Cable network A&E knows what it isn’t. It isn’t and hasn’t been for some time the highbrow arts and entertainment network that gave it its name 21 years ago.
  What it is is starting to become clearer.
  At its upfront presentation to media buyers last night, A&E outlined bold plans to become a network closer in tone to FX, best known for Emmy-winning drama “The Shield,” and HBO, the pay channel with critically acclaimed hits like “The Sopranos.” In fact, many of A&E’s upcoming programs and movies, including “The Sopranos” in fall 2006, stick to a decidedly non-broadcast-type edginess that has elevated FX into a top-tier network.
   Key to A&E’s future growth are off-network programs like “Sopranos,” Fox’s “24,” set to premiere this September, and CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” which is already on A&E but will move to primetime in Fall 2006.
   “Our programming comes in a one-two punch,” says Bob DeBitetto, executive vice president of programming at A&E Network.
  “The first half is great non-fiction programming, primarily reality series, which we call real-life series, docu-soaps, and other non-fiction cinema verite primetime series. The counterpunch is great scripted dramas, original dramas in the guise of movies and miniseries, as well as important off-network franchises we’ve acquired.”
   The network is launching a string of original movies, including the Memorial Day biopic of Senator John McCain’s time as a Vietnam War prisoner, called “Faith Of My Fathers,” and Ted Danson playing a real-life teacher in the South Bronx in “Young Knights.” The movie will land on A&E’s schedule sometime this coming winter.
  A&E is developing movies to air next year, such as “Johnny Cash,” “Flight 93” about one of the hijacked flights on Sept. 11, “Blackout” about a cross-country power outage, and “Touch the Top of the World” about blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer.
   But A&E’s programming strategy gets fuzzier from there.
   The network is sticking to manly grit with unscripted good-guy-bad-guy shows like “Dog the Bounty Hunter,” “The First 48,” and “American Justice.” But shows like the ongoing “Growing Up Gotti” and upcoming shows like “Inked,” which takes place in a Las Vegas tattoo parlor, and “Roller Girls,” about a roller derby team in Austin, Texas, seemingly stray from A&E’s strategy.
   DeBitetto says the A&E brand will soon become clearer.
   “When you look at the programs at first blush there’s a lot of variety there, so what’s the plan? But if you fast forward a year or a year and a half from now, our hope is that people think of A&E simply as the premium destination on cable.”


The network's identity
    Many cable networks that were once programmed around a specific theme, like A&E, have broadened out in an effort to find more viewers and, by extension, more advertising revenue.
   While A&E isn’t the only network reinventing itself, its current strategy represents among the most dramatic departures from its beginnings. Its move away from the arts will continue to the point that its tagline, “The Art of Entertainment,” is likely to be dropped entirely.
   “What helps drive the A&E brand is that we like to think everything we’re doing has a focus on great characters and great storytelling,” says DeBitetto.


The network's target audience
    As A&E is transforming into a crime-heavy network with original movies, off-network series, and unscripted series, it’s also tweaking its demographic focus.
   A&E has been targeting the 25-54 demographic, but that will become secondary to the adult 18-49 demographic favored by many advertisers.


The network's ratings
    A&E's best argument for broadening its programming is the growth it's seen in its ratings.
    In primetime, A&E ranks either in the top 10 or top 20 in all key demographics. Moreover, its audience is growing and could well take off when “Sopranos” hits the lineup. The network’s primetime audience in the 25-54 demo was up 20 percent in first quarter, compared to the same time last year, to an average 570,000 people.
   Its audience in the 18-49 demographic was up 31 percent, and among 18-34s it grew 61 percent, to 190,000 people, ranking No. 17 among all ad-supported cable networks.
   It's seen essentially the same percentage increases on an all-day basis.


The network's competitive set
   In the old days, meaning the 1980s, A&E went after the PBS crowd with programs that centered on the arts, the theater and period dramas from England.
  These days, A&E appears to have its sights set squarely on FX. A&E is a higher ranked network among older folks, but FX’s audience is bigger among adults 18-34 and 18-49.  The same is true for drama-heavy networks like TNT, USA, and even Spike, which is posting dramatic ratings increases since it began airing “CSI” reruns this year.


What’s new for 2005/06
   A&E’s big coups were snagging rights for “CSI: Miami” and “Sopranos” – at $2.5 million per episode – but neither hits its primetime schedule for another 18 months.
   In the meantime, the network is aggressively rolling out original movies like “Faith Of My Fathers” and unscripted shows, including “Criss Angel Mindfreak,” with the illusionist, and “Roller Girls.”
   A&E has a number of other unscripted shows in the works and intends to jump into original scripted series but probably not until 2007.


The network's upfront outlook
    A&E is only marginally more capable of laying out its brand identity than competing networks, but that isn’t muddying its upfront pitch. That pitch: The network has landed big off-network shows and is redoubling its production of original movies, all while growing its audience by double-digit percentages.


The final prognosis
    On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being excellent: 4.5.
   No matter that its brand identity is fuzzy, A&E is doing extremely well. Its audience in key demographics is substantially up from last year. And shows like “Sopranos” are almost certain to launch it higher in the ratings.
   Moreover, original movies tend to get people talking about a network, and that seems certain to happen with the John McCain biopic and Ted Danson in “Young Knights.”