E! (an
initialism
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as ...
for Entertainment Television) is an American
basic cable
Cable television first became available in the United States in 1948. By 1989, 53 million U.S. households received cable television subscriptions, with 60 percent of all U.S. households doing so in 1992. with Data by SNL Kagan shows that about 58 ...
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
which primarily focuses on pop culture, celebrity focused reality shows, and movies, owned by the
NBCUniversal Television and Streaming
NBCUniversal Television and Streaming is the television and streaming arm of NBCUniversal, and the direct descendant and successor of the former division NBCUniversal Television Group, which existed from 2003 to 2019.
History NBC Broadcasting
In ...
division of
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 ...
, a division of
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 ...
.
As of January 2016, E! is available to 92.4 million households in the United States.
History
Movietime
E! was originally launched on July 31, 1987, as Movietime, a service that aired movie trailers, entertainment news, event and awards coverage, and interviews as an early example of a national
barker channel
A barker channel is a form of digital signage, operating in the form of a television channel that is entirely composed of sales promotion and advertising, usually marketing various features of the service carrying the channel. The name is derived f ...
. The channel was founded by
Larry Namer
Larry Namer is an entertainment and media entrepreneur of ''Movies USA Magazine''.
Biography
Namer attended Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn, New York), Abraham Lincoln High School, graduating in 1966. He then attended Brooklyn College, grad ...
and
Alan Mruvka
Alan Mruvka (born 1958 in Bronx, New York) is an American entertainment and media entrepreneur, film producer and screenwriter. He created and co-founded ''Movietime Channel'', which later became ''E! Entertainment'' television.
He is the Fou ...
.
Early Movietime hosts included
Greg Kinnear
Gregory Buck Kinnear (born June 17, 1963) is an American actor. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in ''As Good as It Gets'' (1997).
Kinnear has appeared in many popular films, including ''Sabrina'' (199 ...
,
Katie Wagner
Katharine Wagner (born May 11, 1964) is an American television personality and Hollywood reporter. She is best known for her 2002–2004 stint as the hostess for TV Guide Channel.
Early life
Wagner was born in Los Angeles, California. Her pare ...
,
Julie Moran
Julie Moran (née Bryan, born January 10, 1962) is an American journalist, television host, and sportscaster. She was the first female solo host for '' Wide World of Sports'' following in the footsteps of first woman co-anchor Becky Dixon. She ...
, Suzanne Kay (daughter of
Diahann Carroll
Diahann Carroll (; born Carol Diann Johnson; July 17, 1935 – October 4, 2019) was an American actress, singer, model, and activist. She rose to prominence in some of the earliest major studio films to feature black casts, including ''Car ...
),
Mark DeCarlo
Mark DeCarlo is an American actor, television host, comedian, travel, internet personality, and foodie expert. He is currently known for being a contributor to WLS-TV morning show ''Windy City Live'', a locally produced Chicago program that re ...
,
Sam Rubin
Sam Rubin (born 1960) is an American journalist who serves as the entertainment reporter for the ''KTLA Morning News'' and as a correspondent for Reelz production ''Hollywood Dailies''. He hosts ''Live From the Academy Awards'' and the celebrit ...
and
Richard Blade
Richard Blade (born Richard Thomas Sheppard; May 23, 1952 in Bristol, England) is a British-American Los Angeles-based radio, television, and film personality from Torquay, England. He is best known for his radio programs that feature new wave ...
.
E!
![E! Logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/E%21_Logo.svg)
Controlling ownership was originally held by a
consortium
A consortium (plural: consortia) is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for ...
of five cable television providers (
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 ...
,
Continental Cablevision
MediaOne Group, Inc. (Comcast MO Group, Inc.) was created by US WEST Inc, one of the original Baby Bells Regional Bell Operating Companies, acquisition of Boston-based Continental Cable and combined with its previously acquired Atlanta-based Wom ...
,
Cox Cable
Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...
,
TCI, and
Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, opera ...
),
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 ...
/
Warner Communications
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 various founding shareholders, with HBO directly programming and managing the network. In 1989, after
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
bought Warner Communications to fend off a takeover bid by Paramount, the new
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 ...
company held four of the eight major ownership positions and took over management control of Movietime and renamed the network as E!: Entertainment Television on June 1, 1990; this name change was made to emphasize its widening coverage of the
celebrity–industrial complex
The celebrity-industrial complex is a social and economic construct which involves a symbiotic relationship between celebrities and business corporations. First proposed by ''Vanity Fair'' columnist Maureen Orth in her book, '' The Importance of B ...
