History (TV channel)

History
Launched	January 1, 1995 (1995-01-01)
Owned by	A&E Television Networks
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 720p (HDTV)
Slogan	"History Made Every Day"
Headquarters	New York City, United States
Formerly called	The History Channel (1995–2008)
Sister channel(s)	History International A&E Network Biography Channel Military History Channel History en Español Crime & Investigation Network History in HD
Website	www.History.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Selective TV Inc. (Alexandria, MN)	K52DZ (Channel 52)
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 269 Channel 1269 (VOD)
Dish Network	Channel 120
DStv	Channel 254
Cable
Comcast	Varies by market
Time Warner Cable	Varies by market
Charter Cable	Channel 73
UPC Romania	Channel 312 (SD) Channel 180 (HD)
IPTV
AT&T U-verse	Channel 270 (SD) Channel 1270 (HD)

History, formerly known as The History Channel, is an international satellite and cable TV channel that broadcasts programs regarding historical events and persons, as well as various occult, pseudoscientific, and paranormal phenomena—often with observations and explanations by noted historians, scholars, authors, esotericists, astrologers, and Biblical scholars—as well as reenactments and interviews with witnesses, and/or families of witnesses.

Contents 1 History of the channel 2 Programming 3 Criticism and evaluation 4 Other media 4.1 DVD 4.2 Video games 5 International 5.1 Canada 5.2 Asia 5.3 Scandinavia 5.4 Latin America 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

History of the channel

The History Channel was launched on January 1, 1995. The channel is owned by A&E Television Networks, a joint venture of Hearst Corporation, Disney-ABC Television Group (The Walt Disney Company), and NBC Universal (General Electric),^[1] and operates, in various forms, in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Ireland, Israel, Spain, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania and Latin America. The network was also available in South Asia under a deal between STAR TV and AETN International until November 21, 2008. The channel has consistently produced prime time ratings in the U.S. comparable to or higher than the A&E Network itself.

On February 16, 2008, a new logo was launched on the flagship American network. While keeping their trademark "H", the triangle shape on the left acts as a play button for animation and fly-outs during commercials and shows. The former logo form remains in place for the rest of the world. On March 20, 2008, The History Channel dropped the "The" and the "Channel" parts of its name to become simply "History".^[2]

Programming

Programming covers a wide range of periods and topics, while similar topics are often organized into themed weeks or daily marathons. Subjects include military history, medieval history, the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, modern engineering, historical biographies, metaphysical subjects and disaster scenarios; a number of these documentaries are narrated by Edward Herrmann. Many programs compare contemporary culture and technology with the past, while some programs have a more esoteric focus such as conspiracy theory, religious interpretation, UFO speculation, or reality television. The History Channel maintains a corporate initiative called Save Our History, dedicated to the preservation of history and historical sites and artifacts, similar in spirit but not to be confused with the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Criticism and evaluation

The History Channel received the nickname "The Hitler Channel"^[3] for its extensive coverage of World War II, though much military-themed programming has now been shifted to its sister network, the Military History Channel, and the network's programming now covers a diverse range of topics on history and hypothetical future events. The U.S.-based network has also been criticized for devoting most of its coverage to historical topics concerning the Western world and the United States in particular.^[4] The network has also received criticism for emphasizing the history of relatively recent times, as opposed to ancient or medieval eras.

The network was also criticized by Stanley Kutner for airing the controversial series The Men Who Killed Kennedy in 2003; Kutner was one of three historians commissioned to review the documentary, which the channel disavowed and never aired again.^[5] On the other hand, programs such as Modern Marvels have been praised for their presentation of detailed information in an entertaining format.^[6]

Also, the network's Ice Road Truckers series garnered record ratings in the U.S., despite the series' non-historical nature and the vulgar language consistently used on the show.^[7]

History is continuing the apocalyptic trend mentioned above with a highly interpretive new series, Nostradamus Effect, which premiered on September 9, 2009, and involves a supposed "Third Antichrist" and a "Da Vinci Armageddon."

Despite these criticisms about History's not-as-historical subject matter, examples of programs that more appropriately suit the channel are Ancient Discoveries, Engineering an Empire, and Cities of the Underworld.

The historical programming has also been criticized for frequently deviating from mainstream, scientifically-accepted explanations and theories, as well as a number of factual errors.

Other media

DVD

• The Unknown Hitler DVD collection,^[8] including Hitler and the Occult
• Dogfight: Season 1 DVD set
• The Great Depression DVD collection

Video games

• The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome
• The History Channel: Civil War - A Nation Divided
• The History Channel: ShootOut! - The Game
• The History Channel: Dogfights - The Game
• The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific
• The History Channel: Lost Worlds
• The History Channel: Battle of Britain 1940
• The History Channel: Crusades - Quest for Power
• The History Channel: Alamo - Fight for Independence
• The History Channel: Civil War - Great Battles
• The History Channel: Digging for Truth

The History Channel maintains a website at www.history.com which among other features maintains several message boards including the History of Christianity, WWII, the Civil War, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Current Events.

