DIRECTV Rebrands 101 Network

EL SEGUNDO: Effective June 1, DIRECTV’s entertainment channel The 101 Network, the new home of the Glenn Close drama Damages, will be known as Audience Network.

Accessible in 19.4 million homes, the channel aims to deliver content that can’t be found elsewhere—it has been the first window for NBC’s Friday Night Lights, is home to original programming like a television version of the nationally syndicated sports radio hit The Dan Patrick Show and acquires from the international market, picking up Mutual Friends and No Heroics from the U.K. and Call Me Fitz from Canada. It has also picked up cable and network shows like Wonderland, The Nine, The Wire, Oz and Brotherhood. The rebrand comes ahead of the launch of the new season of Damages, which the channel resurrected after FX opted to end the show.

"We’ve spent the last six years building this network into something very special," said Derek Chang, executive VP of content strategy and development at DIRECTV. "DIRECTV is the only television operator who provides customers with a premium quality entertainment channel for free and the new name perfectly captures who we are doing this for, specifically our demographic, the DIRECTV audience."