H2 (or History2) is a brand name owned by

A&E Networks A&E Networks (stylized as A+E NETWORKS) is an American multinational broadcasting company that is a 50–50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company through its General Entertainment Content division. The company o ...

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between the

Hearst Communications Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televi ...

and the

Walt Disney Television Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...

division of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

), used for a sister television channel of

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

. The brand was debuted in September 2011 when History International in the United States was relaunched as H2. The brand was expanded outside the U.S. since then. H2 in the United States was relaunched on February 29, 2016 as

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebra ...

, but the H2 brand is still used for sister channels to History in other markets. A&E Networks began rebranding the remaining versions of H2 as History2, starting with Latin American version on January 1, 2019. On November 6, 2018, concerning Disney's proposed acquisition of

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, f ...

, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

required Disney to sell A&E's television operations in Europe, which include the versions of H2 in the area.

Versions

North America

The H2 brand was introduced in the United States, when History International was re-branded as such on September 26, 2011, with its programming being refocused to feature documentary content from its sister network History prior to that network's shift towards more reality programming. The American channel was later replaced by

on February 29, 2016. On August 27, 2012,

Shaw Media Shaw Media was the television broadcasting division of Shaw Communications. Shaw Media owned the Global Television Network, which broadcasts nationally via 13 television stations, as well as 19 specialty channels including Slice (TV channel), Sli ...

, relaunched the male-focused Category A digital channel The Cave as a domestic Canadian version of H2.

Latin America

In 2014, a Latin American version of H2 was launched under the ownership of A+E Networks Latin America (a joint venture between A+E Networks and Ole Communications) and distributed by

Ole Distribution Ole Distribution is a company which owns several pay television networks in the region of Latin America. Is founded as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Discovery and Ole Communications. Distributed channels Warner Bros. Discovery distribu ...

. On January 1, 2019, H2 was re-branded as History2.

Europe

*Croatia: The Croatian version of H2 was launched on 1 February 2018 on

Hrvatski Telekom T-Hrvatski Telekom d.d. is a Croatian telecommunications company. Since its initial public offering in October 2007, T-Hrvatski Telekom shares have traded on the Zagreb Stock Exchange, with global depositary receipts trading on the London Stock ...

's MaxTV. *Poland: The Polish version of H2 was launched on 28 October 2014. On 6 February 2019, the channel was rebranded as History2. *Serbia: On 12 April 2015, the Serbian version of H2 was launched to Orion TV customers. It was also made available to MTS TV customers in May of that year. *United Kingdom and Ireland: On 4 May 2013, the local version of

Military History Military history is the study of armed conflict in the history of humanity, and its impact on the societies, cultures and economies thereof, as well as the resulting changes to local and international relationships. Professional historians norma ...

was re-branded as H2. It launched on TalkTalk on August 28, 2014 and a few months later on BT TV. An HD version launched on Virgin Media on 1 December 2015, and later on BT TV in October 2016. On February 6, 2019, this version was then re-branded again as History2. On May 27, 2020, to coincide with the launches of

Sky Documentaries Sky Documentaries is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast, which launched on 27 May 2020. Sky Documentaries broadcasts imported programming from US networks HBO and Showtime, alongside new original p ...

and

Sky Nature Sky Nature is a British pay television channel owned and operated by Sky, a division of Comcast, which launched on 27 May 2020. Sky Nature broadcasts original Sky content, content from Canadian channel Love Nature, and Sky's collection of Da ...

and History2 rebranded to Sky History and Sky History2, respectively, in the UK and Ireland.

MENA

In the Middle East and North Africa, the regional version of H2 is available on OSN since 1 February 2016.

Asia

In Southeast Asia, A+E Networks launched a regional version of H2 on 14 June 2013. After 9 years of broadcasting, H2 Asia was ceased broadcasting on 1 October 2022.

References

{{Media in the United Kingdom, television A&E Networks Television channels in North Macedonia