Oxygen (TV channel)

Oxygen (branded on air as Oxygen True Crime) is an American television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming unit of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast, through its Cable Entertainment Group subsidiary. The channel primarily airs true crime programming and dramas targeted towards women.

The network was founded by Geraldine Laybourne, and carried a format focused on lifestyle and entertainment programming oriented towards women, similar to competing channels such as Lifetime. NBCUniversal acquired the network in 2007; under NBCU ownership, the network increasingly produced reality shows aimed at the demographic, and was relaunched in 2014 to target a "modern," younger female audience. After the network experienced ratings successes with a programming block dedicated to such programming, Oxygen was relaunched in mid-2017 to focus primarily on true-crime programs.

As of February 2015, approximately 77.5 million American households (66.5% of households with television) receive Oxygen. Under its current format, the network primarily competes with Investigation Discovery and HLN, both of which are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) .

History

The privately held company Oxygen Media was founded in 1998 by former Nickelodeon executive Geraldine Laybourne, talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, media executive Lisa Gersh, and producers Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach (of Carsey-Werner fame). Laybourne was the service's founder, chairwoman, and CEO, staying with the channel until the NBCUniversal sale. The company's subscription network Oxygen launched on February 2, 2000.

The channel's first headquarters were at Battery Park City in New York City, near the World Trade Center. It was knocked off the air on September 11, 2001; the Time Warner Cable-owned regional news channel NY1 was broadcast to all Oxygen subscribers across the country until the studio reopened within a week after the attack.

The network's operations were later consolidated in the Chelsea Market, a former Nabisco factory at 15th Street and Ninth Avenue in New York City. Oxygen's operations are now based at 30 Rockefeller Plaza as part of Comcast's consolidation of its newly owned NBC Universal properties.

The channel originally began as an interactive service focusing on original programming with some reruns (such as '' Kate & Allie''), and featured a black bar at the bottom of the screen (referred to as "the stripe", occupying the bottom 12% of the screen) which would show various information (the interactive part involved the channel's website); the technique was cloned by Spike's precursor The New TNN; the stripe was eventually dropped. Prior to 2005, the channel carried a limited schedule of regular season WNBA games produced by NBA TV. The channel later began to focus chiefly on reality shows, reruns, and movies. For a time during the talk show's syndication run, Oxygen aired week-delayed repeats of '' The Tyra Banks Show''. The yoga/meditation/exercise program '' Inhale'' was the last inaugural Oxygen program on air into the channel's NBC Universal era, albeit in repeats; it was cancelled in 2010.

''Campus Ladies'', '' Bliss'', ''Oprah After the Show'', '' Talk Sex with Sue Johanson'', '' The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency'', ''Snapped'', ''Girls Behaving Badly'' and '' Bad Girls Club'', a reality series, were the highlight shows of the network at this time. Oxygen launched with immediate DirecTV carriage, and arrived on Dish Network in early 2006 during that provider's carriage conflict with Lifetime.

Acquisition by NBCUniversal and Comcast

On October 9, 2007, NBCUniversal announced it would be purchasing Oxygen for $925 million. The sale was completed on November 20, 2007. NBC Universal's cable division announced at an industry upfront presentation on April 23, 2008, that the channel would rebrand and unveil a new logo on June 17, 2008; in the months since the sale the ''Oh!'' heading was dropped from the channel's visual branding. The logo premiered one week early on June 8, 2008.

For the 2008 Summer Olympics, Oxygen aired events and programming weeknights relating to gymnastics, equestrian, and synchronized swimming through NBC's Olympic broadcasts. On June 29, 2009, Oxygen premiered ''Dance Your Ass Off'', a reality dance competition program in which overweight people dance while they lose weight; the program was cancelled after its second season due to low ratings. On April 5, 2010, Oxygen launched its second night of original programming with the fifth-season premiere of '' Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood''.

Following the acquisition of NBC Universal by Comcast and the last-minute replacement of its subscription channel Style Network with Esquire Network (which was originally intended to replace G4) on September 23, 2013, some of its acquired programs were dispersed to Oxygen.

In April 2014, as part of a gradual re-focusing of NBCU's women's pay-TV networks by new division head Bonnie Hammer, and the appointment of Frances Berwick as the head of Oxygen and sister network Bravo, it was revealed that Oxygen would undergo a shift in its programming strategy to focus on a "modern", young female audience. Berwick explained that the new slate, which included upcoming series such as ''Fix My Choir'', ''Funny Girls'', ''Nail'd It'', '' Sisterhood of Hip Hop'', ''Street Art Throwdown'', and planned spin-offs of ''Preachers of L.A.'', would "deliver on the freshness, authenticity, high emotional stakes and optimism that this demographic is looking for", and that many of the new programs would "appeal to things that are important in the lives of young, millennial women" and be "authentic". As part of the re-focusing, the network also introduced a new slogan, "Very Real".

