We TV is an American pay television channel. Owned by AMC Networks since its September 1997 launch, it is oriented mainly towards lifestyle and entertainment programming targeting women, similarly to the likes of Lifetime, Bravo and the smaller, Hubbard-owned Ovation TV, as well as the NBCU-owned E! network.
As of November 2023[update], We TV is available to approximately 64,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2017 peak of 87,000,000 households.[1]
We TV was originally known as Romance Classics when it launched on September 1, 1997 under the ownership of what was then the Cablevision Systems Corporation-controlled Rainbow Media. It was originally a movie channel focusing mostly on romantic dramas and comedies, and television miniseries; similar to the original format of AMC (as American Movie Classics), the channel initially broadcast its films commercial-free.[2]
On January 1, 2001, the network space was relaunched as WE: Women's Entertainment, taking on an ad-supported general entertainment format. In 2006, the channel was renamed WE tv.[3] The channel aired the first three seasons of the popular Logie Award-winning Australian television series McLeod's Daughters, but dropped the show in April 2006.[citation needed] The channel's format then shifted towards reality shows, with several having topics related to weddings (such as Bridezillas, Big Easy Brides and My Fair Wedding with David Tutera).[4] Other popular shows on the included Secret Lives of Women, The Locator and Amazing Cakes. In 2009, Rainbow launched Wedding Central, a sister channel to WE tv. The channel closed on July 1, 2011.
In January 2011, We TV confirmed that it had signed Toni Braxton for a reality series, entitled Braxton Family Values, which is marketed as one of the flagship shows. To prepare for a new show lineup, We TV also gave the AMC a new logo and marketing tagline: "Life As WE Know It".[5] In March 2012, We TV confirmed that the AMC had ordered 14 episodes of Kendra on Top, a reality show following the lives of Kendra Wilkinson and Hank Baskett, who previously appeared in the E! reality series Kendra. Kendra said the show focuses on "motherhood, parenthood, and wife hood".[6] Kendra On Top premiered on June 5, 2012.[7]
In June 2014, AMC unveiled a new logo, dropping the "Women's Entertainment" tagline, along with the full capitalization of WE in its branding, becoming more of a brand in the "royal we" sense. AMC president Marc Juris explained that while the AMC was to remain "a leading destination for women on television and online", the goal of the new branding was to broaden the focus on the word "we" as representing shared experiences, describing it as "a powerful and universal theme which drives connection, conversation, collaboration and community".[8] As part of the rebranding, AMC also announced its first original scripted series, The Divide, which was originally pitched for sister AMC, and was canceled after its first season.[9][10] Its second series, South of Hell, was ordered, but burned off in one day on 2015's Black Friday after a change in the network's management back towards exclusively original reality programming.