Destination America | |
---|---|
Launched | October 7, 1996 |
Owned by | Discovery Communications |
Picture format |
1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Silver Spring, Maryland |
Formerly called | Discovery Travel and Living (1996–98) Discovery Home and Leisure (1998–2004) Discovery Home (2004–08) Planet Green (2008–12) |
Sister channel(s) |
Discovery Channel TLC Animal Planet Discovery Family Oprah Winfrey Network Science Investigation Discovery American Heroes Channel Discovery Life Velocity Discovery en Español Discovery Familia |
Website | www |
Availability
|
|
Satellite | |
DirecTV | 286 (HD/SD) |
Dish Network | 194 (HD/SD) |
C-Band | AMC 11-Channel 615 (4DTV Digital) |
Cable | |
Available on many U.S. cable providers | Check local listings for channels |
Verizon FiOS | 668(HD) 168(SD) |
IPTV | |
AT&T U-verse | 1465 (HD) 465 (SD) |
Streaming media | |
PlayStation Vue | Internet Protocol television |
Destination America is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that is owned by Discovery Communications. The channel primarily features lifestyle and paranormal programming.
The network first launched in 1996 as Discovery Travel & Living, as part of a suite of four digital cable networks the company launched that year. From its launch until 2008, the network primarily focused upon home improvement, cooking, and leisure-themed programs. In 2008, the network re-launched as Planet Green, which carried a focus on environmentalism and sustainable living; Discovery spent $50 million on developing programming for the network. Planet Green was ultimately considered a failure; by 2010, the network had begun dropping its environmental programming in favor of reruns of other programs from Discovery Communications' library, leading into its 2012 re-branding as Destination America, which originally featured programming focused on American culture, including food, lifestyles, and travel. The channel has since increased its focus on reality series devoted to paranormal topics and investigations.
As of February 2015, approximately 57,238,000 American households (49.2% of households with television) receive Destination America.
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". 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 and 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 improvement and cooking.