History
On June 17, 1985, The Discovery Channel was launched with $5 million in start-up capital from several investors (including BBC, Allen & Company and Venture America). It was initially available to 156,000 households and broadcasted for 12 hours between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m. About 75 percent of its content had never before aired on U.S. TV. John Hendricks founded the channel and its parent company, Cable Educational Network Inc., in 1982.
In its early years, the channel broadcast some Soviet programming, including the news program Vremya. In 1988, the channel premiered the nightly program World Monitor (produced by The Christian Science Monitor). The first Shark Week occurred in 1988 and has since returned annually. By 1990, the channel was available in over 50 million households.
On January 4, 2006, Discovery Communications announced anchor Ted Koppel, executive producer Tom Bettag and eight other former Nightline staff were joining Discovery Channel.
The network's ratings recovered in 2006, after a drop widely attributed to an over-reliance on a few hit series such as Monster Garage and American Chopper. Some critics said such shows strayed from Discovery's mold of helping viewers learn about the world around them. In 2005, Discovery changed its lineup to focus on themes of popular science and history. The network was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards in 2006 for shows including The Flight that Fought Back (about United Airlines Flight 93) and Deadliest Catch (about crabs).
In 2007, Discovery Channel's top series included the Emmy-award winning Planet Earth, Dirty Jobs, MythBusters and Deadliest Catch. Discovery Channel's 2008 lineup included Fight Quest and Smash Lab
Discovery Channel is (as of June 2012) the second most widely distributed cable network in the United States, behind TBS. As of June 2012, it is available in 409 million households worldwide.
On September 1, 2010, a man entered Discovery Communications headquarters with a handgun, fired at least one shot, held hostages, and was shot dead by police. He had published criticisms of the network at SaveThePlanetProtest.com.
Read more about this topic: Discovery Channel
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The basic idea which runs right through modern history and modern liberalism is that the public has got to be marginalized. The general public are viewed as no more than ignorant and meddlesome outsiders, a bewildered herd.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)
“If you look at history you’ll find that no state has been so plagued by its rulers as when power has fallen into the hands of some dabbler in philosophy or literary addict.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)