A+E replaces Bio with FYI

US cable group A+E Networks will replace Bio Channel with a new lifestyle network in a bid to provide a “personalised experience” to viewers.

FYI will target a younger demographic and include lifestyle programming across a range of interests, as well as using digital platforms to engage new audiences. A+E said the channel’s new name could stand for ‘For your inspiration, for your imagination or for your innovation.”

Jana Bennett, the former BBC exec who joined earlier this year,  will become president of FYI as well as LMN and will oversee the new channel, which currently has over 30 new shows being developed for it. The network will be available in 70 million homes and is slated to launch in summer 2014.

Nancy Dubuc, president and CEO of A+E Networks, said the launch is “the next phase in our strategy to bolster the A+E Networks portfolio by evolving and maturing our brands to allow for future growth in the rapidly changing media landscape.”

She added that the new net would be an “upscale network with a younger and more modern sensibility than what we’ve seen on traditional lifestyle networks,” to appeal to online audiences.

Bio Channel was first launched as Biography Channel in 1999 before being relaunched and renamed in 2007. It will continue to exist on selected platforms in the US, A+E added, while decisions over the channel’s future outside the US are yet to be made.