Decades was an American digital broadcast television network launched in 2015 as a joint venture between CBS Television Stations and Weigel Broadcasting. The network positioned itself as “the ultimate TV time capsule,” offering classic television programming from the 1950s through the early 1990s on digital subchannels of local stations nationwide.[1] The network ceased to exist under the Decades name on March 27, 2023, when Weigel Broadcasting rebranded it as Catchy Comedy, an all-comedy format featuring classic sitcoms.[1]
Design and History
Decades launched on Memorial Day 2015, following an October 21, 2014 announcement by CBS Corporation and Weigel Broadcasting detailing plans for the new service.[2] The network’s original programming concept featured daily themed blocks repeated four times a day, bookended by Through the Decades, an hour-long program hosted by Bill Kurtis that explored historical events and news using archival footage.[3]
The Decades wordmark was a bold, condensed sans-serif lockup that appeared on network graphics and promotional materials. The logo remained consistent throughout the network’s eight-year run, even as distribution shifted. In September 2018, Decades was replaced on CBS-owned stations by Start TV, another Weigel-owned diginet, with Weigel’s own stations taking over carriage in Los Angeles and Chicago.[4] The network later expanded through a multi-year agreement with Fox Television Stations.[4]
In February 2023, Weigel announced the Decades brand would be retired. The network rebranded to Catchy Comedy on March 27, 2023, with the tagline “Catch All the Laughs.”[1] The former Decades website, decades.com, now redirects to catchycomedy.com.[5]
Meaning and Symbolism
The Decades name directly referenced the network’s programming mission: classic television spanning multiple decades of American broadcast history. The network’s launch positioning as “the ultimate TV time capsule” reinforced this concept of preserving and showcasing television’s past.[1] The wordmark itself used bold typography designed for legibility in electronic program guides and on-screen graphics, where the logo competed for attention among numerous digital subchannel offerings. No official documentation of the logo’s designer or specific color symbolism has been published.
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