 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Nationwide |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles,California |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV (downscaled toletterboxed480i for theSDTV feed) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | NBCUniversal (Comcast) |
| Parent | NBCUniversal Media Group |
| Sister channels | |
| History | |
| Launched | July 31, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-07-31) |
| Founder | |
| Former names | Movietime (1987–1990) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Streaming Services | Sling TV,YouTube TV,fuboTV,Hulu Live TV,DirecTV Stream |
| Claro TV+ | (requires subscription to access content) |
E! Entertainment Television is an Americanbasic cabletelevision network. It is owned by theNBCUniversal Media Group division ofComcast'sNBCUniversal. The channel focuses primarily on pop culture, celebrity based reality shows and movies.
As of November 2023[update], E! is available to approximately 71,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 99,000,000 households.[1]
E! was originally launched on July 31, 1987, asMovietime, a service that aired movie trailers, entertainment news, event and awards coverage, and interviews as an early example of a nationalbarker channel.[2] The channel was founded byLarry Namer andAlan Mruvka.[3][4] Early Movietime hosts includedGreg Kinnear,Katie Wagner,Julie Moran, Suzanne Kay (daughter ofDiahann Carroll),Mark DeCarlo,Sam Rubin andRichard Blade.
Controlling ownership was originally held by aconsortium of five cable television providers (Comcast,Continental Cablevision,Cox Cable,TCI, andWarner Cable),HBO/Warner Communications, and various founding shareholders, with HBO directly programming and managing the network. In 1989, afterTime Inc. bought Warner Communications to fend off a takeover bid by Paramount, the newTime Warner company held four of the eight major ownership positions and took over management control of Movietime and renamed the network asE!: Entertainment Television on June 1, 1990 based inLos Angeles; this name change was made to emphasize its widening coverage of thecelebrity–industrial complex, contemporary film, television and music, daily Hollywood gossip, and fashion.
In 1997, Comcast, one of the minority partners, teamed up withDisney/ABC Cable Networks to buy the channel after Time Warner had exercised their put agreement.[5] Comcast increased the ownership stakes in the network through mergers with forerunners of TCI and Continental under various circumstances. In November 2006, Comcast acquired Disney's 39.5% share of E! for $1.23 billion to gain full ownership of the network as part of a broader programming carriage agreement between Disney/ABC and Comcast.[6]
In January 2011, Comcast Entertainment Group, the company's television unit, became a division of theNBCUniversal Television Group, after Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake inNBCUniversal fromGeneral Electric.[7] E!'s only sister networks prior to the NBC Universal merger were the now-defunct channels Style Network (thenEsquire Network),PBS Kids Sprout andG4, along with Comcast's sports networks: Versus,Comcast SportsNet andGolf Channel. In the case of Versus, E! staff produced that network'sSports Soup and G4'sWeb Soup, while the Orlando-based Golf Channel featured no crossovers with E! at all due to incompatible audiences and operations. Versus and Golf Channel were taken under the direct control of theNBC Sports division, with the former being renamedNBC Sports Network in January 2012, and are no longer connected to their former sister networks beyond advertising and in-house operations.
On July 9, 2012, the channel introduced a revised logo (the first change to its logo since the network rebranded as E! in 1990), removing theexclamation mark background behind the "E" but keeping the exclamation point underneath, along with a new slogan "Pop of Culture", which coincided with the launch of the new seriesOpening Act. The network also started the process of introducing scripted programming (the first series,The Royals, premiering in March 2015), in addition to its existing reality and documentary series. The changes were announced during E!'s programming upfront presentation on April 30, 2012.[8]
E! is one of the few U.S. general-entertainment cable channels that broadcasts a daily news program; its flagship entertainment news program isE! News, which debuted on September 1, 1991. The weekday program (which also has an hour-long weekend edition) features stories and gossip about celebrities, and the film, music and television industries, and has been broadcast under various formats since its launch, even being aired live for a time during the mid-2000s. It was first hosted by Dagny Hultgreen. Steve Kmetko was a host from 1994 to 2002.[citation needed] It has been hosted byTerrence Jenkins andGiuliana Rancic since 2012 and 2006, respectively, withRyan Seacrest (who co-anchored the program from 2006 to 2012) serving asmanaging editor of the news operation.
