History (formerly and commonly known as theHistory Channel) is an Americanpay televisionnetwork and theflagship channel ofA&E Networks, ajoint venture betweenHearst Communications and theGeneral Entertainment Content division ofThe Walt Disney Company'sDisney Entertainment segment.

History

Country	United States
Broadcast area	Nationwide
Headquarters	235 E. 45th St.,New York City,New York, U.S.
Programming
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) Downgraded toletterboxed480i forSDTV feed
Ownership
Owner	A&E Networks
Sister channels	Military History History en Español History TV18
History
Launched	January 1, 1995; 30 years ago (1995-01-01)
Links
Website	www.history.com
Availability
Streaming media
Service(s)	Philo,Frndly TV,Sling TV,DirecTV Stream,Hulu + Live TV,Vidgo[1]

The network was originally focused on history-based, social/science documentaries as well as the news. During the late 2000s, the History Channel pivoted intoreality television programming. In addition to this change in format, the network has been criticized by many scientists, historians, and skeptics for broadcastingpseudo-documentaries andpseudoscientific, unsubstantiated, sensational investigative programming.

As of November 2023^[update], the History Channel is available to approximately 63,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 99,000,000 households.^[2] International localized versions of the History Channel are available, in various forms, in India, Canada, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.

The company indicated that plans for a history channel were in the works in 1993, it purchased the Lou Reda Productions documentary library and long-term rights for the Hearst Entertainment documentaries archive. The History Channel was launched on January 1, 1995, initially owned by A&E Television Networks. Its UK counterpart in a partnership with British Sky Broadcasting (nowSky UK), followed on November 1, 1995.^[3] Its original format focused entirely on historical series andspecials.

During the 1990s, the History Channel was jokingly referred to as "TheHitler Channel" for its extensive coverage ofWorld War II.^[4] Since then, much of its military-themed programming has been shifted to its sister networkMilitary History.

A&E Networks considered the History Channel to be the driver in international expansion due to a lack of international rights to A&E international co-productions. As expected, the History Channel led A&E's overseas expansion in Brazil with TVA (April 1996), the Nordic and Baltic regions with Modern Times Group (1997), and in Canada (1997).^[3]

The History Channel expanded in 1998 into tours of US landmarks with Mayflower Tours having an affiliated website (historytravel.com),History Channel Traveler, and a planned quarterly magazine. While in October, the History Channel andMSG Network teamed up to produce several short-form sports history programs. A&E launched History International as a spin-off from the History Channel in November 1998, which was renamed H2 in 2011.^[3]

On February 16, 2008, a new logo was launched on the U.S. network as part of a rebranding effort. While the trademark "H" was kept, the triangle shape on the left acts as a play button for animation and flyouts during commercials and shows. On March 20, 2008, as part of that same rebranding effort, the History Channel dropped "The" and "Channel" from its name to become simply "History".^[5]

In 2012, half of A&E would be purchased byThe Walt Disney Company and the other half byHearst Communications, also putting History under their joint ownership.^[6]

In 2015, the channel would undergo another rebranding, this time by Joseph Kiely. The slogan of this rebranding was "Make Your Mark.” The logo was slightly changed, but retained the golden letter 'H' that had become synonymous with the channel.^[7]

The "History 100" documentary initiative was announced in March 2018 that would produce 100 documentaries covering major events and notable figures from last 100 years.^[8]

On December 7, 2021, History received a major rebrand for the first time since February 16, 2008. The logo still kept the golden letter 'H' that had been used since its launch in 1995.

H2 was an Americanspecialty television channel that was owned by A&E Networks, available on multi-channel television providers in the United States. It was launched on November 16, 1998 asHistory International (abbreviated as "HI" or variations on "H-INT"), a spin-off of the History Channel that focused on international history.^[9] On launch, History International occasionally featured shows in languages other thanEnglish, such asFrench orSpanish for use with theNational Cable & Telecommunications Association'sCable in the Classroom initiative. By 2010, this was reduced to an hour-long Spanish language program on weekday mornings titledEl Canal de Historia (the English translation ofThe History Channel).

