Destination America is an Americancable television channel owned by theWarner Bros. Discovery Networks unit ofWarner Bros. Discovery. The network carries programming focused on theculture of the United States—including food, lifestyles, and travel.
As of November 2023[update], Destination America is available to approximately 23,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2013 peak of 60,000,000 households. Along withAmerican Heroes Channel,Boomerang,Cooking Channel,Discovery Family,Discovery Life, andScience Channel, Destination America is among the less prevalent networks of Warner Bros. Discovery.[1]
In recent years, Destination America has lost carriage with the growth of streaming alternatives including its parent company'sHBO Max, and has generally been depreciated by Warner Bros. Discovery in current retransmission consent negotiations with cable and streaming providers.
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 titleLiving and was described as "a home repair network".[2] The launch was delayed, and the channel made its debut in October 1996, originally known asDiscovery Travel & Living Network and offering programming includingdo-it-yourself projects,cooking,interior design andlandscaping, and party planning.
By 1998, it had settled on the nameDiscovery Home & Leisure, but the "Leisure" part of the name was dropped on March 29, 2004, when the channel becameDiscovery Home Channel. Much of the travel-related programming was dropped in the process to provide more focus on home improvement and cooking.[3]
In April 2007, during itsupfronts, Discovery announced that Discovery Home would re-launch in 2008 as a new channel focused onenvironmentalism andsustainable living as part of the growing trend of public awareness on global warming, climate change, and other environmental issues. The channel itself was announced as part of a $50 million corporate initiative known as "Planet Green", undertaken under Discovery's new CEODavid Zaslav, which would include the production of programming on other Discovery channels (such as the Discovery Channel seriesTen Ways to Save the Planet) that appeal to these themes, an "innovation conference", and making its headquarterscarbon 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 ofTreeHugger, ablog 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 byTom Bergeron (whom Friendly had helped cast as host for the 1998 syndicated version ofHollywood Squares).[8]
Further programming details were announced in Discovery's April 2008 upfronts, including specials hosted byNBC News correspondentTom Brokaw, the reality showBattleground Earth withLudacris andTommy Lee,Emeril Green,Hollywood Green withMaria Menounos, and theBill Nye-hostedStuff 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 viavideo on demand on April 17. Later that month, Planet Green orderedFocus Earth, a weekly environmental newsmagazine produced byABC News and hosted byBob Woodruff.[9][10]
Planet Green was one of the two highly anticipated Discovery network re-launches spearheaded by Zaslav, the other being theOprah 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 besidesFocus Earth andStuff Happens (praising the former as being "informative and shockingly fair to business interests"), the majority of Planet Green's programs involved either home renovations or "self-righteous" celebrities, and demonstrated that environmentalism was "pretty much aluxury item". He felt thatEmeril Green was "indistinguishable from much of what's already on theFood Network", albeit with an emphasis on "buying local".[14] Another issue was a lack of available content. Few television programs which were focused on environmentalism were available at that time, which resulted in the same programs being aired over and over again, and audiences gradually became disinterested.
By March 2010, Planet Green's programming had broadened to includeprograms unrelated to its original concept, such asThe Fabulous Beekman Boys. 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]
On April 4, 2012, Discovery announced through the early release of an article inUSA Today that Planet Green would be re-branded as Destination America, a network focusing primarily on cuisine, natural history, and travel programming, appealing primarily towardsMiddle America. The launch lineup also featured programs that had previously aired onTravel Channel before its sale toCox Communications. The channel was originally expected to have aMemorial Day launch on May 28, 2012.[15][16]
In 2015, the network began to experiment withprofessional wrestling by picking upTNA programming (which had recently been dropped bySpike), including its flagship weekly programImpact Wrestling. Later that year, the network also announced that it had signed a 26-week television deal forRing of Honor's weekly show,Ring of Honor Wrestling, which would begin on June 3, 2015.[17]Impact moved toPop 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 airedExorcism Live—a live special broadcast from theSt. Louis site of theexorcism of Roland Doe, featuring the cast ofGhost Asylum andChip Coffey.[19] The March 4, 2016 premiere ofParanormal 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, withon-air presentation carrying a darker and "uneasy" atmosphere (including a signature "glitch" effect) to reflect its change in programming direction.[20][21]
Discovery's 2018 acquisition ofScripps 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.[22] Since then, Destination America's schedule has largely shifted back towards its original format, drawing from Discovery and SNI's program libraries.
Planet Green programming included ecologically themed shows built around celebrities includingEd 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 networkbumpers 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.[23]
Shows previously seen on Planet Green include:
| Broadcasting and FAST streaming group |
|  | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Entertainment Group | |||||
| Lifestyle & Factual Group | |||||
| Defunct and former ventures |
| ||||
