Blaze

About Blaze

Blaze is a British free-to-air television channel owned by Hearst Networks UK, a joint venture between A&E Networks and Sky Group. Launched on 20 September 2016, it was the first free-to-air channel from A+E Networks in the United Kingdom and the debut market for Blaze as a global brand. Broadcasting a best-of selection from the A&E programme library, the channel offers factual entertainment built around real-life characters and high-stakes situations, from pawn shops and auction houses to mountain wildernesses and blacksmiths' forges. Available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media, it also operates a TV Everywhere streaming service and a growing bouquet of free streaming-only channels.

Blaze holds a distinctive place in British broadcasting history as the first channel launched in the UK by A+E Networks that did not borrow its name from one of the company's American channels. The decision reflected a very British consideration: the abbreviation A&E is commonly understood in the UK to mean the Accident and Emergency department of a hospital, making it an unsuitable brand for an entertainment channel. Instead, the company created an entirely new name through an extensive branding process, settling on a single-syllable word chosen for its positive energy and its ability to define the channel's content.

Launch

Blaze debuted in the UK and Ireland on 20 September 2016, launching on Freeview channel 83 and on Sky, with a TV Everywhere streaming service offering live and catch-up viewing on desktop, mobile and tablet from day one. The launch had been announced the previous month by Heather Jones, general manager of A+E Networks UK, who revealed that she had been campaigning to launch a free-to-air channel since she first interviewed for her job three years earlier. She acknowledged that the company was late to the free-to-air party, following rival launches such as TruTV in 2014 and Spike in 2015, but said she had wanted to secure the right Freeview deal and a properly thought-through content offering rather than rushing to market.

The launch schedule showcased the best of A+E Networks content, with popular American series including Pawn Stars, Mountain Men and American Restoration, alongside crime series The First 48 and Unusual Suspects. Jones described Blaze as the missing piece of the A+E Networks jigsaw in the UK, allowing the company to own its programming for its whole lifecycle, from pay TV premiere through free-to-air repeat to streaming.

Ownership

Blaze is owned by Hearst Networks UK, the joint venture between A&E Networks and Sky Group formerly known as A+E Networks UK. The venture operates a portfolio of channels in the UK and Ireland including Blaze, Crime & Investigation, Sky History and Sky History 2, the last two co-branded with Sky under an earlier agreement between the companies. In 2025 Hearst Networks signed a deal keeping its channels on Sky's satellite and streaming services, with Sky Media continuing to sell advertising on the services exclusively. Of the venture's four channels, Blaze is the only one that is free-to-air; the others remain pay television services.

The joint venture structure gives Blaze the backing of two major media companies: the programming power of A&E Networks, with its deep library of American factual entertainment, and the distribution and marketing strength of Sky, one of Britain's biggest pay TV platforms.

The naming of Blaze

The channel's name emerged from a lengthy branding process involving five creative agencies. Jones said that single-syllable names worked well on the Freeview electronic programme guide, where channels compete for attention in a crowded list, and that Blaze was chosen because it defines the content and carries positive energy. Another favourite during the process was Uncle, but it was rejected as too male-skewing and too close to UKTV's Freeview channel Dave. The final choice gave the company a brand it could roll out internationally, and Blaze has since launched in other markets.

The channel was conceived with a broad audience in mind but with a slight lean towards men. A+E Networks research had shown that female-skewing channels outnumbered male-skewing ones on Freeview, suggesting an opportunity for a factual entertainment channel with an adventurous, masculine tone.

Programming: the best of A&E

Blaze's schedule is built around the most popular series from the A&E Networks library. Pawn Stars, following the Harrison family at their Las Vegas pawn shop, has been the channel's signature series since launch, joined by Mountain Men, following people living off the grid in the American wilderness, and American Restoration, following the restoration of vintage Americana. Crime programming has included The First 48, following homicide detectives in the critical first two days of an investigation, and Unusual Suspects.

Later additions to the schedule included Forged in Fire, the bladesmithing competition series, Storage Wars, following bidders at abandoned storage auctions, American Pickers, following antique hunters across America, and The Curse of Oak Island. The channel's programming is characterised by strong real-life characters, competitive formats and high-stakes situations, a combination that has proved durable with free-to-air audiences.

