American television channel
Television channel
Destination America
is an American
cable television
channel owned by the
Warner Bros. Discovery Networks
unit of
Warner Bros. Discovery
. The network carries programming focused on the
culture of the United States
?including food, lifestyles, and travel. The network first launched in 1996 as
Discovery Travel & Living Network
, as part of a suite of four digital cable networks the company launched that year. From its launch until 2008, the network primarily focused upon
home improvement
,
cooking
, and leisure-themed programs.
In 2008, the channel re-launched as
Planet Green
, which carried a focus on
environmentalism
and
sustainable living
; Discovery spent $50 million on developing programming for the channel. Planet Green was ultimately considered a failure; by 2010, the channel had
shifted away
from its format and filled its schedule with miscellaneous library programming, pending a future rebranding.
In May 2012, the channel re-launched as Destination America, which originally featured programming focused on American culture; the channel's format was similar to
Travel Channel
, and also featured Discovery-owned library programs that had previously aired on Travel Channel prior to its divestment of the channel.
By 2017, Destination America had rebranded as a channel focusing on
paranormal
topics and investigations. This format ended following Discovery's acquisition of Travel Channel's then-present owner
Scripps Networks Interactive
. In 2018, when Travel Channel was rebranded with a similar paranormal format, Destination America returned to its previous format using both companies' libraries.
As of February 2015
[update]
, approximately 57,238,000 American households (49.2% of households with television) receive Destination America.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
The network was originally one of
four digital cable networks launched by Discovery Communications in 1996. The new networks were first announced in November 1994, with a launch planned for Spring 1995. At the time, the network had the working title
Living
and was described as "a home repair network".
[2]
The launch was delayed, and the channel made its debut in October 1996, originally known as
Discovery Travel & Living Network
and offering programming including
do-it-yourself
projects,
cooking
,
interior design
and
landscaping
, and party planning.
By 1998, it had settled on the name
Discovery Home & Leisure
, but the "Leisure" part of the name was dropped on March 29, 2004, when the channel became
Discovery Home Channel
. Much of the travel-related programming was dropped in the process to provide more focus on home improvement and cooking.
[3]
Planet Green
[
edit
]
In April 2007, during its
upfronts
, Discovery announced that Discovery Home would re-launch in 2008 as a new channel focused on
environmentalism
and
sustainable living
. The channel itself was announced as part of a $50 million corporate initiative known as "
Planet Green
", undertaken under Discovery's new CEO
David Zaslav
, which would include the production of programming on other Discovery channels (such as the Discovery Channel series
Ten Ways to Save the Planet
) that appeal to these themes, an "innovation conference", and making its headquarters
carbon neutral
. Zaslav stated that Discovery Home had been economically sound, but wasn't "serving this higher purpose".
[4]
[5]
On August 1, 2007, Discovery announced its acquisition of
TreeHugger
, a
blog
focusing on sustainable living. The site was to be positioned as a digital companion to the new channel.
[6]
[7]
In October 2007, Discovery hired veteran producer Andy Friendly as a consultant for Planet Green's programming, and to executive produce a series for the channel.
[5]
The new series,
Supper Club
, was announced in January 2008, and would be hosted by
Tom Bergeron
(whom Friendly had helped cast as host for the 1998 syndicated version of
Hollywood Squares
).
[8]
Further programming details were announced in Discovery's April 2008 upfronts, including specials hosted by
NBC News
correspondent
Tom Brokaw
, the reality show
Battleground Earth
with
Ludacris
and
Tommy Lee
,
Emeril
Green
,
Hollywood Green with
Maria Menounos
, and the
Bill Nye
-hosted
Stuff Happens
, among other series. It was announced that the network would launch on June 4, 2008, and that a "sneak peek" of the network's programming would become available via
video on demand
on April 17. Later that month, Planet Green ordered
Focus Earth
, a weekly environmental newsmagazine produced by
ABC News
and hosted by
Bob Woodruff
.
[9]
[10]
Planet Green was one of the two highly anticipated Discovery network re-launches spearheaded by Zaslav, the other being the
Oprah Winfrey Network
?a relaunch of Discovery Health that was ultimately delayed to January 2011.
[11]
[12]
Despite high expectations, the network's launch was unsuccessful;
[13]
writing for NPR, Mark Hemingway observed that the majority of Planet Green's programs involved either home renovations or "self-righteous" celebrities, demonstrated that environmentalism was "pretty much a
luxury item
", and that it "[seemed] dedicated to airing three hours per day of
Emeril Green
, the chef's new cooking show, which despite a few feints at '
buying local
' is indistinguishable from much of what's already on the
Food Network
." He did feel that
Focus Earth
and
Stuff Happens
were relatively better programs, describing the former as being "informative and shockingly fair to business interests".
[14]
In March 2010, Planet Green's programming was broadened to include non-ecology themed shows, such as
The Fabulous Beekman Boys
; despite this broadened focus, in February 2011, Discovery Communications executives were acknowledging the channel's failure. Zaslav stated in a conference call with investors that Discovery "can probably do something else with that that would be more meaningful."
[13]
Shortly thereafter the channel had abandoned its theme, rerunning programs from other Discovery Communications channels and featuring programming blocks such as "Paranormal Fridays". Discovery announced a probable rebranding of the channel by the start of the summer of 2012.
[13]
Destination America
[
edit
]
On April 4, 2012, Discovery announced through the early release of an article in
USA Today
that Planet Green would be re-branded as Destination America, a network focusing primarily on cuisine, natural history, and travel programming, appealing primarily towards
Middle America
. The launch lineup also featured programs that had previously aired on
Travel Channel
before its sale to
Cox Communications
. The channel was originally expected to have a
Memorial Day
launch on May 28, 2012.
