Lifetime Makes Providential Decision

Lifetime Television has bought the rights to off-net Providence from ABC Family, and it is looking to slate more off-net dramas on its schedule to complement original dramas Strong Medicine, The Division, Wild Card and Missing. Lifetime is 50% owned by ABC parent The Walt Disney Co.

Providence will be slated at 8 p.m. on Tuesday starting May 11. It is the third off-NBC show Lifetime has bought recently. It just acquired the cable rights to Will & Grace (September 2005) and Frasier (2006).

Lifetime has tried occasional off-net dramas, slating Once & Again for a while, and thirtysomething before that (both off-ABC..

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.