[6] The following year, the Cable Health Network was launched as a full-time channel in June 1982 with a range of health-related programming.

[9] The channel suffered from low viewership, with a poll reportedly finding that some TV viewers erroneously believed it carried religious content.

[9] In addition to overhauling Lifetime's signature talk show, Attitudes, by hiring a new producer and refocusing it on current women's issues, Fili acquired the rights to syndicated network hits like Moonlighting and L.A. Law.

She also oversaw the production of the first Lifetime movies ever made, along with carrying the final three seasons of the Blair Brown–starring dramedy The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd from NBC after the network canceled it.

This helped Lifetime take advantage of a known bias in the Nielsen ranking system that favored "upscale" couples who shared a television set.

[14] However, Lifetime published advertisements in some of the markets that would be affected – including Eugene, Oregon and Newport, Rhode Island – informing customers that TCI was removing the only network that was made for women.

[14] Colorado representative Patricia Schroeder called TCI's decision a "power play" between TCI chief executive John Malone and Fox executive Rupert Murdoch, and said, "Women kind of feel like they're being rolled over so that the guys who run these companies can make more money.

TCI's vice president of programming was quoted in The New York Times as saying, "I resent the implication that they are the women's network.

TCI senior vice president Robert Thomson stated that the reaction was "laughably out of scale," based on the fact that less than 10 percent of Lifetime's audience would be affected.

The network states that it "is committed to offering the highest quality entertainment and information programming, and advocating a wide range of issues affecting women and their families.

"[21] In the past, Lifetime used to air several game shows in daytime and early evenings, including Supermarket Sweep, Shop 'til You Drop, Rodeo Drive, Born Lucky, and Debt.

The network currently airs a mix of second-run syndicated series (such as How I Met Your Mother and Grey's Anatomy) during the daytime hours.

A movie-focused spin-off channel, known informally as the Lifetime Movie Network or "LMN" due to its frequent rebrands, was launched in 1998.

From its inaugural season in 1997 to 2000, Lifetime was one of three broadcasters of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA), alongside NBC and ESPN.

[29] In February 2017, A&E Networks acquired an equity stake in the National Women's Soccer League, and announced that Lifetime would broadcast a weekly, Saturday-afternoon game beginning in the 2017 season.

[32] On May 30, 2012, Canadian television broadcaster Shaw Media announced that it would rebrand Showcase Diva, a Category B subscription specialty channel as the Canadian version of Lifetime under a licensing agreement with A+E Networks; Showcase Diva relaunched as Lifetime on August 27, 2012.

The channel began broadcasting on June 14, 2013, 6.00 p.m with Astro and StarHub TV being two of the first providers to carry Lifetime in Asia.

[37] It supplanted the now-defunct Sony Spin channel (formerly known as Locomotion from 1996 to 2005 and Animax from 2005 to 2011) on the Amazonas satellite serving South America.

[38] On April 25, 2022, it was announced the channel alongside Lifetime Play would cease transmission in Africa by the end of May.

[42] In 2019, A&E Television Networks was scheduled to launch a version of Lifetime for the Middle East & Northern Africa region.

Overall carriage has declined as providers choose instead to carry high definition networks rather than standard definition-only channels such as LRW without original programming, and Lifetime itself promoting on-demand access to past series, along with broadcast venues such as Start TV, the defunct Twist and TrueReal subchannel networks, and ad-supported streaming FAST channels.