On September 26, 2011, the network was rebranded asH2, with its programming being refocused to feature documentary content from the main History channel prior to its shift towards more reality programming, along with original programs (such as the specialThe Universe: Beyond the Big Bang and the first-run seriesAmerica's Book of Secrets^[10]), as well as exclusive new episodes of the former History seriesThe Universe,Ancient Aliens andModern Marvels, in addition to international-focused programming. H2 did not have plans to add reality series as its sister channel has done.^[11] Newer documentaries more recently seen on History migrated to the network as part of the rebrand, which would rotate with the documentaries from History International that primarily span from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s.

In August 2014, A&E Networks acquired a 10% stake inVice Media, and on November 3, 2015, A&E announced that H2 would be "replaced" byViceland, a new lifestyle-focused network programmed by Vice Media.^[12][13][14] H2 signed off on February 29, 2016 at 6:00 a.m. ET, being replaced by pre-launch programming for Viceland.^[15][16]

As of January 2016^[update], H2 was available to 70.1 million households in the United States.^[17]

Programming on the History Channel has covered a wide range ofhistorical periods and topics, while similar themed topics are often organized into themed weeks or daily marathons. Subjects includewarfare,inventions,aviation,mechanical andcivil engineering,technology,science,nature,artists,composers,authors,mythical creatures,monsters,unidentified flying objects,conspiracy theories,aliens,religious beliefs,disaster scenarios,apocalyptic "after man" scenarios,survival scenarios,alternate history,dinosaurs,doomsday,organized crime,secret societies, and2012 superstitions. Occasionally, some programs compare contemporary culture and technology with that of the past.^[18]

The channel's programming would expand into scripted dramas with the premiereVikings in 2013.^[19]

Initially, the network received mixed reviews. In an article from the American Historical Association released about a year into the channel's lifespan, the channel's historical consultant Libby Haight O' Connell noted that professional historians have been enlisted to work on the channel's programs and many letters have come in from viewers both pointing out historical errors and opening up discussion with the channel creators about the events portrayed in the channel's programs.^[20]

However, in recent years the network has been criticized for having a bias towardsUS history. Another former sister network,History International, more extensively covered history outside the US until 2011, when it was re-branded asH2 and started broadcasting more material that had to do with US history.^[21]

Stanley Kutner criticized the network for the seriesThe Men Who Killed Kennedy in 2003. Kutner was one of three historians commissioned to review the documentary, which the channel disavowed and never aired again.^[22] Programs such asModern Marvels have been praised for their presentation of detailed information in an entertaining format.^[23]

Some of the network's series, includingIce Road Truckers,Ax Men, andPawn Stars, garnered increased viewership ratings in the United States, while receiving criticism over the series'nonhistorical nature. US SenatorChuck Grassley is a critic of the channel and its lack of historical or educational programming, showing particular disdain for the latter two programs.^[24]

Professor Jeremy Stoddard, in his article published in 2010, raised the concern that the productions of the network presented value-laden perspectives which may mislead audiences, a phenomenon he termed "the History Channel effect".^[25] Stoddard also claimed that the History Channel did not contribute to this phenomenon alone, but rather, it was caused by the misperception thatdocumentaries are "objective sources of history".^[25]

In 2011,Forbes staffer Alex Knapp wrote, "The History Channel shouldn't run stuff like this 'ancient astronaut' nonsense."^[26]Forbes contributor Brad Lockwood criticized the channel's addition of "programs devoted to monsters, aliens, and conspiracies", attributing a perceived intent of boosting ratings to the network's decision to focus onpseudoarchaeology instead of documented facts.^[27] Knapp refers readers to theBad Archaeology website's founder Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews who comments, "I find it incredible and frightening that a worldwide distributed television channel ...can broadcast such rubbish asAncient Aliens."^[26] ArchaeologistKenneth Feder, author ofFrauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology,^[28] called the channel's hosting theancient astronaut theory "execrable bullshit".^[29]

