Pax TV

Pax TV (commonly known as "Pax") is an American broadcast, cable, and satellite television network that is owned by Lady Luck Enterprises. Taking it's name from Ion Television's former name (which was known as Pax TV from 1998-2005), Pax TV primarily focus on family-oriented entertainment programming. On Aug. 20, 2017, Lady Luck Enterprises announced that they have purchased rights to the name of "Pax TV" from Ion Media. With that purchase, Lady Luck announced plans of launching their own "Pax TV" network on Jan.1, 2018, with 50 O&Os in the top 50 markets, and the remaining 160 affiliations be available via digital subchannels.

## History

### Original Pax TV (1998-2005)

The network was founded by Lowell "Bud" Paxson, co-founder of the Home Shopping Network and chairman of parent company Paxson Communications (the forerunner to the current Ion Media Networks).[4] It was originally to be called Pax Net, but was renamed **Pax TV** (often referred to as simply "Pax") – a dual reference to its founder and corporate parent, and the Latin word for "peace" – shortly before its launch. Paxson, who felt that television programs aired by other broadcast networks were too raunchy and not family-friendly enough, had decided to create a network that he perceived as an alternative. Since the new network would focus on programming tailored to family audiences, Pax TV maintained a considerably more conservative programming content policy than the major commercial television networks, restricting profanity, violence and sexual content; accordingly, many of the network's acquired programs were edited to remove sexual and overt violent content, while profane language was muted.

Most of the network's initial affiliates were Paxson Communications-owned affiliate stations of the **Infomall TV Network** (inTV), a network launched by Paxson in 1995 that relied mainly on infomercials and other brokered programming. During the late spring and summer of 1998, a half-hour preview special hosted by former *Waltons* star Richard Thomas, featuring interviews with Lowell Paxson about Pax's development and initial programming, aired on inTV stations slated to become charter outlets of the new network.

Pax TV launched on August 31, 1998, with the network's initial schedule being much larger in scope than it would be in later years. At launch, Pax aired general entertainment programming on weekdays from 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. and weekends from 4:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. Through an agreement with DIC Entertainment, its schedule also included a children's program block called "Cloud Nine" on Saturdays from 6:00 to 11:00 and Sundays from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific. In addition, the network aired religious programming through time-lease agreements with The Worship Network (which aired its overnight programming on Pax seven nights a week) and Praise TV (featuring Contemporary Christian music and other faith-based programs aimed at teenagers and young adults, which aired on Friday and Saturday late-nights from 12:00 to 3:00 a.m. Eastern and Pacific until 2000). The remainder of the schedule was filled by paid programming.

Initial programming on Pax TV consisted of first-run shows (such as the true story profile series *It's a Miracle*, game show *The Reel to Reel Picture Show*, and talk shows *Woman's Day* and *Great Day America*), along with reruns of older programming (including *Highway to Heaven*, *Here's Lucy*, *The Hogan Family*, *Dave's World*, *Touched by an Angel*, and new episodes and older reruns of *Candid Camera*, the latter of which moved to the network following the revival series' cancellation by CBS earlier in 1998). The network also produced some original drama series such as *Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye*, *Doc*, *Mysterious Ways* (which originated on NBC), *Hope Island* and *Twice in a Lifetime* through its programming division Paxson Entertainment. Pax also aired many game shows including first-run revivals of established games that originated on cable networks such as *Supermarket Sweep* and *Shop 'til You Drop*, along with some original game shows such as *On the Cover*, *Balderdash*, a 2002 revival of *Beat the Clock*, *Hollywood Showdown* (in conjunction with Game Show Network, which also aired the show) and *Born Lucky*. The network would later carry reruns of the syndicated revival of *Family Feud* (consisting of episodes from Louie Anderson, Richard Karn and John O'Hurley's tenures as host, airing on a one-year delay from their original syndication broadcast) and, due to its alliance with NBC, *The Weakest Link* (both from the Anne Robinson-hosted network run and the George Gray-hosted syndicated version) as well as the 2000 revival of *Twenty One*.

