FYI (American TV channel)

FYI (stylized as fyi,) is an American basic cable channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company and Hearst Communications (each owns 50%). The network features lifestyle programming, with a mix of reality, culinary, home renovation and makeover series.
The network originally launched in 1999 as The Biography Channel, as an offshoot of A&E and named after its television series "Biography". As such, it originally featured factual programs, such as reruns of its namesake. As A&E shifted its focus towards reality television and drama series, the Biography Channel became the home for several series that had been displaced by the flagship network (including "Biography" itself), but shifted towards reality-oriented series itself in 2007 and was rebranded as simply Bio. In 2014, the channel was rebranded as FYI.
FYI is available to 69.0 million households in America .
History.
The Biography Channel.
In 1998, National Geographic Magazine gave approval to A+E Networks to launch a TV channel called Bio TV, described as a "brand new 24/7 TV system. Bio TV will focus on biographical shows and documentaries." The channel was launched on January 1, 1999, as The Biography Channel by A&E Television Networks, which conceived the channel as an offshoot of the long-running A&E profile series "Biography". In addition to airing biographical shows, the network aired fictional, non-biographical programs that were previously seen on A&E, including "Murder, She Wrote" and "Sherlock Holmes"; the scripted programming was dropped from the channel in 2007. On October 1, 2000, A&E Networks expanded its British partnership with British Sky Broadcasting with the launch of a UK market Biography Channel.
In August 2006, The Biography Channel became the exclusive home for the "Biography" series, as it was dropped by A&E. Another 64 hours of the show was ordered for its first year on the channel. In 2007, Biography Channel unveiled a new on-air brand—identifying the network simply as "Bio". 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 series "Shatner's Raw Nerve", hosted by William Shatner.
Bio had been stagnating since A+E's 2013 upfront presentation as little focus was placed upon it. Bio was generating 12 cents per subscriber from the video provider, about half the industry average. 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. Jana Bennett was hired as president of LMN and Bio in June 2013 and, having transformed TLC 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-focused Esquire Network. While preparing to launch FYI, Bio began re-airing A&E's house-flipping shows and 30 potential shows were placed in development.
as FYI (2014-present).
In December 2013, A+E Networks announced that The Biography Channel would be rebranded as FYI, a contemporary lifestyle network, starting in mid 2014. 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, including pilot orders of "Red Hot Design" and "Jennifer's Way". In April, "Midnight Feast" was greenlit for the new channel while two others—"Say it to my face" and "Reverse Course—"were ordered to pilot.
With the June 2014 announcement of the 2015 end of the ABC Owned Television Stations-run subscription network Live Well Network, some of its programming was being offered to FYI, which shared partial ABC ownership. 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.
In January 2015, following the success of its "Six Months Later" special, FYI ordered "Married at First Sight: The First Year".
International versions of Bio and FYI.
Despite the relaunch, international versions of The Biography Channel exist in some regions. An international version of The Biography Channel previously operated in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Israel, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, but has since been replaced by other channels. The Australian channel was closed in 2015. The Canadian version, operated under license by Rogers Media, was relaunched as Viceland in February 2016, but was then shut down on March 31, 2018.