E! News was the only entertainment news show on the channel for much of its history until 2006, when the channel launchedThe Daily 10, hosted bySal Masekela andCatt Sadler (Debbie Matenopoulos also co-hosted from the show's inception until 2008); the series was cancelled in September 2010 after E! announced that the weekday editions ofE! News would be expanded to one hour starting on October 25, 2010.[9]
E! also carried asimulcast of business news channelBloomberg Television from 2004 to January 2009, when the latter network had expanded its cable and satellite carriage to a level that allowed the discontinuation of the simulcast.
OutsideE! News telecasts, the channel runs anE! News–brandednews ticker displaying entertainment news headlines each half-hour during regular programming; fast-breaking entertainment headlines (such as a celebrity arrest or death) may also be displayed on a ticker, during any program when warranted.
On August 5, 2020, E! canceled both New York-based shows, along withIn The Room, one of the first of many program and employee cuts and staff realignments announced acrossNBCUniversal that week due to the pandemic.[10][11] The news operation continued to maintain theE! News website, and its social media presences.Two years later, E! announced thatE! News would be revived as a late-night entertainment news program and would return to the E! network after a two-year hiatus, withAdrienne Bailon-Houghton and Justin Sylvester (the latter of whom returned to the show for the revival) serving as co-hosts; it premiered on November 14, 2022.[12][13]
The network was known early on for its daily video simulcast of theHoward SternShow, which aired from June 20, 1994, until July 8, 2005, weeknights in a truncated half-hour form, airing three times in late night. The program was discontinued several months after Stern moved toSirius Satellite Radio and sold the video rights to his show to pay-per-view providerIn Demand as a monthly pay offering (video rights are now held by Sirius XM).[14]
E! is known for its live red carpet pre-shows for the industry's three prominent award shows, thePrimetime Emmy Awards, theGolden Globe Awards, and theAcademy Awards, and were famous for their fashion critiques byJoan Rivers; Rivers also hosted post-awards specials under the titleFashion Police, which became a regular weekly series in September 2010. In April 2017, it was announced that E! had acquired thePeople's Choice Awards, which will move to the network fromCBS in 2018 with a new November scheduling. The network promoted that the show would be given an "end-to-end" experience that will leverage its existing experience in awards show coverage.[15][16] As ratings declined across all of cable television overall, the People's Choice returned to broadcast television in 2021, with E! simulcasting the ceremony with NBC.
The network also produces many documentary and biographical series, most notablyE! True Hollywood Story; many of E!'s original specials are entertainment-related ranging from light fare (such as25 Cutest Child Stars All Grown Up) to serious fare (such as15 Most Unforgettable Hollywood Tragedies). It also produces specials centering on investigative and crime stories includingE! Investigates, which features topical investigative reports on subjects ranging fromchild prostitution toteenage pregnancy.
In recent years, the network has become known for itsreality television programs. Its most popular series for over a decade has beenKeeping Up with the Kardashians, which spawned eightspin-off series and countless specials. Other original reality programming airing on the network currently includesTotal Divas–a series featuring theWWE'sBella Twins,Hollywood Medium withTyler Henry, theplastic surgery repair seriesDr. 90210 andBotched, along withVery Cavallari withKristin Cavallari and her (later ex-) husbandJay Cutler,Ladygang–a television version of the popularpodcast, anddating showDating #NoFilter,[17][18][19]
E! has had five comedy programs: the late night talk showChelsea Lately, hosted by comedianChelsea Handler, its scripted/improvised spin-offAfter Lately, andThe Soup (based on the popular 1991–2002 E! seriesTalk Soup), featuring clips of the previous week's TV shows with humorous commentary delivered by the host, actor/comedianJoel McHale. Handler also producedLove You, Mean It, a weekly comedic look at pop culture hosted byWhitney Cummings, and a nightly talk show from actressBusy Philipps,Busy Tonight.The Soup returned in February 2020, with new hostJade Catta-Preta, though it, and many of E!'s in-studio shows, were cancelled in the last quarter of 2020 due to the effects of theCOVID-19 pandemic hampering production.
On September 8, 2020, it was announced the network's most popular seriesKeeping Up with the Kardashians would be ending with season 20 in 2021.
