Audience Network (also known as Audience from 2016 until 2020) was an American pay television channel that was owned by

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

. It featured a mix of original and acquired series, specials, and feature films. The network operated as a commercial-free service and broadcast its programming without editing for content. It was originally exclusive to

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

, though it was also added to

AT&T U-verse U-verse TV is a DirecTV brand of IPTV service. Launched on June 26, 2006, U-verse included broadband Internet (now AT&T Internet or AT&T Fiber), IP telephone (now AT&T Phone), and IPTV (U-verse TV) services in 48 states.AT&T TV DirecTV Stream is a family of streaming multichannel television services offered in the United States by DirecTV. The brand encompasses three separate services sharing similar infrastructure and software. DirecTV Stream, launched nationally as ...

and AT&T Watch TV, a lower-cost option available to

AT&T Mobility AT&T Mobility LLC, also known as AT&T Wireless and marketed as simply AT&T, is an American telecommunications company. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of AT&T Inc. and provides wireless services in the United States. AT&T Mobility is the thi ...

customers. As of 2019, the channel had a subscription base of 26 million. The channel ceased operations on May 22, 2020.

History

The network launched on November 25, 1999, as Freeview, a service on DirecTV channel 103 carrying a continuous loop of

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

s and other events. Freeview was part of all of the satellite provider's subscription packages, starting with the Total Choice tier. In 2005, it was moved to channel 101 and was rebranded as The 101 Network (as a suffix, " 101" is college jargon for basic classes or, in more general terms, a way to describe any basic concept). Following the rebrand, the channel's schedule began to expand to include original programs. It also presented its very first original, ''CD US'', which was announced on November 1, 2005. The channel was rebranded as Audience Network on June 1, 2011. In 2015, the channel was added to

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

, a service which launched on May 27.

Rich Eisen Richard Eisen (; born June 24, 1969) is an American television sportscaster and radio host. Since 2003, he has worked for NFL Network as a host of various pregame, halftime, and postgame shows. He also hosts a daily sports radio show, ''The Ric ...

later confirmed in a statement regarding the future of his daily radio show (which had maintained a longtime video simulcast on Audience) that the network would go off the air on February 29 (his show ended the day before on Audience, and ended on radio on April 7). AT&T itself would not confirm the actual end date for the network at the time and it did continue for two months after with previous programming, though simulcasts of Eisen's show and ''

The Dan Patrick Show ''The Dan Patrick Show'' is a syndicated radio and television sports talk show, hosted by former ESPN personality Dan Patrick. It is currently produced by Patrick and is syndicated to radio stations by Premiere Radio Networks, within and indepe ...

'' both ceased on February 28, and the network's website became merely a redirect to the generic DirecTV network listing. Eisen later found a new television home on

NBCSN NBCSN was an American sports television television channel, channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated t ...

and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, with Patrick also utilizing a YouTube live stream during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, before both ultimately ended up at

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

-owned streaming service

Peacock Peafowl is a common name for three bird species in the genera ''Pavo (genus), Pavo'' and ''Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae, the pheasants and their allies. Male peafowl are referred to as peacocks, and female pea ...

. In mid-April 2020, AT&T notified customers the network would officially sunset at 12:00 AM

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

on May 22, 2020. The network closed as scheduled after an airing of the documentary ''Black Sabbath: The End of The End'', after which the channel space created by Freeview in 1999 folded.

Programming

Original series

Former acquired series

Acquisition of ''Wonderland''

Starting in January 2009, the channel aired '' Wonderland'', a controversial drama series that had briefly aired on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

in the spring of 2000. The run included all eight episodes of the series, six of which were not originally aired during the program's ABC run.

Past partnerships with NBC

Acquisition of ''Passions''

DirecTV and

NBC Universal Television Studio Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

announced on April 25, 2007, that new episodes of the

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...

Passions ''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and pro ...

