Ion Plus

The network launched on February 19, 2007, focusing on generalized health and lifestyle programming; the network replaced a three-hour timeshift channel which depending on geographical location, carried what was then called i: Independent Television's Eastern or Pacific time zone feeds.[3] Ion Media Networks originally planned to name the network "iHealth" to match i's name, until it was subsequently rebranded as Ion Television in September of that year.[4][5]

On January 14, 2008, as part of a carriage agreement that allowed the provider to continue to carry Ion Television, Ion Media Networks reached an agreement with Comcast to carry both Ion Life and its children's-targeted network Qubo on its systems.[6][7] Subsequently, in May 2010, Ion Media signed carriage agreements with Advanced Cable Communications and Comcast's system in Colorado Springs, Colorado to add Ion Life to digital tiers in several markets.[8]

Even though Ion Life's parent network Ion Television overhauled its logo as part of an extensive rebranding on September 8, 2008, Ion Life retained its existing logo – a green variant of the logo Ion Television used from 2007 to 2008 – and graphics package, the latter of which remained in use until 2011. In February 2010, the network added theatrically released feature films to its schedule, usually airing from 7:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. Eastern Time (the airtimes vary, sometimes starting earlier or ending later depending on the length and number of the films) on Monday through Friday evenings. By 2012, the number of films featured on the network had decreased, with more lifestyle-oriented programming being added to its prime time schedule; films returned to the lineup full-time the following year.

logo from 2017 to 2019 as Ion Life

On March 27, 2017, Ion Life's logo was made over to match Ion Television's logo. Throughout 2017 and 2018, Ion Media has begun to purchase several stations which have become channel sharing partners with their stations after the 2016 FCC spectrum auction, specifically to exploit those stations' existing must-carry pay TV coverage to allow the addition of Ion Life to cable and satellite systems, which has been refused in the past as a digital subchannel (Ion's main channel is traditionally the only channel seen on those systems). Many of these stations were formerly owned-and-operated stations associated with the Trinity Broadcasting Network, which has begun a slow withdrawal from over-the-air broadcasting in non-critical markets.

On September 24, 2020, the E. W. Scripps Company announced an agreement to buy Ion Media for $2.65 billion.[9] The transaction, which closed on January 7, 2021,[10] saw Ion Television, Ion Plus, Qubo and infomercial service Shop Ion integrated into Scripps' Katz Broadcasting subsidiary (operator of fellow multicast networks Court TV, Court TV Mystery, Bounce TV, Laff and Grit).[11]

On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it will discontinue Ion Plus, Qubo and Shop Ion effective February 28. The spectrum allocated to the networks on the former Ion Media stations will be repurposed to carry the Katz-owned networks starting March 1, with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expire throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carry a Katz-owned network, some will be offloaded to the Ion stations to free up limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition.[12]

From 2007 to 2019 Ion Life primarily aired cooking, home decor, DIY programming and car shows (with an occasional movie mixed in).

In 2019, Ion Life switched to a format of airing day-long marathons of various hour-long drama programs as a complement to sister network Ion Television.[13]

On September 8, 2020, the "Qubo Kids Corner" block began airing on Ion Plus during Monday mornings due to E/I commitments since they have five stations (WFPX, WDLI, WSFJ, WLWC, WIFS) that are their own stations and not on Ion's digital subchannels.

Ion Plus was the former name of a secondary national feed of Ion Television provided to cable providers starting in 2005 filled with Ion Life programming in periods featuring paid programming. To address fears by providers, the network was used to fill timeslots taken up by paid programming during the "i:Independent Television" era of the network with previous PAX era series and other programming, mainly either from the public domain or with low purchase rights or barter arrangements. At its peak, "i" programmed ¾ of its 24-hour broadcast day with paid programming, and eventually a management shift slowly reduced the network's dependence on informercials and their revenue.

As of November 2015, Ion Plus has current and pending affiliation agreements with 65 television stations encompassing 34 states and the District of Columbia.[14] The network has an estimated national reach of 58.29% of all households in the United States (or 182,130,362 Americans with at least one television set). Like parent network Ion Television, the network's stations almost exclusively consist of network-owned stations. Ion Life's programming is available by default via a national feed that is distributed directly to select cable and satellite providers in markets without a local Ion Television station that carries the network.

Ion Plus does not have any over-the-air stations in several major markets, most notably Baltimore, Maryland; Toledo, Ohio; San Diego, California; Charlotte, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Cincinnati, Ohio. A key factor in the network's limited national broadcast coverage is the fact that Ion Media Networks does not actively seek over-the-air distribution for the network on the digital subchannels of other network-affiliated stations (in contrast, its parent network Ion Television – which had similarly limited national coverage following the digital television transition – has begun subchannel-only affiliation arrangements through agreements with NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations' Telemundo Station Group subsidiary and Media General during 2014 and 2015[15]), with very few stations that contractually carry the network's programming (with limited exceptions in markets and Anchorage, Alaska). As a result, Ion Media Networks owns the vast majority of the stations within Ion Plus's affiliate body.