Katz Broadcasting announced the formation of Escape and sister network Grit on April 3, 2014, with a formal launch scheduled for that summer.

Although Scripps assumed ownership of the group upon the purchase's completion on October 2, Katz will remain headquartered in Marietta, Georgia as an autonomous division of its new corporate parent.

Shortly before the network's launch, on August 1, 2014, the network acquired the syndication rights to three true crime series – Forensic Files, Snapped, and the Dennis Farina run of Unsolved Mysteries – through respective deals with Trifecta Entertainment & Media, NBCUniversal Television Distribution, and Cosgrove/Meurer Productions for its initial schedule.

[15][16] In May 2016, the network acquired the syndication rights to American Greed and Corrupt Crimes, under agreements with NBCUniversal Television Distribution and Bellum Entertainment.

In conjunction, Katz announced the network's entry into original programming by entering into a production agreement with Bellum to develop five true crime shows for first-run broadcast on the network; these programs included Lady Killers (about women killing someone close to them), Murderous Affairs (centering on "lethal love affairs"), It Takes a Killer (which profiles infamous murders), Deep Undercover (a series hosted by Joe Pistone, that profiles real-life undercover missions), and They Kill for It (which deals with passion-motivated and fully planned killings).

[17] Among the five announced shows, however, only Deep Undercover actually aired, due to various issues which did not involve Escape or Katz, but Bellum unable to produce the shows as talent was unpaid for previous Bellum productions, and their refusal to continue working with any further Bellum-involved productions; that company went bankrupt, then out of business, in 2019.

[24] On July 17, 2014, Katz announced affiliation deals with the Cox Media Group to carry Escape on WAXN-TV in Charlotte, North Carolina and KOKI-TV in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

On May 18, 2015, the E. W. Scripps Company signed a multi-year agreement with Katz Broadcasting to expand distribution of Escape and sister networks Grit and Laff, which extended Escape's availability to 70 million homes (covering 60% of the U.S.), adding the network to Scripps-owned stations in markets such as Detroit (WMYD); Indianapolis (WRTV); Kansas City (KMCI-TV), Cincinnati (WCPO-TV), and Milwaukee (WTMJ-TV).