Discovery Channel
Country | United States |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | 230 Park Avenue South New York City[1] |
Programming | |
Language(s) |
|
Picture format | Hulu + Live TV |
Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. As of June 2012[update], Discovery Channel was the third most widely distributed subscription channel in the United States, behind now-sibling channel TBS and The Weather Channel;[3] it is available in 409 million households worldwide, through its U.S. flagship channel and its various owned or licensed television channels internationally.[4]
It initially provided documentary television programming focused primarily on
As of November 2023[update], Discovery Channel is available to approximately 71,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its peak of 99,000,000 in 2011.[8]
History
John Hendricks founded the channel and its parent company, Cable Educational Network Inc., in 1982.[9] Several investors (including the BBC, Allen & Company and Venture America) raised $5 million in start-up capital to launch the network.
The Discovery Channel began broadcasting on June 17, 1985. It was initially available to 156,000 households and broadcast for 12 hours each day between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. About 75 percent of its program content had never been broadcast on U.S. television before.[10] In its early years, the channel's focus centered on educational programming in the form of cultural and wildlife documentaries, and science and historical specials. It also broadcast some Soviet programming during this time, including the news program Vremya.[11] The channel also carried two teletext services over its VBI during this time, Infotext (offering news from the Associated Press, as well as information about agribusiness and agriculture, including commodity prices from the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on a 15-minute delay), and Datavizion (offering trivia, strange news stories, games and a satellite TV guide); both services originated from WHA-TV in Madison, Wisconsin, and were run by the University of Wisconsin-Madison.[12][13]
The channel began to shift its focus in the early 2000s to attract a broader audience, by incorporating more reality-based series focusing on automotive, occupations, and speculative investigation series; though the refocused programming strategy proved popular, Discovery Channel's ratings began to decline by the middle of the decade. Some critics[14] said such shows strayed from Discovery's intention of providing more educationally based shows aimed at helping viewers learn about the world around them. In 2005, Discovery changed its programming focus to include more popular science and historical themes.[15] The network's ratings eventually recovered in 2006.[16]
On January 4, 2006, Discovery Communications announced anchor
In 2007, Discovery Channel's top series included the Emmy Award– and Peabody Award–winning Planet Earth, Dirty Jobs, MythBusters, and Deadliest Catch. Discovery Channel's 2008 lineup included Fight Quest and Smash Lab.[17]
On September 1, 2010,
In December 2015, Discovery Communications launched its TV Everywhere service, Discovery Go, which features live and video-on-demand content from Discovery Channel and eight of its sister networks.[20]
Programming
Programming on the flagship Discovery Channel in the U.S. is primarily focused on reality television series, such as speculative investigation (with shows such as MythBusters, Unsolved History, and Best Evidence), automobiles, and occupations (such as Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch). A popular annual feature on the channel is Shark Week, which airs on Discovery during the summer months.[21]
Discovery has also featured documentaries specifically aimed at families and younger audiences. Other popular programs have included How It's Made, Cash Cab, and Man vs. Wild.
Non-television ventures
Pro Cycling Team
Shortly before the 2004 Tour de France, Discovery Channel announced it would become the primary sponsor of a professional bicycling team starting in 2005, featuring the then-seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, whose wins were voided after he was proven to have cheated via doping. After the 2007 victory with the Spaniard Alberto Contador, Discovery Channel discontinued the cycling sponsorship.[22][23]
Store
The Discovery Channel stores first opened in 1995. By 1997, the chain had 17 US and 1 UK stores. At that time, the chain was building a flagship store in Washington, DC, with three levels themed to various environments—sea and underground, land and outer space, aviation and science—to be opened in February 1998, with another flagship store in San Francisco to be opened in November 1998.[24]
On May 17, 2007, Discovery Communications announced it would close its standalone and mall-based stores. Hudson Group will continue to operate the Discovery Channel Airport Stores, and the website remains in operation.[25]
Telescope
Discovery Channel funded the construction of the Lowell Discovery Telescope, in partnership with Lowell Observatory.[26]
Website
Discovery.com is the Discovery Channel's official website, which primarily provides information on the channel's programming and additional content, including articles, tied to those shows.[27][28]
Marketing and branding
The Discovery Channel's first logo was a television screen picturing a map of the world. For two decades, starting in 1987, the channel's logo incorporated the Discovery wordmark rendered in the Aurora Bold Condensed font with a circular shape in front of it. The circle usually took the form of a rising sun, or an animated version of the Vitruvian Man. Discovery Channel's previous slogans had been "Explore Your World" and "There's No Thrill Like Discovery." Keeping with its changing focus away from strictly educational programming toward reality TV, the slogan was changed in the early 2000s to "Entertain Your Brain".[29]
In 1995, the channel's name was simplified to "Discovery Channel", dropping "The" from its name. A globe became a permanent part of the logo, and an underline was added to the bottom of the logo