Refocus on true crime

In December 2016, it was reported that NBCUniversal was considering reformatting Oxygen as a true crime-oriented channel. Since 2015, the genre had seen growing interest, especially among young adult women. The network had introduced a primetime block known as ''Crime Time'' on Fridays through Mondays (anchored by series such as ''Snapped''), which had helped Oxygen see a 42% increase in total viewership, and a 22% increase among women 25–54. NBCUniversal had reportedly been in talks with Dick Wolf—producer of NBC's ''Law & Order'' and ''Chicago'' franchises—to take an equity stake in a re-branded channel that could be led by reruns of the programs. In January 2017, the network also began a foray into podcasting, with the true crime series ''Martinis & Murder''.

In February 2017, NBCUniversal confirmed that it planned to re-format Oxygen with a focus on true crime programming aimed towards women. The change was accompanied by a larger re-branding later in the year, with a new logo featuring the Oxygen name rendered in the style of yellow police tape. Oxygen's new lineup was built largely around its existing library of unscripted crime-oriented programming (such as ''Snapped'' and its various spin-offs); NBCUniversal Lifestyle Networks president Frances Berwick explained that they had not ruled out adding off-network reruns of police procedurals, such as the ''Chicago'', '' CSI'' and '' NCIS'' franchises as well (with the latter two having already been aired by the network by that time). Berwick stated that the network had not determined the fate of the network's non-crime programming, such as '' Bad Girls Club'', after the full re-branding takes effect.

During its upfront presentations, Oxygen unveiled other new crime programs that were in development for the upcoming season, such the new Dick Wolf series '' Criminal Confessions,'' and a docuseries on the murder of Jessica Chambers co-produced with NBCUniversal-funded BuzzFeed. Oxygen also acquired a new season of another Dick Wolf series, ''Cold Justice'' (which had been cancelled by TNT). In September 2017, Oxygen and USA Network acquired off-network reruns of '' Chicago P.D.'', which were added to their schedules in October 2017.

Unusual for a cable channel, beginning on May 2, 2022, Oxygen became available over-the-air in standard definition as a subchannel in markets where NBC Owned Television Stations or Telemundo Station Group has an NBC or Telemundo owned and operated station.

Programming

Current

*''Buried in the Backyard''
*''911 Crisis Center''
*''Cold Justice''
*''Dateline: Secrets Uncovered''
*'' Homicide for the Holidays''
*''Killer Siblings''
*''Snapped''
*'' Mark of a Killer''
*''Final Moments''

