List of ComedyNet History

### Early history (1998-2004)

When ComedyNet launched on September 14, 1998, the channel aired only current sitcoms in the evening and night, so that people who were at work or school during the day could watch them at their convenience. Programming was inclusive, as the channel was owned by ABC. Comedynet eventually gained high cable carriage due to Disney's aggressive policy of pulling ABC-owned broadcast stations and the popular ESPN channels from cable providers if they did not agree to carry ComedyNet as well. This was the main reason for ABC owned-and-operated station WABC-TV being pulled from Time Warner Cable's New York City system for two days in January 1999.

When ComedyNet was announced, 20th Century Fox planned to launch a competing cable channel and website called FoxCity, which would air all Network/Warner comedies and the Fox-owned/produced Fox sitcom*The Amazing of Michael Horton*. The plans for the FoxCity cable channel were abandoned early in 2003 after Fox failed to secure cable carriage, though the website component remained.

ComedyNet's inaugural lineup aired current sitcoms such as *Full Time, That's Our Business,* *Hellstorm's Files, M\*A\*S\*H, The New Boss and One Man Only, According to Matt, Success, Business Legal, A-Max, Blue & Green and We Got No Made.*

### Programming expansion (2004-2010)

On June 4, 2004, ComedyNet began airing reruns of *Living with the Platts, Welcome to the Chancellors*, and by in the fall, the channel added highly requested programming such as reruns of *The Simpsons, Malcolm in the Middle, Hellstorm's Files: Criminal Justice*; replacing *A-Max,Trapper John, M.D*. and *Here's Lucy.*

On June 1, 2004, ComedyNet announced that it had acquired the rights to broadcast same-day episodes of *The Amazing of Michael Horton*, which began airing on Comedynet on September 6, 2004 – making it the first Fox network sitcom to air on the channel.

### Decline and end of operations (2010-2013)

On December 27, 2010, Disney Junior was officially announced as Disney Channels Worldwide's new preschool television brand. Replacing Playhouse Disney, Disney Junior would launch as a block on Disney Channel on February 14, 2011, and was to launch a 24-hour cable channel in January 2012, replacing Soapnet. on July 28, 2011, due to issues in reaching carriage deals for the new network, the launch of the Disney Junior channel was delayed to an unspecified date in early 2012. Disney Junior's launch date was later set to March 23, 2012. Disney also stated that on some providers, Disney Junior would be carried in parallel with ComedyNet until the network is eventually phased out. The *Los Angeles Times* reported that some television providers had been hesitant to immediately drop Soapnet, as they "didn't want to risk legions of vocal soap opera fans getting into a lather, or worse, moving to a rival service."

On March 1, 2012, Soapnet's operations were taken over by ABC Family following the dismantling of the ABC Daytime corporate structure under Brian Frons, who had resigned in December 2011, until ComedyNet is still taking over.

Some television providers, including certain Xfinity systems, immediately replaced Soapnet with Disney Junior in its channel space on launch. Soapnet continued to be carried on providers who had not yet made carriage agreements for Disney Junior (such as Dish Network), as well as for certain providers that retained Soapnet as part of their channel lineups, while also adding Disney Junior as an additional channel (such as Cablevision, DirecTV, Verizon FiOS, RCN. and Time Warner Cable). Same day rebroadcasts of *General Hospital*, *Days of our Lives* and *The Young and the Restless* were retained, with repeats of ABC Family programming and reruns of *Veronica Mars* being added to the schedule. The rights to *Veronica Mars* were transferred to Pivot when that network launched in August 2013.

In November 2013, Disney announced that Soapnet would end forever on Tuesday, December 31, 2013. The network's impending discontinuation had been previously reported by several cable providers, including AT&T U-verse, Comcast, Charter and Cox, among others. After an episode of General Hospital, Soapnet quietly went dark shortly at 11:59 p.m. before midnight ET on Wednesday, January 1, 2014, without an on-air notice. Soapnet is replaced by, ComedyNet on January 1, 2014. Disney wants ComedyNet has taking over to Soapnet, after it was shut down.

### New-Disney programming (2014-2021)

On November 10, 2013, Disney–ABC Television Group announced that ComedyNet would be take over to Soapnet. ComedyNet is still the one as the cable network was still the same. The new name – which was chosen among 3,000 proposals, with some initial consideration of retaining "ABC" in the name – was necessitated after an audience survey that sampled opinions of regular SoapNet viewers as well those who watched the channel on an infrequent basis, revealed that although regular viewers understood the network's youth-skewing concept, non-frequent viewers perceived the channel as still being more of a "wholesome" family-oriented network.

### New Branding of 20th Comedy (2021-present)

On January 29, 2021, ComedyNet announced that it would rebrand 20th Comedy The new name – which was chosen among 3,000 proposals, with some initial consideration of retaining "Fox" in the name – was necessitated after an audience survey that sampled opinions of regular ComedyNet viewers as well those who watched the channel on an infrequent basis, revealed that although regular viewers understood the network's youth-skewing concept, non-frequent viewers perceived the channel as still being more of a "wholesome". The New 20th Comedy is featuring debuted on October 1.