Over the years, E! has occasionally run acquired programming including reruns ofAlice,Absolutely Fabulous,20/20 lifestyle-based interview shows fromABC (since removed under NBCUniversal ownership), and edited 60-minute versions ofSaturday Night Live, though fewer of these programs currently air.[20] The only programming currently airing on E! that it does not produce arebroadcast standards-edited reruns of the formerHBO seriesSex and the City originally carried by HBO's sister networkTBS, andfeature films that air under the banner "Movies We Love"; the latter was part of a since-abandoned initiative by the network to use films to increase the network's ratings, though the branding remains, and low and mid-grossing female-focused films from theUniversal Pictures library usually receive their basic cable premiere on E!, with higher-grossing films premiering onUSA Network. The network has aired same-week runs of NBC series (such asThe Voice,Fashion Star,Whitney, andAre You There, Chelsea?), and in the past aired previews of G4 programming to give that network an extended promotional platform due to their lowered carriage when it was removed fromDirecTV in November 2010.[20] The network also airs selected shows from thePeacock streaming service (which E!'s parent company NBCUniversal owns).
Since Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal, E! has infrequently aired sporting events as an overflow outlet forNBC Sports. It has participated in NBC's "Championship Sunday" effort to broadcast all matches on the final matchday of thePremier League soccer season.[21] In January 2022—amid the shutdown of long-time sister channelNBCSN—E! was incorporated into NBC Sports' coverage of twofigure skating events ahead of the2022 Winter Olympics, the2022 European Figure Skating Championships andFour Continents Figure Skating Championships.[22] E! would be involved in NBC's coverage of the2024 Summer Olympics.[23]
E! HD is ahigh definition simulcast feed of E! launched on December 8, 2008, in Comcast's default1080i resolution format. Currently, the network's entire original programming roster post-2010 is carried in high definition, along with most films. Available on the vast majority of pay television providers, it is downscaled at the providerheadend level to provide astandard definition equivalent for those systems.[20]
During E!'s run as a broadcast service in Canada, theE! Ontario version of the service until the December 2008 discontinuation of the E! broadcast television system was available in HD overHamilton, Ontario-basedCHCH-TV (channel 11) on its channel 18ATSC digital signal, though the majority of E!'s programming outside American primetime series before the shutdown of thetelevision system was not available in the format.[20]
E! Online is the online arm of E!, featuring live updates on entertainment news stories; the website includes an online-only entertainment news bulletin titledE! News Now, which is updated each weekday. The website also provides live streaming video of major red carpet events including movie premieres and award shows such as the Academy Awards and the Emmys, along with some blogs involving shows such asThe Soup. Columnists featured on the website includeKristin dos Santos (the "Watch with Kristin" television blog),Ted Casablanca ("The Awful Truth" gossip blog), and Marc Malkin (writer of an eponymous gossip blog and host of a daily video blog on the site).[citation needed]. The website was ranked among the best of 1998 byEntertainment Weekly.[24]
As part of the rebrand of the cable channel on July 9, 2012, EOnline.com was redesigned forHTML5, including tablet and mobile devices.[25]
E!'s Asian network aired acrossSoutheast Asia and thePhilippines from May 3, 1995, until December 31, 2019.
Some of E! programs started to air on Cinema Television during its inception byRMN (thruUHF Channel 31; now acquired byBEAM).[26] But in 2000, both RMN and E! announced its partnership to relaunch CTV into E! Philippines.[27] It was originally broadcast 24 hours a day, but eventually reduced in 2001 to a primetime 6-midnight block, before ending in 2003. Some of E!'s programs were brought to the Philippines and remade in a local version, one of which wasWild On! Philippines.
Three years after the relaunch as a standalone cable channel,[28] E! produced its first original reality series in Asia,It Takes Gutz to Be A Gutierrez starring the Gutierrez family.
E! is broadcast in Israel by cable providerHOT and by satellite provideryes.
E! it is distributed in Latin America, since January 1, 1997, being operated byNBCUniversal International Networks and distributed byOle Distribution (a joint venture betweenWarner Bros. Discovery and Ole Communications). Its operations center is located inCaracas,Bogotá andMexico City.