Past

*''50 Funniest Women Alive''
*'' Addicted to Beauty''
*'' All About Aubrey''
*'' All My Babies' Mamas''
*''All the Right Moves''
*''As She Sees It''
*''Bachelorette Party: Las Vegas''
*''Bad Girls All-Star Battle''
*'' Bad Girls Club''
*''Bad Girls Club: Afterparty''
*''Bad Girls Club: Flo Gets Married''
*'' Bad Girls Road Trip''
*'' Battle of the Ex Besties''
*''Behind the Shield''
*'' Best Ink''
*''Birth Stories''
*'' Bliss''
*''Breaking Up with Shannen Doherty''
*''Breakup Girl''
*''Bring Home the Exotic''
*'' Brooklyn 11223''
*''Campus Ladies''
*''Can You Tell?''
*''Candice Checks It Out''
*''Captured''
* '' Celebrities Undercover''
* '' Chasing Maria Menounos''
*''Cheryl Richardson's Lifestyle Makeovers''
*''Choose to Lead''
*'' Coolio's Rules''
*''Conversations from the Edge with Carrie Fisher''
*'' Criminal Confessions''
*''The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes''
*''Daily Remix''
*''Dance Your Ass Off''
*''Deadly Cults''
*'' Death at the Mansion: Rebecca Zahau''
*''Debbie Travis' Painted House''
*'' Deion & Pilar: Prime Time Love''
*'' The Disappearance of Maura Murray''
*''The Disappearance of Natalee Holloway''
*'' Dogs with Jobs''
*'' Douglas Family Gold''
*''Drastic Plastic Surgery''
*''Dying to Belong''
*''Eavesdropping with Alan Cummings''
*''eLove''
*''Exhale with Candice Bergen''
*''The Face''
*''Facelift''
*'' Fight Girls''
*''Find Me My Man''
*''Fix My Choir''
*''Fix My Mom''
*''Florida Man Murders''
*''The Forgotten West Memphis Three''
*''Framed By The Killer''
*''Freeride with Greta Gaines''
*''Funny Girls''
*''The Girl In the Picture''
*''Girlfriend Confidential: LA''
*''Girls Behaving Badly''
*'' The Glee Project''
*'' Good Girls Don't''
*''Hair Battle Spectacular''
*'' Hey Monie!''
*''Hollywood Unzipped: Stylist Wars''
*'' House of Glam''
*''In Ice Cold Blood''
*''Injustice with Nancy Grace''
*''It Takes a Killer''
*''I'm Having Their Baby''
*'' Inhale Yoga with Steve Ross''
*''The Isaac Mizrahi Show''
*''Inshallah: Diary of an Afghan Woman''
*'' Ivana Young Man''
*''I've Got a Secret''
*''Jane By Design''
*'' Janice & Abbey''
*'' The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency''
*'' Jersey Couture''
*''The Jury Speaks''
*''Just Cause''
*''ka-Ching''
*''Keisha and Kaseem''
*''Kids Behaving Badly''
*''Killer Affair''
*''Killer Motive''
*''Killerpost''
*''Killision Course''
*''Kim Kardashian West: The Justice Project''
*'' Last Squad Standing''
*''Laura Pedersen's Your Money and Your Life''
*''License to Kill''
*''A Lie to Die For''
*''Life & Style''
*''Life's a Bitch''
*'' Like A Boss''
*''Living Different''
*''Living With Funny''
*'' Love Games: Bad Girls Need Love Too''
*''Making It Big''
*''Man Talk with Carrie Fisher''
*''Me Time''
*''Mo'Nique's Fat Chance''
*''Movies@Oxygen''
*''Mr. Romance''
*'' Murdered by Morning''
*''My Big Fat Revenge''
*''My Crazy Love''
*''My Shopping Addiction''
*'' Murder and Justice: The Case of Martha Moxley''
*''Nail'd It!''
*''Naked Josh''
*'' The Naughty Kitchen with Chef Blythe Beck''
*'' The Next Big Thing: NY''
*''Nice Package''
*''O2Be''
*''Oprah After the Show''
*''Oprah Goes Online''
*''Our Bodies, Myself'' (web series only)
*''Oxygen Movies''
*''Oxygen Sports''
*''Oxygen's 25iest''
*''Pajama Party''
*'' Peep Show'' (as the first US telecaster; the UK sitcom was initially paired with the Canadian ''Show Me Yours'' as a Saturday-night provocative comedy bloc.)
*''Player Gets Played''
*''Policewomen Files''
*''Pond Life''
*'' The Prancing Elites Project''
*''Preachers of Detroit''
*'' Preachers of L.A.''
*''Pretty Wicked''
*''Pure Oxygen''
*'' Quigley's Village''
*''Real Families''
*''The Real Murders of Orange County''
*''Relentless''
*''Real Weddings From the Knot''
*''Repo Girls''
*''Ripe Tomatoes''
*'' Running Russell Simmons''
*''SheCommerce''
*''Show Me Yours''
*'' Sisterhood of Hip Hop''
*''Skin Deep''
*'' Snapped: Killer Couples''
*'' Snapped: She Made Me Do It''
*''Sports Aside''
*''Show Me Yours''
*''Street Art Throwdown ''
*'' Strut''
*''Sunday Night Sex Show''
*''Talk Sex with Sue Johanson''
*''Tanisha Gets Married''
*''Tattoos After Dark''
*'' Tease''
*''Three Days to Live''
*''Too Young to Marry?''
*''Top Model Obsessed''
*''Tracey Ullman's Visible Panty Lines''
*''Trackers''
*'' Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood''
*'' Tori & Dean: Inn Love''
*'' Tori & Dean: sTORIbook Weddings''
*''Trippin' with May Lee''
*''An Unexpected Killer''
*''Unprotected''
*'' Up and Vanished''
*''Use Your Life''
*''A Wedding and a Murder''
*''We Sweat''
*''Who Cares About Girls?''
*''Who Does She Think She Is?''
*''Who Needs Hollywood?''
*''Women and the Badge''
*''The World According to Paris''
*''Worst.Post.Ever, with Frankie Grande''
*''Worth the Risk''
*''X-Chromosome''
*''You're on TV''

Syndicated

*'' Absolutely Fabulous''
*''America's Got Talent''
*'' America's Next Top Model''
*'' Buffy the Vampire Slayer''
*''Burn Notice''
*'' Chicago P.D.''
*''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation''
*'' Cybill''
*'' A Different World''
*''Ellen''
*'' The Gospel Bill Show''
*'' Glee''
*''Grace Under Fire''
*''House''
*'' Kate & Allie''
*'' La Femme Nikita''
*'' Law & Order: Criminal Intent''
*'' Living Single''
*'' Mad About You''
*'' Major Crimes''
*'' Minute to Win It''
*''My Wife & Kids''
*'' NCIS''
*'' Ned & Stacey''
*'' Nighty Night''
*''Roseanne''
*''Suburban Shootout''
*'' Xena: Warrior Princess''

Oxygen HD

Oxygen HD was launched in March 2011 as high definition simulcast feed, eventually becoming the main feed with the standard definition feed being originated at the cable provider headend through downscaling. It is available through most providers.

References

External links

*

{{Lists of TV programs by country

Television networks in the United States
NBCUniversal networks
Former subsidiaries of The Walt Disney Company
Television channels and stations established in 2000
English-language television stations in the United States
Women's interest channels
True crime