Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news coverage of prominent criminal cases. In 2008, the original cable channel became

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that fo ...

. The channel relaunched on May 8, 2019 as a

digital broadcast Digital broadcasting is the practice of using digital signals rather than analogue signals for broadcasting over radio frequency bands. Digital television broadcasting (especially satellite television) is widespread. Digital audio broadcasting i ...

television network owned by

Katz Broadcasting Katz Broadcasting, LLC, doing business as Scripps Networks, is an American specialized digital multicasting network media company and a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. The company owns (as of 2022) nine television networks that each carry ...

, a subsidiary of the

E. W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

. Court TV is also available via streaming services such as

YouTube TV YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel f ...

and

Pluto TV Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported video streaming service owned and operated by the Paramount Streaming division of Paramount Global. Co-founded by Tom Ryan, Ilya Pozin and Nick Grouf in 2013 and based in Los Angeles, California, in the United S ...

, and its audio feed is available on Sirius XM channel 793.

History

As a cable television channel

Cable television channel Courtroom Television Network, known as Court TV, was launched on July 1, 1991, at 6:00 am Eastern Time by founder Steven Brill and was available to three million subscribers. Its original anchors were Jack Ford, Fred Graham,

Cynthia McFadden Cynthia McFadden (born May 27, 1956) is an American television journalist who is currently the senior legal and investigative correspondent for NBC News. She was an anchor and correspondent for ABC News who co-anchored '' Nightline'', and occasio ...

, and

Gregg Jarrett Gregory Walter Jarrett (born April 7, 1955) is an American conservative news commentator, author and attorney. He joined Fox News in November 2002, after working at local NBC and ABC TV stations for over ten years, as well as national networks ...

. The network was born out of two competing projects to launch cable channels with live courtroom proceedings, the American Trial Network from

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and

American Lawyer Media ALM (formerly American Lawyer Media) is a media company headquartered in the Socony–Mobil Building in New York City, and is a provider of specialized business news and information, focused primarily on the legal, insurance, and commercial re ...

, and In Court from

Cablevision Cablevision Systems Corporation was an American cable television company with systems serving areas surrounding New York City. It was the fifth-largest cable provider and ninth-largest television provider in the United States. Throughout its ex ...

and

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 ...

. Both projects were present at the

National Cable Television Association NCTA – The Internet & Television Association (formerly the National Cable & Telecommunications Association, and commonly known as the NCTA) is the principal trade association for the U.S. broadband and pay television industries. It represents ...

, in June 1990. Rather than trying to establish two competing networks, the projects were combined on December 14, 1990. Liberty Media would join the venture in 1991. The network's first logo consisted of a rectangle with the word "COURT", and the letters "TV" below, with a line underneath. The network's second logo ran from 1999 to 2005. The network's third and final logo ran from 2005 to 2007. The channel originally consisted of live courtroom trials that were interspersed with anchors and reporters. It was led by law writer Steven Brill, who later left the network in 1997. The network came into its own during the

Menendez brothers Joseph Lyle Menendez (born January 10, 1968) and Erik Galen Menendez (born November 27, 1970) are American brothers who were convicted in 1996 for the murders of their parents, José and Mary Louise ("Kitty") Menéndez. During the trial, the Me ...

' first trial in 1994, and the

O.J. Simpson murder trial ''The People of the State of California v. Orenthal James Simpson'' was a criminal trial in Los Angeles County Superior Court starting in 1994, in which O. J. Simpson, a former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster and actor, was tr ...

in 1995. In 1998, NBC sold its share of the network to Time Warner. That same year, Court TV began running several original and acquired programs in prime time, such as '' Homicide: Life on the Street'', and ''

Forensic Files ''Forensic Files'', originally known as ''Medical Detectives'', is an American documentary television program that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness. The show was orig ...

''. In 1999, it acquired the rerun rights to

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

's ''Cops''. Recognizing the growth of its prime time programming, Court TV announced in 2005 that it would split its programming into two brands. Daytime trial coverage was branded as ''Court TV News'' while other dayparts were branded under the tagline ''Seriously Entertaining;'' this programming would feature new

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 19 ...

series focusing on crime-oriented topics. In January 2006, the network launched a male-targeted programming block known as "RED", an abbreviation of "Real. Exciting. Dramatic." Time Warner bought full control of Court TV in 2006 and began running it as part of the company's

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (lat ...

division. The buyout of Court TV marked Time Warner's first television network acquisition, rather than a sale, since the acquisition of Turner in 1996. On July 11, 2007, it was announced that Court TV would be relaunched as

truTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that focu ...

on January 1, 2008. The new brand was intended to accompany a larger shift towards action-oriented

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

series which did not necessarily involve crime or law enforcement. Reruns of Court TV series then aired on HLN (primarily ''

'') and the over-the-air digital network

True Crime Network True Crime Network (formerly Justice Network) is an American digital multicast television network that is operated by True Crime Network, LLC, a limited liability company, which is owned by Tegna Inc. The network specializes in true crime, in ...

