BYU TV (stylized as BYUtv) is a television channel, founded in 2000, which is owned and operated as a part of Brigham Young University (BYU).^[2] The channel, available through cable and satellite distributors in the United States, produces a number of original series and documentaries with emphases in comedy, history, lifestyle, music and drama. BYUtv also regularly broadcasts feature films, nature documentaries, acquired medical/crime dramas and religious programs (consistent with the university's sponsoring organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).^[3][4] Additionally, BYUtv Sports is the primary broadcaster of BYU Cougars athletics, producing more than 125 live sporting events in 2012 alone.^[5] The channel has won multiple Emmy Awards,^[6] and several of its original series have been praised by national television critics.^[7][8][9]

BYUtv broadcasts all of its original content, and most acquired content, worldwide online via its website. BYUtv is also carried through KBYU-TV, a television station in Provo, Utah also owned by the university, ensuring HD coverage across Salt Lake City and most of Utah. The channel is one of several operated by the university's BYU Broadcasting division, including the world feed BYUtv Global and BYUradio. Multiple celebrity guests and artists have made special appearances on BYUtv, notably Imagine Dragons and Neon Trees on the series AUDIO-FILES; Lea Salonga, Howard Jones, Duncan Sheik and Sixpence None the Richer on The Song That Changed My Life; and Shawn Bradley, The Piano Guys, and Mates of State on Studio C. Major athletes like Steve Young, Ty Detmer and Jimmer Fredette have also appeared on special BYUtv Sports broadcasts.^{[10][11][12][13]}

• 1History
• 2Programming
  • 2.1Original series
  • 2.2Upcoming programming
  • 2.3Acquired programming
    • 2.3.1E/I
  • 2.4LDS programming
  • 2.5BYU Sports
• 3Availability
• 4References
• 5External links

History[edit]

Old BYU TV logo

BYUtv was founded in 2000, and has grown from a "relatively unknown cable channel on a single satellite" to a national provider on Dish Network, DirecTV, and over 600 cable systems in the US.^[2]

During 2010 and 2011, newly appointed BYUtv director of content, Scott Swofford, commissioned focus groups targeting TV viewers who were at least nominally religious, to see what they liked, disliked and wanted on TV. Swofford summarized the results as, "We want to be entertained. Then we'll stick around for the message." This led to the creation of the pilot for Granite Flats, which became BYUtv's first and flagship original scripted television drama series, and went on to significantly expand the channel's audience, eventually attracting about 500,000 viewers per episode, compared to the previous top-rated show, Love of Quilting, which typically drew under 10,000.^[14]

Programming[edit]

BYUtv produces shows under several categories: BYU Sports, Campus, Documentary, Faith, Family, Lifestyle, People, and Performing Arts.^[15] This includes original series, documentaries and religious service programs. The network also maintains film agreements with Walt Disney Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Universal Pictures. Litton Entertainment fulfills the station's educational children's programming liabilities.

Original series[edit]

• After Further Review
• All-Round Champion
• American Ride
• Audio-Files
• Battle of the Ages
• Best Cake Wins
• BYU Sports Nation
• BYUtv Sports Post Game
• Chef Brad
• Coordinators' Corner
• Countdown to Kickoff
• Dinner Takes All
• Dwight in Shining Armor
• Extinct
• The Fixers
• The Food Nanny
• The Generations Project
• Granite Flats
• Jeff's Homemade Game Show
• The Kindness Diaries
• Making Good
• Painting the Town with Eric Dowdle
• The Parent Trip
• Random Acts
• Relative Race
• Relative Race - After the Finish Line^[16]
• Show Offs
• The Song That Changed My Life
• The Story Trek
• Story Trek: Trending
• Studio C
• Survivalists^[16]
• Tricked (seasons 2-3)
• Turning Point
• Wayne Brady's Comedy IQ
• The Wizard of Paws

Upcoming programming[edit]

The Fall season premieres have all taken place. Winter and Spring premieres will be announced at later dates.

Acquired programming[edit]

• Backyard Builds
• Heartland
• Hetty Feather
• Highway to Heaven
• Holly Hobbie
• Itch
• Just Like Mom and Dad
• Lark Rise to Candleford
• Leave It to Bryan
• Malory Towers^[16]
• Splatalot!
• Step Up to the Plate
• The Chosen^[17]
• Tricked (season 1)
• Undercover High
• Wind at My Back

E/I[edit]

• The Inspectors
• Lucky Dog
• Ocean Treks with Jeff Corwin

LDS programming[edit]

Religious programming derives from the LDS Church, which owns and operates BYU. Most religious programming airs on Sundays or in the early morning hours on BYUtv:

• BYU devotionals and forums
• BYU Education Week and Women's Conference
• CES and church devotionals
• General Conference broadcasts and rebroadcasts
• Music and the Spoken Word

BYU Sports[edit]

The channel is the primary home for most telecasts of BYU Cougars athletics, including select home and away games for football, men's and women's basketball, baseball, softball, gymnastics, men's and women's volleyball and women's soccer. Beginning in 2009, the network also began covering BYU-Hawaii Seasiders sports, including all conference home games in women's volleyball and men's basketball, as well as select conference home games in women's basketball and additional non-conference home games for men's basketball.

In 2011, BYUtv added the WCC Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments to their sports broadcasts. BYUtv produced the first round and quarterfinals of the men's and women's basketball tournaments, which were also broadcast on ESPN3.com.^[18]

In 2011, ESPN reached a deal to become the official broadcaster for most games of the newly independent BYU Cougars football team. At least one home game per season will air live on BYUtv, along with reruns on BYUtv of home games broadcast on ESPN's networks.^[19] Its coverage also includes pre-game and post-game shows, with the pre-game show Countdown to Kickoff hosted by BYU Cougars alumni Alema Harrington, Dave McCann and a rotating panel of analysts: Gary Sheide, Blaine Fowler, David Nixon, Brian Logan and Jan Jorgensen.^[20][21] In 2014 Spencer Linton would replace Alema Harrington on the panel.

Additionally, the network launched a separate website for its sports coverage, Byutvsports.com, in partnership with ESPN and IMG College. The site features news, video and free video on demand streaming of recent games.^[22] The site folded back into byutv.org in fall 2015.

The channel also produces its own sports shows including BYU Sports Nation (weekdays, 1 hr), Countdown to Kickoff (preceding each football game, 1 hr), Postgame Show (following each football game, 30m – 1 hr), After Further Review (weekly on Tuesdays, 1 hr), Inside BYU Football (weekly on Tuesdays, 1/2 hour) and previously carried Bronco Mendenhall's post-game press conferences for football games.

Availability[edit]

The network is currently available to approximately 65 million cable and DTH (direct-to-home) satellite subscribers in the United States. It is provided by nearly 600 cable operators around the United States.^[23][24] As the main feed of KBYU-TV, the station has full distribution throughout the Salt Lake City television market.

BYUtv can be found through online streaming provided by Ooyala, on the Dish Network and DirecTV pay-satellite services, and free to air via 17 and Galaxy 28 in DVB-S2 format.

In 2011, live streaming of BYUtv as well as on demand programs were made available through the iPad, iPhone, iPod and Roku streaming player.^[25][26] In August 2013, BYUtv released its app for Android.^[27] In April 2014, BYUtv released its app for Xbox 360.^[28] In 2015, BYUtv released its apps for Chromecast, FireTV, and Fire tablets and phones.^[29][30][31]