FYI (U.S. TV channel)

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FYI
FYI, logo.png
Launched January 1, 1999 (1999-01-01) (as The Biography Channel)
July 7, 2014 (2014-07-07) (relaunch; as FYI)
Owned by A&E Networks
(Hearst Corporation (50%)
Disney–ABC Television Group (50%))
Picture format 720p (HDTV)
480i (SDTV)
Slogan Your Inspiration Network
Country United States
Language English
Broadcast area United States
Canada
Southeast Asia
Hong Kong
Taiwan
Headquarters Newark, New Jersey
Formerly called The Biography Channel (1999–2014)
Sister channel(s) LMN[1]
Website fyi.tv
Availability
Satellite
Dish Network 119 (HD/SD)
DirecTV 266 (HD/SD)
1266 (VOD)
C-Band - H2H/4DTV AMC 18 - Channel 201
Cable
Verizon FiOS 629 (HD)
129 (SD)
Available on many other U.S. cable systems Consult your local cable provider for channel availability
IPTV
AT&T U-verse 1272 (HD)
272 (SD)
Southern Fibernet 1215 (HD)
215 (SD)
Streaming media
Sling TV Internet Protocol television

FYI (stylized as fyi,) is an American digital cable and satellite television network that is owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney–ABC Television Group subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and the Hearst Corporation (which each own 50%). The network features lifestyle programming, with a mix of reality, culinary, home renovation and makeover series.

The network originally launched in 1999 as The Biography Channel—an offshoot of the A&E television series Biography. As such, it originally featured factual programs, such as reruns of its namesake. As A&E shifted its focus towards reality and drama series, Biography Channel became the home for several series that had been displaced by the network (including Biography itself), but shifted towards reality-oriented series itself in 2007 with a re-brand as simply Bio.

As of February 2015, the channel was available to approximately 70,932,000 pay television households (60.9% of households with at least one television set) in the United States.[2]

History

As The Biography Channel

125px
Original logo used from 1999 to 2001.
Second logo used from 2001 to 2007.
Third logo used from 2007 to 2014.

The channel was launched on January 1, 1999 as The Biography Channel. A&E Television Networks (now A+E Networks, and operated as a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company, the Hearst Corporation and NBC at the time) conceived the channel as an offshoot of the long-running A&E profile series Biography.[3] In addition to airing biographical shows, the network aired fictional, non-biographical programs that were previously seen on A&E, including Murder, She Wrote and Sherlock Holmes; the scripted programming was dropped from the channel in 2007.

On October 1, 2000, A&E Networks expanded its British partnership with British Sky Broadcasting with the launch of an UK market Biography Channel.[4]

By August 2006, The Biography Channel became the exclusive home for the Biography series, which was also dropped by A&E.[citation needed] In July 2007, Biography Channel unveiled a new on-air brand—identifying the network simply as "Bio". The changes came as the network shifted its scope to de-emphasize traditional biographical programs in favor of “true stories about fascinating people”, such as the new series Shatner's Raw Nerve, hosted by actor William Shatner.[5]

The Biography Channel, or Bio, had been stagnating since A+E’s 2013 upfront presentation as little focus was place upon it. Bio was generating 12 cents per subscribers from the video provider which is half the industry average. After tweaking the three main A+E channels, Bio averaged viewers of 91,000 adults 25-54 in prime compared to what A&E (716,000) and History (703,000) managed over the same period.[6] Jana Bennett was hired as president of LMN and Bio in June 2013 and, having transformed TLC from an educational channel to a lifestyle network, was considered an indication that adding a lifestyle channel to the A+E portfolio was a possibility.[1] An opening in the genre occurred as the Style Network became the men-focused Esquire Network. While preparing to launch FYI, Bio began re-airing A&E’s house-flipping shows and 30 potential shows were placed in development.[1]

As Fyi

In December 2013, A+E Networks announced that The Biography Channel would be rebranded as FYI, a contemporary lifestyle network, starting in mid 2014.[7] By February, FYI had a slate of six new series including three food series, two home design series, and one style series. Other shows were also in development,[8] Two of the shows in development had pilot orders, Red Hot Design and Jennifer’s Way.[9] In April, Midnight Feast was greenlit for the new channel while 2 others were order to pilot, Say It To My Face and Reverse Course.[10]

With the June 2014 announcement of the January 2015 end of the ABC Owned Television Stations-run digital network Live Well Network, some of its programming was being offered to FYI, which shares partial ABC ownership.[11] The network launched on July 7, 2014 with a preview special, FYI: First Look, which featured previews of the network's new programming. The first of its new original series, Married at First Sight, premiered the next day.[12]

In January 2015, following the success of its Six Months Later special, FYI ordered Married At First Sight: The First Year.[13]

In January 2016, FYI named Paul Greenberg as their Executive Vice-President / General Manager. [14].