, contemporary film, television and music, daily Hollywood gossip, and fashion.
In 1997, Comcast, one of the minority partners, teamed up with
Disney/ABC Cable Networks to buy the channel after Time Warner had exercised their put agreement. Comcast increased the ownership stakes in the network through mergers with forerunners of TCI and Continental under various circumstances. In November 2006, Comcast acquired Disney's 39.5% share of E! for $1.23 billion to gain full ownership of the network as part of a broader programming carriage agreement between Disney/ABC and Comcast.
In January 2011, Comcast Entertainment Group, the company's television unit, became a division of the
NBCUniversal Television Group
NBCUniversal Television and Streaming is the television and streaming arm of NBCUniversal, and the direct descendant and successor of the former division NBCUniversal Television Group, which existed from 2003 to 2019.
History NBC Broadcasting
In ...
, after Comcast acquired a 51% majority stake in
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 ...
from
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...
. E!'s only sister networks prior to the NBC Universal merger were the now-defunct channels Style Network (then
Esquire Network
Esquire Network was an American pay television network that was a 50/50 joint venture between NBCUniversal and the Hearst Corporation. The network carried programs aimed at a metrosexual audience centering on travel, cooking, sports and fashion ...
) and
G4, along with Comcast's sports networks: Versus,
Comcast SportsNet
NBC Sports Regional Networks is the collective name for a group of regional sports networks in the United States that are primarily owned and operated by the NBCUniversal division of the cable television company Comcast. The networks were origina ...
and
Golf Channel
Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply Golf) is an American sports television television network, network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ...
. In the case of Versus, E! staff produced that network's ''
Sports Soup'' and G4's ''
Web Soup
''Web Soup'' was an American weekly infotainment series that aired on the G4 cable network. The show premiered on June 7, 2009, and was hosted by Chris Hardwick. The series focused on commenting on the latest viral videos, and had a very similar ...
'', while the Orlando-based Golf Channel featured no crossovers with E! at all due to incompatible audiences and operations. Versus and Golf Channel were taken under the direct control of the
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
division, with the former being renamed
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 ...
in January 2012, and are no longer connected to their former sister networks beyond advertising and in-house operations.
On July 9, 2012, the channel introduced a revised logo (the first change to its logo since the network rebranded as E! in 1990), removing the
exclamation mark
The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...
background behind the "E" but keeping the exclamation point underneath, along with a new slogan "Pop of Culture", which coincided with the launch of the new series ''
Opening Act
A opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, or supporting act, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform again a ...
''. The network also started the process of introducing scripted programming (the first series, ''
The Royals'', premiering in March 2015), in addition to its existing reality and documentary series. The changes were announced during E!'s programming upfront presentation on April 30, 2012.
On January 13, 2022, E! began to carry
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
coverage of worldwide
figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
trials pre-
2022 Winter Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
for the first time, after the discontinuation of
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 ...
spread NBC Sports events across its cable channels. The network had previously carried final week matches for the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
on
Championship Sunday as part of NBC's rights to the English football league, before the move of matches to
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 ...
.
Programming
News
E! is one of the few U.S. general-entertainment cable channels that broadcasts a daily news program; its flagship entertainment news program is ''
E! News
''E! News'', previously known as ''E! News Daily'' and ''E! News Live'', is the entertainment news operation for the cable network E! in the United States. Its former on-air weekday newscast debuted on September 1, 1991, and primarily reports ...
'', which debuted on September 1, 1991. The weekday program (which also has an hour-long weekend edition) features stories and gossip about celebrities, and the film, music and television industries, and has been broadcast under various formats since its launch, even being aired live for a time during the mid-2000s. It was first hosted by Dagny Hultgreen. Steve Kmetko was a host from 1994 to 2002. It has been hosted by
Terrence Jenkins
Terrence Jenkins (born April 21, 1982) is an American actor, television presenter, model and entertainment reporter best known as the host of BET's popular music video countdown show ''106 & Park'' from 2006 until 2012.MacCash, Doug. "Back in to ...
and
Giuliana Rancic
Giuliana Rancic (; ; born August 17, 1974) is an Italian-American entertainment reporter and television personality. She is a co-anchor of ''E! News'' and resides in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Early life
Rancic was born in Naples, Italy and immigra ...
since 2012 and 2006, respectively, with
Ryan Seacrest
Ryan John Seacrest (born December 24, 1974) is an American media personality and producer. He is the co-host of ''Live with Kelly and Ryan'', as well as the host of multiple media shows including ''American Idol'', ''American Top 40'', and '' ...
