 | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom Ireland |
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Picture format | 2160pUHDTV (downscaled to1080i and16:9576i for theHDTV andSDTV feeds, respectively) |
| Timeshift service | Discovery Channel +1 |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA |
| Sister channels | Animal Planet CNN International Cartoon Network Boomerang Cartoonito Discovery History Discovery Science Discovery Turbo DMAX Eurosport Food Network HGTV Investigation Discovery Quest Quest Red Really TLC TNT Sports |
| History | |
| Launched | 1 April 1989 |
| Links | |
| Website | discoveryuk |
| Availability | |
| Streaming media | |
| Sky Go | Watch live (UK and Ireland only) |
| Virgin TV Go | Watch live (UK only) Watch live (+1) (UK only) |
| Virgin TV Anywhere | Watch live (Ireland only) |
Discovery Channel (often referred to as simplyDiscovery) is a Britishpay television channel, operated byWarner Bros. Discovery. Its programming is based on programming produced by Discovery Networks Europe,Discovery Channel Canada andDiscovery Channel from the US.
It first became available in the UK on 1 April 1989 when Discovery Channel Europe was launched. It was the first extension of the Discovery Channel outside the United States.[1]
Prior to 1993, satellite viewers in the UK could receive the channel fromIntelsat satellites at 27.5° West. In July 1993, the Discovery Channel launched on theAstra 1C analogue satellite on the popular 19.2° East position where it used to broadcast only in the evening, starting at 4 pm. On Astra, the daytime space was filled byCMT Europe until 1994, whenTLC (later onDiscovery Home & Leisure) moved there. Eventually, Discovery Home & Leisure would broadcast until 4 pm when Discovery Channel would take over, and broadcast for ten hours until 2 am.
On 19 August 1998, it was announced that with the launch ofSky Digital on 1 October 1998, Theoriginal namesake American channel would expand its broadcast hours to begin at 8 am, now broadcasting for 18 hours per day. This did not apply to the analogue version which kept its start time at 4 pm. On the same day, it was announced that several new Discovery networks would launch, one of which was the timeshift service Discovery +1, the first of its kind in the UK.[2]
Analogue broadcasts were terminated in 2001.
On 22 May 2006,Discovery HD was made available on Sky as part of theSky HD launch line-up. It was also made available onVirgin Media's cable service on 1 April 2010.[3] From 30 June 2011 Discovery HD began tosimulcast Discovery Channel inhigh-definition rather than use a separate schedule.
The channel briefly had a 90-minute timeshift, called Discovery Channel +1.5. It launched on 25 June 2007.[4][5] It was replaced byDiscovery Science +1 on 21 April 2008.[6]
An Irish advertising feed was launched in 2010. Sky Media Ireland operates the channel's output in terms of advertising, sponsorship and scheduling.[7]
In January 2011, Discovery Channel UK released its new look which places its emphasis on the D-globe logo. The project was created by DixonBaxi and Double G Studios.[8][9]
On 25 January 2017, Discovery UK announced that they were in a dispute over the fees paid by Sky for broadcast rights and for a time it seemed as though the channels could be removed from the platform after the end of that month.[10] However, an agreement was reached and programming continued uninterrupted.[11]
On 28 November 2022, Discovery launched onBT TV and it launched in the BT TV Player as well and it will be added from value packages as well.
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