Dabl
Dabl is an American digital multicast television network owned by the CBS Media Ventures subsidiary of Paramount Skydance Corporation and operated by Weigel Broadcasting.
Dabl launched in September 2019 with a female-targeted lifestyle format. It aired reruns of cooking shows, home renovation shows, Undercover Boss, and more.
In December 2023, Paramount transferred management duties to Weigel. The network switched to airing Black sitcoms from the mid-1990s through the early to mid-2010s.
History
2019–2023: Lifestyle channel
On June 17, 2019, CBS Television Distribution announced the launch of Dabl as a lifestyle-oriented digital subchannel network targeting a female audience. The network would be carried on CBS's owned-and-operated stations, and, at the time of the announcement, had reached formal and subchannel-leasing affiliation agreements that would extend its reach over 70% nationwide. To add to CBS's library of daytime talk, court and informational programming, CBS acquired the rights to programs from Martha Stewart and Emeril Lagasse's content libraries to help round out Dabl's schedule. Prior to the network's launch, CBS had been slow to offer additional subchannels on its O&Os since the 2009 digital transition.The launch of Dabl followed CBS's rollouts of the ad-supported streaming channels CBS Sports HQ and ET Live. Entertainment website Deadline noted that Dabl's launch came at a "boom time" for multicast networks, which could be operated by broadcasters at low cost utilizing library content with "sizeable ratings" from various distributors.
Dabl launched on September 9, 2019 at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with an expected national coverage rate of 80% as of August 27. The network was the first CBS-owned property that had its operations built and operated using cloud computing and transmitted through CBS's media operations platform, which utilizes both automation and cloud-enabled technology.
2023–present: Black sitcom channel
On December 29, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time, with little advanced promotion, Dabl was relaunched as an entertainment network aimed at African-American audiences, featuring an initial schedule of Paramount-distributed Black sitcoms from the 1990s and 2000s in repeating 12-hour blocks. Most of the programs originally aired on the now-defunct UPN, whose original niche included programming for Black audiences as rival broadcast networks began pulling back on developing series aimed at the demographic starting in the late 1990s.Concurrent with the relaunch, Paramount—which retains ownership and distribution rights to the network, along with supplying programming—transferred management responsibilities for Dabl to Weigel Broadcasting which had previously partnered with CBS for the vintage television multicast network Decades, which they jointly owned from its launch in 2014 until Weigel became the network's sole owner in March 2023. It also became exclusive to digital broadcast TV, with its free ad-supported streaming television distribution withdrawn in line with Weigel's near-exclusive distribution philosophy over broadcast television for their networks.
Programming
Current
Source:Current programming
- Are We There Yet?
- Everybody Hates Chris
- The Game
- Girlfriends
- Half & Half
- Hot Bench
- The Jamie Foxx Show
- Judge Judy
- Living Single
- Martin
- Moesha
- One on One
- The Parkers
- Sister, Sister
- ''The Wayans Bros.''
Educational programming
- Note: All programming is produced and distributed by Hearst Media Production Group.
- Best Friends Furever with Kel Mitchell
- Harlem Globetrotters: Play it Forward
- Oh Baby! with Anji Corley
- ''Wild Child''
Former
- 60 Minute Makeover
- Animal Rescue
- Biz Kids
- Cesar 911
- Cesar Millan's Leader of the Pack
- Culinary Genius
- Dabl at Home
- Design Inc.
- Dirty Business
- Disaster Decks
- Dog Tales
- The Drew Barrymore Show
- Emeril Live
- Escape to the Country
- Essence of Emeril
- Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
- Find & Design
- Flip This House
- Flipping Boston
- Flipping San Diego
- From Martha's Garden
- Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking
- Gordon Ramsay's Ultimate Cookery Course
- Home Again with Bob Vila
- Hotel Hell
- House Doctor
- How Clean Is Your House?
- Ice Cold Cash
- Instant Gardener
- Jamie's 15-Minute Meals
- Jamie's 30-Minute Meals
- Jamie's Food Escapes
- Kitchen Nightmares
- Martha Stewart Living
- Missing: Open Files
- Nanny 911
- Pick a Puppy
- Real Potential
- Reno vs. Relocate
- Rich Bride Poor Bride
- Room Service
- Sarah 101
- Sell This House
- Selling Houses with Amanda Lamb
- Undercover Boss
- Wild Stories at the San Diego Zoo
- Wild Times at the San Diego Zoo
- You Deserve This House
- You Gotta Eat Here!
- ''Yum''
Affiliates