The following are lists of changes to American television networks, including changes of station affiliations, that occurred in 2019.
Launches Network Type Launch date Notes Source NewsNet Over-the-air multicast/OTT streaming January 1 Owned by NewsNet LLC and based on the all-news formats of Cadillac, Michigan low-power station WMNN-LD and Norfolk, Nebraska-based News Channel Nebraska, of which the network's founders were involved in their development, NewsNet will maintain a traditional news wheel format (similar in structure to the 1982–2005 format of HLN, and the formats of defunct all-news networks such as All News Channel and Satellite News Channel), with updates throughout the broadcast day during breaking news events, while excluding political- and panel-based shows that fill the afternoon and nighttime lineups of most cable news channels. In addition to offering local advertising slots, NewsNet – which originated through an unsuccessful 2017 Kickstarter campaign under the working title, the Local News Network (LNN), before its founders opted to obtain investor backing to fund the venture – will offer prospective affiliates airtime for local news inserts, with a turnkey local news production service option available to stations without their own local news departments. Cleo TV Cable/satellite January 19 Owned by Urban One and launching initially on Spectrum and Xfinity systems (for the latter, it is part of meeting the commitments made by Comcast to obtain approval of its 2011 merger with NBCUniversal to begin carrying ten independently owned and operated networks, including eight owned and/or operated by minorities, by 2019), Cleo TV – derived from Egyptian ruler Cleopatra – focuses on lifestyle and entertainment programming aimed at women of color in the millennial and Gen X demographic. The network's content will focus on programming that "defies negative and cultural stereotypes of today's modern women," with a broad mix of short- and long-form programming (including travel, home design, relationship and financial advice and cooking programs, as well as talk shows, docu-series, sitcoms and movies). It will also serve as a de facto replacement for Fuse, which was removed on Xfinity systems at the start of the year due to channel drift concerns involving its schedule of low-interest sitcoms and films. PBS Living OTT streaming March 14 Overseen by PBS Distribution and launching on Amazon's Prime Video Channels subscription service (which already carries two PBS-branded streaming channels, PBS Kids and PBS Masterpiece), PBS Living features a mix of lifestyle and how-to content distributed for public television by American Public Television and individual PBS member stations. The $2.99-per-month service, which will also offer an introductory seven-day free trial, will feature a mix of classic and recent programs from the cooking, home, culture and travel genres seen on PBS and the similarly formatted OTA multicast network Create (such as The French Chef, This Old House, Antiques Roadshow, No Passport Required and Christopher Kimball's Milk Street Television), with new content being added each month. Court TV Over-the-air multicast/OTT streaming May 8 Announced on December 10, 2018, the E. W. Scripps Company's Katz Networks unit "reboot[ed]" Court TV – utilizing, through Katz/Scripps' acquisition of intellectual property rights to the name, format and other assets from the Turner Broadcasting System, the format originally used by cable network TruTV from its July 1991 launch until December 2007 – as a digital multicast network focusing on live coverage and in-depth analysis of high-profile courtroom proceedings as well as true crime-focused shows from (the cable) Court TV's program library (including some to which soon-to-be sister network Escape has held syndication rights). The network will initially be available on stations owned by Scripps, Tribune Broadcasting (which will likely have its Court TV affiliation agreements inherited by Nexstar Media Group upon closure of its acquisition of Tribune, plus at least one other Nexstar station where Scripps already has a station), Entravision Communications, Citadel Communications and Univision Communications, with an initial reach of more than 50% of U.S. television households and concurrent cable carriage of 25% of U.S. cable homes. NBC News Now OTT streaming May 29 Launched on May 29, NBC News Now is an advertiser-supported digital news channel available as a stream on the NBC News website and mobile app and on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV device, which will provide eight hours of rolling news programming each weekday from 3:00 to 11:00 p.m. ET as well as hourly updates on top news headlines and breaking news (referred to as "Briefly's"). ACC Network Cable/satellite August 22 The linear ACC Network was initially announced in 2016 by ESPN and the NCAA Division I's Atlantic Coast Conference. ESPN has purchased the rights to ACC football and basketball from the conference's long-time syndication partner Raycom Sports, which has broadcast ACC sporting events from December 1982 until after the 