'' would begin airing exclusively on the channel on September 17, 2007, retaining its 2:00 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

timeslot that it held during its

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

run, with reruns airing on weekends. The series had aired on

since July 1999, however in early 2007, the network announced they were not renewing the series as a result of replacing the series by a fourth hour of ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

'' and very soon DirecTV bought exclusive

Broadcasting rights Broadcasting rights (often also called media rights) are rights which a broadcasting organization negotiates with a commercial concern - such as a sports governing body or film distributor - in order to show that company's products on television o ...

from

to continue airing the series and the final NBC episode was aired on September 7th, 2007 concluding its eight year broadcast on NBC and then the new episodes began airing exclusively on DirecTV starting September 17th, 2007. Although ''Passions'' had left NBC and moved to DirecTV, NBC continued to maintain the series official website on NBC.com due to the fact that their parent company

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

maintained

Ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as title, which may be separated and held by different ...

and production rights to the series, however the free streaming service of the new episodes of Passions on NBC.com and the option to purchase the episodes for download on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

, which had started in the final NBC season of 2006-07 were completely discontinued once DirecTV began exclusively airing the new episodes. Initially the DirecTV episodes were only supposed to be available on their own network, but DirecTV later announced an agreement to allow NBC to rebroadcast the DirecTV episodes of ''Passions'' only as a paid subscription internet streaming content on NBC.com with a monthly subscription fee as an alternative for viewers who were unable to subscribe to DirecTV after the series left terrestrial television; this began in October 2007. In December 2007, DirecTV announced that it would not pick up ''Passions'' from NBCU for a tenth season, the series finale aired on August 7, 2008.

Shared broadcast rights of ''Friday Night Lights''

DirecTV, NBC, and

Universal Media Studios Universal Television LLC (abbreviated as UTV) is an American television production company that is a subsidiary of Universal Studio Group, a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It serves as the network television production arm of NBC; a prede ...

announced a deal on April 2, 2008, in which The 101 would carry the 13-episode third season of '' Friday Night Lights'' beginning on October 1. Through the deal, after the season ended on The 101, the drama series' third season aired in second-run form on NBC (with some scenes edited) starting on January 16, 2009. On March 31, 2009, NBC and DirecTV announced that they had renewed ''Friday Night Lights'' for two additional seasons, again to be broadcast first on DirecTV and then on NBC.

Acquisition of ''Damages''

On July 19, 2010, DirecTV announced it had acquired the rights to the former FX drama ''

Damages At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...

'', and renewed the series for two additional seasons. The 101 began airing reruns of its first three seasons on January 5, 2011. Season 4 premiered on the rebranded Audience Network on July 13, 2011, and the fifth and final season premiered on July 11, 2012.

Former off-network reruns

The channel aired repeat episodes of SoapNet's original soap opera limited series, '' General Hospital: Night Shift'' throughout the series' run from July to October 2008. The channel broadcast the Nat Geo Adventure's documentary travel/adventure series '' Odyssey: Driving Around the World'' starting in June 2008. The short-lived ABC drama '' The Nine'' began airing on the channel on May 27, 2009. The channel also aired reruns of the 2005–06

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

drama series ''

Sleeper Cell A clandestine cell system is a method for organizing a group of people (such as resistance fighters, sleeper agents, mobsters, or terrorists) such that such people can more effectively resist penetration by an opposing organization (such as ...

''. On April 21, 2009, it was announced that DirecTV picked up the syndication rights to HBO's '' Oz'' and '' Deadwood''. The channel began airing the CBS drama ''

Smith Smith may refer to: People * Metalsmith, or simply smith, a craftsman fashioning tools or works of art out of various metals * Smith (given name) * Smith (surname), a family name originating in England, Scotland and Ireland ** List of people wi ...

'' on April 8, 2009. It also began a general agreement with

Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution Warner Bros. Television Studios (operating under the name Warner Bros. Television; formerly known as Warner Bros. Television Division) is an American television production and distribution studio of the Warner Bros. Television Group division of ...

to air ''

Eyes Eyes are organs of the visual system. They provide living organisms with vision, the ability to receive and process visual detail, as well as enabling several photo response functions that are independent of vision. Eyes detect light and conve ...

