H&I

About H&I

Overview

H&I (Heroes & Icons) is an American digital multicast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Carried primarily on the digital subchannels of local television stations across the United States, the network airs classic television series from the 1950s through the 2000s, with a focus on action-adventure, westerns, crime dramas, science fiction, and superhero programming. Created as a male-targeted companion to Weigel's flagship classic television network MeTV, H&I has grown from a soft launch on a handful of Weigel-owned stations into a nationally distributed network reaching a large share of American television households over the air and on major streaming platforms. Its schedule is built around some of the most enduring genre franchises in television history, including every live-action incarnation of Star Trek, a deep bench of western series, and hard-boiled crime dramas.

History and Launch

H&I was soft-launched with limited advance promotion on September 28, 2014, on the digital subchannels of Weigel-owned stations WWME-CD (channel 23.2) and WCIU-TV (channel 26.4) in Chicago, and WMLW-TV (channel 49.3) in Milwaukee. According to Weigel, the network was created at the request of the affiliates of the company's existing networks, in order to give stations additional programming options. The network also launched in the South Bend, Indiana market, along with carriage on the major cable providers in the Chicago and Milwaukee markets, including Comcast Xfinity, RCN, and Time Warner Cable, using existing carriage arrangements. Weigel opted for a soft launch in order to fine-tune the network's schedule and add programming to the fledgling service. With the schedule stabilized, Weigel moved the H&I affiliation in Milwaukee to the third subchannel of CBS affiliate WDJT-TV (channel 58) on March 5, 2015, with This TV, which had previously occupied the 58.3 space, moving to WMLW-DT3 in its place.

Programming Philosophy

The network operates from Weigel Broadcasting's headquarters on North Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois, and is essentially an offshoot of MeTV, the general-interest classic television network also owned by Weigel. Where MeTV programs broadly across genres, H&I narrows its aim: it targets a generally male audience with shows in the genres of action, police and detective stories, westerns, science fiction, superhero adventures, and war and military programming. The network's programming is sourced primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (formerly CBS Television Distribution), NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (formerly NBCUniversal Television Distribution), and Disney-ABC Domestic Television, along with distributors such as Carsey-Werner. This broad licensing base allows H&I to field a lineup that spans seven decades of television, from black-and-white westerns of the 1950s to procedurals of the 2000s.

The All Trek Programming Block

One of H&I's signature programming events is its All Star Trek programming block, which launched on July 24, 2016, and quickly became a defining feature of the network. The block presents all five live-action Star Trek series in sequence: Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. On Sundays, the block is led off by Star Trek: The Animated Series. The "All Trek" strip airs Monday through Friday as well as on Sunday, giving science-fiction fans a predictable daily destination for the franchise. The block's launch underscored H&I's strategy of eventizing its strongest properties: by dedicating large blocks of the schedule to a single beloved franchise, the network gives viewers a reason to tune in at the same time every day, a tactic borrowed from classic broadcast strip scheduling.

Westerns, Crime Dramas, and Action Series

Beyond Star Trek, H&I's schedule is anchored by classic westerns and crime dramas. Its western offerings have included Maverick, Rawhide, The High Chaparral, Have Gun – Will Travel, Branded, The Rebel, and Trackdown, while its crime and action lineup has featured Nash Bridges, JAG, NUMB3RS, Hill Street Blues, and Combat!. The network has also aired The Greatest American Hero, blending its action and superhero strands, and Renegade, the 1990s syndicated action series. These series skew toward the durable, rewatchable procedural and adventure formats that have historically performed well with male audiences: self-contained episodes, clear heroes and villains, and settings ranging from the Old West to modern city streets and the far reaches of space.

Affiliation Expansion

H&I's national expansion accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2015, when Fox Television Stations expanded its relationship with Weigel beyond the Movies! network by adding H&I to 11 major-market stations. That deal brought the network to viewers in many of the country's largest media markets and cemented its status as a nationally relevant diginet. The network's over-the-air coverage has grown substantially since its 2014 debut, reaching a large majority of American television households through its affiliate stations. Because H&I is carried on subchannels, its picture format is typically 480i standard definition on most over-the-air affiliates, while the network produces a 720p high-definition master feed.

Streaming and Digital Availability

In addition to its over-the-air presence, H&I is widely available on streaming and virtual pay-television platforms. The network was added to Sling TV in October 2020 and began airing on the Frndly TV live-streaming service on April 19, 2022. It is also carried on FuboTV, Philo, and DirecTV Stream, giving cord-cutters multiple ways to watch the network's schedule without an antenna. The network's official website, handitv.com, offers schedule information and details on where to watch. This multi-platform distribution reflects Weigel's broader strategy of making its diginets available everywhere viewers watch television, whether over the air, on cable, or through streaming services.

Ownership and Corporate Structure

H&I is owned by Weigel Broadcasting, the Chicago-based broadcaster founded by Howard Shapiro, and operates under the H&I National Limited Partnership for licensing purposes. The network's key executives are drawn from Weigel's leadership, including Vice Chairman Neal Sabin, who oversees the company's national networks, and President Norman Shapiro. H&I sits within a growing family of Weigel national networks that includes MeTV, MeTV+, MeTV Toons, Start TV, Movies!, Catchy Comedy, Story Television, Dabl, and WEST. This portfolio approach lets Weigel target distinct audience niches — general classic television, male-skewed action, female-skewed procedurals, comedy, history, and more — across the digital subchannel landscape.

Brand Identity

The network brands itself with the slogan "All Eyes on H&I," a play on the heroes-and-icons theme that runs through its programming. Its on-air identity emphasizes bold, masculine imagery drawn from its western, crime, and science-fiction series, positioning the channel as a destination for viewers who grew up on Saturday-morning serials, prime-time action hours, and syndicated adventure shows. The brand's visual presentation leans on the iconography of its most famous franchises, particularly Star Trek, whose imagery has become closely associated with the network through the All Trek block.

Programming Sources and Licensing

H&I's lineup is assembled from licensing agreements with several of the largest program distributors in American television. Its series come primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures, NBCUniversal Syndication Studios, and Disney-ABC Domestic Television, with additional titles from distributors such as Carsey-Werner. This multi-source approach gives the network access to some of the most valuable genre franchises ever produced: the complete live-action Star Trek catalog through CBS Media Ventures, classic westerns and action series from across the studio libraries, and long-running procedurals that have cycled through broadcast syndication for decades. The network produces a 720p high-definition master feed, though most over-the-air affiliates carry it in 480i standard definition widescreen, a common trade-off in the subchannel business where bandwidth is shared with the station's primary channel. By licensing broadly rather than relying on a single studio, H&I has kept its schedule fresh and resilient, rotating series in and out while keeping its core franchises — Star Trek, the westerns, and the crime dramas — as permanent anchors.

Significance in the Diginet Landscape

H&I's launch in 2014 came during a boom period for digital multicast networks, as broadcasters sought to monetize the extra spectrum made available by the digital television transition. By carving out a male-skewed action niche distinct from the broader classic-TV appeal of MeTV, Weigel demonstrated how subchannel networks could fragment audiences by genre, much as cable networks had done decades earlier. The network's success — including its Fox Television Stations deal and its streaming carriage — helped validate the genre-specific diginet model and paved the way for Weigel's later launches, including the female-targeted Start TV, the comedy-focused Catchy Comedy, and the history-based Story Television. For viewers, H&I remains one of the few places on free television where classic action, western, and science-fiction series air in predictable daily strips, preserving a style of television viewing that has largely disappeared from cable.