separate television channels in Canada.

On September 7, 2007, Canwest Global Communications rebranded its CH television system as E!. CH originally launched on February 12, 2001 by CHCH/Hamilton, Ontario as a secondary service of the Global Television Network; the CH/E! system would later include four additional Canwest-owned stations in Quebec (CJNT/Montreal), British Columbia (CHEK/Victoria and CHBC/Kelowna) and Alberta (CHCA/Red Deer), and three affiliates owned by Jim Pattison Group in British Columbia (CKPG/Prince George and CFJC/Kamloops) and Alberta (CHAT/Medicine Hat). The E! television system shut down on September 1, 2009 due to low ratings and corporate financial difficulties that eventually led to Canwest filing for bankruptcy protection and selling its properties to Shaw Media; the E! O&O stations experienced varied fates (CHCH and CJMT were sold to Channel Zero, CHEK was sold to an employee-led group; CHBC remained with Canwest and was converted into a Global O&O, and CHCA ceased operations outright), while the Pattison Group stations affiliated with the Rogers Media-owned Citytv system.^[12] As E!, local news and other regional programming as well as most local community sponsorships on the O&O station used local branding (using the callsign branding scheme common with Canadian stations not owned by a network or television system); this decision was at least partly made to avoid confusion with E! News, but likely intended to ensure that local newscasts were not perceived as celebrity-oriented.

The E! brand would later return to Canada on November 1, 2010, when CTVglobemedia (whose assets are now owned by Bell Media) signed a multi-year/multi-platform agreement with Comcast to rebrand Category 2 specialty channel Star! (which had a similar format to E! U.S. and had carried some of its programming prior to the 2007 rebranding of CH) into a Canadian version of E! on November 29, 2010.^[13]

See also[link]

• ReelzChannel - an American digital cable and satellite channel that has the same concept as original Movie Time.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• E! Online International Official Site
• E! – Latin America Official Site (In Spanish)
• Wikinews interview with Michael Musto about the art of celebrity journalism

