True Crime Network (formerly Justice Network) is an American digital multicast

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay television providers. Until the mid- ...

that is operated by True Crime Network, LLC, a

limited liability company A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the United States of America, US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the Flow-through entity, pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole p ...

, which is owned by Tegna Inc. The network specializes in

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...

investigation Investigation or Investigations may refer to: Law enforcement * Investigation, the work of a detective * Investigation, the work of a private investigator * Criminal investigation, the study of facts, used to identify, locate and prove the guilt ...

and forensic science documentary programming aimed at adults – with a skew toward females – between the ages of 25 and 54. The network, which broadcasts in 480i standard definition, is available in several large and mid-sized markets via digital subchannel affiliations with

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

s, along with carriage of True Crime Network-affiliated subchannels on

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

providers in most of its market coverage via existing carriage agreements for local broadcast stations. On July 13, 2020, it was announced that Justice Network would relaunch as True Crime Network.

History

The concept for the network was developed in 2013, when network founder Lonnie Cooper (a former executive at Bounce TV and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...

of sports marketing firm CSE) had approached Steve Schiffman (who formerly served as president of

National Geographic Channel National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

) on a proposal for a new digital multicast network. Schiffman consulted with John Ford, former president of Discovery Channel and co-founder of Investigation Discovery, and they suggested to Cooper that the network should focus on crime- and investigation-related programming, an idea they suggested based on the popularity of the genre and the success of

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...

. Incidentally by that year, about half of the 50 highest-rated television programs as ranked by Nielsen were crime-related series. The formation of Justice Network was announced on November 10, 2014, with the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.television station group tapped as its charter affiliates, which then reached one third of the population. Besides featuring justice-oriented programming intended to entertain audiences, the network was also intent on taking an active role in combating crime by working with various law enforcement agencies to disseminate information about missing children and about fugitives accused of various felonies. Cooper assembled several top media executives to head the network at its launch with Schiffman as

, Barry Wallach (former president of

NBCUniversal Television Distribution NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (a.k.a. NUSS), formerly known as NBCUniversal Television Distribution (a.k.a. NUTD), Universal Domestic Television, Studios USA Television Distribution and MCA TV, is the television syndication division of NBCUni ...

) as head of distribution and John Ford (former president of

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Chan ...

) as head of programming. The network launched at 6:00 p.m.

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...

on January 20, 2015. On March 6, 2016, the network premiered its own original programs co-produced with TwoFour Productions and Zodiak Productions. In November 2017, Justice Network and the Justice Network, LLC parent entity were placed into a new corporate parent, Cooper Media, which was also founded to serve as the owner of its documentary- and history-themed sister network

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ev ...

(which launched on several Tegna-owned or -operated stations in January 2018). In May 2019, it was announced that Tegna would acquire Cooper Media, thus becoming the parent company of Justice Network and Quest. On July 13, 2020, it was announced by parent company Tegna that Justice Network would rebrand on July 27 as True Crime Network, capitalizing on the growing popularity of the true crime genre on television. The company will also release a free over-the-top streaming service of the same name that will feature programming live and on-demand.

Programming

A limited number of stations carry traditional local newscasts or

breaking news Breaking news, interchangeably termed late-breaking news and also known as a special report or special coverage or news flash, is a current issue that broadcasters feel warrants the interruption of scheduled programming or current news in orde ...

coverage on their True Crime subchannel, pre-empting the network's programming. This includes

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

WISN-TV WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind ...

and KOAT-TV in

Albuquerque Albuquerque ( ; ), ; kee, Arawageeki; tow, Vakêêke; zun, Alo:ke:k'ya; apj, Gołgéeki'yé. abbreviated ABQ, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Its nicknames, The Duke City and Burque, both reference its founding i ...

(both owned by

Hearst Television Hearst Television, Inc. (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in the United States owned by Hearst Communications. From 1998 to mid-2009, the company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ...

, which both air a weeknight 9 p.m. newscast (both stations are in the Central and

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

time zones, respectively), as WISN-TV has no other compatible subchannels or news share agreements, and KOAT's second subchannel carries the Spanish language network Estrella TV.

Crime and investigation programming

True Crime Network relies on an extensive library of crime and justice-related programming owned by the

Turner Broadcasting System Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (alternatively known as Turner Entertainment Networks from 2019 until 2022) was an American television and media conglomerate. Founded by Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia, it merged with Time Warner (l ...

