Lifetime Television is an American television network devoted to movies, sitcoms and dramas, all of which are either geared toward women or feature women in lead roles. The network is owned by Lifetime Entertainment Services which is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Corporation. In September 2008, Lifetime launched its "5-days-a-week" television block called Wifetime Television, responsible for airing such shows as Desperate Housewives and Wife Swap (excluding Army Wives).

History

Lifetime 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 Frasier, The Golden Girls, Reba, Still Standing, and Will & Grace. The network has recently acquired and added past episodes of Desperate Housewives, Medium, and Grey's Anatomy to its weekend lineup. The network also airs original programming such as Strong Medicine, Intimate Portrait, Blood Ties, and Army Wives.

In addition, Lifetime airs many movies targeting to women-both original and other networks' made for television. Lifetime Movie Network (launched in 1998). These movies usually have frequent appearances by Meredith Baxter-Birney, Melissa Gilbert, or Valerie Bertinelli.

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. Lifetime also produced one original game show (Who Knows You Best?, starring Gina St. John), with a format based on The Newlywed Game. It was cancelled after one season.

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 AM or 6 to 10 AM, depending on the market.

Lifetime 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.

Around 2005, Lifetime dropped its signature tagline Television for Women (used since 1995). The network launched a new look and tagline on July 16, 2006 with the launch of the (now-defunct) original series Angela's Eyes, using a new logo and promotions with the tagline My story is on Lifetime.

On March 31, 2005, Betty Cohen, previously an executive at Turner Broadcasting Services, was named CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services according to the Walt Disney Company.Betty Cohen Named President and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services, Disney.com, March 31 2005

Lifetime's main competitors as "women's channels" are the Oxygen Network and WE: Women's Entertainment, although both of those services have substantially lower ratings than the spin off Lifetime Movie Network, much less Lifetime itself.

Because of the obvious feminine slant to the network's programming, Lifetime is often jokingly referred to as The Estrogen Channel. Other comedy programs have satirized Lifetime's sometimes sentimental programing. Family Guy once parodied their slogan, making it Lifetime: Television for Idiots.

Lifetime Television has just teamed up with Glam Media, Inc. to develop a new vertical media network called Lifetime Glam with co-branded websites and shared content.

Carriers

On January 1 2006, Dish Network dropped Lifetime becoming the only major U.S. multichannel television distributor not carrying the channel. This was 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 them 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 claims. Dish would eventually add competitor Oxygen to its channel line-up later in the month.

On February 1 2006, Lifetime's 22nd birthday, Dish announced they were returning Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network to their service.DISH Network and Lifetime Entertainment Services Reach Multi-Year Agreement; Lifetime Television and Lifetime Movie Network Restored TMCnet News

Logos

The original logo was used from February 1984 and was used until May or June 1995. The logo was a square with a small square, resembling an "L". That logo was changed in May or June 1995. It was changed again in July 2006.
In early 2008, the network began to phase in a new logo while phasing out its previous one. The change became permanent on Memorial Day.

Image:Lifetime.png|Lifetime's original logo, used from February 1984-June 1995.
Image:Lifetime 2006 Logo.png|Former logo and tagline for the network, launched in July 2006 during the launch of Angela's Eyes, and discontinued on May 27 2008.
Image:Lifetime Logo 2008.png|Current logo, originally launched Easter day, 2008.

Programs broadcast by Lifetime