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Discovery history
Discovery company history timeline
The company's namesake and flagship brand, Discovery Channel, first launched on June 17, 1985.
By its first anniversary in June 1986, Discovery counted seven million subscribers.
By 1988 Discovery's growing subscriber base had hit 32 million.
In addition, 1989 was the year Discovery commissioned its first original programming, having heretofore relied exclusively on material from outside sources, among them the BBC. One new show, "Assignment Discovery," was a daily, one-hour program designed to be used in school classrooms.
1989: Discovery Channel Europe is launched.
In 1990 Discovery expanded its overseas operations to Israel and began to sell videos through the newly created Discovery Interactive Library unit.
1990: Line of home videos is introduced.
October 1991 also saw the company renamed Discovery Communications, Inc. (DCI).
In 1991, Discovery Channel's owners acquired The Learning Channel.
Announced in late 1992, Your Choice TV, Inc. was a new subsidiary that offered a prototype cable remote control device that could organize the hundreds of choices into 11 thematic categories for ease of use.
1993: Company begins marketing CD-ROMs based on its television programs.
The network was available in 62 million homes by 1994, or 98 percent of United States households with cable TV. The Learning Channel also had doubled its own subscriber base to 30 million homes.
1994: International expansion widens to Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East.
The company's brand-building strategy was working well, as was shown in a 1995 study by Total Research Corp., which ranked Discovery second only to the National Geographic Society in consumer perception of brand quality.
1995: A $10 million web site is launched featuring original news content and more.
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.
1996: Two retail chains, Discovery Stores and Nature Company, are purchased.
In September 1997 Discovery announced that it would buy 70 percent of the Travel Channel from Paxson Communications for $20 million.
The company's flagship store opened in February 1998, six months late and $10 million over budget.
1998: Animal Planet is launched as part of a deal with the BBC; Eye on People channel is bought.
1999: Discovery Health Channel is launched as part of new Health Media division.
The summer of 2000 saw Discovery.com's IPO plans shelved, with $500 million in new financing sought through private investors.
The network quietly folded in 2000, being replaced by other Discovery channels on providers.
In early 2001 a potential challenge to DCI's dominance of the cable documentary market was launched by the National Geographic Society with the backing of Fox Cable Networks.
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.
Former NBCUniversal executive David Zaslav was named president and CEO of Discovery Communications on November 16, 2006.
In March 2007, Discovery sold its stake in Travel Channel back to Cox Communications, in exchange for the stake in Discovery that Cox owned.
In 2007, according to Crunchbase, TreeHugger was acquired by Discovery Communications on August 1, 2007, for $10 million.
Discovery Communications was founded by John S. Hendricks on September 17, 2008 and is headquartered in Silver Spring, MD.“
In 2008, Discovery Times was re-launched as Investigation Discovery, a new brand that would be dedicated to true crime programs and documentaries.
On March 17, 2009, Discovery revealed that it owned the rights to several patents related to e-books, in announcing a patent infringement lawsuit against Amazon.com, maker of the Kindle e-book reading device.
On April 30, 2009, it was announced that Discovery would be forming a joint-venture with Hasbro to re-launch Discovery Kids as a new children’s channel known as The Hub.
The channel, ultimately named The Hub, launched on October 10, 2010.
Discovery launched a 3DTV channel in conjunction with Sony and IMAX in early 2011, called 3net.
Amazon subsequently accused Discovery of violating a patent for an "Internet-based customer referral system"; The two parties settled in 2011.
In 2012, Mother Nature Network, founded by Joel Babbit and Chuck Leavell (now Narrative Content Group) acquired TreeHugger.
On October 1, 2013, the 13 Discovery-owned or co-owned networks in the United States began airing 10-second wraparounds after many of their show promos.
In January 2014, Discovery launched Curiosity, a website that aggregates online education content.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The service was officially announced in October 2018 as GolfTV, with Eurosport executive vice president Alex Kaplan named the president and general manager of Discovery Golf.
During its 2018 upfronts, Zaslav stated that the company was now strongly focused on serving "passionate fans and passionate audiences", and was preparing to increase its focus on direct-to-consumer offerings targeting such audiences.
On May 13, 2019, Discovery announced that it would acquire Golf Digest from Condé Nast to integrate into its Discovery Golf division.
In 2019, Discovery Communications moved its headquarters to New York City, keeping 300 employees in a smaller hub in Silver Spring.
Food Network Kitchen would also launch in 2019, with a focus on live and on-demand cooking classes.
On June 7, 2021, Discovery announced that it would sell Great American Country to GAC Media, an investment group led by Tom Hicks and former Crown Media Holdings CEO Bill Abbott.
On June 1, 2021, it was announced that the merged company would be known as Warner Bros.
On January 26, 2022, it was reported that the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery, Inc. was expected to close sometime during the second quarter of 2022.
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Discovery competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc. | 2013 | $30.4B | 22,400 | 1 |
| A+E Networks | 1984 | $890.0M | 1,047 | 20 |
| Hemisphere Media Group | 2013 | $195.7M | 314 | - |
| TV One | 2003 | $20.5M | 50 | - |
| National Geographic | 1888 | $499.2M | 1,500 | 27 |
| ViacomCBS | 2019 | $14.5B | 12,700 | - |
| Discover | 1985 | $13.0B | 17,600 | 6 |
| News | 2013 | $10.1B | 24,000 | 243 |
Discovery history FAQs
Zippia gives an in-depth look into the details of Discovery, including salaries, political affiliations, employee data, and more, in order to inform job seekers about Discovery. The employee data is based on information from people who have self-reported their past or current employments at Discovery. The data on this page is also based on data sources collected from public and open data sources on the Internet and other locations, as well as proprietary data we licensed from other companies. Sources of data may include, but are not limited to, the BLS, company filings, estimates based on those filings, H1B filings, and other public and private datasets. While we have made attempts to ensure that the information displayed are correct, Zippia is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of this information. None of the information on this page has been provided or approved by Discovery. The data presented on this page does not represent the view of Discovery and its employees or that of Zippia.
Discovery may also be known as or be related to Discovery, Discovery Communications, Discovery Communications (1994–2018), Discovery Communications Inc, Discovery Communications LLC and Discovery Communications, Inc.