Programming

Current FYI programming

  • Epic Meal Empire (16 30-minutes episodes) produced by The Collective and Nexttime Productions based on the “Epic Meal Time” YouTube show.[8]
  • World Food Championships (six 1-hour episodes) coverage produced by Sharp Entertainment [8]
  • Tiny House Nation (ten 1 hour episodes) produced by Loud TV, the series shows the design and building of “mini-dream home” of no more than 500 square feet.[8]
  • B.O.R.N. to Style (ten 1-hour episodes) produced by Left/Right features style makeovers at the Harlem-based boutique, B.O.R.N. (Borrowed, Old, Refurbished, and New).[8]
  • Rowhouse Showdown, working title of Renovation Row, (ten 1-hour episodes) produced by Jane Street Entertainment in which three teams compete to increase the house and neighborhood value via the renovation of an "identical urban homes in dilapidated neighborhoods".[8][12]
  • Lost in Love[12]
  • Best in Bridal[12]
  • Married at First Sight (1 hour casting special, 10 1-hour episodes) is based on a Danish show's format of the same name in which three couples paired up by four experts (Pepper Schwartz, Greg Epstein, Dr. Logan Levkoff and Dr. Joseph Cilona) agree to get married when they first meet.[12]
    • “Married At First Sight: The First Year” (January 15, 2015-)[15]

Current other programming

In production

  • The Feed (six 1-hour episodes) produced by Giants Pirates with “Top Chef” judge Gail Simmons, “The Taste” judge Marcus Samuelsson and comedian and food-blogger Max Silvestri as a traveling road show looking into the American food culture and its new trends.[8] Originally, to be a launch program (on July 12, 2014), The Feed was pushed back to a summer start.[12]
  • Kocktails with Khloé (eight 1 hour episodes) Late evening talk show hosted by Khloé Kardashian, done in an intimate setting.[18]
  • Midnight Feast (six 1-hour episodes) produced by Nerd TV and hosted by Chef Spike Mendelsohn is competitive cooking show in which 3 chefs use New York’s Chelsea Market as an ingredient source where the winning chef gets a cash prize while the losers pay their grocery bill.[10]

In development

  • Red Hot Design (1/2 hour pilot), which features a team led by designer and artist Shasta Smith making upscale art and furniture from unusual materials and produced by Cineflix Productions.[9]
  • Jennifer’s Way (1/2 hour pilot), produced by Atlas Media which features Jennifer Esposito, an actress who entered the food business with a gluten-free bakery, Jennifer’s Way, which the audience will watch as she attempts to expand beyond the single NYC location into cookbooks, packages goods and franchised locations.[9]
  • Say It To My Face (1 hour pilot) produced by Pie Town Productions in which restaurant owners and chefs and their online critics meet to defend their position. Then under the aid of co-hosts Andrew Gruel and Anthony Dispensa,[19] the restaurant gets a make over.[10]
  • Reverse Course (1 hour pilot) produced by Stick Figure Studios and hosted by chef and restaurateur Sam Talbot from the finished meal then going in reverse to cooking, preparation and local sourcing.[10]

Former Bio programming

International versions of Bio and FYI

Despite the relaunch, international versions of The Biography Channel continue to exist in Canada. An international version of The Biography Channel also previously operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Israel, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latin America and Southeast Asia, but has since been replaced by other channels. The Australian channel was closed in 2015.

  • Canada: As part of a licensing agreement with Shaw Media, their lifestyle channel, Twist TV, was rebranded as a Canadian version of FYI in September 2014.[20]
  • Latin America: The Latin American version airs the same programming and uses the same logo as the former U.S. flagship channel and it is operated by the HBO Latin America Group subsidiary of Time Warner under a brand licensing agreement with A&E Networks. In July 2014, The Biography Channel was replaced by H2.
  • The Biography Channel (UK and Ireland)[citation needed]
  • Spain and Portugal: Bio in Spain and Portugal was replaced by A&E in October 2014.[21]
  • Germany: Bio in Germany was replaced by A&E on 22 September 2014.[22]
  • Israel: Bio is known as <templatestyles src="Script/styles_hebrew.css" />ערוץ ביוגרפיה‎ in Israel. On 14 September 2014, the channel was replaced by Lifetime.[23]
  • FYI (South East Asia TV channel): Bio in South East Asia was replaced by Fyi on 6 October 2014.[24]
  • Bio. Australia: The channel was known as The Biography Channel, then as Bio. until it closed in November 2015.[25]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Nylon CEO Paul Greenberg to Head FYI Network
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ "Khloé Kardashian to Host 'Hybrid' Talk Show on FYI Channel" from The New York Times (July 21, 2015)
  19. ↑ [1] Archived May 12, 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Template:TV Tonight

External links

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