(who co-anchored the program from 2006 to 2012) serving as
managing editor
A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication.
United States
In the United States, a managing edito ...
of the news operation.
''E! News'' was the only entertainment news show on the channel for much of its history until 2006, when the channel launched ''
The Daily 10
''The Daily 10'' (also known as ''The D10'') is an American daily television entertainment news show that aired on cable channel E! from March 2006 to October 2010. Hosts count down the top ten entertainment news stories of the day.
Segments
In ...
'', hosted by
Sal Masekela
Selema "Sal" Mabena Masekela (born August 28, 1971) is an American television host, sports commentator, actor and singer.
Life and career
Masekela was born in Los Angeles, the son of a Haitian mother and South African jazz musician Hugh Masekela. ...
and
Catt Sadler
Catt Sadler (born August 24, 1974) is an entertainment reporter who is best known for her work in ''E! News, E! News Weekend'' and '' Daily Pop''. She previously co-hosted the network's '' The Daily 10'' before its cancellation.
Early life
Sad ...
(
Debbie Matenopoulos
Despina "Debbie" Matenopoulos (born December 13, 1974) is an American television host, journalist, and lifestyle expert.
Early life
Matenopoulos was born in Richmond, Virginia, of Greek ancestry. She is the daughter of Efrosini, a hair stylist ...
also co-hosted from the show's inception until 2008); the series was cancelled in September 2010 after E! announced that the weekday editions of ''E! News'' would be expanded to one hour starting on October 25, 2010.
E! also carried a
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
of business news channel
Bloomberg Television
Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is head ...
from 2004 to January 2009, when the latter network had expanded its cable and satellite carriage to a level that allowed the discontinuation of the simulcast.
Outside ''E! News'' telecasts, the channel runs an ''E! News''–branded
news ticker
A news ticker (sometimes called a "crawler", "crawl", "slide", "zipper", or "ticker tape") is a horizontal or vertical (depending on a language's writing system) text-based display either in the form of a graphic that typically resides in the lo ...
displaying entertainment news headlines each half-hour during regular programming; fast-breaking entertainment headlines (such as a celebrity arrest or death) may also be displayed on a ticker, during any program when warranted.
On August 5, 2020, E! canceled both New York-based shows, along with ''In The Room'', one of the first of many program and employee cuts and staff realignments announced across
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 ...
that week due to the pandemic. The news operation has continued to maintain the ''E! News'' website, and its social media presences.
Original series
The network was known early on for its daily video simulcast of the ''
Howard Stern
Howard Allan Stern (born January 12, 1954) is an American radio and television personality, comedian, and author. He is best known for his radio show, ''The Howard Stern Show'', which gained popularity when it was nationally syndicated on terre ...
Show'', which aired from June 20, 1994, until July 8, 2005, weeknights in a redacted half-hour form, airing three times in late night. The program was discontinued several months after Stern moved to
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, Tennessee, Memphis, Sirius ...
and sold the video rights to his show to pay-per-view provider
In Demand
In Demand (stylized as iN DEMAND) is an American cable television service which provides video on demand services, including pay-per-view. Comcast, Cox Communications, and Charter Communications (with former independent companies Time Warner ...
as a monthly pay offering (video rights are now held by Sirius XM).
E! is known for its live red carpet pre-shows for the industry's three prominent award shows, the
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the Primetime ...
s, the
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
s, and the
Academy Awards
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, and were famous for their fashion critiques by
Joan Rivers
Joan Alexandra Molinsky (June 8, 1933 – September 4, 2014), known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona—heavi ...
; Rivers also hosted post-awards specials under the title ''
Fashion Police
''Fashion Police'' is an American television series that premiered on September 10, 2010, on E!. It was originally hosted by Joan Rivers and featured panelists George Kotsiopoulos, Giuliana Rancic, and Kelly Osbourne commenting on celebrity fash ...
'', which became a regular weekly series in September 2010. In April 2017, it was announced that E! had acquired the
People's Choice Awards
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
, which will move to the network from
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
in 2018 with a new November scheduling. The network promoted that the show would be given an "end-to-end" experience that will leverage its existing experience in awards show coverage. As ratings declined across all of cable television overall, the People's Choice returned to broadcast television in 2021, with E! simulcasting the ceremony with NBC.
