National Geographic is a German

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 dedicated to documentaries and factual programmes. The channel was launched on 1 November 2004 on

Kabel Deutschland Vodafone Kabel Deutschland GmbH is the largest cable television operator in Germany. Kabel Deutschland was subject to a hostile takeover bid by the British Vodafone Group in September 2013; the deal was approved in December 2013 and finalised on ...

's digital platform, broadcasting 24 hours per day from the start. The channel also launched on other cable networks such as

Unitymedia Vodafone GmbH is a mobile telecommunications operator in Germany headquartered in Düsseldorf. It provides mobile phone, LTE, 5G, cable internet, landlines, cable TV, and IPTV services. As of the third quarter of 2021, Vodafone GmbH has more ...

, Kabel BW, and

UPC Cablecom UPC was the largest cable operator in Switzerland with around 1.1 million residential and business customers and was formed in 1994 through the merger of several cable operators. UPC has been a subsidiary of Liberty Global since 2005. On 27 Febru ...

On 16 May 2009, National Geographic Channel replaced

Discovery Geschichte Discovery Geschichte ("Discovery History") was a German television channel focusing on history-related programmes owned by Discovery Networks Europe. The channel launched on March 31, 2005, on the Premiere platform. Overview The service was dis ...

on the

Premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

satellite platform. This was followed by the launch of the German

Nat Geo Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). T ...

when it replaced

Animal Planet Animal Planet (stylized in all lowercase since 2018) is an American multinational pay television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. First established on June 1, 1996, the network is primarily dev ...

on Premiere on 1 July, a few days before Premiere was rebranded and became

Sky Deutschland Sky Deutschland GmbH, branded as Sky, is a German media company that operates a direct broadcast satellite Pay TV platform in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (through Sky Switzerland). It provides a collection of basic and premium digital sub ...

. National Geographic Channel HD was also launched on Sky in July 2009. Distribution of the Nat Geo People program derivative was discontinued in German-speaking countries as of September 12, 2017. On December 1, 2022 it was announced that the National Geographic Channel and

would be dropped from

by the end of January 2023. It remains to be seen however, if the channels will remain active in other German pay TV operators.

Audience share

References

External links

* {{Authority control

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Television stations in Germany Television stations in Austria Television stations in Switzerland Television channels and stations established in 2004 2004 establishments in Germany German-language television stations Mass media in Munich