Lifetime to shut down

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.mediamole.co.uk/entertainment/broadcasting/news/exclusive-lifetime-channel-to-close-in-uk-and-ireland_434970.html
What are the ratings like for Lifetime? I thought they would launch Lifetime on Freeview as a female orientated version of Blaze rather than close it altogether like how Discovery launched Quest Red as a female channel and Quest as the more male orientated channel. What first-run shows does Lifetime air?

I suppose this was inevitable, after the HD version closed down and it was shunted right down the EPG, to 5th from the bottom right now (on Sky at least, I'm aware that the HD version is still on Virgin).

The content on Sky catch up has diminished recently, and it has now completely disappeared.

It's also a shadow of its former self programming wise. A lot of its programming is also currently shown on Blaze and Sky History.

I'm sorry that this is happening, not because I will miss the channel, but it's sad to see that linear TV is no longer seen as viable, this makes AETN UK as the fourth broadcaster to have closed channels recently after ViacomCBS, Discovery and Disney. Even though I'm also thinking that the economic downturn caused by coronavirus may have been a factor in it's closure

It's a bit of a reach to conclude that linear TV isn't viable based on a 7 year old channel closing, isn't it?

When ITV closes, then you can say linear TV is not viable. Until then.... Please don't apply hyperbole across the whole medium based on the decision of one channel closing.

...Or its existing contracts are ending after a lengthy winding down period.
*Social media: no updates for months. And before then, mostly dealing with complaints from viewers about lack of new content (see point 4)
*Previous withdrawal of services on various platforms as contracts ended
*Demotion on Sky
*No new programming, not even new Judge Judy.

This all started way before Covid-19 was a thing.

Like Sony Crime and Travel Channel before it, Lifetime has been a zombie channel seeing out its last days, fulfilling whatever contractual obligations until the final closedown.

With no prior awareness that a channel named "Lifetime" even existed in the first place, the title of this thread is rather macabre.

It's like when BBC Four's news programme "The World" was set to be replaced by "World News Today". The thread title and sub-title on here was:

The End of The World
Gets quiet mention on BBC Four

Good to see that I wasn't the only one who had never even heard of this channel.
What were the sort of programmes it showed?

Technically it's been around for a lot longer than that (20 years).

It was originally launched as The Biography Channel in 2000, which later became Bio, before being rebranded as Lifetime in 2013.

When the rebrand to Lifetime occurred, the only change was the name. They had been changing the programming for a while, bringing in more entertainment programming, and phasing out the "Biography" programming. This started when the rebrand to Bio happened.

Biography was revived in 2017 as a programming strand, but episodes from this series don't seem to have appeared on Lifetime recently. Recent episodes have instead been acquired by other broadcasters. For example in 2020, I Want My MTV was shown on Sky Arts and The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne was shown on BBC Two. Lifetime did show some documentaries about Harry and Meghan in 2018.

Outside of channels run by the legacy analogue terrestrial era broadcasters, and also the most longstanding of the satellite/cable channels (e.g. Sky One, Discovery Channel, QVC, National Geographic, (UK(TV)) Gold, etc), I'm sure that most other TV channels that come and go still don't even register on 99.99% of people's radars.

Barely a month goes by without a thread on here announcing the demise of some obscure channel or other that I'd never even heard of, but that surprisingly had existed for a fair few years. If the entire lifespan of a channel passes unnoticed even by most people on a geeky internet forum about TV, then it surely must have had literally zero awareness amongst the wider public. How such channels sustain themselves (i.e. attracting advertisers etc) for more that about a week given that they have about 5 viewers is beyond me.

If they are behind a paywall - they also get income from subscribers to the pay TV platforms, alongside the advertising income. If they own the content they broadcast, or can license it at a low cost (because of their low audience) there is still some money to be made I guess, and when there isn't, the channels close...

Lifetime launched in November 2013, not long after Discovery launched TLC in April 2013, with both channels positioned as a new home for the sort of female-skewed entertainment that was previously shown on LIVING, because Sky were evolving it into a mainly crime drama channel (now Sky Witness).

Lifetime programmes included:

UK originals
- Britain's Next Top Model (moved from LIVING)
- The Proposers
- Frisky Business

US imports
- Lifetime Original Movies
- Project Runway
- Making a Model
- Glam Masters
- The Client List
- Damages
- Girlfriends' Guide To Divorce
- Witches of East End
- Bonnie & Clyde
- UnREAL
- Bring It!
- Ex Isle
- Wahlburgers
- Preachers' Daughters
- The Real Housewives
- Vanderpump Rules
- Dance Moms
- Little Women