In his book2012: It's Not the End of the World, Peter Lemesurier describes the channel'sNostradamus series, in which he was invited to participate, as "largely fiction" and "lurid nonsense".^[30] He also lists numerous allusions made in its films to the alleged Mayan "end of the world" and the "rare" galactic alignment that was supposed byJohn Major Jenkins to accompany it in2012,^[30] while Jenkins himself has describedDecoding the Past as "45 minutes of unabashed doomsday hype and the worst kind of inanesensationalism."^[31]

In December 2011,Politifact gave the History Channel's claim that theUnited States Congress stayed open onChristmas Day for most of its first 67 years of existence a "pants on fire" rating, the lowest of its ratings, noting that its own research showed that both theSenate and theHouse had only convened once in those 67 years on a Christmas Day. It noted that because one in seven Christmases falls on a Sunday (when Congress does not meet to allow members to attend church), the claim is "ridiculous".^[32] The claim had first been broadcast on the History Channel programChristmas Unwrapped – The History of Christmas before being subsequently picked up by theAmerican Civil Liberties Union's website on the "Origins of Christmas" and by theComedy Central seriesThe Daily Show.^[32]Daily Show hostJon Stewart responded the next day by stating it was their fault for trusting the History Channel and satirized a clip from the History Channel about UFOs and Nazis by stating, "The next thing you know we'll all find out the Nazis did not employ alien technology in their quest for world domination."^[33][34]

The History Channel was also singled out in a post forSmithsonian magazine. Science writer Riley Black took issue with the showAncient Aliens for postulating the "idea that aliens caused theextinction of non-avian dinosaurs."^[35] The online magazineCracked also lampooned the channel for its strange definition of history.Cracked singled out the programsUFO Hunters andAncient Aliens as being the very definition of non-history by presentingpseudoscience andpseudohistory.^[36] In 2015, skepticBrian Dunning listed it at #2 on a "Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites" list.^[37]

In 2017, a History Channel documentary,Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence, proposed that a photograph in the National Archives ofJaluit Atoll in theMarshall Islands was actually a picture of a capturedAmelia Earhart andFred Noonan. The picture showed a Caucasian male on a dock who appeared to look like Noonan and a woman sitting on the dock, but facing away from the camera, who was judged to have a physique and haircut resembling Earhart's. The documentary theorizes that the photo was taken after Earhart and Noonan crashed atMili Atoll. The documentary also said that physical evidence recovered from Mili matches pieces that could have fallen off an Electra during a crash or subsequent overland move to a barge.The Lost Evidence proposed that a Japanese ship seen in the photograph was theKoshu Maru, a Japanese military ship.

The Lost Evidence was soon discredited after Japanese blogger Kota Yamano found the original source of the photograph in the archives in theNational Diet Library Digital Collection.^[38] The original source of the photo was a Japanese travel guide published in October 1935, implying that the photograph was taken in 1935 or before, thus it would be unrelated to Earhart and Noonan's 1937 disappearance. Additionally, the researcher who discovered the photo also identified the ship in the right of the photo as another ship calledKoshu seized byAllied Japanese forces in World War I and not theKoshu Maru.^[39]

ResearcherBen Radford performed a detailed analysis of the mistakes made byThe History Channel in building their documentary on bad photographic evidence. In hisSkeptical Inquirer article "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Emmys: An Amelia Earhart Special (Non) Mystery Post-Mortem", critiquing the network's lack of professionalism, Radford said: "Given that the photograph's provenance was established and thus the key premise of the show discredited in about half an hour of Google searching, it will be interesting to see what world class expertise... the History Channel will bring to their reinvestigation of Earhart's disappearance."^[40] On episode 82 of hisSquaring the Strange podcast, released January 4, 2019, Radford reminded listeners that in excess of 18 months had passed without an apology or explanation from the History Channel as to "how their research went so horribly wrong."^[41][42]