In September 1999, NBC purchased a 32% share of Paxson Communications for $415 million in convertible stock, with an option to expand its interest to 49% by February 2002, pending changes in ownership regulations set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that would allow it to acquire additional television stations. NBC later sold its share in the network back to Paxson in November 2003.

In lieu of a national news program, in 2000, Paxson Communications signed an agreement with Jackson, Mississippi-based WeatherVision – which mainly produces weather forecast inserts for television stations in certain markets that do not operate an in-house news department or maintain a news share agreement with another local station – to produce *Tomorrow's Weather Tonight*, a five-minute national forecast segment that aired Monday through Friday nights at the conclusion of Pax TV's entertainment schedule. Starting in 2001, many Pax stations also entered into news share agreements with a local major network affiliate (mostly involving NBC-affiliated stations, though some involved an affiliate of ABC or CBS) to air tape-delayed broadcasts of evening, and in some markets, morning newscasts from the partner station; in a few cases, the agreement partner produced live newscasts for the Pax station (as examples of the latter, NBC affiliate WTHR in Indianapolis produced a prime time newscast for Pax O&O WIPX-TV from February to June 2005, after CBS affiliate WISH-TV (now a CW affiliate) took over production of the newscast that WTHR had been producing for UPN affiliate WNDY-TV (now a MyNetworkTV affiliate) since 1996; Cleveland NBC affiliate WKYC-TV produced evening newscasts for WVPX-TV that focused primarily on that O&O's city of license, nearby Akron). In some cities, a major network affiliate also provided some engineering and other back office services for the Pax station.

In an effort to increase revenue due to low viewership and other financial issues, Pax gradually increased the amount of paid programming content on its schedule throughout the early 2000s, at the expense of its general entertainment programming. Infomercials and other types of brokered programs ultimately became the dominant form of programming during the network's broadcast day; by January 2005, the time that Pax TV had allocated to entertainment programs had been reduced to six hours on weekdays (from 6:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m.) and five hours on weekends (from 6:00 to 11:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time). Original programming was also affected by the network's programming changes; Pax TV was originally offering five or six new series each season. However, in 2003, the number of new series that aired on Pax dwindled to just two: *Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye*, which was cancelled in 2005, and *Doc*, which was cancelled in 2004 after Pax's international backer, Canadian broadcast network CTV, pulled out of producing the shows. The network seemingly recovered a year later when seven series made it to Pax's 2004–05 schedule.

On June 28, 2005, Paxson Communications announced that it would rebrand Pax as **i: Independent Television**, in order to reflect a new strategy of "providing an independent broadcast platform for producers and syndicators who desire to reach a national audience." After the transition was complete, the network would continue to air programming under its Pax brand on one of its digital subchannels over-the-air and on select cable providers (see below). Some media observers jocularly postulated that the *i* name was code for "infomercial", due to the overabundance of paid programming (at the time, up to eighteen hours, or 2/3rds of the daily schedule) on the network's daytime and late night lineup.

### Return of Pax TV

Twelve years following the renaming, Ion Media (which changed their name from Paxson Communications in 2006) and Lady Luck Enterprises announced that Lady Luck purchased the rights to the former name Pax TV, with Lady Luck announcing plans of launching their own version on Jan. 1, 2018, with O&Os in the top 50 market, and the remaining 160 affiliates be available via subchannels.

#### End of Original Programming

On April 28. 2022, Lady Luck Enterprises announced that after 3 1/2 years, Pax TV will stop producing original programming, resulting in the network following suit of Ion Television, MyNetworkTV, and Omni, of airing syndicated/off network reruns beginning in September. As a result, all original programming will come to an end on May 27, 2022, while the networks will air repeats throughout the summer until September 12, 2022, where the network will have a new schedule.