v t e NBCUniversal LLC A joint venture of Comcast (51%) and General Electric (49%) Company Officials Board of Directors Stephen B. Burke (CEO) · Brian Roberts · Michael Angelakis · Jeffrey Immelt · Keith Sherin Senior Corporate Executives Stephen B. Burke (CEO) · Matt Bond · Lynn Calpeter (CFO) · Steve Capus · Richard Cotton · Dick Ebersol · Patricia Fili-Krushel · Robert Greenblatt · Bonnie Hammer · Ted Harbert · Mark Hoffman · Paula Madison · Ron Meyer · Adam Miller · Jeff Shell · Page Thompson · Lauren Zalaznick Universal Studios Focus Features · Geneon Universal (80.1%)[nu 1] · Illumination Entertainment • United International Pictures[nu 2] · Universal Animation Studios · Universal Pictures · PlayBack · Universal Studios Home Entertainment · Working Title Films Universal Parks & Resorts Universal Studios Dubailand · Universal Studios Hollywood · Universal Orlando Resort (Universal Studios Florida · Islands of Adventure · Universal CityWalk) · Universal Studios Japan · Universal Studios Singapore · Universal Studios South Korea Broadcast TV assets NBC · NBC News · NBC Sports · Telemundo NBCUniversal Cable A+E Networks (15%) · Bravo · Chiller · Cloo · CNBC · E! · G4 (88%) · MSNBC · Mun2 · Oxygen · PBS Kids Sprout (part owner)  · ShopNBC (30%) · Style Network  · Syfy · Telemundo Puerto Rico · Universal HD · USA Network · The Weather Channel[nu 3] · Weatherscan[nu 3] NBC Sports Group Golf Channel · NBC Sports Network · Universal Sports (part owner)[nu 4] · Alli Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (45%)  · California  · Chicago (20%)  · Houston  · Mid-Atlantic  · New England  · Northwest  · Philadelphia  · SNY (8%)  · The Mtn. (50%) · CSS (50%) · Comcast Sports Southwest  · New England Cable News  · Comcast Network CNBC CNBC global channels CNBC · CNBC Africa · CNBC Asia · CNBC Europe · CNBC Latin America · CNBC World CNBC Europe branches Class CNBC (20%) · CNBC Africa · CNBC Arabiya (according to CNBC Europe) · CNBC-e · CNBC Nordic · TVN CNBC CNBC Asia branches CNBC-TV18 · CNBC Australia · CNBC Awaaz · CNBC Hong Kong · CNBC Pakistan · CNBC Singapore · Nikkei CNBC · SBS-CNBC Universal Networks International 13th Street Universal · Diva Universal · KidsCo[nu 5] · Movies 24 · Steel[nu 6] · Studio Universal · Syfy · Universal Channel Syfy global channels Asia · Australia · Benelux · France · Germany · Japan · Latin America · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · Serbia · Slovenia · Spain · UK · US NBCUniversal Television Group NBC Studios · NBCUniversal Television Distribution · Telemundo of Puerto Rico Studios · Telemundo Television Studios · Universal Television NBC O&Os California Nonstop · KNBC · KNSD[nu 7] · KNTV · KXAS[nu 7] (DFW Nonstop) · WCAU (NBC Philadelphia Nonstop)  · WMAQ (Chicago Nonstop) · WNBC (New York Nonstop) · WRC (Washington Nonstop) · WTVJ · WVIT Telemundo O&Os KBLR · KDEN · KEJT-LP · KHRR · KNSO[nu 8] · KSTS · KTAZ · KTMD · KVDA[nu 8] · KVEA · KXTX · WKAQ · WNEU[nu 8] · WNJU · WSCV · WSNS ShopNBC O&Os WWDP Internet ventures: Hulu[nu 9] · iVillage · msnbc.com[nu 10] · Television Without Pity · DailyCandy · Fandango Other assets: EMKA, Ltd. · qubo[nu 11] · WSI Corporation[nu 3]  · International Media Distribution Defunct properties: NBC Weather Plus (2004–2008) · Trio (1997–2005) · Diva TV (2007−2012) · Hallmark Channel International (1997−2011) · Discovery Kids (1996-2010) · Discovery Kids on NBC (2002-2006) · DreamWorks Records (1996-2005) · Go Fish Pictures (2000-2007) See also: Vivendi (former NBCUniversal stockholder and current parent company of Universal Music Group) · Comcast (telecommunications company that holds 51%) · General Electric (conglomerate that holds 49%) · MCA Inc. (legal predecessors of NBCUniversal) ^ Co-owned with Dentsu. ^ 50%, with Viacom's Paramount Pictures. ^ a b c Co-owned with Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. ^ minority share, InterMedia Partners is the majority owner. ^ Co-owned with Corus Entertainment and Cookie Jar Group. ^ Co-owned with Mediaset. ^ a b The stations are co-owned with LIN TV in a joint venture (76% owned by NBC, 24% owned by LIN). ^ a b c The stations are owned by NBCUniversal, but are controlled by ZGS Broadcast Holdings. ^ Co-owned with News Corporation and The Walt Disney Company. ^ Co-owned with Microsoft in a joint venture (50% owned by NBC, 50% owned by Microsoft). ^ Co-owned with Corus Entertainment, Classic Media, Nelvana, Scholastic Books and ION Media Networks.

