The Nest

About The Nest

The Nest is an American digital broadcast television network owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group that airs reality, true-crime, home-improvement, and celebrity family programming. Launched on October 30, 2023, the network was built around what Sinclair calls comfort-food television: familiar, easy-to-watch library series drawn largely from the A and E Networks catalog. The Nest replaced the sports network Stadium on broadcast stations across the country, and at launch it was available in more than half of all American over-the-air television households. It has since expanded its affiliate footprint and grown into the reality pillar of Sinclair's national networks portfolio.

History and Launch

Sinclair announced the launch of The Nest on October 10, 2023, revealing plans for a new free national broadcast network premiering October 30. The timing was tied to a corporate transition: Sinclair had sold its controlling stake in the sports network Stadium to Silver Chalice, the company controlled by Chicago White Sox and Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf, in May 2023, and The Nest was designed to take over Stadium's distribution on television stations nationwide. The announcement positioned the channel as a blend of fan-favorite genres aimed at broad family audiences. Launching on October 30, The Nest debuted with daytime and primetime lineups assembled from hit library series, and Sinclair promised to reveal additional affiliate stations in the months that followed.

Replacing Stadium

The Nest's launch was inseparable from the winding down of Stadium's over-the-air presence. Stadium had begun in 2014 as the American Sports Network before rebranding, and Sinclair's sale of its controlling stake to Reinsdorf's Silver Chalice in May 2023 left the company with broadcast spectrum to fill. Rather than rebuilding a sports channel, Sinclair chose to pivot the distribution toward general entertainment, reasoning that reality and true-crime library programming would draw larger and more consistent audiences than a standalone sports multicast network. Stadium continued in other forms after the sale, but its broadcast station footprint was replaced by The Nest, giving the new network instant clearance in markets across the country on day one.

Comfort-Food Programming

Sinclair describes The Nest's schedule as comfort-food programming, a mix of home-improvement, true-crime, factual reality series, and celebrity-driven family shows designed to appeal to viewers of all ages. The daytime schedule features classic episodes of home-renovation series such as Flipping Boston, Flipping San Diego, and Sell This House, alongside true-crime staples American Justice and Cold Case Files. Primetime leans into celebrity family dramas and blue-collar reality hits, including Growing Up Gotti, Ozzy and Jack's World Detour, Steven Seagal: Lawman, Ice Road Truckers, Dog the Bounty Hunter, and Wahlburgers. The lineup is deliberately familiar, built from series that ran for multiple seasons on cable and retain strong recognition with mainstream audiences.

The A and E Networks Library

The backbone of The Nest's schedule comes from the libraries of A and E Networks, principally the A and E and History channels. The licensing arrangement gave the young network immediate access to long-running franchises with deep episode counts, a crucial advantage for a channel that needs to fill a full broadcast day. Series such as Dog the Bounty Hunter, Ice Road Truckers, and Cold Case Files originated on A and E, while the home-improvement and celebrity-family titles fit the network's comfort-food positioning. Drawing on an established cable library allowed The Nest to launch with a schedule that felt proven rather than experimental, and the network's programming team has continued to mine the catalog for themed blocks and marathon events.

Ownership and the Sinclair Portfolio

The Nest is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group and operated through its Sinclair Television Group subsidiary, with company leadership including executive chairman David Amy and president and chief executive officer Christopher Ripley. It joined a national portfolio that already included Comet, the science-fiction network; Charge!, the action and adventure network; and TBD, the millennial-focused channel that would later become Roar; alongside the Tennis Channel. Sinclair's chief innovation officer Scott Ehrlich has described the networks as a stack of complementary brands, and The Nest was explicitly presented as adding another layer to that portfolio. In mid-2025, Sinclair reported that its four multicast networks posted the highest year-over-year coverage growth among all Nielsen-rated broadcast networks.

Distribution and Availability

At launch, The Nest was available in more than 50 percent of all American over-the-air television households, including the major markets of New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, and Seattle-Tacoma. The network reports broadcast coverage of roughly 82 percent of television households as its affiliate base has grown. A significant expansion came on February 20, 2024, when Sinclair announced that Tegna had agreed to carry the network on 35 stations across the country, extending The Nest into markets where Sinclair itself has no broadcast presence. Like its siblings, the network is distributed on the digital subchannels of local stations, with channel numbers varying by market.

Target Audience

The Nest is aimed at broad family audiences seeking familiar, feel-good unscripted television. Its home-improvement blocks appeal to daytime viewers, its true-crime series draw the large and growing audience for justice programming, and its celebrity family shows target primetime viewers who follow personality-driven reality. The network's positioning avoids the niche genre targeting of some multicast competitors, instead betting that proven cable franchises will attract viewers across age groups. Series such as Dog the Bounty Hunter and Ice Road Truckers bring established fan bases with them, while the home-renovation titles offer the low-stakes comfort viewing that defines the channel's brand. As a free over-the-air service, it also serves cord-cutters and antenna households looking for recognizable programming without a pay-TV subscription.

Growth and Momentum

Sinclair has reported steady audience growth for its multicast portfolio since The Nest's launch, noting that the national broadcast networks grew their combined audiences by 23 percent in the year leading up to the channel's debut. The company has continued to invest in the networks' lineups and distribution, announcing in mid-2025 record-breaking season-to-date ratings across Charge!, Comet, Roar, and The Nest. The Tegna affiliation deal of February 2024 was an early milestone, demonstrating that station groups beyond Sinclair were willing to clear the network on valuable subchannel space. The Nest's growth has been driven by the same playbook as its siblings: recognizable library programming, expanding affiliate coverage, and coordinated promotion across Sinclair's station footprint.

Picture Format and Technical Details

The Nest is mastered in 1080p high definition, though most subchannel affiliates carry it in 480i standard-definition widescreen, in line with the bandwidth limits of multicast distribution. The network broadcasts in English nationwide through its affiliate footprint. Because channel positions differ from market to market, viewers are encouraged to rescan their television tuners periodically to keep subchannel lineups up to date. The network's website provides a channel finder and a live stream of its programming for viewers who prefer to watch online or on connected devices.

How to Watch

The Nest is available free over the air with an antenna on the digital subchannel of a participating local station; the network's website offers a channel finder to locate the right channel number in each market. A live webcast is available at the network's official website, thenest.com, which also publishes the daily schedule and program descriptions. As with Sinclair's other multicast networks, the channel is aimed at antenna households and cord-cutters, and its comfort-food lineup of reality, true-crime, and home-improvement series is designed to be easy to find and easy to watch.