The network also produces many documentary and biographical series, most notably ''
E! True Hollywood Story
''E! True Hollywood Story'' is an American television documentary series on E! that pulls back the curtain and highlights some of pop culture's most fascinating people, moments and trends. The series offers exclusive interviews with new insigh ...
''; many of E!'s original specials are entertainment-related ranging from light fare (such as ''25 Cutest Child Stars All Grown Up'') to serious fare (such as ''15 Most Unforgettable Hollywood Tragedies''). It also produces specials centering on investigative and crime stories including ''E! Investigates'', which features topical investigative reports on subjects ranging from
child prostitution
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child ...
to
teenage pregnancy
Teenage pregnancy, also known as adolescent pregnancy, is pregnancy in a female adolescent or young adult under the age of 20. This includes those who are legally considered adults in their country. The WHO defines adolescence as the period bet ...
.
In recent years, the network has become known for its
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 ...
programs. Its most popular series for over a decade has been ''
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' (often abbreviated ''KUWTK'') is an American reality television series which focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian family, Kardashian–Jenner Stepfamily, blended family, airing b ...
'', which spawned eight
spin-off series and countless specials. Other original reality programming airing on the network currently includes ''
Total Divas
''Total Divas'' is an American reality television series that aired from July 28, 2013, to December 10, 2019, on E!. The series gave viewers an inside look into the lives of female WWE wrestlers from their work within WWE to their persona ...
''–a series featuring the
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
's
Bella Twins
The Bella Twins were a professional wrestling tag team who performed on WWE and consisted of identical twin sisters Brie Bella and Nikki Bella (real names Brianna and Nicole). Each of the Bella Twins are a former WWE Divas Champion. Brie is the ...
, ''Hollywood Medium with
Tyler Henry
Tyler Henry Koelewyn (born 1996) is an American reality show personality who appears in the series ''Hollywood Medium with Tyler Henry'' as a clairvoyant medium. The series began its broadcast on the E! Television Network in the United States ...
'', the
plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a surgical specialty involving the restoration, reconstruction or alteration of the human body. It can be divided into two main categories: reconstructive surgery and cosmetic surgery. Reconstructive surgery includes craniofa ...
repair series ''
Dr. 90210
''Dr. 90210'' is an American reality television series focusing on plastic surgery in the wealthy suburb of Beverly Hills, California. The series ran for six seasons from 2004 to 2008 on E!. ''Dr. 90210'' gets its name from the zip code of ...
'' and ''
Botched'', along with ''
Very Cavallari'' with
Kristin Cavallari
Kristin Elizabeth Cavallari (born January 5, 1987) is an American television personality, fashion designer, actress and author. She first rose to fame in 2004 as a cast member on the popular MTV reality television series '' Laguna Beach: The Re ...
and her (later ex-) husband
Jay Cutler
Jay Christopher Cutler (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the Chicago Bears. He played college football for the Van ...
, ''Ladygang–''a television version of the popular
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
, and
dating show
Dating game shows are game shows that incorporates a variety of matchmaking systems and services in the form of a game with clear rules. Human matchmaking is involved only in selecting the game's contestants, who are usually selected more for the ...
''Dating #NoFilter'',
E! has had five comedy programs: the late night talk show ''
Chelsea Lately
''Chelsea Lately'' is an American Late night television, late night Television comedy, comedy talk show created by Brody Stevens and hosted by comedian Chelsea Handler which was broadcast on E! The show debuted on July 16, 2007, and was produced ...
'', hosted by comedian
Chelsea Handler
Chelsea Joy Handler (born February 25, 1975) is an American comedian, actress, writer, television host, and producer. She hosted the late-night talk show ''Chelsea Lately'' on the E! network from 2007 to 2014 and released a documentary series, ...
, its scripted/improvised spin-off ''
After Lately
''After Lately'' is an American television comedy. The series depicts, in mockumentary style, the behind the scenes goings-on at the office of the late-night talk show ''Chelsea Lately''. The cast is made up of the actual writers and performers o ...
'', and ''
The Soup
''The Soup'' is an American television series that aired weekly on E! from July 1, 2004, until December 18, 2015 as a revamped version of ''Talk Soup'' that focused on recaps of various popular culture and television moments of the week. The ...