Donald A. Wollheim
Born	01 October 1914 New York City, New York, US
Died	02 November 1990 (age 76) New York City
Occupation	Publisher editor novelist author essayist

Donald Allen Wollheim (1 October 1914 – 2 November 1990) was an American science fiction (sf) editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell.^[1]

A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th century United States.^[1]

Wollheim as fan[link]

The 1979 Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls Wollheim "one of the first and most vociferous sf fans."^[2] He published numerous fanzines and co-edited the early Fanciful Tales of Space and Time. His importance to early fandom is chronicled in his 1974 book The Immortal Storm by Sam Moskowitz^[3] and in the 1977 book The Futurians by Damon Knight.^[4]

With Frederik Pohl and John Michel, 1938

Wollheim organized the first science fiction convention. A group from New York met with a group from Philadelphia on 22 October 1936 in Philadelphia. The modern Philcon convention claims descent from this event. Out of this meeting, plans were formed for regional and national meetings, including the first Worldcon.^[5]

Wollheim was a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction.^[4] When payment was not forthcoming for the first story he sold to Gernsback, Wollheim formed a group with several other authors, and successfully sued for payment. He was expelled from the Science Fiction League as "a disruptive influence "^[5] but was later reinstated.

In 1937 Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association, whose first mailing (July 1937) included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA." In 1938, with several friends, he formed the Futurians -- arguably the best-known of the science fiction clubs. At one time or another, the membership included Isaac Asimov, Frederik Pohl, Cyril Kornbluth, James Blish, John Michel, Judith Merril, Robert A. W. Lowndes, Richard Wilson, Damon Knight, Virginia Kidd, and Larry T. Shaw.^[5] In 1943 Wollheim married fellow Futurian Elsie Balter (1910–1996). It proved to be a lasting marriage and a publishing partnership.

The Futurians became less fan-oriented and more professional after 1940. Its conferences and workshops focused on writing, editing, and publishing, with many of its members interested in all three.^[5]

Wollheim as author[link]

Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories^[6] when he was nineteen.

His author photo: Don Wollheim & daughter Betsy (1954)

He was not paid for the story, and he learned that other authors hadn't been paid either and said so in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild.^[7] Publisher Hugo Gernsback eventually settled with Wollheim and the other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid.^[8]

His stories began to be published regularly by the 1940s; at the same time he was becoming an important editor. In the 1950s and 60s he wrote chiefly novels. He usually used pseudonyms for works aimed at grownups, and wrote children's novels under his own name. Notable and popular were the eight "Mike Mars" books for children, which explored different facets of the NASA space program.^[2] Also well-received were the "Secret" books for young readers: The Secret of Saturn's Rings (1954), Secret of the Martian Moons (1955), and The Secret of the Ninth Planet (1959). As Martin Pearson he published the "Ajax Calkins" series, which became the basis for his novel Destiny's Orbit (1962).^[2] A sequel, Destination: Saturn was published in 1967 in collaboration with Lin Carter. One of his most important books, however, was nonfiction; The Universe Makers (1971) is a discussion of themes and philosophy in science fiction.

One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic," was made into the feature film of the same name, released in 1997.^[9]

"In true editorial fashion, he was honest about the quality of his own writing," says his daughter Betsy. "He felt it was fair to middling at best. He always knew that his great talent was as an editor."^[10]

Wollheim as editor and publisher[link]

Robert Silverberg said that Donald Wollheim was "one of the most significant figures in 20th century American science fiction publishing", adding, "A plausible case could be made that he was the most significant figure — responsible in large measure for the development of the science fiction paperback, the science fiction anthology, and the whole post-Tolkien boom in fantasy fiction."^[5]

Wollheim edited the first science fiction anthology to be mass-marketed, The Pocket Book of Science Fiction (1943).^[5] It was also the first book containing the words "science fiction" in the title.^[10] It included works by Robert A. Heinlein, Theodore Sturgeon, T. S. Stribling, Stephen Vincent Benét, Ambrose Bierce, and H. G. Wells. Shortly before World War II, he edited two of the earliest periodicals devoted entirely to science fiction, Stirring Science Stories and Cosmic Stories.^[11]

File:Avon Fantasy Reader 10.djvu In 1945 Wollheim edited the first hardcover anthology from a major publisher and the first omnibus, The Viking Portable Novels of Science. He also edited the first anthology of original sf, The Girl With the Hungry Eyes (1947), although there is evidence that this last was originally intended to be the first issue of a new magazine.^[5] Between 1947 and 1951 he was the editor at the pioneering paperback publisher Avon Books, where he made available highly affordable editions of the works of A. Merritt, H. P. Lovecraft, and C. S. Lewis' Silent Planet space trilogy, bringing these previously little-known authors a wide readership.^[12] During this period he also edited the influential Avon Fantasy Reader for eighteen issues, and the Avon Science Fiction Reader for three. These periodicals contained mostly reprints and a few original stories.

