TV Guide Network (formerly known as
The TV Guide Channel,
Prevue Channel and
Prevue Guide) is a
American cable network owned by
Lionsgate. It provides, on the bottom half of the screen, a scrolling grid that lists
television channels and the
television programs and
films currently showing on them. On the top half of the screen are featured programs usually featuring movie previews, celebrity news, and commercials. The majority of the network's audience comes from
channel surfers looking to see what's on and upcoming on their cable and satellite system's
channel lineup.
Although the listing scroll continues to be the major feature of the channel, TV Guide Network has repositioned itself as a destination channel for television news and information through their original series and specials, mainly because of on-screen
electronic program guides provided by satellite services and cable boxes,
digital video recorders like
TiVo which often obviate the need as programming is typically recorded automatically and in advance, and listings on the
Internet, which offer the information in a speedier manner and with more detail than TVGN's grid listings. TV Guide offers its own EPG software on
digital cable boxes, called
TV Guide Interactive, which is similarly structured like TV Guide Network listings-wise.
A gridless version of the channel, featuring the channel in full-screen, is also provided to those providers who place the channel on a digital tier, where by the nature of having an on-screen program guide with the digital cable box, the channel's function would be duplicated, and the need for a guide channel for analog-only viewers is negated.