Localish

Type	Division
Country	United States
Network	ABC
Affiliates	ABC O&O TV Stations
Ownership
Owner	The Walt Disney Company
Parent	ABC Owned Television Stations
History
Founded	2009; 16 years ago (2009)
Launched	April 27, 2009; 16 years ago (2009-04-27)
Founder	Emily Barr
Former names	Live Well HD Network (2009–2010) Live Well Network (2010–2020)
Links
Website	localish.com

Localish (formerlyLive Well Network) is adigital multicast television network owned byABC Owned Television Stations, a division ofDisney.

Localish's 24/7 channel streams onHulu + Live and on linear TV. Its flagship shows includingMore in Common andLocalish Legends air onABC in major US cities, Localish.com, andHulu. As of 2020, Localish reaches an audience of over 17 million TV households and 21 million social followers across ABC's platforms.^[1]

Disney launched its Localish media venture the week of September 20, 2018. Localish's lineup of TV and digital shows highlight a range of small businesses, local restaurants, and unique neighborhoods across America. With over 70% of its audience under the age of 45, the Localish network reaches millennials via locally sourced video stories released on ABC's digital, social and TV platforms. The first series,More in Common, had already appeared viaFacebook Watch^[2] on July 21, 2018.^[3] The station group considered the possibility of anOTT (over-the-top or online) channel for the brand.^[2] AMore in Common compilation special was broadcast on all ABC stations' primary channels on November 4, 2018, then onWPVI inPhiladelphia on November 3, and on the LiveWell Network subchannel (.2) from November 4 through 11, 2018.^[4]

On January 21, 2020, ABC Owned Television Stations announced that the network would be rebranded as Localish on February 17, 2020. The rebranded network serves as an expansion of the Localish brand featuring several programs already featured on the Localish website.^[5]

Prior to launching Localish, ABC Owned Television Stations (ABCOTS) began development of a potential subchannel network in 2007. To appeal to ABC affiliates not owned and operated by the network, it was decided not to use ABC branding in any way.^[6] Live Well Network was launched on April 27, 2009, in high definition on ABC's owned-and-operated stations as part of the stations' subchannels.^[7][8][9] Initially, the network only had three hours of original programming that are looped throughout the day which was all sourced from ABC stations.^[6] In September 2010,Belo became the first non-ABC group to sign on with the network, adding it to their stations on November 8, 2010. Not all of the Belo-owned stations originally aired the network inwidescreen (unlike the ABC group), which led the network to drop the "HD" from its branding to become simply "Live Well Network".^[10]

Two LWN owned and operated stations,WJRT andWTVG, were sold toLilly Broadcasting closing on April 1, 2011.^[11] On May 26, 2011, it was announced that a deal has been reached to air the network on nineScripps-owned stations (several, but not all of them, are ABC affiliates).^[12] In August 2011, the network picked upCBC Television'sSteven and Chris for broadcast starting that fall.^[13]

Logo for Live Well HD Network until 2010

Live Well Network's logo until 2020

On January 9, 2012,Citadel Communications announced that it would be adding Live Well to all five of its major network-affiliated stations (four of them ABC affiliates), bringing the network's reach to around 55% U.S. television households.^[14]Young Broadcasting announced the addition of most of their stations to the network as of the end of January 2012; carriage agreements were maintained when Young was purchased byMedia General in November 2013.^[15]

In 2012, many ABC affiliates switching to the Live Well Network droppedRetro Television Network.^[16] A 1-hour two-week LWN block was broadcast onSoapnet weeknights from 11 PM to 12 AM (ET/PT) starting on July 30, 2012, through Friday, August 10, 2012.^[17]

The network lost affiliates inMemphis andJackson, Tennessee in March 2013 as a result of the sale ofNewport Television's stations toNexstar Broadcasting (Nexstar generally does not carry subchannel networks in any form;WHBF-TV inRock Island, Illinois, acquired by Nexstar in September 2013, eventually dropped LWN at the start of 2014, but it has since been replaced by a standard-definition simulcast of a sister station in the market).

