Destination America

Planet Green logo used from June 4, 2008, to May 25, 2012

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.[8] 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 Hollywood Squares).[9] Further programming details were announced in Discovery's April 2008 upfronts, including specials hosted by NBC News correspondent Tom Brokaw, Battleground Earth, 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, but 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 a weekly news series from ABC News (Focus Earth), hosted by Bob Woodruff, that would focus on environmental issues.[10][11]

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).[12][13]

In March 2010, Planet Green's programming was broadened to include non-ecology themed shows; 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."[14] 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.[14]

Destination America logo used from May 26, 2012, to March 15, 2015

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, TNA partnered with Discovery Communications to air the promotion's programming on Destination America, including 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, while also adding reruns of Travel Channel programs that had been displaced by its own shifts in format.

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