A long-awaited merger between two cable channels has been finalized...uh, finally.

A&E Networks aquired Lifetime as part of a deal between Hearst, Disney and NBC Universal. The deal makes Lifetime a sub-company in the A&E empire.

The deal puts Disney and Hearst in the front row seats of both networks with NBC in a distant third. This means that NBC can sell its holdings in Lifetime to the other two parties within the next 15 years.

There doesn't seem to be any serious announcement or confirmations of a name or brand change under their new owners. Lifetime will still be called Lifetime.

But could this mean some serious programming changes are in Lifetime's future? I have a Y chromosome, so I'm not part of Lifetime's demographic, but they don't seem to have a lot of reality shows on their rosters while A&E is chock full of them, which have helped bank some major coin in the last fiscal year.

Does this mean more reality shows for the ladies' network and less made-for-TV movies about oppressed and emotional women?