On March 31, 2008, Discovery unveiled a new logo, which took effect on-air on April 15, 2008 (coinciding with the fourth season premiere of Deadliest Catch). The new logo was designed by Viewpoint Creative, and integrated Discovery's long-time globe iconography into the "D" lettering of the wordmark, creating a monogram that was usable as a standalone icon. The launch was accompanied by a new advertising campaign, "The World is Just Awesome", which featured scenes of Discovery personalities singing an adapted version of the song "I Love the Mountains". Discovery Channel president John Ford explained that the campaign was intended to "showcase our earned place in the greater pop culture landscape".[30]
In August 2013 (coinciding with Shark Week), the aforementioned monogram became the main on-air logo as part of a new imaging campaign, "Grab Life By the Globe", which was designed to emphasize the channel's current focus on personality-driven programming. The logo was portrayed in promos with visual effects relevant to their respective program.[31]
On April 1, 2019, Discovery unveiled a new logo, maintaining a refreshed version of the previous globe and D monogram. The new branding is accompanied by another new imaging campaign, "The World is Ours", which features scenes of Discovery personalities singing the Blue Swede version of "Hooked on a Feeling". The static version of the globe icon uses a non-standard projection that shows all continents, reflecting Discovery's presence as an international brand.[32]
Related and international units
Related channel
Discovery en Español
Fubo TV Live Stream | |
Discovery en Español is an American
As of February 2015,[update] approximately 6,476,000 American households (5.6% of households with television) receive Discovery en Español.[33]
International
Discovery Channel reaches 431 million homes in 170 countries. Discovery Communications currently offers 29 network brands in 33 languages. In a number of countries, Discovery's channels are available on
Australia and New Zealand
In Australia, the Discovery Channel is part of a six-channel package (not including timeshifts) on digital subscription television, available on
In New Zealand, the Australian version of Discovery is broadcast on
Canada
The Canadian version of Discovery was established in 1995, and is currently owned by a joint venture between
The channel airs similar programming to its U.S. counterpart, but also airs domestically produced programs to comply with local broadcasting regulations (which, in the past, included the daily science newsmagazine Daily Planet cancelled in 2018). Some of its original series (such as, most prominently, How It's Made) have been picked up in the U.S. by Discovery's sister networks (such as Science Channel), but others have not necessarily aired on Discovery's networks. Since 2018, the channel has increasingly aired blocks of fiction programming with science- or technology-oriented themes.
India
Discovery Channel was launched in 1995 in India broadcasting originally in English and Hindi. In June 2010, a Bengali audio track was added to the channel as well as a Telugu track in October 21 of that same year.[34][35] On August 15, 2011, a separate Tamil-language channel was launched[36] with an estimate audience of 10 million households.[37][38] Discovery recently launched Discovery Plus, a new streaming service for India priced at ₹300 per year, offering content in eight languages—
Europe
In the United Kingdom, Discovery Channel UK airs some common programs as the U.S. version, including
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Discovery Channel is part of the
In the Netherlands, the Discovery Channel is included on most cable, IPTV and DVB-T providers. Nearly all of the programs are broadcast in their original language, but they are subtitled in Dutch as is the policy of all Dutch television stations. Some programs and most promotions and program announcements have a Dutch voice-over. In Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, a Flemish Discovery Channel launched (previously the Dutch version was available for IPTV, DVB-C and DVB-S) on cable (and digital) television on October 1, 2009.
In Italy, the Discovery Channel (and HD) is distributed via satellite by Sky Italia as part of the documentary pack. In addition, Italy has four Discovery-branded channels: Discovery Science, Discovery Real Time, Discovery Animal Planet and Discovery Travel and Living.
In
In Spain, the channel shares a schedule and programs with Portugal and is available on most satellite and cable platforms, making it possible to broadcast both in Spanish and Portuguese. In Spain, all programs are dubbed; whereas in Portugal, most of them are subtitled. In addition, Portugal has three Discovery-branded channels:
Southeast Asia
In
The Philippines has its own semifeed derived from the Southeast Asian channel, in which offers regional variations with local advertisements during the commercial breaks.
South Africa
In South Africa, Discovery Channel shares a schedule and programming with all of Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. Discovery Channel and sibling channels
Controversies
RFID
In August 2008, it was reported by The Consumerist that Discovery Channel had preempted an episode of
Enigmatic Malaysia
An ad promoting Enigmatic Malaysia, a special series on the network meant to highlight the cultural heritages of
Shark Week
Romanian RCS&RDS
In November 2012, the Romanian
After four years of absence, on December 30, 2016, the Discovery Channel and its sister channel TLC returned to the RCS&RDS CATV, IPTV and DTH networks.[48]
Eaten Alive
Naked and Afraid
World’s Ultimate Frontier
In February 2024, a group of US congressmen sent a letter to the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery criticizing World's Ultimate Frontier, a joint production between Discovery and Chinese state media outlet China Global Television Network (CGTN), for "whitewashing genocide" of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang. They called on Discovery to "suspend this partnership with CGTN immediately and to abstain from entering into any similar partnership with any other agent of CCP influence."[54]
See also
- Discovery Kids
- Discovery Times Square Exposition
- List of documentary channels
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External links
- Media related to Discovery Channel at Wikimedia Commons