A&E Network

Infobox_TV_channel
name=A&E Network
logofile= A&E Network logo.svg
logoalt=
logosize=175px
slogan= "Real Life. Drama."
former names= ARTS
launch=February 1, 1984
owner= A&E Television Networks
headquarters= New York City, U.S.
sister names=The History Channel, History International, The Biography Channel
web= [http://www.aetv.com/ aetv.com]
terr avail=Not Available
sat serv 1=DirecTV
sat chan 1=Channel 265
Channel 1265 (VOD)
sat serv 2=Dish Network
sat chan 2=Channel 118
sat serv 3=Star Choice
sat chan 3=Channel 520
cable serv 1=Available on most cable systems
cable chan 1=Check Local Listings for channels
dummy parameter=
|

A&E is a cable and satellite television network with headquarters in Manhattan and offices in Stamford, Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, Chicago, and London. A&E stands for "Arts and Entertainment", which for many years was in the channel's full title. The network also airs in Canada and Latin America.

Recent developments

Between 2003 and 2007, the channel gradually retired several long-running series, moving "Murder, She Wrote" and "Agatha Christie's Poirot" 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. [cite web|url=http://www.aetv.com/biography/index.jsp|title=A&E: Biography|publisher=A&E Television Networks|accessdate=2007-08-01] Notably, the station also retired its long-held slogan "Time Well Spent." The changes are apparently an attempt to lure higher ratings, as reality programs have done for other stations. However, the changes have been criticized as causing A&E to become an aberration of its original focus on fine arts programming.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. [cite web|url=http://blogs.indiewire.com/steve.rosenbaum/archives/006933.html|title="Flight 93" Breaks A&E Records|author=Steve Rosenbaum|date=2006-02-01|publisher=Docu-Blog/Steve's POV|accessdate=2006-09-30] 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. [cite web|url=http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/cabletv/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003532322|title=Time to Collect: A&E's Sopranos Bet Pays Off |author=Anthony Crupi|publisher=Mediaweek.com|date=2007-01-15|accessdate=2007-02-13] 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. [cite web|url=http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_10168.asp|title=True grit: Remaking the A&E network|first=Toni|last=Fitzgerald|publisher=MediaLifeMagazine|date=2007-02-14|accessdate=2007-03-21] On February 20, 2008, A&E announced that they will beresuming 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 returns 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 using a thin Helvetica font which has a look resembling the older logo, along with a full-size ampersand equal to the letters, and a visual style equivalent to the logo for USA Network [ [http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=81498 MediaPost Publications Home of MediaDailyNews, MEDIA and OMMA Magazines ] ] .

Logos

A&E HD

A&E HD is a 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 US. However, A&E HD is in the process of becoming more widely available in the United States, 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. As of January 31, 2007, A&E HD is available via Dish Network on channel 9419. A&E HD is also on DirecTV Channel 265 with an HD set-top box. Verizon FiOS carries A&E HD on channel 842.

See also

*List of programs broadcast by A&E Network
* List of DirecTV channels
* List of Dish Network channels

Notes

External links

* [http://www.aetv.com/ Official Site]
* [http://www.aeweb.tv/ A&E Latin America Site]
* [http://www.aetn.com/ AETN Corporate Site]
* [http://boards.aetv.com/ A&E Community Site]
* [http://www.biography.com/ Biography Channel]
* [http://boards.biography.com/ Biography Community Site]
* [http://www.historychannel.com/ The History Channel]
* [http://boards.hisorychannel.com/ History Channel Community Site]
* [http://www.medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/cat_index_20.asp MediaLifeMagazine web site (source of cable network prime time ratings)]