Military History is a niche spin-off from the History channel that features reruns of programs about thehistory of the military and significant combat events. The channel's main competitor is Warner Bros. Discovery'sAmerican Heroes Channel, formerly the Military Channel.^[43]

Military History was launched on January 5, 2005, after demand for more military history programs. Beginning on March 27, 2004, a military-history programming block started on now defunct networkHistory International as a prologue. The launch was an open preview, or soft launch, as no cable operators were signed up. Dan Davids, president of the History Channel USA, planned to push for digital basic level cable carriage. Its initial programming library drew from A&E and History's programs. The channel's initial prime time shows were under an umbrella banner of “Battle History”, which consisted of five documentary miniseries featuring each of the US military services. In the second quarter of 2005, the channel had its hard launch.^[43]

Like its parent channel, the channel dropped the word "Channel" from its name on March 20, 2008. Its carriage is limited to expanded tier and add-on pay-TV packages as a niche offering, and it is one of the few mainstream American cable channels in English still carried only in standard definition.

Military History features programs that focus on historical battles and wars, as well as programs that profile key individuals such as generals, soldiers and spies. It also airs documentaries and series that provide insight into how these wars were fought and the lives of those who served in them.

Its programming library draws from A&E and History's program libraries^[43] with an emphasis onWorld War II.

History en Español is an AmericanSpanish-language pay television channel. The network launched on June 24, 2004, as a counterpart to History focusing mainly onHispanic America and world history. The network shows original programming, as well as Spanish-dubbed programs from the English-language version.^[44]

• The Unknown Hitler DVD collection,^[45] includingHitler and the Occult
• Dogfight: Season 1 DVD set
• The Great Depression DVD collection
• The Making of Trump 2015 DVD^[46]

• Legend of the Superstition Mountains six episodes in 2015
• History Legends of War: Patton
• The History Channel: Lost Worlds
• The History Channel: Battle of Britain 1940
• The History Channel: Crusades – Quest for Power
• The History Channel: Alamo – Fight for Independence
• The History Channel: Civil War – Great Battles
• The History Channel: Digging for Truth
• The History Channel: Great Battles Medieval
• The History Channel: Civil War The Battle of Bull Run Take Command: 1861
• The History Channel: American Civil War Take Command: 2nd Manassas

• The History Channel: Civil War – A Nation Divided (2006)
• The History Channel: ShootOut! – The Game (2006)
• The History Channel: Dogfights – The Game (2007)
• The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome (2007)
• The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific (2007)
• History Civil War: Secret Missions (2008)
• History: Great Empires – Rome (2009)^[47][48]
• History: Ice Road Truckers (2010)^[49][50]
• History: Egypt – Engineering an Empire (2010)^[51][52]
• History: Great Battles – Medieval (2010)^[53][54][55]
• History Legends of War: Patton (2013)^[56][57]

History Television launched in 1997 and was not initially related to its then similarly named American counterpart. During History Television's first several years of operation, despite sharing a similar programming focus, it rarely, if ever, acquired programming from the American channel. The phrase "Not available in Canada" was used heavily during The History Channel's early years in promotional ads on American channels that were imported to Canadian pay television providers, particularly A&E.^[58]

Beginning in the late 2000s, several History (US) shows were acquired for Canadian broadcast on History Television. On May 30, 2012, then-parent companyShaw Media announced that it would rebrand History Channel as a Canadian version of the US History channel in the fall of 2012, through a licensing agreement with A+E Networks.^[59] History Television would be relaunched on August 12, 2012, with another Shaw-owned specialty channel relaunched as aCanadian version of H2 soon after.

