Why This MattersA network rebranding carries major risk and, at times, serious reward.
Related: Networks Go All in on Comic-Con
High-end true-crime series such as Netflix's Making a Murderer and This American Life podcast Serial played a significant part in Oxygen's decision to remake itself as the destination for crime series. The rebrand has been gradual, but it's now kicking in in earnest, with a new logo making its way to air, and the resurrection of Dick Wolf's Cold Justice series, which debuts July 22, among other crime show launches.
Rod Aissa, Oxygen executive VP of original programming and development, said the wildly popular crime series on Netflix and podcasts such as Serial revealed a younger version of the true-crime fan that Oxygen executives found intriguing. He speaks of a new wave of women consuming those pop-culture staples.
We're looking to engage with younger women, he said, this next generation of crime viewer.
Oxygen was launched in 2000 by Geraldine Laybourne, Oprah Winfrey and the owners of Carsey-Werner, Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach, with Laybourne holding the chairman title. Backed by tech billionaire Paul Allen, it was seen as an alternative to Lifetime. Early series included the reality shows Bad Girls Club and The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.
NBCUniversal acquired Oxygen in 2007, shelling out $925 million, and seeing it as a pillar in the comany's virtual women's network, along with Bravo, Today and iVillage. Lauren Zalaznick, then Bravo's president, replaced Laybourne atop Oxygen.
Aissa mentions a bifurcated strategy that existed for years at Oxygen, which is currently available in more than 77 million homes. While some tuned in for Bad Girls Club - the reality show made it to 17 seasons, though it does not appear to have a future on Oxygen - others came to Oxygen for true-crime offerings such as long-running series Snapped, about women accused of murder.
Talk of the rebrand started about a year ago, according to Aissa. Among the options we discussed, [crime] was one we already had a foot in, said Aissa, who noted that he consumed loads of true-crime TV, including NBC's long-running Dateline, with his mother when he was a child.
Crime Time, All the Time
After it expanded its Crime Time weekend block to Friday-Monday, Oxygen shared word of its crime-network rebrand earlier this year. Three Days to Live, focusing on the first 72 hours after someone is abducted, debuted in March. Cold Justice, which sees a veteran prosecutor and a crew of detectives dig into small-town murder cases that have not been resolved, starts July 22.
Wolf said the intent of Cold Justice, which aired on TNT from 2013-15, is to provide justice for victims and their families and give hope to those who had all but given up.
In the fall, Wolf's Criminal Confessions, about what actually goes on in police interrogation rooms, premieres. Executive producer Adam Kassen said scripted dramas show aggressive, in-your-face detectives eliciting confessions. The reality is a more nuanced approach. They genuinely try to make a connection with people, he said.
Oxygen acquired the investigative newsmagazine Dateline: Secrets Uncovered from Peacock Productions, with NBC News anchor Craig Melvin hosting and freshening up previously aired episodes. That premieres July 21.
Also set to debut are Mysteries and Scandals from Wilshire Studios and Soledad O'Brien, and Ice Cold Murder from Asylum Entertainment.
We know that crime programming delivers an engaged, passionate consumer and we're excited to deliver these audiences to marketers as they continue to advance their business priorities, said Laura Molen, executive VP, lifestyle and Hispanic advertising sales at NBCU, when several of the show launches were announced.
Making a Murderer and Serial, as well as the HBO documentary The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst, went way deep on a single case or an individual defendant; Oxygen will try the same with What Happened to Jessica Chambers, a docuseries about a Mississippi teen who was doused with gas and set on fire. Producers will carefully follow the defendant's trial this fall. Buzzfeed Motion Pictures is a partner on that series.
Same goes for The Disappearance of, a series of multipart documentaries about young women who have gone missing. Natalee Holloway, the Alabama teenager who disappeared on a trip to Aruba in 2005, is up first in that series.
Aissa mentions the play along nature of the new shows, where the viewer reassesses blame with the revelation of each new clue, which matches up well with a younger version of the true-crime watcher. We give the audience the opportunity to lean in, as opposed to watching passively, he said.
New Blood
Oxygen is competing for viewers with Investigation Discovery (ID), which offers its own take on true-crime programming with shows such as The Coroner: I Speak for the Dead - season two started July 17 - along with American Monster and Homicide Hunter. ID has a big headstart, launching in early 2008 when parent Discovery rebranded its Discovery Times Channel.
Christine Becker, associate professor of TV studies at the University of Notre Dame, said there's been a gap in crime programming since Court TV became truTV in 2008. I wonder if this is an attempt to skew younger, she said.
I associate Oxygen with programming for older women, so given the current vogue for crime stories in new formats that younger audiences are going for, this may be an attempt to lure them back over to TV.
Criminal Confessions producer Kassen said the true-crime genre got some great storytelling, and lots of new viewers, when Making a Murderer, Serial and FX's scripted The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story went to air. He mentions an array of nu
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
20/08/2026
IPC Expands Brazilian Presence with New Channel Partner CCATech
Industry veterans Carlos Abrah o and Bruno Lopes strengthen local support and expand IPCs prese...
20/08/2026
Zixi Enters Mauritius Market Through Strategic Deployment with MTC Jockey Club
Worlds Oldest Horse Racing Club in the Southern Hemisphere Selects Zixis Softwar...
20/08/2026
LA JOLLA, CA-Scripps Research assistant professor Tiantian Liu has received a five-year NIAID DP2 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Di...
20/08/2026
Audiences reveal appetite for multicultural Australia on-screen 20 August 2026
Dr Georgie McClean, Dr Rebecca Huntley (L-R)
By Dr Georgie McClean and Dr Rebec...
20/08/2026
How Mavis Studio Is Expanding Live Production Teaching at Sussex
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image displays a student about to mix be...
20/08/2026
Vertical Unscripted Series Legal Queens Captured with Blackmagic Design
Brie Clayton August 19, 2026
0 Comments
Reality TV veteran Eric Gardner create...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
Why This MattersA network rebranding carries major risk and, at times, serious reward.