KMCI-TV inKansas City, Missouri, removed the network in favor ofBounce TV in October 2013, whileSalt Lake City, Utah'sKSL-TV would addCozi TV at LWN's expense in January 2014. On February 17, 2014,KMOV inSt. Louis dropped the network, as new ownerMeredith Corporation plans on using the bandwidth forATSC M/Hmobile DTV, better known by the brand name Dyle (the subchannel was later re-launched to allow the launch of a replacementMyNetworkTV affiliate for the St. Louis area).^[18]

ThePhoenix DMA is the largest TV market which did not have a Live Well Network affiliate, since Scripps-ownedKNXV-TV (an ABC affiliate) switched toAntenna TV in January 2014, citing viewer demand for the classic TV network as the reason for dropping Live Well.^[19]

On June 9, 2014, network vice president Peggy Allen and ABC Owned Television Stations president Rebecca Campbell jointly announced to Live Well Network's staff that they planned to shut down the network in January 2015. Campbell and Allen said that despite the success of the network, the division wanted to prioritize "local content" and its "core local news brands".^[20][21] Some of the network's shows may move to thefyi cable network, a network ABC holds a half-interest in withHearst Corporation via theA&E Networksjoint venture.^[22] Many of the shows from ABC's stations were expected to end production.^[23]

On January 13, 2015, via an announcement by Green Bay affiliateWBAY-TV (and later confirmed by Chicago media writerRobert Feder), ABC announced that the network would be extended for two further months from their previous close date of January 16, 2015 with a revised program schedule to allow their remaining affiliates additional time to find subchannel programming.^[24][25]

Two days later, ABCOTS and theE. W. Scripps Company announced a pickup of Katz Broadcasting's new subchannelLaff, including the DT3 subchannels of the ABC O&O stations, as of April 15, 2015; within that announcement, ABCOTS stated that Live Well Network would continue on their eight stations on their DT2 subchannels in HD, but no longer be distributed outside of ABC O&O stations.^[26][27] As of April 15, 2015, WBAY and all of the former Young stations now owned by Media General continued to run the network, with no mention of any new alternate programming for those subchannels. On May 29, 2015, Comcast was informed that Media General was dropping Live Well from their stations beginning May 30, 2015. Subsequently, the signal was pulled off the Media General stations at the close of business on May 29, with those stations either carrying still text cards apologizing for the end of the network and announcements of replacement programming to come, or carrying alternate station programming.^[28] On October 31, 2015, the network lost its final affiliate station outside of the ABC O&O stations,Sinclair Broadcast Group'sWJLA-DT3 inWashington, DC, replacing it with the company's newest subchannel networkComet.

As Localish

The network was rebranded as Localish in 2020. It is available on many free TV streaming services including ABC.com,Tubi, andDirecTV's free streaming platform,MyFree Directv. It is also available on pay TV services such as Hulu + Live andFubo.

Many of the network's shows were produced by the localABC Owned Television Stations.^[22] Initially, the network only had three hours of original programming that looped throughout the day, all sourced from ABC stations.^[6] The network expanded to six hours of original programming on January 11, 2011, when six more half-hour shows were added allowing the programming block to loop three times daily; with rotating episodes to ensure a given episode would not air more than twice in a day.^[29]

By July 2011, the network was scheduling 18 hours of original programming with 1 hour set aside for local programming. In September 2011, 3 hours of children's E/I shows were added.^[30] In February 2014,WPVI-TV Philadelphia and LWN were looking for participants for a pilot episode ofPop the Question, a reality series featuring wedding proposals.^[31]

FYI, a cable specialty channel partly owned by Disney throughA&E Networks, took over some of Live Well Network's programs with the network's contraction.^[22]Sweet Retreats was picked up starting on October 10, 2014, by FYI.^[32]

Localish content was originally available via online (ABC.com and stations' website, ABC apps), its over-the-top platforms (Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV), social media (Facebook Watch, Twitter, YouTube Instagram) and syndicated by Oath and Apple News.^[2]

The network broadcasts in a lower-bandwidth form of720pHD format in order to preserve bandwidth for the main HD station signal and additional480i digital subchannels.

Cable carriage is also featured in the ABC O&O markets (for exampleXfinity inChicago,Fresno,Houston,Philadelphia, andSan Francisco;Spectrum inLos Angeles and theResearch Triangle;Altice USA inNew York City), either as a fullHD feed or a480istandard definition version.^[55][56] As of December 2017, WLS-TV only carries a standard definition version of the network due to a channel sharing agreement withUniMas stationWXFT-DT which requires a high definition broadcast of that station.

Localish is available over-the-air as adigital subchannel of the following stations:

• Official website
• livewellnetwork.com

• Digital multicast television networks in the United States
• English-language television stations in the United States
• Television channels and stations established in 2009
• Disney Media Networks
• Television channels and networks about health
• 2009 establishments in the United States
• HD-only channels

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