Original commissions

Having originally aired only imported and repeated programming, Blaze commissioned its first original programme, Flipping Bangers, in 2017. The series, following car dealers and mechanics, premiered on 6 April 2018 as part of the channel's Car Night programming block and ran for three seasons, establishing Blaze as a commissioner of British factual entertainment as well as an acquirer of American series. The commission demonstrated the channel's ambition to develop its own hits tailored to British audiences, particularly in the motoring genre that performs strongly on free-to-air television.

The success of Flipping Bangers encouraged further British commissions and acquisitions, as the channel sought to balance its American backbone with homegrown series that could anchor themed evenings and attract press attention.

Presentation and continuity

Continuity on Blaze was unusual at launch, employing pre-recorded double-headed presentation designed to create a bantering, conversational tone between programmes. The approach was intended to give the new channel a distinctive personality and to make the junctions between programmes feel like entertainment in their own right. It was later dropped in favour of a more traditional announcing style, as the channel matured and its schedule became more established.

The channel's idents have largely been themed around its programming, with launch-era idents featuring the casts of shows such as Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Mountain Men and American Restoration, alongside more generic graphical treatments. The presentation has evolved with the channel's on-air refreshes while retaining the bold, energetic identity established at launch.

Distribution growth

Blaze extended its distribution steadily after launch. On 1 November 2016, six weeks after its debut, it launched on Freesat on channel 162, bringing it to the subscription-free satellite platform's homes and extending its reach significantly. The channel has since been available on Freeview on channel 64, with its timeshift service Blaze +1 on channel 92, and on Sky and Virgin Media, giving it comprehensive coverage across Britain's television platforms.

The channel's free-to-air status has been central to its strategy, allowing it to reach viewers without pay TV subscriptions and to build a large, loyal audience for its factual entertainment output. Its availability across Freeview, Freesat, Sky and Virgin Media makes it one of the most widely distributed factual channels in the UK.

Streaming and FAST channels

From launch, Blaze operated as a TV Everywhere service, with live streaming, catch-up and on-demand viewing delivered to desktop, iOS, Android and Apple TV devices through a cloud-based platform provided by Simplestream. In May 2024 A+E Networks EMEA announced a major enhancement of the Blaze streaming service, extending its partnership with Simplestream to add new connected TV apps for LG, Samsung and VIDAA devices, alongside a revamped website combining catch-up content with live programme information.

The upgrade also brought A+E Networks EMEA's free streaming-only FAST channels to the Blaze platform, including Mystery TV, Inside Crime, History Hunters, Deal Masters and World War TV, allowing viewers to stream themed channels live on any device. The expansion reflected the wider industry shift towards free ad-supported streaming television and positioned Blaze as a streaming brand as well as a linear channel.

International versions

The UK was the debut market for Blaze as a global free-to-air brand, and versions of the channel subsequently launched in other territories. A+E Networks Italy launched its Blaze on Sky Italia in March 2017, while in Spain and Portugal a version of Blaze was launched by AMC Networks International in joint venture with A&E Networks, replacing the A&E channel, in April 2018. The Spanish and Portuguese version closed in April 2022 and was replaced by AMC Break, while the Italian version closed in August 2023. The British and Irish channel remains the flagship and longest-running Blaze service.

Blaze today

A decade after its launch, Blaze remains a fixture of British free-to-air television, offering an accessible mix of American factual entertainment and British commissions to viewers across all major platforms. Its journey from a new brand created to avoid an unfortunate abbreviation to an established multichannel and streaming proposition illustrates the changing economics of British television, in which free-to-air channels serve as shop windows for programme libraries and feeders for streaming services.

For its owners, the channel continues to fulfil the role Heather Jones envisaged at launch: the missing piece of the jigsaw, giving A+E Networks ownership of its content across its whole lifecycle and a direct relationship with free-to-air audiences. With its linear channel, timeshift service, streaming apps and FAST channels, Blaze reaches viewers however they choose to watch, and its brash, energetic brand remains one of the most recognisable in British factual entertainment.