In 1952 Wollheim left Avon to work for A. A. Wyn at the Ace Magazine Company and spearhead a new paperback book list, Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup,^[1] and for 20 years as editor-in-chief was responsible for their multi-genre list and, most important to him, their renowned sf list.^[2] Wollheim invented the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers.^[12] Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page length, one or both were usually abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made other editorial alterations — as witness the differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. Among the authors who made their paperback debuts in Ace Doubles were Philip K. Dick, Samuel R. Delany, Leigh Brackett, Ursula K. Le Guin, and John Brunner.^[12] William S. Burroughs' first book, Junkie, was published as an Ace Double.^[12] Wollheim also helped develop Marion Zimmer Bradley, Robert Silverberg, Avram Davidson, Fritz Leiber, Andre Norton, Thomas Burnett Swann, Jack Vance, and Roger Zelazny, among others.^[5] While at Ace, he and co-editor Terry Carr began an annual anthology series, The World's Best Science Fiction, the first collection of what they considered the best of the prior year's short stories, from magazines, hardcovers, paperback collections and other anthologies.^[5]

In the early 1960s Ace reintroduced Edgar Rice Burroughs' work, which had long been out of print, and in 1965, Ace bought the paperback rights to Dune.^[5] (Herbert's title worried Wollheim, who feared it would be mistaken for a western.)^[10] Eventually, Ace introduced single paperback books and became one of the preeminent genre publishers. Ace and Ballantine dominated sf in the 1960s and built the genre by publishing original material as well as reprints.^[5]

There was a time when no paperback publisher would publish fantasy. It was believed that there was no public for fantasy and that it wouldn't sell. Then Wollheim changed everything when he brought out an unauthorized paperback edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic.^[12] In a 2006 interview, his daughter Elizabeth said:

He called Professor Tolkien in 1964 and asked if he could publish Lord of the Rings as Ace paperbacks. Tolkien said he would never allow Lord of the Rings, his great work, to appear in 'so degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. Don was one of the fathers of the entire paperback industry. He'd spearheaded the Ace line, he was the originating editor-in-chief of the Avon paperback list in 1945, and I think he was hurt and took it personally. He did a little research and discovered a loophole in the copyright. Houghton Mifflin, Tolkien’s American hardcover publisher, had neglected to protect the work in the United States. So, incensed by Tolkien’s response, he realized that he could legally publish the trilogy and did. This brash act (which ultimately benefited his primary competitors as well as Tolkien) was really the Big Bang that founded the modern fantasy field, and only someone like my father could have done that. He did pay Tolkien, and he was responsible for making not only Tolkien but Ballantine Books extremely wealthy. And if he hadn’t done it, who knows when — or if — those books would have been published in paperback.^[13]

Tolkien had authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, though that edition was never made available outside the U.K.^[14] Eventually, he supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts, but it is difficult to say whether he was persuaded to do so by the manifest economic wisdom evident in sales of the Ace editions. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign by Tolkien's U.S. fans.^[15][16] A 1993 court determined that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and its paperback edition was found to have been a violation of copyright under US law.^[17] In the LOCUS obituary for Donald Wollheim, however, more detail emerges.

