Discovery, Inc.

The company's namesake and flagship brand, Discovery Channel, first launched on June 17, 1985.[3][4] In 1991, Discovery Channel's owners acquired The Learning Channel.[5]

In October 1996, Discovery launched several new spin-off networks, including Animal Planet, and the digital cable channels Discovery Kids, Discovery Travel & Living, Discovery Civilization, and Science Channel. This was followed by the 1997 purchase of a 70% stake in Travel Channel, and the 1998 launches of Discovery en Español, Discovery Wings, and Discovery Health Channel.[6][7][8] Also in 1998, Discovery acquired a stake in the struggling CBS Eye on People channel; Discovery eventually acquired the remainder of CBS's stake, leading to its January 1999 re-launch as Discovery People.[9][10] The network quietly folded in 2000, being replaced by other Discovery channels on providers.[11]

On September 1, 2001, Discovery Communications bought The Health Channel, and announced that it would be re-branded as FitTV.[12] In 2002, Discovery re-launched Discovery Civilization as Discovery Times, as part of a joint venture with The New York Times.[13] In June 2002, coinciding with Discovery's 17th anniversary, the company launched a 24/7 high definition channel known as Discovery HD Theater.[14] In 2003, Discovery Communications moved its headquarters from Bethesda to Silver Spring.[15] In 2003 and 2004, Discovery acquired academic film companies such as AGC, AIMS Multimedia, and Clearvue & SVE to form Discovery Education, which is now led by Bill Goodwyn.[16][17][18] In 2019, Discovery Communications moved its headquarters to New York City,[19] keeping 300 employees in a smaller hub in Silver Spring.[20]

Logo used in a TV Channel since 2019.

Former NBCUniversal executive David Zaslav was named president and CEO of Discovery Communications on November 16, 2006.[21] In the years that followed, Zaslav placed a major focus on bolstering Discovery's core networks, programming, and expanding the company's reach into digital media. He described these goals as reflecting an expansion into becoming a "content company" rather than just a "cable company".[22]

In March 2007, Discovery sold its stake in Travel Channel back to Cox Communications, in exchange for the stake in Discovery that Cox owned.[23] Cox would later sell the controlling interest in the channel to Scripps Networks Interactive in 2009.[24] In June 2008, Discovery Home was replaced by Planet Green, a network devoted primarily to environmentalism and sustainable living.[25]

In 2007, according to Crunchbase, TreeHugger was acquired by Discovery Communications on August 1, 2007, for $10 million.[26] In 2012, Mother Nature Network, founded by Joel Babbit and Chuck Leavell (now Narrative Content Group) acquired TreeHugger.

On January 15, 2008, Discovery announced that it had entered into a joint venture with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions to re-launch Discovery Health as a new service, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, in 2009.[27] In 2008, Discovery Times was re-launched as Investigation Discovery, a new brand that would be dedicated to true crime programs and documentaries.[28] On April 30, 2009, Discovery announced a joint venture with Hasbro to re-launch Discovery Kids as a new youth- and family-oriented entertainment channel.[29][30] The channel, ultimately named The Hub, launched on October 10, 2010.[31][32] After multiple delays, OWN officially launched on January 1, 2011.[33][34]

On March 17, 2009, Discovery Communications sued Amazon.com for patent infringement by its Kindle e-reader line, regarding "secure distribution of electronic text and graphics to subscribers and secure storage". The patents were originally developed by Discovery founder John Hendricks, who had been developing technologies related to e-books and the digitization of television programs. While Discovery had divested the television-related patents, it retained the e-book patents.[35] Amazon subsequently accused Discovery of violating a patent for an "Internet-based customer referral system";[36] The two parties settled in 2011.[37]

On October 4 of 2011, due to the wider implementation of high-definition feeds for mainstream cable channels, HD Theater was re-launched as Velocity, a new "upscale male" network focusing on automotive programming.[38][39][40] On May 28, 2012, Planet Green (which had begun to abandon its original concept in 2010 due to poor viewership)[25] was re-launched as Destination America.[41]

In January 2014, Discovery launched Curiosity, a website that aggregates online education content.[42]

