A+E Networks

Type	Joint Venture
Industry	Broadcasting & Cable TV
Founded	1984
Headquarters	235 E 45th St New York City, New York, United States 10017
Key people	Abbe Raven, President & CEO Whitney Goit II, SEVP Gerard Gruosso, EVP
Products	Mass media, Home video
Owner(s)	Hearst Corporation (42.5%) Disney-ABC Television Group (The Walt Disney Company; 42.5%) NBCUniversal (Comcast/General Electric; 15%)
Employees	650 (2009)
Divisions	AETN International AETN Consumer Products
Website	http://www.aenetworks.com

A&E Television Networks (d/b/a A+E Networks and formerly also known as AETN) is a U.S. media company that owns a group of television channels available via cable & satellite in the US and abroad. The company is a joint venture between Hearst Corporation, Disney-ABC Television Group (The Walt Disney Company), and NBCUniversal (Comcast/General Electric).

Channels from A+E Networks include:

• A&E Network
• The Biography Channel
• Crime & Investigation Network
• History
• H2
• History en Español
• Lifetime
• Lifetime Movie Network
• Lifetime Real Women
• Military History

On August 27, 2009, A+E Networks acquired Lifetime Entertainment Services.^[1][2]

In May 2012, NBCUniversal announced that it is selling a substantial part of its stake in A+E Networks.^[3]

A+E Networks International[link]

A+E Networks International is the international division of A+E Networks, which handles international operations outside the U.S., mostly through joint ventures. A&E is an associate member of: the Caribbean Cable & Telecommunications Association^[4] and the Caribbean Cable Cooperative.^[5]

A+E Networks UK[link]

A+E Networks UK is a joint venture of A&E Television Networks and the United Kingdom's largest subscription television provider British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB) through the Sky Ventures division. Previously it operated under the names The History Channel UK and AETN UK.^[6][7] A+E Networks UK operates channels throughout the European region, as well as the Middle East and Africa.

A+E Networks Asia[link]

A+E Networks Asia was formed on April 2007 through a joint venture between A&E Television Networks and Malaysia's pay TV provider Astro. Headquartered in Singapore, A+E Networks Asia also have operations in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.^[8] AAAN currently operates four channels in the Asian region.

In 2009, AETN Asia Networks struck a US$800,000 co-production deal with the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia to co-produce programmes to be featured across its channels.^[9] It has recently hired SPE Networks as a regional ad sales representative across the South East Asian region.^[10]

A+E Networks Home Entertainment[link]

A+E Networks Home Entertainment is the home entertainment division of A+E Networks. It creates and distributes content from A+E Networks' channels included A&E, Biography & History branded products. It also distributes content it has acquired the rights to including hit American TV series, British comedies, cult TV and sports programming.

For over seven years, TV personality Timberly Whitfield served as programming executive and producer for several series on A+E.^[11]

A+E Networks Home Entertainment currently distributes the following titles:

TV series[link]

• A Nero Wolfe Mystery
• Brooklyn South
• Courageous Cat and Minute Mouse
• Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman
• Danger Mouse
• Ellen
• Farscape
• Highway to Heaven
• Homicide: Life on the Street
• Intervention
• Hoarders
• The Kids in the Hall
• Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
• Peter Gunn
• Profiler
• Weird Science
• Zorro

British television[link]

• The Avengers
• The Benny Hill Show
• Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
• Fireball XL5
• Hammer House of Horror
• Jeeves and Wooster
• Joe 90
• Monty Python's Flying Circus
• Mr. Bean
• The Persuaders!
• The Prisoner
• The Protectors
• Rex the Runt
• Rumpole of the Bailey
• Sapphire & Steel
• Secret Agent
• The Saint
• The Secret Service
• Space: 1999
• Stingray
• Supercar
• Terrahawks
• Thomas and Sarah
• Thunderbirds
• The Tomorrow People
• Timeslip
• UFO

References[link]

• Business Services Industry: MSGi Subsidiary Metro Direct Signs A&E Television Networks

External links[link]

• Official website

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.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2011)

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)

Ted Harbert

Edward W. "Ted" Harbert III (born June 15, 1955) is currently Chairman, NBC Broadcasting.^[1] Before joining NBCUniversal, he was the president and CEO of the Comcast Entertainment Group.

Life and career[link]

Harbert was born in New York City, New York, the son of Ted Jr. (a television executive) and Marna Harbert. He graduated from Boston University in 1977. Harbert began his broadcast career working at the Boston University radio station with Howard Stern. Years later, Stern frequently chided Harbert on-air about how Harbert's career was helped through family connections, specifically his father. For several years in the 1990s, Harbert was in charge of programming for ABC. He also worked in the same office building as Jay Leno during the mid-90's.

He held a similar position for E! Entertainment Television and Style Network until mid-October 2006, when he got promoted to the newly created position of CEO at the Comcast Entertainment Group, which added Comcast’s G4 TV to his portfolio.

In his position at ABC, he was a lightning rod for such decisions as the cancellation of My So-Called Life among other critically acclaimed series. In the case of My So-Called Life, he insists, in a September, 2004 Entertainment Weekly article,^[2] that he very much wanted to renew it despite its low ratings, but he says that behind the scenes maneuvering by series star Claire Danes made such a decision impossible.

Harbert appeared as himself in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Harbert was once married to Julie Harbert (now Harman), a television producer, writer and director. He has a son, Will and a daughter, Emily from his marriage to Susan Harbert.^[3]

He lived with Chelsea Handler, a comedian and host of her own late-night talk show, Chelsea Lately, on the E! Cable Television Network. E! Network reps confirm they split in early 2010 after several years together.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Ted Harbert at TV.com
• Ted Harbert full bio sketch at hollywood.com