'' (based on the popular 1991-2002 E! series ''
Talk Soup
''Talk Soup'' is a television show produced for cable network E! that debuted on January 7, 1991, and aired until August 2002. ''Talk Soup'' aired selected clips of the previous day's daily talk shows—ranging from daytime entries like ''The ...
''), featuring clips of the previous week's TV shows with humorous commentary delivered by the host, actor/comedian
Joel McHale
Joel Edward McHale (born November 20, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is best known for hosting ''The Soup'' (2004–2015) and his role as Jeff Winger on the NBC sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015). He has performed i ...
. Handler also produced ''
Love You, Mean It'', a weekly comedic look at pop culture hosted by
Whitney Cummings
Whitney Cummings (born September 4, 1982) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, writer, director, producer, investor and podcaster.
A native of Washington, DC, Cummings pursued a comedy career in Los Angeles after graduating from the Univer ...
, and a nightly talk show from actress
Busy Philipps
Elizabeth Jean "Busy" Philipps (born June 25, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles on the television series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), ''Dawson's Creek'' (2001–2003), ''Love, Inc.'' (2005–2006) and '' ER'' ...
, ''
Busy Tonight
''Busy Tonight'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Busy Philipps that aired from October 28, 2018 to May 16, 2019 on E!.
Premise
''Busy Tonight'' features "everyone's favorite unfiltered Hollywood best friend giving her hilarious a ...
''. ''The Soup'' returned in February 2020, with new host Jade Catta-Preta, though it, and many of E!'s in-studio shows, were cancelled in the last quarter of 2020 due to the effects of 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 ...
hampering production.
On September 8, 2020, it was announced the network's most popular series ''
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
''Keeping Up with the Kardashians'' (often abbreviated ''KUWTK'') is an American reality television series which focused on the personal and professional lives of the Kardashian family, Kardashian–Jenner Stepfamily, blended family, airing b ...
'' would be ending with season 20 in 2021.
Acquired series and films
Over the years, E! has occasionally run acquired programming including reruns of ''
Alice'', ''
Absolutely Fabulous
''Absolutely Fabulous'' (also known as ''Ab Fab'') is a British television sitcom based on the ''French and Saunders'' sketch, "Modern Mother and Daughter", created by Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The show was created and written by Saund ...
'', ''
20/20
Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of vision, but technically rates an examinee's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity is dependent on optical and neural factors, i.e. (1) the sharpness of the retinal ...
'' lifestyle-based interview shows from
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 ...
(since removed under NBCUniversal ownership), and edited 60-minute versions of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', though fewer of these programs currently air.
The only programming currently airing on E! that it does not produce are
broadcast standards-edited reruns of the former
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 ...
series ''
Sex and the City
''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's Sex and the City (newspaper column), newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the ...
'' originally carried by HBO's sister network
TBS, and
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
s that air under the banner "Movies We Love"; the latter was part of a since-abandoned initiative by the network to use films to increase the network's ratings, though the branding remains, and low and mid-grossing female-focused films from the
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
library usually receive their basic cable premiere on E!, with higher-grossing films premiering on
USA Network
USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...
. The network has aired same-week runs of NBC series (such as ''
The Voice
The Voice may refer to:
Fictional entities
* The Voice or Presence, a fictional representation of God in DC Comics
* The Voice (''Dune''), a fictional ability in the ''Dune'' universe
* The Voice, a character in the American TV series ''Cleo ...
'', ''
Fashion Star
''Fashion Star'' is an American reality television series on NBC, created and executive produced by E.J. Johnston, James Deutch and Rick Ringbakk which focuses on fashion design and is hosted by Louise Roe. It was hosted by Elle Macpherson in the ...
'', ''
Whitney Whitney may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Whitney'' (2015 film), a Whitney Houston biopic starring Yaya DaCosta
* ''Whitney'' (2018 film), a documentary about Whitney Houston
* ''Whitney'' (TV series), an American sitcom that premiered i ...
'', and ''
Are You There, Chelsea?
''Are You There, Chelsea?'' (formerly known as ''Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea'') is an American television sitcom created by Dottie Zicklin and Julie Ann Larson for NBC. It is based on Chelsea Handler's 2008 best-selling book '' Are Y ...
''), and in the past aired previews of G4 programming to give that network an extended promotional platform due to their lowered carriage when it was removed from
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 ...
in November 2010.
