Discovery Channel (often referred to as simply Discovery) is a British
pay television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
channel, operated by
Warner Bros. Discovery
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...
Its programming is based on programming produced by Discovery Networks Europe,
Discovery Channel Canada and
Discovery Channel
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. , Discovery Channe ...
from the United States.
History
It first became available in the UK on 1 April 1989 when Discovery Channel Europe was launched. It was the first extension of the Discovery Channel outside the United States.
Prior to 1993, UK viewers could receive the channel from
Intelsat
Intelsat S.A. (formerly INTEL-SAT, INTELSAT, Intelsat) is a multinational satellite services provider with corporate headquarters in Luxembourg and administrative headquarters in Tysons Corner, Virginia, United States. Originally formed as In ...
satellites at 27.5° West. In July 1993, the Discovery Channel launched on the
Astra 1C analogue satellite on the popular 19.2° East position where it used to broadcast only in the evening, starting at 4pm. On Astra, the daytime space was filled by
CMT Europe until 1994, when
TLC
TLC may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Television
* ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2
* TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network
** TLC (Asia), an As ...
(later on
Discovery Home & Leisure) moved there. Eventually, Discovery Home & Leisure would broadcast from the morning to 4pm when Discovery Channel took over and would broadcast for ten hours until 2am.
With the launch of
Sky Digital in October 1998, Discovery Channel moved its start time to 8am, broadcasting for 18 hours per day. The time-shift channel, Discovery Channel +1, launched at the same time, as did several sister channels. Analogue broadcasts were terminated in 2001.
On 22 May 2006,
Discovery HD was made available on Sky as part of the
Sky+ HD
Sky+ HD was the brand name of the High-definition television, HDTV service launched by Sky plc on 22 May 2006 in the United Kingdom and Ireland to enable high definition channels on Sky (UK and Ireland), Sky to be viewed. For the first two ...
launch line up. It was also made available on
Virgin Media
Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...
's cable service on 1 April 2010. From 30 June 2011 Discovery HD began to
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
Discovery Channel in
high-definition rather than use a separate schedule.
The channel briefly had a 90-minute timeshift, called Discovery Channel +1.5. It launched on 25 June 2007. It was replaced by
Discovery Science +1 on 21 April 2008.
An Irish advertising feed was launched in 2010. Sky Media Ireland operates the channel's output in terms of advertising, sponsorship and scheduling.
In January 2011, Discovery Channel UK released its new look which places its emphasis on the D-globe logo. The project was created by DixonBaxi and Double G Studios.
On 25 January 2017, Discovery UK announced that they were in a dispute over the fees paid by Sky for broadcast rights and for a time it seemed as though the channels could be removed from the platform after the end of that month. However, an agreement was reached and programming continued uninterrupted.
The Daily Telegraph
/ref>
On 28 November 2022, Discovery is launched on BT TV and it will be launched in the BT TV Player as well and it will be watch from value packages as well.
Programming
*''MythBusters
''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
''
*'' American Chopper''
*'' Extreme Engineering''
*''How Do They Do It?
''How Do They Do It?'' is a television series produced by Wag TV for Discovery Channel. Each programme explores how 2 or 3 ordinary objects are made and used. The show's slogan is "Behind the ordinary is the extraordinary." The series is broa ...
''
*'' How It's Made''
*''Deadliest Catch
''Deadliest Catch'' is a reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The ...
''
*'' Storm Chasers''
*''Man vs. Wild
''Man vs. Wild'', also called ''Born Survivor: Bear Grylls'', ''Ultimate Survival'', ''Survival Game'', or colloquially as simply ''Bear Grylls'' in the United Kingdom, is a survival television series hosted by Bear Grylls on the Discovery Chan ...
'' (known as ''Bear Grylls: Born Survivor'')
*''Modern Top Ten''
*'' Wheeler Dealers''
*''Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dea ...
''
*'' Fifth Gear''
*''Bugs, Bites and Parasites''
*''X-Ray Mega Airport
''X-Ray Mega Airport'' (also known as ''Inside Frankfurt Airport'') is a five-part British television series which premiered on 21 May 2015 on the Discovery Channel in the United Kingdom and subsequently on international versions of the Discove ...
''
*''Richard Hammond's Big''
See also
*Timeline of Discovery in the UK
This is a timeline of Discovery, a network of television channels owned by Discovery Inc. that broadcast in the UK.
1980s and 1990s
*1989
** 1 April – Discovery Channel Europe launches. UK viewers could only receive the channel from Intelsat sa ...
References
External links
*
{{Media in the United Kingdom, television
Uk and Ireland
Discovery Channel in the United Kingdom
Television in Iceland
Television stations in Ireland
Television channels and stations established in 1989
Television channel articles with incorrect naming style
Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA