Court TV Sets May 8 Launch, Unveils Lineup

Scripps-owned Katz Networks today announced that the new Court TV will premiere across all platforms on Wednesday, May 8, at 9 a.m. ET. The company also revealed the programming schedule for the iconic brand’s return and launched the new courtv.com today.

The Court TV weekday schedule will kick-off daily at 9 a.m. ET with live, gavel-to-gavel coverage of the most important and compelling trials being conducted across America.

The team is composed of seasoned journalists and lawyers who have successfully blended television and legal careers. Yodit Tewolde has the morning shift at the Court TV news desk, anchoring trial coverage from 9 a.m. to noon. Julie Grant hosts from noon to 3 p.m., then Seema Iyer takes the chair from 3 to 6 p.m. The first trial the network will be covering will be announced shortly.

When the court recesses for the day, the pillar of the network’s primetime will be Closing Arguments with Vinnie Politan, weeknights at 6-9 ET. A lawyer and former prosecutor who became an Emmy Award-winning legal journalist, Politan is Court TV’s lead anchor. He’ll host the nightly show, leading viewers through the key events and moments of the legal day, joined by Court TV’s team of anchors, legal correspondents and veteran crime and justice journalists, along with attorneys, investigators and experts who will provide legal insights, opinion, discussion and debate.

“What SportsCenter is to sports, Closing Arguments will be to the legal world,” Politan said.  “Viewers will get nightly highlights of the trial we’re covering plus we’ll also tick through news from the other major true crime stories of the day.”

In addition to the network’s anchor team, Court TV’s team of legal correspondents and reporters includes Chanley Painter, Ted Rowlands and Julia Jenaé. Overseeing Court TV programming are vice presidents and managing editors John Alleva and Scott Tufts, who have a combined 40 years of experience producing trials for Court TV and CNN and who wrote the book how to produce trials on television.

For nearly two decades, Court TV brought high-profile courtroom dramas into American living rooms. Continuing that legacy, the new Court TV will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week and will be carried on cable, satellite, over-the-air and over-the-top.

Court TV already has agreements with TV station group owners for carriage reaching more than 50% of U.S. television households at launch through over-the-air broadcast, with concurrent cable carriage reaching 25% of U.S. cable homes. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Miami, Washington and Detroit are among the major markets in which Court TV will be seen; more distribution agreements will be announced before launch.