BYU TV is a television channel, founded in 2000, which is owned and operated as a part of Brigham Young University. 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. Additionally, BYUtv Sports is the primary broadcaster of BYU Cougars athletics, producing more than 125 live sporting events in 2012 alone. The channel has won multiple Emmy Awards, and several of its original series have been praised by national television critics. 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.
History
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. 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.
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:
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 WCCMen'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. In 2011, ESPN reached a deal to become the official broadcaster for most games of the newly independentBYU 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. Its coverage also includes pre-game and post-game shows, with the pre-game showCountdown to Kickoff hosted by BYU Cougars alumni Alema Harrington, Dave McCann and a rotating panel of analysts: Gary Sheide, Blaine Fowler, DavidNixon, Brian Logan and Jan Jorgensen. 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. The site folded back into byutv.org in fall 2015. The channel also produces its own sports shows including BYU Sports Nation, Countdown to Kickoff, Postgame Show, After Further Review, Inside BYU Football and previously carried Bronco Mendenhall's post-game press conferences for football games.
Availability
The network is currently available to approximately 65 million cable and DTH satellite subscribers in the United States. It is provided by nearly 600 cable operators around the United States. 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. In August 2013, BYUtv released its app for Android. In April 2014, BYUtv released its app for Xbox 360. In 2015, BYUtv released its apps for Chromecast, FireTV, and Fire tablets and phones.
