Discovery Life

Discovery Life
Launched	February 1, 2011 (2011-02-01)
Owned by	Discovery Communications
Picture format	1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV)
Headquarters	Elizabeth, New Jersey
Formerly called	Discovery Fit & Health (2011–2015) Discovery Life Channel (2015–2016)
Replaced	Discovery Health Channel FitTV
Sister channel(s)	Discovery Channel TLC Animal Planet Discovery Family\Science Investigation Discovery American Heroes Channel Destination America Velocity Discovery en Español Discovery Familia
Website	www.discoverylife.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 261 (SD ONLY)
Cable
Verizon FiOS	Channel 161
IPTV
AT&T U-verse	Channel 466
Frontier Vantage	Channel 466 (Northeast), 468 (Durham)

Discovery Life, formerly Discovery Fit & Health, is an American digital cable and satellite ADC television network that is owned by Discovery Communications. The channel's programming focus is dedicated to various life events of a medical or mental nature. Launched on February 1, 2011, it is the result of the merger of Discovery Health Channel and FitTV and features programs formerly found on both channels.

As of February 2015, approximately 46,696,000 American households (40.1% of households with television) receive Discovery Life.^[1]

History

Discovery Fit & Health

Discovery Fit & Health logo

Discovery Communications shut down the original Discovery Health Channel at 11:59 pm ET on December 31, 2010, and used its old channel space a minute later to launch the Oprah Winfrey Network, a new network under the auspices of former talk show host Oprah Winfrey. Its old shows soon began airing on FitTV.

On January 17, 2011, Discovery Communications announced that FitTV and the intellectual property of the Discovery Health Channel would be merged and renamed as Discovery Fit & Health on February 1, 2011, using FitTV's old channel space.^[2][3] Gradually the fitness-oriented programs carried over from FitTV were phased out in favor of more docudrama-style programming.

Discovery Life

Discovery Life Channel logo, 2015–2016, as this logo also seen in the Poland version

Discovery Communications rebranded the channel as Discovery Life Channel on January 15, 2015, with an objective of attracting a wider audience and appealing to more cable and satellite carriers. The station is particularly targeted toward women aged 25–54.^[4] According to network general manager Jane Latman, "a focus on ‘life’ vs. ‘health’ makes [the channel] more accessible, offering a compelling platform for great storytelling that chronicles the drama inherent in our everyday lives.”^[5]

In Poland, the channel was launched on February 1, 2015 in the closure of Animal Planet (SD version). The HD version of Animal Planet remained unchanged and is still available on digital platforms and on cable. With 5 other Discovery channels, a localized version as Dlife was launched in 2016 on the BeIN pay TV system in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Unlike the US version, the Poland uses the channel as “Discovery Life". The US version has changed to its Poland name unlike its logo and its graphics on August 26, 2016.^[6]

Programming

The channel currently airs a mix of original programming alongside existing series and one-off specials from the Discovery/TLC catalogue. Programs span the topics of medical emergencies (Untold Stories of the ER, Mystery Diagnosis), addiction and mental illness (Cracking Addiction, Hoarding: Buried Alive), pregnancy and childbirth (A Baby Story, Outrageous Births: Tales from the Crib), and sex (Sex-a-thon, Sex Sent Me to the ER).

Programming goes off the air in lieu of paid infomercials on weeknights from 2am, with regular programming resuming at 6am.^[7]

References