Discovery, Inc.

Discovery Communications headquarters at Silver Spring, Maryland.

**Discovery, Inc.** (formerly **Discovery Communications**) is an American mass media company based in Silver Spring, Maryland and established in 1985.

The company primarily operates factual television networks, such as its namesake Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel, TLC, and other spin-off brands. In March 2018, the company completed its acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive, which added networks such as Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel to its portfolio. The combined company operates five of the ten most-watched U.S. cable channels among women.

Discovery, Inc. also owns or has interests in local versions of its channel brands in international markets, in addition to its other major regional operations such as Eurosport (a pan-European group of sports channels), Discovery Communications Nordic (which operates general-interest channels in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland), TVN Group in Poland, a minority stake in Lionsgate, an American movie studio, UKTV, a British channel group co-owned with BBC Studios, All3Media a British-based group of production companies co-owned with Liberty Global, and a portfolio of various free-to-air channels in Germany and Italy such as DMAX and Real Time.

## History

The company's namesake and flagship brand, Discovery Channel, first launched on June 17, 1985. In 1991, Discovery Channel's owners acquired The Learning Channel.

In October 1996, Discovery launched several new spin-off networks, including Animal Planet, and the digital cable channels Discovery Kids, Discovery Travel & Living, Discovery Civilization, and Science Channel. This was followed by the 1997 purchase of a 70% stake in Travel Channel, and the 1998 launches of Discovery en Español, Discovery Wings, and Discovery Health Channel. Also in 1998, Discovery acquired a stake in the struggling CBS Eye on People channel; Discovery eventually acquired the remainder of CBS's stake, leading to its January 1999 re-launch as Discovery People. The network quietly folded in 2000, being replaced by other Discovery channels on providers.

On September 1, 2001, Discovery Communications bought The Health Channel, and announced that it would be re-branded as FitTV. In 2002, Discovery re-launched Discovery Civilization as Discovery Times, as part of a joint venture with *The New York Times*. In June 2002, coinciding with Discovery's 17th anniversary, the company launched a 24/7 high definition channel known as Discovery HD Theater. In 2003, Discovery Communications moved its headquarters from Bethesda to Silver Spring. In March 2007, Discovery sold its stake in Travel Channel back to Cox Communications, in exchange for the stake in Discovery that Cox owned. Cox would later sell the controlling interest in the channel to Scripps Networks Interactive in 2009. In June 2008, Discovery Home was replaced by Planet Green, a network devoted primarily to environmentalism and ecological living.

On January 15, 2008, Discovery announced that it had entered into a joint venture with Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions to re-launch Discovery Health as a new service, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, in 2009. In 2008, Discovery Times was re-launched as Investigation Discovery, a new brand that would be dedicated to true crime programs and documentaries. On April 30, 2009, Discovery announced a joint venture with Hasbro to re-launch Discovery Kids as a new youth- and family-oriented entertainment channel. The channel, ultimately named The Hub, launched on October 10, 2010. After multiple delays, OWN officially launched on January 1, 2011.

On March 17, 2009, Discovery Communications sued Amazon.com for patent infringement by its Kindle e-reader line, regarding "secure distribution of electronic text and graphics to subscribers and secure storage". The patents were originally developed by Discovery founder John Hendricks, who had been developing technologies related to e-books and the digitization of television programs. While Discovery had divested the television-related patents, it retained the e-book patents. Amazon subsequently accused Discovery of violating a patent for an "Internet-based customer referral system"; The two parties settled in 2011.

On October 4, 2011, due to the wider implementation of high-definition feeds for mainstream cable channels, HD Theater was re-launched as Velocity, a new "upscale male" network focusing on automotive programming. On May 28, 2012, Planet Green (which had begun to abandon its original concept in 2010 due to poor viewership) was re-launched as Destination America.

In January 2014, Discovery launched Curiosity, a website that aggregates online education content.

In May 2014, Discovery and Liberty Global acquired British television studio All3Media for $930 million in a 50/50 joint venture. The new ownership stated that All3Media would be operated as an independent company. In October 2014, Discovery acquired controlling interest in Hub Network from Hasbro and re-branded it as Discovery Family. In November 2014, Curiosity was spun out as a venture-funded startup, receiving $6 million in funding.

In December 2015, Discovery launched Discovery Go, a TV Everywhere service offering access to live streaming and on-demand content from Discovery Communications' cable networks.

In May 2016, Discovery initiated a restructuring plan aiming to save $40 to $60 million by the third quarter of 2016, including a shift in strategy to "maximize" its linear television business whilst plotting larger investments in content, digital media, sports, and international markets. In August 2016, Discovery purchased a minority stake in the Hong Kong-based digital talent and content company VS Media; Discovery intended to have VS distribute Discovery Digital Networks content in China, and to offer their own resources to VS.

In July 2016, Discovery and Spanish telecommunications company Telefónica were linked to a potential acquisition of British television broadcaster Telewest Group in a joint venture with Telefónica potentially owning 75.98% of the company with Discovery potentially owning the remaining 25.02%. However the exclusivity period granted to Telefónica and Discovery expired and, in June 2017 Telewest was eventually acquired by British retail giant Sainsbury's.

In October 2016, Discovery purchased a minority stake in Group Nine Media, a digital media holding company consisting of Thrillist Media Group, NowThis, The Dodo and Discovery's digital network Seeker—for $100 million. The transaction gave Discovery an option to acquire a majority stake at a later date.

On August 3, 2017, Discovery announced that it would contribute Velocity into a joint venture with the digital, live events, and direct-to-consumer businesses of automotive publisher TEN: The Enthusiast Network. Discovery will hold a majority stake in the venture; it will not include TEN's print brands, but there will be opportunities for cross-promotion.

In December 2017, Discovery announced that it would acquire an additional 24.5% stake in OWN that it did not already own, for $70 million. Oprah Winfrey will remain as CEO of OWN, and extended her exclusivity agreement with the network and Discovery through 2025. Harpo Productions retains a "significant minority stake" in the venture.

In April 2018, it was announced that TEN had been renamed Motor Trend Group, and that Velocity would be re-branded as an extension of its namesake magazine *Motor Trend*.

### Acquisition of Scripps Networks Interactive

On July 31, 2017, Discovery announced it would acquire Scripps Networks Interactive, owner of networks such as Food Network and HGTV, for $14.6 billion, pending regulatory approval.

On March 1, 2018, it was announced that Scripps Networks' chief programmer Kathleen Finch would be named Discovery Communications' Chief Lifestyle Brands Officer; she will continue to oversee the six former Scripps channels, in addition to Discovery's lifestyle networks such as TLC. It was also announced that Rich Ross, who formerly served as group president of Discovery and Science, had stepped down, and would be replaced by TLC president Nancy Daniels as Chief Brand Officer, Discovery & Factual.

On March 6, 2018, the acquisition was completed; at the same time, the company was renamed **Discovery Inc.** SNI shareholders own 20% of Discovery's stock. Discovery will retain an operational hub in SNI's home city of Knoxville, but plans to move its corporate headquarters from Silver Spring, Maryland, where it has operated since 2003, to New York City in late 2019.

In November 2018, Chip and Joanna Gaines of the former HGTV series *Fixer Upper* announced on *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon*, that they were in early talks to form a "lifestyle focused media network" with Discovery named after their personal company Magnolia. It was reported that Discovery had considered rebranding either DIY Network or Great American Country as this new network.

## Divisions

DCI operates its businesses in the following groups: U.S. Networks, International, Digital, Discovery Studios, Lifestyle Studios, and Discovery Global Enterprises.

### U.S. channels

There are 19 channels owned and operated by Discovery Networks U.S.