(originally known as Justice Network). With changes to HLN's programming strategy and the growing popularity of the genre, the network began to produce and premiere more original true crime programs in 2017.

As a digital broadcast network

On December 10, 2018,

(owned by the

) announced that it would relaunch Court TV as an over-the-air network following the acquisition of the intellectual property rights to the Court TV name and the pre-2008 Court TV original programming library from

and

Warner Bros. Television Studios 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 ...

. Scripps announced affiliation deals with

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

and Univision Communications at that date, in addition to existing Scripps-owned stations. Further deals with Meredith Corporation,

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

(which was in the process of acquiring Tribune; the deal closed in September 2019),

Tegna Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into t ...

, and

Quincy Media Quincy Media, Inc., formerly known as Quincy Newspapers, Inc., was a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the ''Bounty Land Register'' was one of ...

were announced on May 2, 2019. The channel is also available nationally on

. The relaunched Court TV features live court coverage with former Court TV anchor Vinnie Politan as lead anchor and Court TV and

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

producers John Alleva and Scott Tufts as vice presidents and managing editors. The network began broadcasting on May 8, 2019. The first live courtroom coverage was the Covington, Georgia, trial of parents who, after reporting their newborn baby missing in 2017, were later charged with murder. It also featured coverage of the

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films includ ...

sexual assault trial and the

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of Party (law), parties to a :wikt:dispute, dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence (law), evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to Adjudication, adjudicate claims or d ...

Kyle Rittenhouse Kyle Howard Rittenhouse (born January 3, 2003) is an American known for shooting three men, two fatally, during the civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in August 2020 when he was 17 years old. At his trial in November 2021, a jury found Ritten ...

. In May 2020, the network was picked up for carriage on

. Following Scripps acquisition of

Ion Media Ion Media (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks) was an American broadcasting company that owned and operated over List of stations owned and operated by Ion Media, 71 television stations in most major Americ ...

in 2021, it began to add Court TV to its stations in place of the defunct

Qubo Qubo ( ; stylized as qubo) was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media, it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital ...

, Ion Plus and Ion Shop networks.

Affiliates

Programming

Court TV currently shows gavel to gavel live news trial coverage under the branding ''Court TV Live''.

Ted Rowlands Edward Rowlands, Baron Rowlands (born 23 January 1940) is a Welsh politician, who served as a Labour Party (UK), Labour Party Member of Parliament for over thirty years, including a period as a junior minister in the 1960s and 1970s. Educatio ...

anchors from 9am to noon,

Julie Grant Julie Grant (born 12 July 1946) is an English pop music singer, who was mainly active during the 1960s. She had three hits on the UK Singles Chart with " Up on the Roof", "Count on Me" (both 1963) and "Come to Me" (1964). She also recorded a co ...

from noon til 3pm,

Ashley Willcott Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsc'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

takes over from 3pm-6pm, and Michael Ayala is on from 6pm until 8pm. Vinnie Politan anchors ''Closing Arguments with Vinnie Politan'' from 8pm-11pm and is repeated twice in a row from 11pm to 5am. Court TV's original programming traditionally consisted of reality legal programming and

legal drama A legal drama is a genre of film and television that generally focuses on narratives regarding legal practice and the justice system. The American Film Institute (AFI) defines "courtroom drama" as a genre of film in which a system of justice play ...

, such as legal-based news shows, legal-based talk shows, live homicide trial coverage,

court show A court show (also known as a judge show, legal/courtroom program, courtroom series, or judicial show) is a broadcast programming subgenre of either legal dramas or reality legal programming. Court shows present content mainly in the form of lega ...

s, police force shows, and other criminal justice programming. The channel also carried a week-daily news block, ''In Session'' (the successor to ''Court TV News''), which provided

live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film *'' ''Live'' (Apocalyptica DVD) Music *Live (band), American alternative rock band * List of albums ...

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

coverage of

s, legal

and details of highly publicized crimes Monday through Fridays from 9 to 11 a.m. ET (except during national holidays, with reruns of the channel's reality programming airing in place of the block on such days). Its coverage included analysis from anchors and guests to help viewers understand legal proceedings. ''In Session'' also ran a blog, ''Sidebar,'' where the ''In Session'' team posted updated legal news and analysis. On August 11, 2020, it was announced that a new original true-crime series titled '' Judgment with Ashleigh Banfield'' will premiere on September 13, 2020.

Other media

UK and Ireland

On 10 August 2020, Court TV began testing on

Astra 28.2°E Astra 28.2°E is the name for the group of Astra communications satellites co-located at the 28.2° East position in the Clarke Belt that are owned and operated by SES based in Betzdorf, Luxembourg. It is one of the major TV satellite positions s ...

on frequency 11568 V DVB-S QPSK 22 5/6, with the label "54140". On 1 September 2020, Court TV was added to the

EPG Electronic programming guides (EPGs) and interactive programming guides (IPGs) are menu-based systems that provide users of television, radio and other media applications with continuously updated menus that display scheduling information for ...