In May 2014, Discovery and its shareholder Liberty Media acquired British television studio All3Media for $930 million in a 50/50 joint venture. The new ownership stated that All3Media would be operated as an independent company.[43] In October 2014, Discovery acquired controlling interest in Hub Network from Hasbro and re-branded it as Discovery Family.[44][45] In November 2014, Curiosity was spun out as a venture-funded startup, receiving $6 million in funding.[46]

In December 2015, Discovery launched Discovery Go, a TV Everywhere service offering access to live streaming and on-demand content from Discovery Communications' cable networks.[47]

In May 2016, Discovery initiated a restructuring plan aiming to save $40 to $60 million by the third quarter of 2016, including a shift in strategy to "maximize" its linear television business whilst plotting larger investments in content, digital media, sports, and international markets.[48] In August 2016, Discovery purchased a minority stake in the Hong Kong-based digital talent and content company VS Media; Discovery intended to have VS distribute Discovery Digital Networks content in China, and to offer their own resources to VS.[49][50][51]

In October 2016, Discovery purchased a minority stake in Group Nine Media, a digital media holding company consisting of Thrillist Media Group, NowThis, The Dodo and Discovery's digital network Seeker—for $100 million. The transaction gave Discovery an option to acquire a majority stake at a later date.[52][53]

On July 31, 2017, Discovery announced it would acquire Scripps Networks Interactive, owner of networks such as Food Network and HGTV, for $14.6 billion, pending regulatory approval.[54] On March 6, 2018, the acquisition was completed with the company renamed Discovery, Inc. afterwards. At this time, SNI shareholders own 20% of Discovery's stock.[55] Discovery will retain an operational hub in SNI's home city of Knoxville, but planned to move its corporate headquarters from Silver Spring, Maryland, where it has operated since 2003, to New York City in late-2019.[56] Following the acquisition, Discovery began to integrate personalities from the two companies into each other's programming, and began to produce new programs (such as a revival of TLC's While You Were Out in conjunction with HGTV, and a competition series between the stars of Food Network's Ace of Cakes and TLC's Cake Boss) to serve as vehicles for crossovers between personalities from Discovery and SNI's networks.[57]

Following the completion of the purchase, Discovery's brands were divided into two groups under different chief brand officers: SNI's chief programmer Kathleen Finch became chief brand officer of Lifestyle, overseeing the six former Scripps channels, in addition to Discovery's lifestyle networks such as TLC. Rich Ross, who formerly served as group president of Discovery and Science, stepped down, and would be replaced by TLC president Nancy Daniels as chief brand officer of Discovery & Factual.[58]

On August 3, 2017, Discovery announced that it would contribute Velocity into a joint venture with the digital, live events, and direct-to-consumer businesses of automotive publisher TEN: The Enthusiast Network. Discovery will hold a majority stake in the venture; it will not include TEN's print brands, but there will be opportunities for cross-promotion.[59] In April 2018, it was announced that TEN had been renamed Motor Trend Group, and that Velocity would be re-branded as an extension of its namesake magazine Motor Trend.[60][61]

In December 2017, Discovery announced that it would acquire an additional 24.5% stake in OWN that it did not already own, for $70 million. Oprah Winfrey will remain as CEO of OWN, and extended her exclusivity agreement with the network and Discovery through 2025. Harpo Productions retains a "significant minority stake" in the venture.[62] In February 2018, Discovery sold a majority stake in Discovery Education to the private equity firm Francisco Partners.[63]

During its 2018 upfronts, Zaslav stated that the company was now strongly focused on serving "passionate fans and passionate audiences", and was preparing to increase its focus on direct-to-consumer offerings targeting such audiences. The SNI purchase, Eurosport's Olympics rights, and the aforementioned Motor Trend-branded network were described as being examples of this strategy.[64] A Food Network-branded DTC service would also launch in 2019, with a focus on live and on-demand cooking classes.[65]

In June 2018, Discovery announced a 12-year agreement to acquire the international media rights to the PGA Tour, with plans to develop an international streaming service to house these rights.[66] The service was officially announced in October 2018 as GolfTV, with Eurosport executive vice president Alex Kaplan named the president and general manager of Discovery Golf.[67] Former Amazon executive Peter Faricy, who was named Discovery's chief executive of global direct-to-consumer operations in August 2018, considered GolfTV consistent with the aforementioned strategy, as golf was one of several sports "where people's passions and their interest in participating and learning more becomes a core part of their life."[68]

