#Discovery family zap2it series#
#Discovery family zap2it tv#

The network's ratings eventually recovered in 2006. In 2005, Discovery changed its programming focus to include more popular science and historical themes. Some critics said such shows strayed from Discovery's intention of providing more educationally based shows aimed at helping viewers learn about the world around them. The drop in viewership was widely attributed to an over-reliance on a few hit series, such as Monster Garage and American Chopper.

#Discovery family zap2it series#

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. By 1990, the channel was available in over 50 million households. Also in 1988, the channel debuted an annual programming stunt called Shark Week the week-long event gained in popularity during the 1990s and continues to be shown each summer. In 1988, the channel premiered the nightly program World Monitor (produced by The Christian Science Monitor).

#Discovery family zap2it tv#

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. It also broadcast some Soviet programming during this time, including the news program Vremya. 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. About 75 percent of its program content had never been broadcast on U.S. It was initially available to 156,000 households and broadcast for 12 hours each day between 3 p.m.

The Discovery Channel began broadcasting on June 17, 1985.

Several investors (including the BBC, Allen & Company and Venture America) raised $5 million in start-up capital to launch the network. John Hendricks founded the channel and its parent company, Cable Educational Network Inc., in 1982. Īs of September 2018, Discovery Channel is available to approximately 88,589,000 pay television households in the United States. It initially provided documentary television programming focused primarily on popular science, technology, and history, but by the 2010s had expanded into reality television and pseudo-scientific entertainment. flagship channel and its various owned or licensed television channels internationally. As of June 2012, Discovery Channel was the third most widely distributed subscription channel in the United States, behind now-sibling channel TBS and The Weather Channel it is available in 409 million households worldwide, through its U.S. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. 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.