Destination America

Destination America
Launched	October 1996 (as Discovery Travel and Living)
Owned by	Discovery Communications
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Headquarters	Silver Spring, Maryland
Formerly called	Discovery Travel and Living (October 1996-1998) Discovery Home and Leisure (1998-March 28, 2004) Discovery Home (March 29, 2004-June 4, 2008)
Sister channel(s)	Discovery Channel TLC The Hub Animal Planet OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network Science Investigation Discovery Military Channel Discovery Fit & Health Velocity Discovery en Español Discovery Familia
Website	DestinationAmerica.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 286 (SD/HD)
Dish Network	Channel 194 (SD/HD)
C-Band	AMC 11-Channel 615 (4DTV Digital)
Cable
Available on many cable systems	Check local listings for channels
IPTV
Sky Angel	Channel 315
AT&T U-verse	Channel 465 (SD) Channel 1465 (HD)

Planet Green is an American cable TV specialty channel that launched in 1996. It is distributed by Discovery Communications and focuses on eco - friendly programs".^[1] The channel had previously been known as Discovery Travel & Living, Discovery Home & Leisure, and Discovery Home

History

The space was originally used for one of the four digital cable networks launched by Discovery Communications in 1996. The new networks were first announced in November 1994, with a launch planned for Spring 1995. At the time the network had the working title Living and was described as "a home repair network".^[2] The launch was delayed, and the channel made its debut in October 1996, originally known as "Discovery Travel & Living" and offering programming including do-it-yourself projects, cooking, interior design/landscaping and party planning.

By 1998, it had settled on the name "Discovery Home & Leisure", but the "Leisure" part of the name was dropped on March 29, 2004, when the channel became "Discovery Home". Much of the travel-related programming was dropped in the process to provide more focus on home improvment and cooking. ^[3]

Planet Green

Facing increased competition in the home oriented programming sector, Discovery Communications planned a 24-hour channel focused on eco-friendly living in an attempt to capitalize on a rising environmental movement.^[4] "Discovery Home" was retired and its satellite carriage replaced by the environmentally themed channel "Planet Green" at 6:00 pm on June 4, 2008.^[5][6] The channel focused on environmental issues and ecological living, and Discovery invested $50 million in original programming for the re-branded channel with shows such as a weekly eco-newscast series with Bob Woodruff of ABC News.^[7][8] The project began after the Discovery Channel bought the website Treehugger.com from owners Graham Hill and Ken Rother.^[9][10] At its launch, Planet Green was available in 50 million U.S. households and included 250 hours of eco-related programming with a programming budget of US$50 million.^[11]

In March 2010, the channel's programming was broadened to include non-ecology themed shows, and one year later Discovery Communications executives were acknowledging the channel's failure. Discovery announced a probable rebranding of the channel by the start of the summer of 2012.^[12]

Destination America

On April 4, 2012, Discovery announced through the early release of a USA Today article that the network would be rebranded as Destination America, targeted mainly towards Middle America and featuring mainly American-centric travel, food, and natural history programming that has been without a natural home since Discovery's 2010 sale of the Travel Channel to Scripps Networks Interactive, along with other Discovery archive content that fits the Destination America branding. The channel was originally expected to have a Memorial Day launch on May 28, 2012.^[13] The channel's trademark and logo were registered by Discovery Networks on February 28, 2012 through the United States Patent and Trademark Office.^[14]

Destination America launched at 12:00 a.m. ET on May 26, 2012 and is available in most areas of the United States through local Satellite and Cable providers such as Dish Network, DirecTV, Comcast, Charter Communications, Verizon FiOS, Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and Knology. The high definition version of the network is widely available as well.

Programming

Planet Green programming included ecologically themed shows built around celebrities including Ed Begley Jr, Emeril Lagasse, Adrian Grenier, Leonardo Dicaprio, Ludacris, Tommy Lee, Tom Bergeron, SuChin Pak, Maria Menounos, Bob Woodruff and Tom Green. In addition, celebrities gave 'green' tips as the network's bumpers (transitions into and out of commercial breaks). the channel was programmed in 8 hour blocks which repeated three times per day until April 2010. Lacking separate satellite feeds for the East and West coasts of the U.S., prime-time programs run from 8p.m. to 11p.m. Eastern time and were then repeated.^[11]

Despite having broadened its focus from exclusively eco-themed programming, in February 2011 Discovery chief executive David Zaslav acknowledged the channel's failure, saying in a conference call with investors "We think we can probably do something else with that that would be more meaningful."^[12] Shortly thereafter the channel had abandoned its theme, re-running programs from other Discovery Communications channels and featuring programming blocks such as "Paranormal Fridays".^[15]

Former Planet Green programming

Shows previously seen on Planet Green include:

¹ originally shown on Discovery Channel

² originally shown on Animal Planet

³ originally shown on TLC

Logos

• 

  Logo as Planet Green. The dot was originally colored green. It was changed to red in reference to global warming due to pollution.

• 

  Secondary logo as Planet Green.

References

Notes

External links

• Official website
• DestAmerica on Twitter
• DestinationAmerica on Facebook
• destinationamerica on Tumblr