, more commonly known as '''Lifetime''', is an
American Television network which as its tagline notes, is ''Television for Women''. It airs
Movies that feature women in lead roles, as well as
Sitcoms and
Drama s that are geared towards women. The channel was founded in
1984 .
It was established as the result of a merger of
Hearst 's Daytime network, established in March
1982 as a four hour per day service with women's programming and
Viacom 's Cable Health Network, established in June
1982 as a 24-hour service that carried health and wellness programming.
The service originally aired women's programming during the day on Monday–Saturdays, and offered the
Lifetime Medical Television service on Sundays from November
1983 to June
1993 carrying programming for health professionals.
Among the most popular shows currently on the channel are ''
The Nanny '', ''
The Golden Girls '', ''
Designing Women '', and ''
Unsolved Mysteries ''. The network also airs original programming such as ''
Strong Medicine '', ''
Intimate Portrait '', ''
The Division '', and ''
"I Do" Diaries ''.
In addition, Lifetime airs many original movies targeting to women as well, films also seen on
Lifetime Movie Network (launced in
1998 ).
Aside from Women's programming, the network used to air several game shows in prime-time, including ''
Supermarket Sweep '', ''
Shop 'Til You Drop '' and ''
Debt ''.
In April 2004, Lifetime launched ''
Lifetime Radio For Women '', a daily nationally
Syndicated four-hour morning block mixing adult contemporary music, live caller interaction, celebrity guests and lively discussions about the topics relating to women. In partnership with Jones Radio, The service airs Monday to Friday from 5 to 9 a.m. or 6 to 10 a.m., depending on the market.
is a property of
Lifetime Entertainment Services , which owns a number of media ventures.
Viacom remained as co-owner with
ABC /Capital Cities and Hearst until
1994 .
Lifetime's main competitors as "women's channels" are the , although both of those services have substantially lower ratings than Lifetime Movie Network, much less Lifetime.
Because of the obvious feminine slant to the network's programming, Lifetime, along with
Oxygen Network , are often jokingly referred to as "The Estrogen Channel." Other comedy programs have satirized Lifetime sometimes sentimental programing.
Family Guy once parodied their slogan, making it "Lifetime: Television for Idiots."
On
January 1 ,
2006 ,
Dish Network dropped Lifetime, becoming the only major US multichannel television distributor not carrying the channel. This as a result of contract expiration. Dish Network chose to continue with the discontinuation of the transmission. Should they have decided to renew the contract, Dish Network claimed that this would have forced then to increase rates by as much as 76.47% although DISH sometimes quoted other figures in their press releases. Lifetime responded by claiming that the rates were only four cents per viewer per month and that even at the end of the contract the total increases were nowhere near 76%. Neither side issued complete figures to verify their calims. Dish would evetually add competitor Oxygen to its channel line-up later in the month.
On
1 February 2006 , Lifetime's 22nd birthday, Dish announced they were readding Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network to their service.
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- Seasons 3-5 of ''The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd'' were produced exclusively for Lifetime after airing for two seasons on
NBC .
