The network originally launched in 1998 asThe Biography Channel, as an offshoot ofA&E and named after its television seriesBiography. As such, it originally featured factual programs, such as reruns of its namesake. As A&E shifted its focus towardsreality television anddrama series, the Biography Channel became the home for several series that had been displaced by the flagship network (includingBiography itself), but shifted towards reality-oriented series itself in 2007 and was rebranded as simplyBio. In 2014, the channel was rebranded as FYI, an initialism for "for your information".
As of November 2023[update], FYI is available to approximately 35,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2015 peak of 73,000,000 households.[1]
In recent years, FYI has lost carriage with the growth of streaming alternatives and has generally been depreciated by A&E Networks in current retransmission consent negotiations with cable and streaming providers.
The channel was launched on November 16, 1998, as The Biography Channel by A&E Television Networks, which conceived the channel as an offshoot of the long-runningA&E profile seriesBiography.[2][3] On October 1, 2000, A&E Networks expanded its British partnership withBritish Sky Broadcasting with the launch of a UK market Biography Channel.[4]
In August 2006, The Biography Channel became the exclusive home for theBiography series, as it was dropped by A&E. Another 64 hours of the show was ordered for its first year on the channel.[5] In 2007, Biography Channel unveiled a new on-air brand—identifying the network simply as "Bio".[3] 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 seriesShatner's Raw Nerve, hosted byWilliam Shatner.[6]
Bio had been stagnating sinceA+E's 2013upfront presentation as little focus was placed upon it. Bio was generating 12 cents per subscriber from thevideo provider, about half the industry average.[citation needed] 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.[7]Jana Bennett was hired as president of LMN and Bio in June 2013 and, having transformedTLC 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. An opening in the genre occurred as the Style Network became the men-focusedEsquire Network. While preparing to launch FYI, Bio began re-airing A&E's house-flipping shows and 30 potential shows were placed in development.[8]
In December 2013, A+E Networks announced that The Biography Channel would be rebranded as FYI, a contemporary lifestyle network, starting in mid 2014.[9] By February, FYI had a slate of six new series including three food series, two home design series, and one style series, with other shows also in development,[10] including pilot orders ofRed Hot Design starring Shasta Smith, andJennifer's Way.[11] In April,Midnight Feast wasgreenlit for the new channel while two others—Say it to my face andReverse Course—were ordered to pilot.[12]
With the June 2014 announcement of the 2015 end of theABC Owned Television Stations-run subscription networkLive Well Network, some of its programming was being offered to FYI, which shared partial ABC ownership.[13] The network launched on July 7, 2014, with a preview special,FYI: First Look, featuring previews of the network's new programming. Its first new original series,Married at First Sight, premiered the next day.[14]
In January 2015, following the success of itsSix Months Later special, FYI orderedMarried at First Sight: The First Year.[15][16]
Epic Meal Empire Today – produced by The Collective and Nexttime Productions, based on theEpic Meal Time YouTube show.[10] It was renamed to its current name in 2020.
B.O.R.N. to Style – produced by Left/Right; features style makeovers at the Harlem-based boutique, B.O.R.N. (Borrowed, Old, Refurbished, and New).[10]
Rowhouse Showdown – 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".[10][14]
Married at First Sight – based on a Danish show 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.[14]
Married At First Sight: The First Year (January 15, 2015)[22]
Zombie House Flipping – follows Justin Stamper and his team of house renovators inOrlando, Florida.[23] A "Zombie House" is an industry term for a rundown home that is devaluing a neighborhood. Stamper and his team, Ashlee Casserly (realtor), Keith Ori (builder), and Peter Duke (designer), search for such homes and renovate them.[24][25] The show first aired on January 30, 2016, and ran for eight episodes.[26] It has continued for five seasons, through 2022.[27]
Scraps – follows chef Joel Gamoran as he travels across the U.S. creating meals in unexpected places, usingfood waste and scraps.[28]
This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2019)
The Feed – produced by Giants Pirates withTop Chef judgeGail Simmons,The Taste judgeMarcus Samuelsson and comedian and food-blogger Max Silvestri as a traveling road show looking into the American food culture and its new trends.[10] Originally to be a launch program (on July 12, 2014),The Feed was pushed back to a summer start.[14]
Midnight Feast – produced by Nerd TV and hosted by ChefSpike Mendelsohn; a competitive cooking show in which three chefs use New York'sChelsea Market as an ingredient source, where the winning chef gets a cash prize while the losers pay their grocery bills.[12]
Red Hot Design – features a team led by designer and artist Shasta Smith making upscale art and furniture from unusual materials and produced by Cineflix Productions.[11]
Jennifer's Way – produced byAtlas Media; featuresJennifer Esposito, an actress who entered the food business with a gluten-free bakery, as she attempts to expand beyond the single NYC location into cookbooks, packaged goods and franchised locations.[11]
Say It To My Face – produced by Pie Town Productions; restaurant owners and chefs and their online critics meet to defend their position. Then under the aid of co-hostsAndrew Gruel and Anthony Dispensa,[32] the restaurant gets a makeover.[12]
Reverse Course – 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.[12]
Despite the relaunch, international versions of The Biography Channel exist in some regions. An international version of The Biography Channel previously operated in theUnited Kingdom and Ireland, Israel, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, but has since been replaced by other channels. TheAustralian channel was closed in 2015. TheCanadian version, operated under license byRogers Media, was relaunched asViceland in February 2016, but was then shut down on March 31, 2018.
Canada: As part of a licensing agreement withShaw Media, their lifestyle channel, Twist TV, was rebranded as a Canadian version ofFYI in September 2014.[34] It was shut down on December 31, 2019.
Latin America: The Latin American version aired the same programming and used the same logo as the former U.S. flagship channel and it was operated by theHBO Latin America Group subsidiary ofTime Warner under abrand licensing agreement with A&E Networks. In July 2014, The Biography Channel was replaced byH2.
Bio in United Kingdom and Ireland: A British version of Bio was launched on October 1, 2000, and ceased operations on November 4, 2013, being replaced by a British versionLifetime. The channel was also available in Ireland, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Spain and Portugal: Bio in Spain and Portugal launched on January 13, 2005[35] and was replaced byA&E in October 2, 2014.[36]
Germany: Bio in Germany was replaced byA&E in September 2014.[37]
Israel: Bio is known asערוץ ביוגרפיה in Israel. In September 2014, the channel was replaced byLifetime.[38]
India:FYI TV18 was launched in July 2016 as the second channel in the partnership between A&E Networks andTV18, the first beingHistory TV18. The network was closed on July 8, 2020.[40]
Bio. Australia: The channel was known as The Biography Channel, then as Bio., until it closed in November 2015.[41]
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