[15]
[16]
In 2015, the network began to experiment with
professional wrestling
by picking up
TNA
programming (which had recently been dropped by
Spike
), including its flagship weekly program
Impact Wrestling
. Later that year, the network also announced that it had signed a 26-week television deal for
Ring of Honor
's weekly show,
Ring of Honor Wrestling
, which would begin on June 3, 2015.
[17]
Impact
moved to
Pop
in January 2016.
[18]
The network also began to increase its focus on programs dealing with paranormal topics and investigations; on October 30, 2015, it aired
Exorcism Live
?a live special broadcast from the
St. Louis
site of the
exorcism of Roland Doe
, featuring the cast of
Ghost Asylum
and
Chip Coffey
.
[19]
The March 4, 2016 premiere of
Paranormal Lockdown
was among the highest-rated series premieres in the channel's history, which prompted further growth in the channel's focus on paranormal series. Destination America underwent a rebranding in 2017, with
on-air presentation
carrying a darker and "uneasy" atmosphere (including a signature "glitch" effect) to reflect its change in programming direction.
[20]
Discovery's 2018 acquisition of
Scripps Networks Interactive
brought Travel Channel back under its ownership; a rebranding of Travel Channel in October 2018 repositioned the network to focus more on paranormal programming.
[21]
Since then, Destination America's schedule has largely shifted back towards its original format, drawing from Discovery and SNI's program libraries.
Programming
[
edit
]
Planet Green
[
edit
]
Planet Green programming included ecologically themed shows built around celebrities including
Ed Begley Jr.
,
Emeril Lagasse
,
Adrian Grenier
,
Leonardo DiCaprio
,
Ludacris
,
Tommy Lee
,
Tom Bergeron
,
SuChin Pak
,
Maria Menounos
, Bob Woodruff, and Discovery Channel producer Tom Golden. In addition, celebrities gave 'green' tips within network
bumpers
that transitioned into and out of commercial breaks. The channel was programmed in eight-hour blocks, which repeated three times per day until April 2010. Lacking separate satellite feeds for the East and West coasts of the United States, prime-time programs ran from 8
p.m. to 11
p.m.
Eastern Time
and were then repeated.
[22]
Shows previously seen on Planet Green include:
- 1
originally shown on
Discovery Channel
- 2
originally shown on
Animal Planet
- 3
originally shown on
TLC
- 4
originally shown on
FX
Former programming
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Seidman, Robert (February 2015).
"List of how many homes each cable network is in as of February 2015"
.
TV by the Numbers
. Archived from
the original
on February 23, 2015
. Retrieved
February 22,
2015
.
- ^
"Discovery plans launch of four newly created nets"
.
Multichannel News
. November 21, 1994. Archived from
the original
on April 13, 2012.
- ^
"Leisure Time Is Over"
.
Multichannel News
. February 29, 2004.
- ^
Siklos, Richard (April 5, 2007).
"Discovery to Start Channel Focusing on Green Movement"
.
The New York Times
.
ISSN
0362-4331
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
Schneider, Michael (October 26, 2007).
"Discovery goes Green for Friendly"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
McCarthy, Caroline.
"TreeHugger acquisition confirmed"
.
CNET
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
Thielman, Sam (August 2, 2007).
"Discovery's 'Planet' growing"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
Schneider, Michael (February 1, 2008).
"Bergeron to host 'Supper Club'
"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
Triplett, William (April 23, 2008).
"Bob Woodruff to host Discovery show"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
Schneider, Michael (April 9, 2008).
"Discovery unveils programming details"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
Stelter, Brian.
"Oprah's Network Is Her Highest Hurdle"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
November 20,
2018
.
- ^
"Zaslav Holds To Growth Plan At Discovery"
.
Mediapost
. Retrieved
April 15,
2019
.
- ^
a
b
c
Schneider, Michael (February 12, 2011).
"Discovery Plans to Revamp Planet Green"
.
TVGuide.com
. Retrieved
January 18,
2022
.
- ^
Hemingway, Mark (April 23, 2009).
"Lifestyles Of The Rich And Eco-conscious"
.
NPR
. Retrieved
January 18,
2022
.
- ^
"New Cable Network: Destination America"
.
USA Today
. May 2012.
- ^
Levin, Gary (April 4, 2012).
"Discovery Networks to launch Destination America"
.
USA Today
. Retrieved
April 4,
2012
.
- ^
Caldwell, James (May 27, 2015).
"ROH NEWS: ROH announces length of Dest. America TV deal"
.
Pro Wrestling Torch
. Retrieved
May 27,
2015
.
- ^
"Pop Gets Into Ring With Impact Wrestling To Become New TV Home"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
April 9,
2016
.
- ^
de Moraes, Lisa (July 30, 2015).
"Live Exorcism Of Hellish "Exorcist" House To Air On Destination America ? TCA"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
April 18,
2019
.
- ^
"Destination America Steps into the Unknown with Design Refresh"
.
The Daily Brief
. Retrieved
March 9,
2018
.
- ^
White, Peter (February 12, 2019).
"Travel Channel Heads To 'Portals To Hell' Rather Than Traditional Travelogues ? TCA"
.
Deadline
. Retrieved
April 18,
2019
.
- ^
Stelter, Brian (March 10, 2010).
"Planet Green Moves Away From Its Eco Theme"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
March 12,
2012
.
- ^
"GHOSTS IN MY HOUSE"
.
- ^
"The AIMS Team Is Back with a Brand-New Season of "Mountain Monsters" on Travel Channel"
.
The Futon Critic
. July 15, 2019.
External links
[
edit
]
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