A+E Global Media

A&E Television Networks, LLC (doing business as A+E Global Media) is an American multinational broadcasting company owned by Hearst Communications. A&E owns several non-fiction and entertainment-based television brands, including A&E, History Channel, Lifetime, FYI and their associated sister channels, as well as holding stakes, or licenses, in their international branches. The company was founded in 1984 as a joint venture between Hearst, ABC, and other partners, later including NBC. It launched the History Channel in 1995 and the Biography Channel in 1998, and acquired Lifetime Networks in 2009. Hearst and Disney became 50-50 owners of the company after NBC sold its minority stake in 2012. It continued as a 50–50 joint venture between the Walt Disney Company, through the General Entertainment Content unit of its Entertainment division, and Hearst, until Disney sold its stake to Hearst in 2026. The company also has investments in Vice, Propagate Content, Atlas Obscura and Philo TV.