 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | El Segundo,California |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 720pHDTV (downscaled toletterboxed480i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | DirecTV |
| History | |
| Launched | November 25, 1999 (1999-11-25) |
| Closed | May 22, 2020 (2020-05-22) |
| Former names | Freeview (1999–2005) The 101 Network (2005–11) |
Audience Network (formerly known asFreeview from 1999 until 2005, and asThe 101 Network from 2005 until 2011)[1] was an Americanpay television channel that was owned byAT&T. It featured a mix of original and acquired series, specials, and feature films. The network operated as a commercial-free service and broadcast its programming without editing for content. It was originally exclusive toDirecTV, though it was also added toAT&T U-verse after AT&T's 2015 acquisition of DirecTV. It was also made available on later AT&T streaming efforts, includingAT&T TV and AT&T Watch TV, a lower-cost option available toAT&T Mobility customers.[2] As of 2019, the channel had a subscription base of 26 million.[3] The channel closed on May 22, 2020.
The channel launched on November 25, 1999, asFreeview, a service on DirecTV channel 103 carrying a continuous loop ofconcerts and other events.[4] Freeview was part of all of the satellite provider's subscription packages, starting with the Total Choice tier.[4] In 2005, it was moved to channel 101 and was rebranded asThe 101 Network. Following the rebrand, the channel's schedule began to expand to include original programs, with its first original program,CD US, being announced on November 1, 2005.[5]
The channel was rebranded asAudience Network on June 1, 2011.[6] In 2015, the channel was added toAT&T U-verse after DirecTV was acquired by AT&T.[7] In June 2018, AT&T announced its discount streaming service, WatchTV, which would carry Audience.[2]
On January 8, 2020, it was announced by parent company AT&T that Audience would end operations in its current format and transition to abarker channel forHBO Max, a service which launched on May 27.[8]Rich Eisen later confirmed in a statement regarding the future of his daily radio show (which had maintained a longtime video simulcast on Audience) that the network would close on February 29 (his show ended the day before on Audience, and ended on radio on April 7).[9][10] AT&T itself would not confirm the actual end date for the network at the time and continued for two months after with previous programming, though simulcasts of Eisen's show andThe Dan Patrick Show both ended on February 28, and the network's website became merely a redirect to the generic DirecTV network listing. Eisen later found a new television homes onNBCSN,YouTube, and later onThe Roku Channel, with Patrick also utilizing a YouTube live stream during theCOVID-19 pandemic, before both ultimately moved to theComcast-owned streaming servicePeacock. In mid-April 2020, AT&T notified customers the network would officially shut down at 12:00 amPacific on May 22, 2020.[11][12] The network closed as scheduled after an airing of the documentaryBlack Sabbath: The End of The End, after which the channel space created by Freeview in 1999 folded.[13]
Starting in January 2009, the channel airedWonderland, a controversial drama series that had briefly aired onABC in the spring of 2000.[14] The run included all eight episodes of the series, six of which were not originally aired during the program's ABC run.[14]
DirecTV andNBC Universal Television Studio announced on April 25, 2007, that new episodes of thesoap operaPassions would begin airing exclusively on the channel on September 17, 2007,[15][16] retaining its 2:00 p.m.Eastern Time timeslot that it held during itsNBC run, with reruns airing on weekends. The series had aired onNBC since July 1999, however in early 2007, the network announced they were canceling the series as a result of replacing it by a fourth hour ofToday and shortly afterwards DirecTV acquiredexclusivebroadcasting rights fromNBC to renew the series and move it to 101 Network. The final NBC episode was aired on September 7, 2007, ending its eight-year broadcast on NBC before the new episodes began airing exclusively on DirecTV starting September 17, 2007. AlthoughPassions moved to DirecTV's 101 Network, NBC continued to maintain the series official website on NBC.com due to the fact that their parent companyNBCUniversal maintainedownership andproduction rights to the series, however the free streaming service of the new episodes ofPassions on NBC.com and the option to purchase the episodes for download oniTunes, which had started in the 2006-07 season were completely discontinued once DirecTV began exclusively airing the new episodes. Initially the DirecTV episodes were only supposed to be available on their own network, but DirecTV later announced an agreement to allow NBC torebroadcast the DirecTV episodes ofPassions only as apaid subscriptioninternet streaming content on NBC.com with a monthly subscription fee as an alternative for viewers who were unable to subscribe to DirecTV after the series moved to 101 Network; this began in October 2007.[17] In December 2007, DirecTV announced that it would not renewPassions for a tenth season and that the series was officially canceled,[18] the series finale aired on August 7, 2008.