Houghton-Mifflin had imported sheets instead of printing their own edition, but they didn't want to sell paperback rights. Ace printed the first paperback edition and caused such a furor that Tolkien rewrote the books enough to get a new copyright, then sold them to Ballantine. The rest is history. Although Ace and Wollheim have become the villains in the Tolkien publishing gospel, it's probable that the whole Tolkien boom would not have happened if Ace hadn't published them.^[5]

DAW Books[link]

Wollheim left Ace in 1971. Frederik Pohl describes the circumstances:

Unfortunately, when Wyn died [in 1968] the company was sold to a consortium headed by a bank. . . . Few of them had any publishing experience before they found themselves running Ace. It showed. Before long, bills weren't being paid, authors' advances and royalties were delayed, budgets were cut back, and most of Donald's time was spent trying to soothe authors and agents who were indignant, and had every right to be, at the way they were treated.^[5]

Upon leaving Ace, he founded DAW Books, named for his initials. DAW can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house.^[1] DAW issued its first four titles in April 1972. Most of the writers whom he had developed at Ace went with him to DAW: Marion Zimmer Bradley, Andre Norton, Philip K. Dick, John Brunner, A. Bertram Chandler, Kenneth Bulmer, Gordon R. Dickson, A. E. van Vogt, and Jack Vance. In later years, when his distributor, New American Library, threatened to withhold Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How Are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual content, Wollheim fought vigorously against their decision. They relented.

His later author discoveries included Tanith Lee, Jennifer Roberson, Michael Shea, Ian Wallace, Tad Williams, Celia S. Friedman, and C. J. Cherryh, whose Downbelow Station (1982) was the first DAW book to win the Hugo Award for best novel. He was also able to give a number of British writers — Michael Moorcock, E. C. Tubb, Brian Stableford, Barrington Bayley, Michael Coney — a new American audience. He published translations of international sf as well as anthologies of translated stories, Best From the Rest of the World. With the help of Arthur W. Saha, Wollheim also edited and published the popular "Annual World's Best Science Fiction" anthology from 1971 until his death.

Robert Jordan credits Wollheim for helping to launch his (Jordan's) career. Wollheim made an offer for Jordan's first novel, Warriors of the Ataii, though he withdrew the offer when Jordan requested some minor changes to the contract. Jordan claims that Wollheim's first, 'laudatory' letter convinced him that he could write, and so he chose to remember the first letter and forget about the second.^[18][19] The novel was never published, but Jordan went on to write the immensely successful Wheel of Time series for a different publisher.

Marion Zimmer Bradley refers to him as "a second father," Frederik Pohl calls him "a founder,"^[5] and Robert Silverberg says he was "seriously underrated" and "one of the great shapers of science-fiction publishing in the United States."^[12]

Selected bibliography[link]

[edit] World's Best Science Fiction, 1965-1971 (with Terry Carr)

• World's Best Science Fiction: 1965 (=World's Best Science Fiction: First Series) (1965)
• World's Best Science Fiction: 1966 (=World's Best Science Fiction: Second Series) (1966
• World's Best Science Fiction: 1967 (=World's Best Science Fiction: Third Series) (1967)
• World's Best Science Fiction: 1968 (=World's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Series) (1968)
• World's Best Science Fiction: 1969 (1969)
• World's Best Science Fiction: 1970 (1970)
• World's Best Science Fiction: 1971 (1971)

[edit] The Annual World’s Best SF, 1972-1990 (with Arthur W. Saha)

• The 1972 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim’s World’s Best SF: Series One) (1972)
• The 1973 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Two) (1973)
• The 1974 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Three) (1974)
• The 1975 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Four) (1975)
• The 1976 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Five) (1976)
• The 1977 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Six) (1977)
• The 1978 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Seven) (1978)
• The 1979 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Eight) (1979)
• The 1980 Annual World's Best SF (=Wollheim's World's Best SF: Series Nine) (1980)
• The 1981 Annual World's Best SF (1981)
• The 1982 Annual World's Best SF (1982)
• The 1983 Annual World's Best SF (1983)
• The 1984 Annual World's Best SF (1984)
• The 1985 Annual World's Best SF (1985)
• The 1986 Annual World's Best SF (1986)
• The 1987 Annual World's Best SF (1987)
• The 1988 Annual World's Best SF (1988)
• The 1989 Annual World's Best SF (1989)
• The 1990 Annual World's Best SF (1990)