The network also airs selected shows from the
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 ...
streaming service (which E!'s parent company NBCUniversal owns).
Sports
Since Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal, E! has infrequently aired sporting events as an overflow outlet for
NBC Sports
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its d ...
. It has participated in NBC's "
Championship Sunday" effort to broadcast all matches on the final matchday of the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...
soccer season. In January 2022 (amid the shutdown of long-time sister channel
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 ...
), E! was incorporated into NBC Sports' coverage of two
figure skating
Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...
events ahead of the
2022 Winter Olympics
The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...
, the
2022 European Figure Skating Championships
The 2022 European Figure Skating Championships were held from 10 to 16 January 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia. Medals were awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, women's singles, pairs, and ice dance. The competition determined the entry quotas ...
and
Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
The Four Continents Figure Skating Championships (4CC) is an annual figure skating competition. The International Skating Union established it in 1999 to provide skaters representing non-African and non-European countries with a similar competit ...
.
E! HD
E! HD is a
high definition simulcast feed of E! launched on December 8, 2008, in Comcast's default
1080i
1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...
resolution format. Currently, the network's entire original programming roster post-2010 is carried in high definition, along with most films. Available on the vast majority of pay television providers, it is downscaled at the provider
headend level to provide a
standard definition
Standard-definition television (SDTV, SD, often shortened to standard definition) is a television system which uses a resolution that is not considered to be either high or enhanced definition. "Standard" refers to it being the prevailing sp ...
equivalent for those systems.
During E!'s run as a broadcast service in Canada, the ''E! Ontario'' version of the service until the December 2008 discontinuation of the E! broadcast television system was available in HD over
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
-based
CHCH-TV
CHCH-DT (channel 11) is an independent television station in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Channel Zero, the station maintains studios on Innovation Drive in the west end of Hamilton; prior to 2021, it was located near the corner of Jack ...
(channel 11) on its channel 18
ATSC
Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards are an American set of standards for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable and satellite networks. It is largely a replacement for the analog NTSC standard and, like that ...
digital signal, though the majority of E!'s programming outside American primetime series before the shutdown of the
television system
In Canada, a television system is a group of television stations which share common ownership, branding and programming, but which for some reason does not satisfy the criteria necessary for it to be classified as a television network under Cana ...
was not available in the format.
''E! Online''
''E! Online'' is the online arm of E!, featuring live updates on entertainment news stories; the website includes an online-only entertainment news bulletin titled ''E! News Now'', which is updated each weekday. The website also provides live streaming video of major red carpet events including movie premieres and award shows such as the Academy Awards and the Emmys, along with some blogs involving shows such as ''The Soup''. Columnists featured on the website include
Kristin dos Santos
Kristin dos Santos (née Veitch; born February 24, 1975) is an American entertainment reporter, writer and host, specializing in the coverage of television, award shows and all things Hollywood. She is best known as E!’s resident TV (and award- ...
(the "Watch with Kristin" television blog),
Ted Casablanca ("The Awful Truth" gossip blog), and Marc Malkin (writer of an eponymous gossip blog and host of a daily video blog on the site).
As part of the rebrand of the cable channel on July 9, 2012, EOnline.com was redesigned for
HTML5
HTML5 is a markup language used for structuring and presenting content on the World Wide Web. It is the fifth and final major HTML version that is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation. The current specification is known as the HTML ...
, including tablet and mobile devices.
International versions
Australia and New Zealand
Canada
Unlike most international cable channels that have licensed an American cable channel's branding and programming, E! has existed as two separate television channels in Canada – in both broadcast and pay television forms.
On September 7, 2007,
Canwest Global Communications
Canwest Global Communications Corporation, which operated under the corporate name Canwest, was a major Canadian media conglomerate based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with its head offices at Canwest Place. It held radio, television broadcasting an ...
rebranded its CH television system as
E! CH originally launched on February 12, 2001, by
CHCH
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River ...
/
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
as a secondary service of the
Global Television Network
The Global Television Network (more commonly called Global, or occasionally Global TV) is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. It is currently Canada's second most-watched private terrestrial television network after ...
; the CH/E! system would later include four additional Canwest-owned stations in
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
(
CJNT
CJNT-DT (channel 62) is a television station in Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, part of the Citytv network. owned-and-operated station, Owned and operated by network parent Rogers Sports & Media, the station maintains studios inside the Roge ...