On October 21, 2014,Corus Entertainment reached an agreement to acquireCanadian French-language rights to History programming for its own channel,Historia. On March 9, 2015, the network was relaunched under History's logo and branding, although the network still carries the Historia name.^[60] Historia was previously owned as a joint venture between Shaw andAstral Media, which made it a sister to History; Corus purchased the network in 2013.^[61]

On April 1, 2016, Corus Entertainment merged with Shaw Media, and as a result, now holds theCanadian English and French-language rights to History programming.^{[citation needed]}

The British version launched in November 1995, and arrived in Ireland on November 1, 1999. The UK channel is a joint venture withSky UK and was renamed Sky History on May 27, 2020, incorporating content fromSky Documentaries andSky Nature.

The German version launched on November 14, 2004, and is operated by The History Channel Germany GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture between A+E Networks and [[[NBCUniversal International Networks]].

The Italian version was launched on July 31, 2003, as a joint venture of A&E Networks and the local office division ofFox Networks Group; then it became a sole venture of A&E Networks in 2012.

The History Channel is available in Spain and Portugal though cable, satellite, and IPTV platforms, as well as streaming media under the brand Canal de Historia. The History Channel Iberia is a joint venture between A+E Networks andAMC Networks International Southern Europe.

The Dutch version launched on May 1, 2007.^[62] This version is distributed by A&E Networks Benelux. In January 2008, History HD was launched in the Netherlands.^[63] It is available on cable providersTelenet andZiggo. It is also available on the IPTV serviceKPN.

A Polish version was launched on April 9, 2008. It is available on cable providers Aster, Dialog, Toya, andUPC Poland, and also through satellite television (with its HD version carried on then platform since June 1, 2012) and an SD version on Cyfra+ (nowCanal+), the latter since November 2, 2009.

A Scandinavian version was first launched in September 1997, broadcasting for three and later four hours a day on the analogueViasat platform. Initially time-sharing with TV1000 Cinema, it was later moved to the SwedishTV8 channel and continued broadcasting there until November 2004. When History channel announced their own 24-hour pan-European channel, Viasat launched its own history-oriented channel,Viasat History, in the Nordic region, but with no original programming. On February 1, 2007, the History Channel returned to Sweden and also Denmark, Norway, Finland when the pan-European version was launched as a standalone channel on theCanal Digital satellite platform and later through cable operator Com hem. The History Channel launched on February 1, 2007, on the Canal Digital DTH satellite package for viewers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The channel is being launched by The History Channel UK, A&E's joint venture with BSkyB. Although it broadcasts in English with local subtitles, the channel is scheduled separately from the UK version.

The History Channel started its operations inIndia in late 2003 with21st Century Fox'sSTAR TV as its sales partner, managed byNational Geographic until November 21, 2008.^[64]The History Channel India closed down on November 21, 2008. In 2011, History was granted permission to relaunch services in India. A joint venture of A&E Networks and TV18 relaunchedHistory TV18 in India in eight languages in 2014.^[65]

A joint venture of AETN andAstro Malaysia Holdings launched the History Channel inSingapore,Hong Kong,Thailand, thePhilippines,Malaysia,Indonesia,Vietnam andBrunei in the second and third quarters of 2007, and inTaiwan andChina by the end of the year.^[66] Some other Asian countries, such asKuwait,Israel, andJapan, have their own versions of the network. On September 1, 2008, History Channel Asia was officially launched in Singapore and Hong Kong followed by the Philippines.^[67][68][69]

The South Korean version of History Channel was launched on September 22, 2017, replacing the Southeast version that was previously transmitted. After the launch, A+E networks Korea launched an original series program called History in the Bottle (말술클럽).

The Latin American version was launched in 2001. It is owned byA&E and controlled in the region byOle Distribution. It airs US programming, translated toSpanish orPortuguese or in English with Spanish or Portuguese subtitles. Also, it develops some Latin American programming in Spanish.

The channel is operated byFoxtel and the programming and name of the channel is licensed to them byA&E Networks.

The History Channel was launched on December 1, 2003, on theDStv satellite TV platform provided byMultiChoice in South Africa for Sub-Saharran Africa; it is currently on theDStv Compact Plus package.^[70]

• List of programs broadcast by the History Channel
• Viceland

• Official website