Art & Entertainment

A&E is an American pay television channel. It is the flagship television property of A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Hearst Communications and Disney–ABC Television Group subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The network is headquartered in New York City and operates offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; London, United Kingdom; Los Angeles, California and Stamford, Connecticut.

The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries (including its then-flagship series Biography), and dramas (including imported series from the United Kingdom). In 1995, the network rebranded as A&E, in an effort to downplay the negative perceptions of arts programming and generally market the network as a "thought-provoking" alternative to other television channels. In 2002, A&E began to gradually focus more on realityseries and docusoaps, as well as documentary miniseries and true crime programs, in an effort to attract younger viewers, at the expense of phasing out its arts programming. By 2017, A&E had also phased out scripted programs.

As of July 2015, A&E is available to approximately 95,968,000 pay television households (82.4% of households with television) in the United States. The U.S. version of the channel is being distributed in Canada while international versions were launched for Australia, Latin America, and Europe.

A&E

In May 1995, the channel's name officially changed to the A&E Network, to reflect its declining focus on arts and entertainment. By 1996, the network had branded itself as simply A&E, and was using the slogans "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,'" Whitney Goit, executive vice president for sales and marketing, stated. "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."

A&E and Meridian Broadcasting commissioned Horatio Hornblower (1999), winner of two Primetime 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^[5] and Nero Wolfe, both^{[citation needed]} of which lasted from 2001 to 2002.

2002–2013

In mid-2002, A&E underwent an overhaul in management which moved the network's focus toward reality television in order to attract a younger demographic^[15] 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."^[16] 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 had garnered favorable notice for true-crime documentary series such as Cold Case Files, American Justice, City Confidential, Investigative Reports, and The First 48. The network also cut back on its broadcasts of Biography from originally twice daily to weekend mornings only.

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."

The docudrama Flight 93, about the hijacking of the plane which crashed in Pennsylvania during the September 11, 2001 attacks was the most watched program on the network; it attracted 5.9 million viewers for its initial telecast on January 30, 2006. This was later surpassed by Duck Dynasty's third season premiere. 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. A&E later acquired rights to rerun the HBO series The Sopranos; 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 at the time. 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.

On May 26, 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., representing its shift from an arts-focused network to a more contemporary network focused on scripted programming. Additional shows in this major scripted push were drama series The Cleaner and The Beast, which both lasted two seasons.

As part of its continuing efforts to include more scripted shows, A&E ordered several dramas for fall 2009. Among them were projects from Jerry Bruckheimer, Shawn Ryanand Lynda Obst, and a Western miniseries from Kevin Costner. Several unscripted series were also 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, Parking Wars, and Shipping Wars.

On December 11, 2013, A&E unveiled a new on-air brand identity built around the slogan "Be Original", emphasizing the network's lineup of original productions and positioning it as a "much lighter, more fun place to come and spend time".

On December 19, 2013, A&E placed Phil Robertson from Duck Dynasty on indefinite hiatus following remarks on homosexuals in an interview with GQ. A&E said in a statement, "We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty. His personal views in no way reflect those of A+E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community." On December 27, 2013, A&E announced they would begin filming again with the entire Robertson family on the heels of large public outcry and discussions with the Robertson family and numerous advocacy groups.

On February 20, 2014, A&E Networks UK announced a UK version of the channel to launch on Sky channel 168 on March 24, with a Virgin Media launch date planned for next year. In Spain and Portugal, the channel was launched on October 1, 2014, replacing The Biography Channel in that market.

A&E was again involved with controversy when the network cancelled Longmire after three seasons; ending the series on a cliffhanger and angering fans. The network cited production costs and the fact that the show skewed an older audience as reason for its cancellation. The series was later picked up by Netflix.^[5] In 2015, A&E picked up the CBS drama Unforgettable for a fourth season as well as the second season of docuseries Married at First Sight, which will move from sister network FYI. The network also announced the revival of Intervention following its cancellation in 2013.

On January 19, 2017, A&E announced a reboot of Cold Case Files, over a decade after its final season premiered in 2006. As of April 2017 with the conclusion of Bates Motel, the network officially removed scripted series from its programming strategy and will focus exclusively on non-fiction programming. The Biography franchise returned to A&E on June 28, 2017 with The Notorious Life of Biggie Smalls Biography Movie.