/
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
),
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
(
CHEK/
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
and
CHBC/
Kelowna
Kelowna ( ) is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. It serves as the head office of the Regional District of Central Okanagan. The name Kelowna derives from the Okanagan word ''ki ...
) and
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
(
CHCA/
Red Deer
The red deer (''Cervus elaphus'') is one of the largest deer species. A male red deer is called a stag or hart, and a female is called a hind. The red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Anatolia, Iran, and parts of wes ...
), and three affiliates owned by
Jim Pattison Group
The Jim Pattison Group is a Canadian conglomerate based in Vancouver. In a recent survey by the Financial Post, the firm was ranked as Canada's 62nd largest company. Jim Pattison, a Vancouver-based entrepreneur, is the chairman, CEO, and sole ...
in British Columbia (
CKPG/
Prince George and
CFJC/
Kamloops
Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the South flowing North Thompson River and the West flowing Thompson River, east of Kamloops Lake. It is located in the Thompson-Nicola Regional District, w ...
) and Alberta (
CHAT
Chat or chats may refer to:
Communication
* Conversation, particularly casual
* Online chat, text message communication over the Internet in real-time
* Synchronous conferencing, a formal term for online chat
* SMS chat, a form of text messagin ...
/
Medicine Hat
Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, ...
). The E! television system shut down on September 1, 2009, due to low ratings and corporate financial difficulties that eventually led to Canwest filing for
bankruptcy protection
Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...
and selling its properties to
Shaw Media
Shaw Media was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. Shaw Media owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice (TV channel), Sli ...
for US$6.7 million; the E!
owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
s experienced varied fates (CHCH and CJNT were sold to
Channel Zero, CHEK was sold to an employee-led group; CHBC remained with Canwest and was converted into a Global O&O, and CHCA ceased operations outright), while the Pattison Group stations affiliated with the
Rogers Media
Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties, such as the Citytv and Omni Television terrestrial television stations, Sportsnet, ...
-owned
Citytv
Citytv is a Canadian television network owned by the Rogers Sports & Media subsidiary of Rogers Communications. The licence of the original Citytv station, granted the callsign of CITY-TV by the CRTC on November 25, 1971 to Cable Television Ass ...
system.
As E!, local news and other regional programming, as well as most local community sponsorships on the O&O stations, used local branding (incorporating the callsign branding scheme common with Canadian stations not owned by a network or television system).
This decision was at least partly made to avoid confusion with ''E! News'', but likely intended to ensure that local newscasts were not perceived as celebrity-oriented.
The E! brand would later return to Canada on November 1, 2010, when
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 ...
(whose assets are now owned by
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 ...
) signed a multi-year/multi-platform agreement with Comcast to rebrand Category A services, Category 2 specialty channel Star! (which had a similar format to E! U.S. and had carried some of its programming prior to the 2007 rebranding of CH) into a E! (Canadian TV channel), Canadian version of E! on November 29, 2010.
Europe
Asia
E!'s Asian network aired across Southeast Asia and the Philippines from December 15, 1997, until December 31, 2019.
Philippines
Some of E! programs started to air on Cinema Television during its inception by Radio Mindanao Network, RMN (thru DWKC-TV, UHF Channel 31; now acquired by Broadcast Enterprises and Affiliated Media, BEAM). But in 2000, both RMN and E! announced its partnership to relaunch CTV into E! Philippines. It was originally broadcast 24 hours a day, but eventually reduced in 2001 to a primetime 6-midnight block, before ending in 2003. Some of E!'s programs were brought to the Philippines and remade in a local version, one of which was ''Wild On! Philippines''.
Three years after the relaunch as a standalone cable channel,
The launch of E! Entertainment Television in the Philippines
PEP.ph. Retrieved June 7, 2011. E! produced its first original reality series in Asia, ''It Takes Gutz to Be A Gutierrez'' starring the Gutierrez family.
Israel
E! is broadcast in Israel by cable provider HOT (Israel), HOT and by satellite provider yes (Israel), yes.
South Korea
References
External links
*
E! - Latin America official website
*n:An interview with gossip columnist Michael Musto on the art of celebrity journalism, Wikinews interview with Michael Musto about the art of celebrity journalism
{{Philippine cable channels
E!,
1987 establishments in California
Television networks in the United States
Companies based in Los Angeles
English-language television stations in the United States
Infotainment
NBCUniversal networks
Former Time Warner subsidiaries
Television channels and stations established in 1987