'' onto the channel also in 2009. DirecTV aired repeats of the

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

drama series ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American Crime film, crime drama Television show, television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The ...

'' starting on July 18, 2010.

Former international programming

In recent years, DirecTV began acquiring exclusive US broadcast rights to series from fellow English-speaking countries UK, Canada and Australia. The 101 began airing the Canadian comedy series ''

Trailer Park Boys ''Trailer Park Boys'' is a Canadian mockumentary sitcom television series created by Mike Clattenburg that began airing in 2001 as a continuation of his 1999 film bearing the same name. The show follows the misadventures of a group of trailer p ...

'' on February 5, 2009. On September 17, 2009, DirecTV announced that The 101 had picked up rights to the Australian miniseries ''

Underbelly Underbelly is the side of something that is not normally seen. Figuratively, it means a vulnerable or weak part, similar to the term Achilles' heel, or alternatively, a hidden, illicit side of society. This term could refer to: Business * ...

'', which began airing on February 3, 2010. On September 28, 2010, DirecTV acquired rights to the British shows ''

No Heroics ''No Heroics'' is a British superhero-comedy television series, which began on 18 September 2008. The show was ITV2's first original sitcom. It was nominated for Best New British TV Comedy of 2008 at the British Comedy Awards. Setting ''No Hero ...

'', ''

How Not to Live Your Life ''How Not to Live Your Life'' (styled in the opening credits as "how NOT to live your life") is a British sitcom, written by and starring Dan Clark that aired between 27 September 2007 and 22 December 2011 on BBC Three, about a pessimistic twenty ...

'' and ''

Mutual Friends ''Mutual Friends'' is a British comedy drama television series broadcast in six episodes on BBC One in from 26 August until 30 September 2008. The series starred Marc Warren, Alexander Armstrong, Keeley Hawes, Sarah Alexander, Claire Rushbrook ...

'', which premiered on The 101 in November 2010. On February 10, 2011, DirecTV acquired rights to the Canadian series ''

Call Me Fitz ''Call Me Fitz'' is a Canadian television series produced by E1 Entertainment, Amaze Film & Television, and Big Motion Pictures. The half-hour comedy stars Jason Priestley as Richard "Fitz" Fitzpatrick, a morally bankrupt used-car salesman whos ...

'', which premiered on the network on April 21, 2011. In the spring of 2011, DirecTV acquired the rights to the Australian series '' Rake''. In the fall of 2011, DirecTV acquired rights to the Canadian sitcom ''

Less Than Kind ''Less Than Kind'' is a 2008–2013 Canadian television comedy-drama series that stars Jesse Camacho as Sheldon Blecher, a teenager growing up in a loving but dysfunctional Jewish family in Winnipeg. The show's cast also includes Maury Chayki ...

'' and the British drama '' Hit & Miss'', the latter of which premiered on June 27, 2012, with a sneak preview, with the first full episode airing on July 11, 2012. DirecTV picked up the rights to the Australian series '' The Slap'' and the British series '' The Shadow Line'', which started airing on Audience Network in February 2012.

Specials

''Celebrity Beach Bowl'' – Since 2007, during

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

week, DirecTV has held an annual celebrity

flag football Flag football is a variant of American football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a Down (gridiron football), down. The sport has a ...

game, which promotes DirecTV's exclusive sports package

NFL Sunday Ticket NFL Sunday Ticket is an out-of-market sports package that broadcasts National Football League (NFL) regular season games unavailable on local affiliates. It carries all regional Sunday afternoon games produced by Fox and CBS. The ideal custome ...

. A concert follows the game, which is simulcast on

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

television station

WGN-TV WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

, its sister network

WGN America WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...

, Now known as

NewsNation NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly-owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a mixture of entertainment programming (consistin ...

