Lifetime Entertainment Services

Lifetime Entertainment Services, led by President and CEO Carole Black since March 1999, is dedicated to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families. Hearst Corp., ABC Inc., and Viacom form a joint venture, Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment Services, to operate Lifetime Television, a new cable network formed through the merger of ABC/Hearst's Daytime and Viacom's Lifetime Medical Television (formerly Cable Health Network). Viacom sells its share of Lifetime to Hearst and Cap Cities/ABC, which was subsequently acquired by The Walt Disney Company. Lifetimetv.com, the network's web site, is launched to provide in-depth information on Lifetime programming and other services. Carole Black succeeds Douglas McCormick as president and CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services. Lifetime Entertainment Services is a joint venture owned by The Walt Disney Company and The Hearst Corporation. It operates the Lifetime Television Network, a basic cable network focusing on women viewers, launched in 1984. As of 2002 Lifetime TV was the top-rated cable network in prime time. Lifetime Entertainment Services also owns and operates the Lifetime Movie Network and Lifetime Real Women, two related networks that feature programming for women. The company also has an in-house production studio and an online division. The joint venture that has operated the Lifetime Television Network since its debut in February 1984 originally had three partners with equal shares: Hearst Corp., ABC Inc., and Viacom. Prior to the launch of Lifetime Television, Hearst and ABC operated Daytime, a four-hour per day weekday cable service that featured alternative programming for women. Daytime began broadcasting in March 1982. Meanwhile, Viacom launched its Cable Health Network in June 1982 as a 24-hour service offering a wide range of health-related programming. The Cable Health Network was renamed Lifetime Medical Television in November 1983 and ran until July 1993. In 1984 the three companies formed Hearst/ABC-Viacom Entertainment Services to operate Lifetime Television, which was created through a merger of Daytime and the Cable Health Network. Thomas F. Burchill was named president and CEO; he would serve in that capacity until February 1993. Lifetime's programming was initially designed to capitalize on Daytime's primarily female audience and, to a lesser degree, the audience of Lifetime Medical Television. At first programming consisted of a wide range of talk shows targeted to women, including "Good Sex with Dr. Ruth" and "Regis Philbin's Lifestyles," as well as medically related programming such as "Cardiology Update." Following her debut on Lifetime, Dr. Ruth Westheimer became something of a media celebrity, appearing regularly on NBC's "The Letterman Show" and churning out books, newspaper columns, home videotapes, and even a sex-oriented board game. The completion of Lifetime Astoria Studios in Queens, New York, enabled the network to produce more original programming. These included series such as "The Parent Survival Guide," produced by Scholastic Productions, and "What Every Baby Knows: The First Three Years." In 1990 Lifetime announced that it would produce 15 original movies for its female audience over the next three years. It also acquired movies from the major studios, including a package of 23 films from Orion Pictures that included Bull Durham and Married to the Mob and ten films from Warner Bros. including The Accidental Tourist and Tequila Sunrise. Both film packages bypassed syndication and aired exclusively on Lifetime. On the medical front, Lifetime launched Healthlink Television in June 1990 to provide programming for physicians' offices. It planned to be in 12,000 offices by the end of 1990 and 20,000 by June 1991. As part of its service, Healthlink provided participating physicians with a large-screen television, videocassette player, and fre