The flagship channel airs non-fiction television programs produced by National Geographic and other production companies. LikeHistory (which is 50% owned by Disney throughA&E Networks) andDiscovery Channel, the channel featuresdocumentaries with factual content involvingnature, science, culture, and history, plus somereality andpseudo-scientific entertainment programming.[citation needed] Its primary sister network worldwide, including the United States, isNat Geo Wild, which focuses on animal-related programs.
As of November 2023[update], Nat Geo is available to approximately 70,000,000 pay television households in the United States- down from its 2016 peak of 91,000,000 households.[5]
In the United States, under leadership of its presidentTim T. Kelly,[6] the National Geographic Channel launched on January 7, 2001,[7] as a joint venture ofNational Geographic Television & Film andFox Cable Networks. National Geographic provides programming expertise and the Fox Networks Group provides its expertise ondistribution, marketing, and advertising sales.
National Geographic Channel logo (2004–2013)
The '90s: The Last Great Decade, a documentary series narrated byRob Lowe, pulled in 1.10 million viewers, and was the second highest-rated July telecast in the National Geographic Channel rating history.The 2000s: A New Reality, also narrated by Lowe, premiered on July 12, 2015.[8]
On November 14, 2016, National Geographic Channel changed its name to simply National Geographic to drop the "Channel" from its name.
On December 14, 2017, in adeal,the Walt Disney Company announced it would buy the majority of21st Century Fox. Disney would assume control of Fox's controlling stake in the National Geographic partnership thereafter.[9] Following the acquisition, National Geographic and its sister channels were folded intoWalt Disney Television, with the president of the National Geographic Partners reporting directly to the Walt Disney Television chairman.[10] Disney officially closed the deal on March 20, 2019, having then added Nat Geo into its portfolio of networks.[3]
The National Geographic Channel's signature themefanfare music, which is played at the beginning of many of the channel's television programs, was composed byElmer Bernstein. It was originally written in 1964 for the Society'stelevision specials, which were broadcast onCBS,ABC,PBS andNBC from 1964 until the early 2000s.
The United States720phigh definition simulcast of the National Geographic Channel launched in January 2006. It is available on all major cable and satellite providers.
Nat Geo Wild (stylized as Nat Geo WILD or abbreviated as NGW) is a cable/satellite TV channel focused on animal-related programs. It is a sister network to National Geographic Channel and it is the latest channel to be jointly launched by the National Geographic Society and Fox Cable Networks. It was launched in United States on March 29, 2010, focusing primarily on wildlife and natural history programming.
Nat Geo Mundo is broadcast in American Spanish, and was launched in 2011.[13] It shares programming with the Nat Geo Channel available in Hispanic American countries. The channel is fully owned by the National Geographic Society with no involvement from Disney General Entertainment Content.
Nat Geo TV is anapplication forsmartphones andtablet computers, along withWindows 10. It allows subscribers of participating pay television providers (such asSpectrum andComcast Xfinity) numerous viewing options, including individual episodes of National Geographic andNat Geo Wild's original series and documentaries (which are made available live). On August 23, 2024, Disney began notifying its carriage partners it would discontinue the mobile and digital media player apps for Nat Geo TV, along withDisneyNOW,Freeform,FXNOW andABC, effective September 23. TV Everywhere content would still be available via their respective websites in order to funnel viewers towards Disney+ andHulu.[14]
Archaeologists have protested that National Geographic shows such asDiggers andNazi War Diggers promote the looting and destruction of archaeological sites by promoting the work of metal detecting souvenir hunters and collectable dealers.[15] In 2013 the National Geographic Channel set off a firestorm of controversy with its reality showDiggers. Professional archaeologists from theSociety for Historical Archaeology, the largest scholarly group concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (A.D. 1400–present), roundly criticized the network for promoting the theft of cultural materials on public and private land.[16]
The showNazi War Diggers was accused of showing unscientific and disrespectful handling of human remains. A promotional quote from a military relic dealer, "I feel that by selling things that are Nazi-related and for lots of money, I am preserving things that museums don't want to deal with," was removed from the channel's website in March 2014. National Geographic expressed regret for how the series was presented by its own website but maintained that many of the accusations against the series were based on misinformation.[17] The program was subsequently pulled from the schedules while National Geographic reviewed allegations against the series.[18] The show was repackaged, amid controversy, asBattlefield Recovery for air during 2016 onChannel 5 in the UK.[19]
