Crime & Investigation Network

TERRITORIES: U.K. and Ireland and South Africa

LAUNCH DATE: July 2006 in the U.K. and Ireland; February 2007 in South Africa

OWNERSHIP: A joint venture of A&E Television Networks (AETN) and BSkyB

DISTRIBUTION:
Number of homes reached: 12 million in total

Method of distribution: Cable/satellite

GENRE: Documentary

TARGET DEMOGRAPHIC: Adults, with around a third of the audience aged 35 to 45; 40 percent of the total viewers are male.

REVENUE MODEL: Advertising, subscription and sponsorship

SENIOR MANAGEMENT:
Managing Director, AETN UK: Tom Davidson
Channels Director, AETN UK: Richard Melman
Commercial Director, AETN UK: Christina Foley
Marketing Director, AETN UK: James Pestell

CONTACT: Joanna.mitchell@aetn.co.uk

WEBSITE: www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk

TOP-RATING SHOWS: Stalker, The One That Got Away

RECENT ACQUISITION: Snapped from The Fremantle Corporation

RECENT ORIGINAL PRODUCTIONS: Conmen Case Files, Living with Murder, Murder in the Family, Nightmare in Suburbia 2

ORIGINAL TO ACQUIRED RATIO: 30/70

PRIME-TIME HOURS: 8 p.m. to 11 p.m.

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: The programming on Crime & Investigation Network (CI) opens the door to actual crime labs, police archives and courtrooms, delving into the heart of the criminal underworld to investigate the darker corners of human life. A leading factual crime channel in the U.K. and South Africa, CI caters to an audience who are dedicated to true-crime viewing. "We’re the second most-watched factual channel in the U.K.," says Tom Davidson, the managing director of AETN UK. A testament to CI’s success is the amount of time people continue to view the programming once they’ve turned on the channel. "We’ve seen over the last 18 months an average of about 73 or 74 minutes. Compared to a typical entertainment channel, this is vastly above that," Davidson points out.

"Generally speaking, one of the things that has made this channel successful over the three years since we launched has been this combination of smart commissioning, smart acquisitions and some of the real juggernaut programming that comes from our distribution deal with A&E," Davidson says. Outside of series from the U.S. that have performed quite well for CI, like The First 48, the channel has made great efforts with its local commissions, making them about U.K.-focused stories to give the local audience an "extra connection with the channel."

The U.K. has a bit more stringent viewing regulations than the U.S., Davidson explains, which is why certain topics the channel covers are difficult to air during the day. "We are scheduling things not necessarily by genre, but more of the easy-watching to heavy-watching from daytime to evening. Our audience breakdown is between 65 to 70 percent female. We’ve got a heavy forensic-loving-housewife approach during certain times of the day, that’s access prime and early prime time. Then the male audience comes in quite late, midnight-post. You’ll see a bit of the rougher stories at those hours."

Davidson notes that CI sees incredibly strong audience shares at around 2 a.m. to 3 a.m. "The physical rating might not be that big during that time because there’s not that many people watching TV at 3 a.m., but the share is phenomenal. It seems like if somebody is going to be watching at that hour, they’re typically going to be watching us."

CI kicks off its prime-time hours with established series, says Davidson, pointing to titles such as The First 48, Medical Detectives and Crime Stories. "All the local commissions start off in prime or late prime, depending on how [graphic] the viewing is."

UPCOMING HIGHLIGHTS: Conmen Case Files recently joined the network, alongside Gangland. Further fall launches are The Real NCIS,
Crime Stories, Medical Detectives, Psychic Detectives and Living with Murder.