DirecTV, NBC, andUniversal Media Studios announced a deal on April 2, 2008, in which The 101 would carry the 13-episode third season ofFriday Night Lights beginning on October 1.[19][20] Through the deal, after the season ended on The 101, the drama series' third season aired in second-run form on NBC (with some scenes edited) starting on January 16, 2009. On March 31, 2009, NBC and DirecTV announced that they had renewedFriday Night Lights for two additional seasons, again to be broadcast first on DirecTV and then on NBC.[21]
On July 19, 2010, DirecTV announced it had acquired the rights to theFX dramaDamages, and renewed the series for two additional seasons following FX's cancellation of the series. The 101 Network began airing reruns of its first three seasons on January 5, 2011. Season 4 premiered on the rebranded Audience Network on July 13, 2011, and the fifth and final season premiered on July 11, 2012.[22]
The channel aired repeat episodes ofSoapNet's original soap opera limited series,General Hospital: Night Shift throughout the series' run from July to October 2008.[23]
The channel broadcast the Nat Geo Adventure'sdocumentary travel/adventure seriesOdyssey: Driving Around the World starting in June 2008.
The short-lived ABC dramaThe Nine began airing on the channel on May 27, 2009.[24]
The channel also aired reruns of the 2005–06Showtime drama seriesSleeper Cell.[25]On April 21, 2009, it was announced that DirecTV acquired the syndication rights to HBO'sOz andDeadwood.[26][27]
The channel began airing the CBS dramaSmith on April 8, 2009.[24][28] It also began a general agreement withWarner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution to airEyes onto the channel also in 2009.[29]
DirecTV aired repeats of theHBO drama seriesThe Wire starting on July 18, 2010.[30]
In its later years, DirecTV began acquiring exclusive US broadcast rights to series from fellow English-speaking countries UK, Canada and Australia.
The 101 began airing the Canadian comedy seriesTrailer Park Boys on February 5, 2009.[31]
On September 17, 2009, DirecTV announced that The 101 had acquired the rights to the Australian miniseriesUnderbelly, which began airing on February 3, 2010.[32]
On September 28, 2010, DirecTV acquired rights to the British showsNo Heroics,How Not to Live Your Life andMutual Friends, which premiered on The 101 in November 2010.[33]
On February 10, 2011, DirecTV acquired rights to the Canadian seriesCall Me Fitz, which premiered on the network on April 21, 2011.[34]
In the spring of 2011, DirecTV acquired the rights to the Australian seriesRake.[35]
In the fall of 2011, DirecTV acquired rights to the Canadian sitcomLess Than Kind[36] and the British dramaHit & Miss, the latter of which premiered on June 27, 2012, with a sneak preview, with the first full episode airing on July 11, 2012.[37]
DirecTV also acquired the rights to the Australian seriesThe Slap and the British seriesThe Shadow Line, which started airing on Audience Network in February 2012.[38]
Celebrity Beach Bowl – Starting in 2007, duringSuper Bowl week, DirecTV held an annual celebrityflag football game, which promoted DirecTV's exclusive sports packageNFL Sunday Ticket. A concert followed the game, which was simulcast onChicago television stationWGN-TV, its sister networkWGN America, now known asNewsNation, and in 2013,NBC Sports Network.
Bracket Breakdown was an exclusiveNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship pre-game show with several college basketball analysts and insiders, including theUniversity of Louisville'sRick Pitino, theUniversity of Kentucky'sJohn Calipari, theUniversity of Oklahoma'sJeff Capel, theUniversity of Tennessee'sBruce Pearl and theUniversity of Washington'sLorenzo Romar and formerUCLA player and current sports talk radio show host Sean Farnham.[39] It served as supplemental coverage to DirecTV's exclusive (now defunct) Mega March Madness package.
SXSW – the channel exclusively carried the2009 South by Southwest Festival concert live.[40]
Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America aired exclusively on DirecTV.[41]
On February 13, 2012, Audience Network premiered the original documentaryMore Than a Dream, about theCivil Rights Movement, narrated byMartin Sheen.[42]
In October 2006, to markHalloween, Audience Network aired severalhorror-themed movies, includingThe Toxic Avenger.
On February 23 and 24, 2007, Audience Network aired a preview ofChiller, a then-recently launched cable channel owned byNBC Universal dedicated tohorror programming that launched on DirecTV channel 257 on March 1, 2007. Programming featured during this preview included the two-hour pilot episode ofTwin Peaks, the pilot episode ofAmerican Gothic, episodes ofMonsters,Tales from the Crypt,Night Gallery,Alfred Hitchcock Presents,Friday the 13th: The Series, and various horror movies.
Audience Network aired a number of dramatic series a few days before their scheduled premieres onShowtime includingThe Tudors in March 2007 andNurse Jackie in June 2009, as well as theStarz seriesParty Down on April 22, 2010.
On August 24, 2007, Audience Network aired an exclusive high-definition broadcast ofHigh School Musical 2, one week after its premiere on theDisney Channel (Disney Channel did not launch a high definition simulcast feed until April 2, 2008).[43]
On November 11, 2017, Audience Network premiered the first part of the two-part documentaryThe Volunteers.[44] The documentary is about volunteers taking up arms against ISIS in Syria.[45]Ricky Schroder is the executive producer.[46]
