<P> The flagship channel originally focused programming on biographies, documentaries, and drama series (especially crime dramas and mysteries) but has later expanded to include reality television programming . As of July 2015, the A&E network is available to approximately 95,968,000 pay television households (82.4% of households with television) in the United States . </P> <P> The network is headquartered in New York City and operates offices in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; London, United Kingdom; Los Angeles, California and Stamford, Connecticut . The U.S. version of the channel is shown in Canada while international versions exist for Australia, Latin America, and Europe . </P> <P> A&E launched on February 1, 1984, initially available to 9.3 million cable television homes in the U.S. and Canada . The network is a result of the 1984 merger of Hearst / ABC's Alpha Repertory Television Service (ARTS) and (pre--General Electric merger) RCA - owned The Entertainment Channel . When A&E debuted, the channel took over the satellite transponder timeslot that ARTS occupied from its launch in 1981 . Children's television channel Nickelodeon signed off just before 9: 00 p.m. Eastern Time, and A&E took over at 9: 00 p.m. with a three - hour programming block, which was repeated at 9: 00 p.m. Pacific Time . In January 1985, A&E moved to its own dedicated transponder and began delivering its programming 24 hours a day, while Nickelodeon replaced the vacated A&E programming with a classic television block, Nick at Nite, on July 1 of that year . However, some cable providers continued to carry Nickelodeon and A&E on the same channel and would usually switch over to A&E at 8: 00 p.m. Eastern . It was not until the early 1990s, when providers began installing advanced headend equipment that allowed for expanded channel capacity, that these companies allocated separate channels for both networks . </P> <P> A&E was envisioned as a commercial counterpart to PBS, and in its early days focused on such PBS - style programming as the Leonard Bernstein Fidelio, filmed in 1978 . In the 1990s, it began to add programming originally seen on commercial networks, such as reruns of Columbo, Breaking Away, Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, The New Mike Hammer, The Cosby Mysteries, Quincy, The Equalizer, Law & Order, and Night Court . Highbrow British mysteries including Agatha Christie's Poirot, Cracker, Dalziel and Pascoe, Inspector Morse, Lovejoy, Midsomer Murders, the Joan Hickson Miss Marple series, and Sherlock Holmes were also featured; several of these series were produced in association with A&E . By 1990, A&E's original programming accounted for 35 to 40 percent of the network's program content . The comedy series An Evening at the Improv built a young adult audience in the late 80s and continued through 1996 . Also, Comedy On the Road won a CableACE Award (13th Annual Event); both series were produced by Larry O'Daly . </P>

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