International

Canada

History is not to be confused with a similar, independently-owned, Canadian service, History Television. Indeed, the phrase "Not available in Canada" became a de facto slogan for the channel in its early years, as a result of its use in promotional ads, at least those aired on A&E (which is available in Canada).^[9]

Asia

The History Channel started its operations in India in late 2003, with News Corp's STAR as its sales partner, managed by National Geographic until November 21, 2008.^[10] The History Channel India closed down on November 21, 2008 and it has been replaced by Fox History & Entertainment, which is the first FOX Network channel available in India. A joint venture of AETN and Astro All Asia Networks is launching the History Channel in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei in the second and third quarters of 2007, and in Taiwan and China by the end of the year.^[11] Some other Asian countries such as Israel and Japan have their own versions of the network. On September 1, 2008, History Channel Asia was officially launched in Singapore and Hong Kong, followed by Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Scandinavia

A Scandinavian version was launched in September 1997, broadcasting for three hours and later four hours, per day on the analogue Viasat platform. Initially time-sharing with TV1000 Cinema, it was later moved to the Swedish TV8 channel and continued broadcasting there until November 2004 when Viasat launched their own history channel, Viasat History, in the Nordic region and closed down the History Channel. On February 1, 2007 the History Channel returned to Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden when the UK version was launched as a stand-alone channel on the Canal Digital satellite platform.

The History Channel launched on February 1, 2007 on the Canal Digital DTH satellite package for viewers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark & Finland. The channel is being launched by The History Channel UK, A&E’s joint venture with BSkyB. Although it will broadcast in English, the channel will be scheduled separately from the UK version. There are already separate versions of The History Channel in sub-Saharan Africa and Greece. The Biography Channel and Crime & Investigation Network are also to be launched in the Nordic market.

Latin America

The Latin American version was launched in 2001. It is owned by A&E Network and controlled in the region by HBO Latin America Group. It airs the same programming as the U.S. version. All Latin American programming is under the supervision of Tom Golden, the Executive Producer for International Programs at A&E Television Networks, and the Discovery Channel which uses HBO Latin America Group for Latin American broadcasts.

See also

• A&E Television Networks
• The Biography Channel
• History International
• The History Channel (India)
• History (Australian television channel)
• Military History Channel
• List of DirecTV channels
• List of Dish Network channels
• List of documentary channels

References

External links

• History Official Site
• Dr Anna Keay - Historian and History Channel Presenter
• History UK
• History Italy
• The History Channel Australia
• History Asia
• The History Channel India
• Canal de Historia (History Spain)
• Canal de História (History Portugal)
• The History Channel New Zealand
• History Latin America
• History Brazil
• The History Channel Around the World
• The History Channel Germany
• The History Channel International
• Save Our History
• MediaLifeMagazine website (source of cable network ratings)

Shows on the History Channel Current and returning series American Pickers · American Restoration · Ancients Behaving Badly · Ancient Aliens · Ancient Discoveries · Ax Men · Battles BC · Clash of the Gods · Decoding the Past  · Food Tech · Gangland · The History Channel Classroom · How the Earth Was Made · Ice Road Truckers · Life After People · Lock N' Load with R. Lee Ermey · MadHouse · Modern Marvels · MysteryQuest · Nostradamus Effect · Pawn Stars · That's Impossible · Top Gear · Top Shot · The Universe Past, canceled, and hiatus series American Eats · Battle 360° · Battlefield Detectives · Boneyard · Cities of the Underworld · Conquest · Digging for the Truth · Declassified · Deep Sea Detectives · Dogfights · Engineering an Empire · Evolve · Expedition Africa · Haunted History · History's Business · History's Lost & Found · History's Mysteries · The History of Sex · Human Weapon · Jumbo Movies · Jurassic Fight Club · The Lost Evidence · Lost Worlds · Mail Call · Man, Moment, Machine · Mega Disasters · Mega Movers · MonsterQuest · The Most · Patton 360° · The Presidents · Reel to Real · Sandhogs · Save Our History · The States · Sliced · Surviving History · Tactical to Practical · Tales of the Gun · Tougher In Alaska · UFO Files · UFO Hunters · Warriors · Weird U.S. · Wild West Tech · The XY Factor Documentary films and miniseries 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America · 102 Minutes That Changed America · America: The Story of Us · Life After People · The Men Who Killed Kennedy · The People Speak · Sherman's March  · WWII in HD A&E shows that now air on History The Real West · Civil War Journal

A&E Television Networks U.S. channels A&E Network · Bio. · Crime & Investigation Network · History · History en Español · History International · Lifetime · Lifetime Movie Network · Lifetime Real Women · Military History International channels AETN UK (AETN / British Sky Broadcasting) History UK · Bio. UK · Crime & Investigation Network UK AETN All Asia Networks (AETN / Astro) History South East Asia · Bio. South East Asia · Crime & Investigation Network South East Asia Foxtel History Australia · Bio. Australia · Crime & Investigation Network Australia Defunct channels History India