2019 ACC men's basketball tournament. The network will feature live game broadcasts and related coverage of the ACC and its member schools. This also makes the ACC the fifth Division I conference to have a dedicated television network after the Big Ten, Pac-12, and Southeastern Conference, along with the defunct Mountain West Conference network. Dabl Over-the-air multicast September 9 Founded by CBS Television Stations, which carries the network on some of its CBS, CW, MyNetworkTV and independent station properties, Dabl (pronounced "dabble") offers lifestyle programming centering around cooking, home renovation and design, do-it-yourself projects, pet care and travel (including select library programs featuring lifestyle experts such as Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse). In addition to the CBS-owned charter stations, the network will initially launch primarily on subchannels of television stations owned by other groups (including Tribune Broadcasting, Meredith Corporation, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Univision Communications) encompassing around 70% of the country (including all of the top 10 markets and 23 of the top 25 markets). BET+ Over-the-top streaming September 19 The Viacom-owned network joint ventured with Tyler Perry to launch a subscription streaming service that combines the prolific auteur's library of movies and TV shows with BET's programming vault, featuring a handful of original series and productions and a deep library offering that will be enhanced by other properties in Viacom's portfolio, totaling more than 1,000 hours of content, targeted toward an African American audience. The new service will carry all episodes of First Wives Club, a series originally intended for Paramount Network, at launch (it will have a traditional week-to-week rollout on the regular BET network). Apple TV+ Over-the-top streaming November 1 Apple Inc. launched a streaming subscription service with original content available via its Apple TV digital media players. The service is alternately available through the "Apple TV App" on the Roku, My Specialist, and Amazon Fire TV platforms, along with apps allowing the use of Apple's AirPlay technology through several smart TV's. Disney+ Over-the-top streaming November 12 Disney+ is a streaming paid subscription service featuring original films and series based on new and existing properties, including Marvel, Star Wars, 20th Century Fox, National Geographic, and Pixar content, with Disney CEO Bob Iger also making claims the vast majority of Disney's film library will be available through the service, including previously discontinued titles that were placed into the Disney Vault. The service reached 10 million subscribers on its first day, exceeding expectations, which caused technical difficulties. ZDNet later discovered users' accounts were being hacked and put up for sale on the Dark web. Classic films such as Dumbo, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, and Peter Pan included a warning about scenes containing outdated cultural stereotypes which Disney says some viewers may now find offensive or insensitive. beIN Sports Xtra Over-the-air multicast/OTT streaming November 18 ;December 16 BeIN Media Group launched BeIN Sports Xtra on November 18, 2019, as an ad-supported streaming service on Roku and Pluto TV; the service offers soccer, combat and adventure sports content (prefaced by coverage of major international soccer leagues and tournaments such as Ligue 1, La Liga and Süper Lig, as well as team offerings from Paris Saint-Germain F.C. and the France women's national football team), and news/analysis/highlight programs. BeIN Sports Xtra expanded to conventional television on December 16 via an affiliation agreement with HC2 Broadcasting that provided the service subchannel carriage on HC2-owned stations in 15 major and mid-sized markets (including Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas–Fort Worth). ScreenPix Premium cable December 12 Owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and launching initially on Xfinity systems, ScreenPix – a movie-centered companion service to general-entertainment premium channel Epix – focuses on theatrical feature films from the libraries of MGM, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Samuel Goldwyn Company/Samuel Goldwyn Films released between the 1960s and the 1990s. The four-channel service – which includes multiplex services ScreenPix Action (action and adventure films), ScreenPix Westerns (Western films and series), and ScreenPix Voices (films from actors and filmmakers of color) – was created through an expansion to Epix's 2018 carriage agreement with Comcast that resulted in Epix replacing rival pay service Starz as a pre-packaged premium service on Xfinity's digital tiers on December 4. (ScreenPix's launch coincided with its parent network's multiplex services, Epix 2, Epix Hits and Epix Drive-In, being added to Xfinity systems; a reduced tier of Starz and Starz Encore channels remain available to Xfinity subscribers as a premium add-on to all channel packages.)
Conversions and rebrandings