, and in 2013,

NBC Sports Network NBCSN was an American sports television channel owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It originally launched on July 1, 1995, as the Outdoor Life Network (OLN), which was dedicated to programming prim ...

. ''Bracket Breakdown'' was an exclusive

NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

pre-game show with several college basketball analysts and insiders, including the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public research university in Louisville, Kentucky. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. When founded in 1798, it was the first city-owned public university in the United States and one of ...

Rick Pitino Richard Andrew Pitino (born September 18, 1952) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach for Iona College. He was also the head coach of Greece's senior national team. He has been the head coach of several teams in NCAA ...

, the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentu ...

John Calipari John Vincent Calipari (born February 10, 1959) is an American basketball coach. Since 2009, he has been the head coach of the University of Kentucky men's team, with whom he won the NCAA Championship in 2012. He has been named Naismith College C ...

, the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

Jeff Capel Felton Jeffrey Capel III (born February 12, 1975) is an American college basketball coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of the University of Pittsburgh's Panthers men's basketball team. He played for Duke University and was ...

, the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th state, ...

Bruce Pearl Bruce Alan Pearl (born March 18, 1960) is an American college basketball coach, and the head coach of the Auburn Tigers men's basketball team. He previously served as the head coach at Tennessee, Milwaukee, and Southern Indiana. Pearl led Southe ...

and the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is the head men's basketball coach at Pepperdine University, a position he held from 1996 to 1999 and resumed in 2018. Romar also served as the head me ...

and former

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

player and current sports talk radio show host Sean Farnham. It served as supplemental coverage to DirecTV's exclusive (now defunct) Mega March Madness package. ''SXSW'' – the channel exclusively carried the 2009 South by Southwest Festival concert live. '' Farm Aid 25: Growing Hope for America'' aired exclusively on DirecTV. On February 13, 2012, Audience Network premiered the original documentary ''More Than a Dream'', about the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

, narrated by

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

Films and previews

In October 2006, to mark

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

, Audience Network aired several horror-themed movies, including '' The Toxic Avenger''. On February 23 and 24, 2007, Audience Network aired a preview of

Chiller A chiller is a machine that removes heat from a liquid coolant via a vapor-compression refrigeration, vapor-compression, adsorption refrigeration, or absorption refrigerator, absorption refrigeration cycles. This liquid can then be circulated th ...

, a then-recently launched cable channel owned by

NBC Universal The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are ...

dedicated to horror programming that launched on DirecTV channel 257 on March 1, 2007. Programming featured during this preview included the two-hour pilot episode of ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company, ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cance ...

'', the pilot episode of '' American Gothic'', episodes of ''

Monsters A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

'', '' ''Tales from the Crypt'''', ''

Night Gallery ''Night Gallery'' is an American anthology television series that aired on NBC from December 16, 1970, to May 27, 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, ''The Twilight Zone ...

'', ''

Alfred Hitchcock Presents ''Alfred Hitchcock Presents'' is an American television anthology series created, hosted and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, aired on CBS and NBC between 1955 and 1965. It features dramas, thrillers and mysteries. Between 1962 and 1965 it was ren ...

'', ''Friday the 13th: The Series'', and various horror movies. Audience Network aired a number of dramatic series a few days before their scheduled premieres on

including ''The Tudors (TV series), The Tudors'' in March 2007 and ''Nurse Jackie'' in June 2009, as well as the Starz (TV channel), Starz series ''Party Down'' on April 22, 2010. On August 24, 2007, Audience Network aired an exclusive high-definition broadcast of ''High School Musical 2'', one week after its premiere on the Disney Channel (Disney Channel did not launch a high definition simulcast feed until April 2, 2008). On November 11, 2017, Audience Network premiered the first part of the two-part documentary ''The Volunteers''. This is a documentary about volunteers taking up arms against ISIS in Syria. Ricky Schroder is the executive producer.

References

{{AT&T English-language television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1999 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2020 Commercial-free television networks DirecTV Defunct television networks in the United States 1999 establishments in the United States 2020 disestablishments in the United States