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

on channel 179 ahead of its official launch on 8 September 2020 as a replacement of

Sony Crime Channel Sony Crime Channel was a British free-to-air television channel, focusing on crime television programmes and documentaries. It was launched on 6 February 2018 and was owned by Sony Pictures Television. It aired crime programming targeted at a fem ...

, according to on-screen information. On 15 February 2021, Court TV joined the

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

television service in the UK with a short-term deal in order to show the

trial of Derek Chauvin ''State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin'' is an American criminal case in the District Court of Minnesota in which former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was tried and convicted of the murder of George Floyd during an arrest on ...

. It was found on channel 89 and joined the Law & Crime Trial Network as part of the service's offerings (though this other network is currently found as part of the streaming options on channel 271, as it is broadcast via Channelbox). On June 1, 2021 Court TV shut down on Freeview, less than four months after starting, with its channel number de-activated on June 22.

Satellite radio channel

Court TV relaunched its satellite radio channel on May 15, 2020 on

SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sa ...

. It was removed on April 21, 2022.

Former spin-offs

Canadian version

Court TV Canada Investigation Discovery is a Canadian Discretionary service owned by Bell Media. Based on the U.S cable network of the same name, the channel focuses on true crime programming. Originally launching as a Canadian version of Court TV, it was relaun ...

, a Canadian version of the channel under its previous format, owned by

CHUM Limited CHUM Limited was a Canadian media company based in Toronto, Ontario in operation from 1945 to 2007. The company was founded in 1945 as York Broadcasters Limited when it launched CHUM-AM 1050 but was acquired by salesman Allan Waters in 1954. CHU ...

(and later acquired by

CTVglobemedia Bell Media Inc. (French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

which then sold its assets to

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in t ...

under the

Bell Media Bell Media Inc. ( French: ) is a Canadian company formed by the amalgamation of several companies. Establishment (2011–13) On December 9, 2011, the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports ...

subsidiary), launched on September 7, 2001. Unlike its U.S. counterpart, it did not re-brand under the TruTV name and continued to operate as Court TV until August 30, 2010, when, as part of a wider licensing agreement with

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

and CTV, Court TV was replaced by

Investigation Discovery (Canada) Investigation Discovery is a Canadian Discretionary service owned by Bell Media. Based on the U.S cable network of the same name, the channel focuses on true crime programming. Originally launching as a Canadian version of Court TV, it was relaun ...

. The U.S. version of Court TV had earlier been approved by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission as an eligible foreign channel in 1997, and indeed, had been carried by several Canadian service providers prior to the launch of the domestic service.

Websites

In 2001, Court TV purchased

The Smoking Gun The Smoking Gun is a website that posts legal documents, arrest records, and police mugshots on a daily basis. The intent is to bring to the public light information that is somewhat obscure or unreported by more mainstream media sources. Most ...

, a website that focuses on legal items such as

mug shot A mug shot or mugshot (an informal term for police photograph or booking photograph) is a photographic portrait of a person from the shoulders up, typically taken after a person is arrested. The original purpose of the mug shot was to allow law ...

s and other public documents pertaining to famous individuals and cases. The site remained a property of the company through the rebranding to TruTV, but was sold back to its founder in 2014. Court TV purchased the website

Crime Library Crime Library was a website documenting major crimes, criminals, trials, forensics, and criminal profiling from books. It was founded in 1998 and was most recently owned by truTV, a cable TV network that is part of Time Warner's Turner Broadcas ...

, which provided detailed information about infamous crimes and how they were solved, in 2001. The website remained an actively updated property until 2014 and was taken offline in 2015.

Sirius Radio channel

On February 3, 2003, Court TV Plus debuted on

Sirius Satellite Radio Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio (SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings. Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially lau ...

, featuring audio from Court TV programs. Launched on Channel 134, it was moved in September 2005 and aired on Channel 110 until the channel ceased operations on January 1, 2008.

Court TV Mystery

On September 30, 2019, the Escape network was rebranded as Court TV Mystery, serving as an extension to the Court TV brand. The network was subsequently rebranded to

Ion Mystery Ion Mystery (formerly Escape and Court TV Mystery, stylized as ESCAPE and MYSTERY; formerly branded on-air as Mystery) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. It focus ...

on February 24, 2022, with the "

Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conve ...

" brand now more established regarding procedural dramas in general, including Ion Mystery's overall programming, whereas Court TV is more associated with its news division.

References

External links

*
Court TV Live Stream
{{Broadcast Television E. W. Scripps Company Former General Electric subsidiaries Former Time Warner subsidiaries Former Liberty Media subsidiaries Television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1991 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2008 Television channels and stations established in 2019 1991 establishments in the United States 2008 disestablishments in the United States 2019 establishments in the United States Re-established companies