Discovery Channel

Discovery Channel is the name of an originally American, now broadcast worldwide TV station family whose programs dedicated exclusively to documentaries. Discovery Channel is part of the international Discovery society. Meanwhile, Discovery Channel is broadcast in 155 countries in 33 languages.

Formation

Discovery Channel was founded on June 17, 1985 by John Hendricks. Three years later, the station had 32.1 million subscribers. In the following years, the station continued to develop and has since been broadcast in more and more countries. While in the early years of a temporary program was broadcast, Discovery Channel now broadcasts around the clock, both via satellite and cable television as well as IPTV.

On November 30, 2012, a HD simulcast offshoot started in on the platform of Sky Germany. There, this replaced the previous channels Discovery HD, which showed a different program window as the Discovery Channel.

Program

The program is broadcast in many countries in the pay-TV and free-TV world. Mostly localized for the market, but are mainly productions from the U.S. broadcast.

Discovery Channel Germany

Since 27 August 1996, the Discovery Channel is in Germany on the air. First on the TV platform of DF1. Following the merger of DF1 with Premiere to Premiere World in 1999, the channel remained in the program offer includes and sends up today. The station currently has over two million subscribers in Germany. In addition to the TV for the Discovery Channel since July 1995, present on the Internet since July 28, 1996 in German language. Until the bankruptcy of Kirch Media and Kirch PayTV in the spring of 2002, the Discovery Channel, a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and the Kirch PayTV was, both companies held 50 percent of the shares in the German Discovery Network. Since 2003, the Discovery Channel is again wholly owned by Discovery Communications Germany. Company headquarters are in Munich. The broadcasting of the German Discovery Channel is carried by the APS playout center in Unterföhring. Establishments, the Discovery Channel in Germany by the Discovery Communications Germany GmbH in Munich. Discovery Channel is working with several other companies, such as the ZDF or the Discovery Channel in 2006 closed IMAX Berlin.

Every month there is on Discovery Channel 30 premieres. In addition, Discovery Channel hosted monthly at least a theme week, or a themed weekend. There, the transmitter is concerned in a larger extent with a special theme. Most of broadcasts do not last longer than 55 minutes.

On 9 July 2010, the Discovery Channel has now changed its program to 16:9.

Discovery Channel HD

Until 30 November 2012 an HD offshoot was aired under the name Discovery HD. It was an international version of the channel, which broadcast an alternative program than the Discovery Channel. In the morning hours of November 30, 2012, this was set as previously announced and replaced on the same time slot by the simulcast version of the Discovery Channel.

Criticism

The Discovery Channel is sometimes accused, in some programs to increase the entertainment value and thus the rates at the expense of the education effect. As well as wrote, for example, Virginia Heffernan of the New York Times:

"Watching these guys ... Their make runs, it's hard not to share in Their cold, fatigue and horrible highway hypnosis, did existential recognition behind the wheel late at night did the pull of sleep and the pull of death are one and the same. ... [I ] t gets right exactly what Deadliest Catch got right, namely did the leave- nothing -but- your- footprints, green kind of eco -travelers are too mellow and conscientious to be interesting to watch. Instead, the burly, bearded, swearing men who blow methyl hydrate into Their Own transmissions and welcome storms as breaks from boredom ... are much better television. "

Shipments

• American Chopper
• Mythbusters
• Dirty Jobs
• The Used professionals: New gloss for old boxes
• Adventure Survival

Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

The company was the main sponsor of the cycling team Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team to Lance Armstrong.