 | |
| Broadcast area | Southeast Asia Hong Kong Taiwan Japan South Korea |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Hong Kong |
| Programming | |
| Languages | English Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese; dubbing/subtitles) Japanese (dubbing/subtitles) Korean (dubbing/subtitles) Indonesian (dubbing/subtitles) Malay (dubbing/subtitles) Filipino (dubbing/subtitles) Thai (dubbing/subtitles) Vietnamese (subtitles) |
| Picture format | 1080iHDTV |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | NGC Network Asia, LLC (The Walt Disney Company) |
| Sister channels | Nat Geo Wild |
| History | |
| Launched | January 1, 1994; 31 years ago (January 1, 1994) (Asia) September 1, 2002; 23 years ago (September 1, 2002) (Japan) |
| Closed |
|
| Replaced by | Techstorm (Unifi TV) Global Trekker (Astro) BBC Lifestyle (Cignal) BBC Earth (Taiwan) Disney+ (Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan) |
| Former names |
|
| Links | |
| Website | natgeotv |
National Geographic (Nat Geo Asia, formerlyNBC Asia andNational Geographic Channel and also commercially abbreviated and trademarked asNat Geo orNat Geo TV) is a pan-Asiansubscriptiontelevision channel owned byDisney Networks Group Asia Pacific (through NGC Network Asia, LLC). The channel featured non-fiction, factual programming involving nature, science, culture and history, produced by theNational Geographic Society, just likeHistory andDiscovery Channel.
It was launched on January 1, 1994, as NBC Asia. As of 2008, the Asian version ofthe original US version was available in over 56 million homes. NGC Asia has had six different channels of feeds. The channel closed in 2023–2024 as National Geographic libraries moved to the streaming platformDisney+.
On January 1, 1994, the channel was officially launched as NBC Asia. It featured mostlyNBC programs as well as theNBC Nightly News,The Tonight Show,Saturday Night Live andLate Night. Like its European counterpart, it could not broadcast United States-produced primetime shows due to rights restrictions. It did, however, also air someNBC Sports output. During weekdayevenings, NBC Asia had a regional evening news program. It occasionally simulcast some programs fromCNBC Asia andMSNBC.[citation needed]
On July 1, 1998, NBC Asia was rebranded as the National Geographic Channel. The NBC programming moved toCNBC Asia.
On February 4, 2008, the Nat Geo Junior programming block of two non-contingent hours, late morning and late afternoon, was launched on the channel.I Didn't Know That,Mad Labs andWild Detectives were the initial shows on the block.[1]
National Geographic and its sister channelNat Geo Wild have remained on-air until the announcement of the channel closure on October 1, 2023.[2] This announcement led many of the pay TV providersto lose all of the Disney/Fox linear channels, including National Geographic itself.[3][4] However, the majority of National Geographic's libraries, including their documentary films, have been included onDisney+ (orDisney+ Hotstar in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand) content hub as Disney currently owns the partial ownership onNational Geographic Global Networks.
Later on, the Taiwan feed closed down on January 1, 2024;[2][5] withBBC Earth serving as its replacement.[6]
The only Asian country that still have not ceased in operation is Japan, as the Japanese feed is currently operated by The Walt Disney Company (Japan) Ltd; both the Middle Eastern andIndian sub-continent feed is yet to be determined, while the earlier territories currently share the feed with the European/African feeds from The Walt Disney Company EMEA.
On a related note, eGG Network is not the only channel on Astro that will be taken off the air soon though. There are other channels too includingNational Geographic,Nat Geo Wild, Ta-Daa and Boomerang that will be discontinued on 1 February although the pay-TV operator has already added new channels such as Global Trekker, Love Nature/Love Nature 4K, DreamWorks, and BBC's Cbeebies to become their replacements.
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