Discovery Channel
Founded: June, 1985
Parent Company: Discovery, Inc.
Tagline: The world is ours
Website: discovery.com
Probably the most well-known channel on pay TV, Discovery has developed some of the biggest and longest-running franchises in entertainment. From the treacherous fishing battles on Deadliest Catch to the all-or-nothin' dredging on Gold Rush, Discovery (and its sister channels) are where non-fictional stories and memorable personalities claim their stake in pop culture's psyche. Toss in some chum-fueled action during Shark Week and fun, educational shows like Mythbusters and you've got a recipe for Neilson success.
Now in its 36th year on the airwaves, Discovery is the 3rd most popular subscription channel in the world, with a reach of over 400 million households. Like most broadcast networks, it rode the reality TV wave in the early 2010s and that relatively low cost category of programming now make up the majority of their lineup. Of course, reality and contrived drama blur the lines quite a bit these days but the differences are pretty neglible to most fans; as long as it's funny, novel or cool, it's likely to gain a large following on Discovery. With regard to satellite TV, the Discovery channel is available on all of DIRECTV and DISH's plans, at no extra charge - its immediate sister channels like Discovery Family and Discovery Life are only found in the middle to higher tier plans. And since Discovery's suite of programming is so entrenched with customers and TV providers alike, don't expect any carriage or licensing battles here. Enjoy watching, learning...and discovering for some time to come.
Discovery Programming & Shows
Original Series: Deadliest Catch, Gold Rush, MythBusters, Dirty Jobs, Monster Garage, American Chopper, Shark Week, Cash Cab, How it's Made, Planet Earth, etc.
Reruns: re-broadcasts of all original programmming above
