The National Content and Technology Cooperative (NCTC) has signed a carriage deal with Dan Abrams’ Law & Crime Network that will see the true crime television channel distributed on some small- and medium-sized cable television operators.
The agreement runs through 2026 and will allow NCTC’s member cable operators to distribute its linear channel and video on-demand library. NCTC has around 700 cable operators providing television service to suburban and rural communities throughout the country.
“Our agreement with NCTC is another important step to continue our rapid expansion,” Andrew Eisbrough, the chief operating officer and general counsel at Law & Crime Network, said in a statement on Tuesday. “We are looking forward to delivering our compelling and unique content to more audiences than ever before.”
Law & Crime Network has been expanding its presence on pay TV systems over the last few months, to include distribution agreements with Dish Network and Verizon Fios. The channel has covered several high-profile trials, including those involving celebrities Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow and the murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.
According to a spokesperson, Law & Crime Network grabbed more than 3.5 million concurrent viewers during the verdict phase of Depp’s trial, and had more than 1 billion views across its linear and digital platforms.
The deal with NCTC comes less than a month after Law & Crime Network acquired the television rights to “Cops: Reloaded,” an offshoot of the once-popular true-crime show that aired for two decades on Fox. During its initial run on Fox, “Cops” was one of the most-watched programs on prime-time television.
Law & Crime Network primarily competes with the E. W. Scripps’ litigation-focused channel Court TV, which offers similar coverage of high-profile trials (the two channels share pool feeds from many of the court cases). The channel was founded by Dan Abrams, a lawyer who started his television career at Court TV and who later founded the media-focused website Mediaite. (Abrams is also the chief legal analyst for ABC News and hosts his own prime-time commentary show on Nexstar’s NewsNation.)
In addition to the linear cable network, Law & Crime Network operates a standalone ad-supported streaming channel called Law & Crime Rewind that is freely available on services like the Roku Channel, Comcast’s Xumo Play, Sinclair’s STIRR, Plex, Local Now and Samsung TV Plus.
