Bravo was founded by Charles Dolan, who had brought cable service to Manhattan in the 1960s and gone on to launch Home Box Office in the 1970s. In 1973, after leaving HBO, Dolan founded Cablevision Corporation. Rainbow Media Group (RMG), a Cable-vision programming subdivision, was formed in 1980, with Bravo as its first network. It should be noted that current RMG CEO Joshua Sapan had served as Bravo’s president for a number of years. RMG went on to launch American Movie Classics, MuchMusic, Independent Film Channel, Romance Classics (which became WE: Women’s Entertainment in 2001), and several regional SportsChannel networks. As of 2002, Bravo was RMG’s second largest network (after American Movie Classics), reaching more than 60,000 cable households. RMG (along with its international partners) also operates Bravo channels in Canada and Brazil. Bravo’s extensive website, www.bravotv.com, provides complete, annotated program schedules, as well as arts news and links to related merchandise such as VHS and DVD versions of the network’s featured programming.

Bravo has been acclaimed within both arts and business circles for staying close to its original programming mission. Its ability to accomplish this, as well as to remain commercial-free, is due in large part to a gradual move from cable’s premium tier to its less risky basic tier during the 1980s and early 1990s. Basic cable’s per-subscriber (or “sub”) fees offer a guaranteed income source for Bravo, since all basic tier subscribers of systems carrying the network must pay for the channel regardless of whether or not they actually watch it.

Bravo has also successfully tapped into public television-style corporate sponsorship. In 1992 Bravo signed an underwriting deal with Texaco that increased its performing arts budget by 20 percent. For Texaco, basic cable sponsorship held a similar appeal to PBS sponsorship: conveying an image of populist support for the arts. The first Texaco Showcase presentation, Romeos and Juliets, billed as a “modern interpretation of the Prokofiev ballet score,” was aired less than a month after the sponsorship deal was signed. Other corporate underwriters, including Kodak and Mercedes-Benz, were to follow.

Initially committed to a schedule of costly live arts performances (notably theater, opera, ballet, classical music, and jazz), Bravo began early on to add foreign and independent films to its schedule, reaching a balance of 50 percent arts programming and 50 percent film by the mid-1990s. It began to develop shorter in-house studio programs, including the highly popular Inside the Actors Studio, as well as Champlin on Film and Bravo Profiles to complement its longer film and arts offerings. Clearly this was a successful programming mix—and it no doubt brought many viewers to cable who otherwise would have seen little reason to subscribe. Bravo’s programmers and marketers were aware that few parts of the United States outside of larger metropolitan areas offer regular access to arts events or even films other than mainstream Hollywood fare.

Indeed, so popular was this programming mix that in 1994, RMG launched a Bravo spin-off network, the Independent Film Channel (IFC), which is offered on both the expanded basic and premium tiers, as well as direct satellite. IFC focuses exclusively on films (including short films rarely seen on television) and film-related programs (such as At the Angelika and Dinner for Five, which feature interviews, chat, and previews). IFC’s schedule and productions are guided by a Filmmakers Advisory Board made up of notable film industry figures Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Tim Robbins, Joel and Ethan Coen, Martha Coolidge, Jim Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Ed Saxon, Steven Soderbergh, and Jodie Foster.

In the tradition of more established premium cable networks such as HBO and Showtime, IFC began to invest in film production almost immediately so as to guarantee first television rights to new productions. IFC Entertainment has funded numerous independent theatrical films. The first, Gray’s Anatomy, was released in theaters in 1997, and was shown on the television network a year later. More recent notable IFC productions have included Kimberly Peirce’s Oscar-winning Boys Don’t Cry and Karyn Kusama’s Girlfight. Another division of IFC Entertainment, Next Wave Films, was established to provide finishing funds and other support to emerging filmmakers from the United States and abroad working on low-budget, feature-length films. IFC Entertainment also produces live coverage of film festivals and other special events.

As IFC continues to build its reputation as a home for foreign and independent films, Bravo has expanded farther into genres traditionally described as “quality television.” Over the years, Bravo has featured critically acclaimed off-network dramas such as Max Headroom, Twin Peaks, thirtysomething, Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere, and Moonlighting. In summer 2002, Bravo debuted the first-run series, Breaking News, an ensemble drama about a 24-hour news network. Another addition to Bravo’s schedule is the popular British antique appraisal show, Antiques Roadshow.

Bravo also has provided a home for programming considered too risky or eclectic for more mainstream channels. For example, in June 1997, it aired productions of iconoclastic British playwright Dennis Potter’s last two plays, Karaoke and Cold Lazarus. In summer 1999, it began airing episodes of controversial filmmaker and telejournalist Michael Moore’s series, The Awful Truth. And in summer 2003, Bravo drew a great amount of attention from the broad television audience by introducing the comical and somewhat controversial program, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Queer Eye features the antics of a team of gay men helping a hapless straight man get his life together (and hopefully win a woman’s affections) through instruction in fashion, hairstyle, home decorating, and gourmet cooking.

Bravo also has been involved in public service initiatives. Its annual program, Unfinished Stories, has been a fundraiser for AIDS caregiving organizations. Bravo in the Classroom provides a combination of arts programming and resource materials for secondary schools. It was one of the founding members of Cable in the Classroom, educational programming provided free of charge to schools by local cable companies. Bravo’s On with the Show (theater), Bravo for Books (reading), and Public Art Works (visual art) campaigns have offered support to various youth organizations. Bravo has supported local arts groups through its Arts-Break, Community Cinema, and Arts Partnership programs, which give airtime to local arts and media productions.

In November 2002, in a $1.2 billion transaction, NBC acquired Bravo from Cablevision Corp.—augmenting cable holdings that already included CNBC and MSNBC (IFC was not part of this transaction and remained part of Rainbow Media Holdings, a division of Cablevision). The merger facilitated the showing of shortened episodes of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy during NBC prime time.

Bravo represents an extraordinary success story dating back to the early days of satellite cable. It quickly identified its programming goals and has strived resourcefully to adhere to those goals. While it can be said the contemporary version of this cable network represents a more broadly focused programming mix than the one initially envisioned, it must also be said that a large portion of this programming still is unlikely to be found elsewhere on U.S. television. Bravo, along with its sister channel, IFC, appears poised to hold its ground in the competitive multichannel cable/satellite television environment of the early 21st century.