(

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former cable television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cove ...

and

TruTV TruTV (stylized as truTV) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The channel primarily broadcasts comedy, docusoaps and reality shows. The channel was originally launched in 1991 as Court TV, a network that f ...

), including some series that originally aired on A&E,

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, National Geographic and

. Much of the network's content is sourced through a syndication agreement with

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing t ...

that was announced with the network on November 10, 2014. The network's decision to focus on crime-focused programming is based on various factors in addition to viewer interest in the genre, as it is intended to help tie into its public service mission, and because the genre is of relatively low cost to acquire and produce compared to other fact-based genres. No originally produced programming appeared on Justice Network at its launch, although plans were put forth to start developing original content within the network's first year. Indeed, Justice Network would develop two original series that were co-produced by the network – ''Killing Spree'' (produced in conjunction with TwoFour Productions) and ''Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer'' (produced with Zodiak Productions) – that premiered on March 6, 2016.

Public service

In addition, the network airs 90 seconds of

public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. In the UK, they are generally called a public information film (PIF); in Hong Kong, ...

s per hour within its commercial breaks, which are produced through partnerships with Crime Stoppers USA, the

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) is a private, nonprofit organization established in 1984 by the United States Congress. In September 2013, the United States House of Representatives, United States Senate, and the Pres ...

and a number of

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...

agencies. , this public service component, known as BeSAFE, has resulted in the capture of 101 fugitives and finding of 103 missing children. These PSAs consist of four different 30-second segments: * ''"BeSAFE: Most Wanted"'' – a segment featuring a specific profile of a wanted fugitive accused of a violent or non-violent

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that res ...

; * ''"BeSAFE: Missing Children"'' – a report on a missing child (featuring information on when they were last seen before they were abducted or ran away and the child's statistics); * ''"BeSAFE: Safety Tips"'' – a segment providing safety tips informing the public on how to prevent themselves from becoming victims of a crime or abduction. The PSAs are mainly tailored to the specific region of the local True Crime Network affiliate, with additional information on the fugitives and missing children profiled available on the network's website. John Walsh, founder of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, serves as the network's on-air spokesperson and announcer of the PSA interstitials. John's son, National Center for Missing and Exploited Children child advocate Callahan Walsh, appears in the network's NCMEC safety and missing child profile PSAs, while Sgt. Ralph Woolfolk of the Atlanta Police Department (who, in his prior career as a child actor, was known for his role as Derek "Dee Dee" Parker in the 1990s

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

sitcom '' My Brother and Me'') appears in the network's "BeSAFE" PSA interstitials.

Affiliates

, True Crime Network has current or pending affiliation agreements with television stations in 65 media markets (including 24 of the top 30), covering 57% of all households of at least one television set in the United States. The network is selective in the stations with which it affiliates, preferring those that maintain a local news department and community initiatives. When its launch was announced, the network reached a charter affiliation agreement with the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Tegna as of June 29, 2015), which initially debuted the network on 22 of its television stations. As a result of

Live Well Network Localish (formerly Live Well Network, stylized as LOCALISH) is a lifestyle TV network owned by ABC Owned Television Stations, part of Walt Disney Television, a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. Localish's 24/7 channel streams on Hulu Liv ...

's initial plans to cease operations around the time of Justice Network's launch (later choosing to end national distribution of the former, and relegate it exclusively to ABC

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 network af ...

s owned by ABC Owned Television Stations in April 2015), some former LWN outlets owned by Gannett chose to become Justice Network affiliates at its launch. By August 2016, Justice Network had reached affiliation agreements with various other station groups including

Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United S ...

Media General Media General was an American media company based in Richmond, Virginia. The company's origins can be traced back to 1887 when Richmond attorney Joseph Bryan acquired ''The Richmond Daily Times'', which later became ''The Richmond Times-Dispatch ...

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

and

Univision Communications TelevisaUnivision (formerly known as Univision Communications) is a Mexican-American media company headquartered in New York and Mexico City, which owns the American Spanish language broadcast network Univision. 45% of the company is held by ...

, which increased the network's national reach to encompass 57% of all U.S. television households. In September 2017, Univision began carrying the network on eleven additional

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and inclu ...

and

UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...

owned-and-operated stations, expanding Justice Network's reach to 73% of the U.S.

References

External links

* {{North American DTV 2015 establishments in Georgia (U.S. state) Television networks in the United States Companies based in Atlanta Television channels and stations established in 2015 Women's interest channels Tegna Inc.