| | A&EArts and Entertainment Frequency: Cable
Country: United States
Launched: February 01, 1984 (Wednesday) 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 (37.5% ownership), The Walt Disney Company (37.5%), and NBC Universal (25%). The network is a result of a merger in 1984 between a service called ARTS, the Alpha Repertory Television Service, launched in 1981 by Hearst/ABC Video Services, and The Entertainment Channel, started by NBC in 1982. The A&E channel is the flagship of the A&E Television Networks group, which also includes The History Channel and The Biography Channel. Unlike most other major American television networks, it has often shown programming from abroad, particularly the United Kingdom, one of the highest-profile outlets British programming has had in the United States outside of PBS until the introduction of BBC America. 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. 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 show Breakfast with the Arts, which still airs, once featured a higher quantity of classical music than it does now, and fewer interviews. |
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