Novels[link]

• Across Time (as David Grinnell)
• Destination: Saturn (as David Grinnell)
• Destiny's Orbit (as David Grinnell) (published as an Ace Double with John Brunner's "Times Without Number)
• The Edge of Time (as David Grinnell)
• The Martian Missile (as David Grinnell)
• Secret of the Martian Moons (Winston Science Fiction series)
• Mike Mars and the Mystery Satellite
• Mike Mars in Orbit"
• Mike Mars Around the Moon
• Mike Mars, Astronaut
• Mike Mars at Cape Canaveral (vt "Mike Mars at Cape Kennedy")
• Mike Mars Flies the Dyna-Soar
• Mike Mars Flies the X-15
• Mike Mars, South Pole Spaceman
• One Against the Moon
• The Secret of The Martian Moons (Winston Science Fiction series)
• The Secret of The Ninth Planet (Winston Science Fiction series)
• The Secret of Saturn's Rings (Winston Science Fiction series)
• To Venus! To Venus! (as David Grinnell)

See also[link]

Novels portal

• Winston Science Fiction
• Ace Double
• Ace Books

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Smith, Curtis C. (1981). Twentieth Century Science Fiction Writers. New York: St. Martin's. pp. 596–598. ISBN 0-312-82420-3. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Nicholls, Peter (1979). The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. London: Granada. pp. 660–1. 
3. ^ Moskowitz, Sam (1974). The Immortal Storm. Westport, CT: Hyperion Press. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Knight, Damon (1977). The Futurians. New York: John Day. ISBN 0-381-98288-2. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n} LOCUS, December 1990 - Donald A. Wollheim: Obituaries and Appreciations pp=68–70
6. ^ Silver, Steven H. "Debut Science Fiction". http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/debut.html#W:. Retrieved 21 September 2007. 
7. ^ Speer, Jack (1939). Up to Now. Full-Length Articles. 
8. ^ Davin, Eric Leif (1999). Pioneers of Wonder. New York: Prometheus Books. ISBN 1-57392-702-3. 
9. ^ Donald A. Wollheim at the Internet Movie Database
10. ^ ^{a b c} Personal Interview with Elizabeth Wollheim/27 April 2009/
11. ^ The New York Times|03 November 1990|Section 1|p. 18
12. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Silverberg, Robert (1997). Reflections & Refractions: Thoughts on Science Fiction, Science, and Other Matters. Grass Valley, Calif: Underwood. pp. 253–6. 
13. ^ LOCUS, June 2006 - Betsy Wollheim Interview
14. ^ "The First Paperback Edition of The Hobbit". http://www.tolkiencollector.com/hobbhist.htm. Retrieved 27 April 2009. 
15. ^ Reynolds, Pat (2004). "The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text". http://www.tolkiensociety.com/tolkien/tale.html. 
16. ^ Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, especially #270, #273 and #277, ISBN 0-395-31555-7 
17. ^ Eisen, Durwood & Co. v. Christopher R. Tolkien et al., 794 F. Supp. 85, 23 U.S.P.Q.2d 1150 (S.D.N.Y. 1992), affirmed without opinion, 990 F.2d 623 (2nd Cir. 1993)
18. ^ McAlpine, Rachel. New Zealand interview with Robert Jordan
19. ^ Kleffel, Rick. Fine Print interview with Robert Jordan

External links[link]

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Donald Allen Wollheim

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Donald Allen Wollheim

• DAW Books
• Donald A. Wollheim on H. Rider Haggard and She (full text)
• Donald A. Wollheim at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Bibliography at fantasticfiction.co.uk
• Bibliography at geometry.net
• Anthopology 101: Pocketbooks and Portable Libraries by Bud Webster at Galactic Central
• Anthopology 101: The Real Macabre by Bud Webster at Galactic Central
• Audio recording of Donald Wollheim participating in panel discussion at the First World Fantasy Convention at archive.org