Another Discovery Network bites the dust

[sdwulfdawg]

Has anyone noticed that overnight that Discovery Times is gone...and is now a network called "ID"?

All of the shows, some of them retreads from MSNBC, are all related to crime stories. What brainiac thought this up at Discovery as they dumb down their networks one by one....

http://investigation.discovery.com/index.html

 

[pbf1]

NY Times is no longer part of it. Gotta rename it SOMETHING!!!

 

[DToTheJ]

Next year, Discovery Health is going to be renamed the Oprah Winfrey Network - OWN. Based on how successful that joint venture is, Ms. Winfrey is going to start her own cable network for computer users - PWN.

 

[JayR]

It's official...

Discovery Health is no more.

 

[johnnya2k6]

It's official...

Discovery Health is no more.

And I guess Oprah has let out a big "Ha, ha!" to Vince McMahon (whose WWE Network is slated to launch sometime later this year).

 

[KTU_Fan]

Why is that? WWE Network was never even rumored to take over the spot.

 

[johnnyu]

Well, here's one guy that will never see it.

 

[johnnya2k6]

Why is that? WWE Network was never even rumored to take over the spot.

I was harping on the fact that Oprah launched her network first this year before WWE's, which won't be until 2012 or even 2013 at the latest!

 

[MarcB]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

 

[azumanga]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

I noticed that TLC has also ramped up its medical-related shows in light of Discovery Health's demise.

 

[landtuna]

Very sad. Discovery used to be a prime reason for subscribing to cable/sat. Now, like many others, it is just junk.

 

[justthenumbers]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

I noticed that TLC has also ramped up its medical-related shows in light of Discovery Health's demise.

I thought I read somewhere that FitTV was going to be changing its name to "Discovery Health & Fitness", or something like that...

 

[newsbot]

This is how the commercial-supported cable networks operate. Start with a narrowly-defined niche, then broaden the channel's appeal once it catches on. Finally, change its name once it no longer resembles the channel when it signed on. That's why TCM can stay the way it was - it isn't beholden to advertisers.

 

[Madmansam]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

I noticed that TLC has also ramped up its medical-related shows in light of Discovery Health's demise.

I thought I read somewhere that FitTV was going to be changing its name to "Discovery Health & Fitness", or something like that...

Wasn't FitTV at one time "The Health Network"?

 

[Madmansam]

That's why TCM can stay the way it was - it isn't beholden to advertisers.

At least right now. Turner Classic Movies can always change like AMC. Become something like: "The New TCM-Classics & More!" Probably won't hapen. Heck, it better not happen! The only good channel on Cable TV.

 

[Joey1986]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

I noticed that TLC has also ramped up its medical-related shows in light of Discovery Health's demise.

I thought I read somewhere that FitTV was going to be changing its name to "Discovery Health & Fitness", or something like that...

Wasn't FitTV at one time "The Health Network"?

Yes, that is correct.

 

[mescutia]

Very sad. Discovery used to be a prime reason for subscribing to cable/sat. Now, like many others, it is just junk.

Not all of it. MythBusters is great.

And Science Channel is still around.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

I noticed that TLC has also ramped up its medical-related shows in light of Discovery Health's demise.

I thought I read somewhere that FitTV was going to be changing its name to "Discovery Health & Fitness", or something like that...

Wasn't FitTV at one time "The Health Network"?

Before Discovery bought it

 

[Sammi Brie]

A lot of the stuff that used to be on Discovery Health is on FIT TV today.

I noticed that TLC has also ramped up its medical-related shows in light of Discovery Health's demise.

I thought I read somewhere that FitTV was going to be changing its name to "Discovery Health & Fitness", or something like that...

Wasn't FitTV at one time "The Health Network"?

Yes, that is correct.

It has a convoluted history.

FitTV and America's Health Network (est. 1993 and 1996, respectively) were separate operations. AHN was majority owned by the Providence Journal, which Belo bought in 1997. Belo apparently didn't care too much about cable, so they attempted to sell it to Columbia Health Care. The sale fell through just hours before it was to close because government raids and managerial issues there had "turned the company upside down" (in a former executive's mind). Their live shows, which stopped during this time, finally resumed with new management in late 1997. By 1999, Fox Cable formed a joint venture with the AHN management. They bought FitTV and smushed the two together as The Health Network. They sold 50% of the channel to WebMD in 2000 at the height of the dot-com boom. It very nearly relaunched in the fall of 2000 as WebMD Television. The plans were put on hold, and WebMD, which lost $2 billion in 2000, sold its share back to Fox.

Discovery bought the channel in September 2001 (right before the 9-11 attacks) and returned it to FitTV precisely because it owned Discovery Health.

When Belo bought ProJo it received its entire Northwest cluster (which at one point included its Hawai'i operation, KHNL + operations of KFVE), some cable system assets, and I believe one or two San Francisco radio stations – all in addition to its namesake newspaper.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

And now Belo execs would be hailed as visionaries if they had kept those television and cable assets since the newspaper business has begun to tank.