With Discovery choosing 230 Park Avenue South as its new New York City headquarters, Discovery sold its former Silver Spring headquarters to Foulger-Pratt and Cerberus Capital Management in September 2018, and leased a smaller space at nearby 8403 Colesville Road.[69][70]

In November 2018, Chip and Joanna Gaines of the former HGTV series Fixer Upper announced on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, that they were in early talks to form a "lifestyle focused media network" with Discovery named after their personal company Magnolia. It was reported that Discovery had considered rebranding either DIY Network or Great American Country as this new channel.[71][72] Discovery in April 2019 confirmed its Magnolia joint venture, which is scheduled to launch in 2020 and replace DIY Network, with an over-the-top subscription component to launch later.[73] The channel's launch date of October 4, 2020 was announced by Discovery CEO David Zaslav at the Television Critics Association presentation on January 1, 2020.[74]

In January 2019, Discovery increased its ownership of Play Sports Group, operator of the YouTube channel Global Cycling Network, to 71%. Discovery previously acquired a 20% share in 2017.[75] The group is the foundation for an in development global cycling OTT service.[68]

On April 1, 2019, after a previous agreement with the broadcaster lapsed six years prior, Discovery announced a 10-year global content partnership with BBC Studios, under which it will become the exclusive subscription video-on-demand rightsholder of programming from the BBC Natural History Unit (which will become the basis of an international subscription service by 2020) outside of China, Ireland, and the UK. In addition, Discovery and the BBC reached an agreement to break up their UKTV joint venture (which was inherited from Scripps), with Discovery acquiring the BBC's shares in the Good Food, Home, and Really channels, and BBC Studios acquiring Discovery's shares in the seven remaining channels.[76]

On May 13, 2019, Discovery announced that it would acquire Golf Digest from Condé Nast to integrate into its Discovery Golf division.[77]

There are 19 channels owned and operated by Discovery Networks U.S.

Discovery Networks International has three regional operations: Asia Pacific, EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) and Latin America,[87] with regional headquarters in Singapore, Amsterdam, London, Milan, Warsaw and Miami.[88]

On November 27, 2012, Discovery announced it would acquire Dubai-based broadcaster Takhayal Entertainment, which owns MENA lifestyle channel Fatafeat. This acquisition was then completed.[89]

On December 21, 2012, Discovery announced it had acquired a 20% stake in the pan-European sports broadcaster Eurosport from TF1 Group for €170 million (US$221.6 million).[90] On January 21, 2014, Discovery acquired an additional 51% share to gain controlling interest,[91] and subsequently acquired the remainder for €491 million in July 2015 to receive sole ownership.[92]

In June 2015, Discovery acquired pan-European rights to the Olympic Games from 2018 through 2024, excluding Russia, on all platforms, in a €1.3 billion deal. Discovery will primarily broadcast the Games on local outlets (including Eurosport), but will sub-license coverage to over-the-air broadcasters in each region.[93][94][95]

In June 2016, Discovery acquired a 27.5% stake in Bethia Comunicaciones S.A., a division of Chilean conglomerate Bethia that owns Red Televisiva Megavisión S.A., a company which in turn owns both the private television network Mega and a 70% stake in the anime-, Korean drama- and K-pop-focused cable television channel ETC (which is co-owned with its creator, who is businessman and television executive Hernán Schmidt Fuentes). As a result, Bethia now owns 72.5% of the company.[96]

In August 2016, Discovery renewed its distribution deals in 12 countries with shareholder Liberty Global.[97][98] On January 31, 2017, after nearly facing a carriage dispute, Discovery renewed its distribution deals in Germany and the United Kingdom with Sky plc.[99]

In November 2016, Discovery partnered with the streaming media company BAMTech to create a joint venture to serve Europe.[100] In May 2017, ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Discovery announced a joint venture to create a German over-the-top content service, built upon its existing 7TV service.[101]

In August 2017, Discovery announced that it would acquire the remaining 51.06% of Green Content, the operator of the Polish DTT channel Metro, from Agora SA for PLN19,000,000 under a share buyback agreement.[102]

Through its purchase of SNI, Discovery added the Polish broadcaster TVN Group to its European portfolio,[55] which SNI had acquired in 2015.,[103][104][105] as well as the UKTV joint venture with BBC Worldwide (later BBC Studios).