Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichannel television providers, b ...

channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States with offices in Silver Spring, Maryland and Knoxville, Tennessee. It features

documentaries A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in term ...

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, re ...

, and

how-to The Linux Documentation Project (LDP) is a dormant an all-volunteer project that maintains a large collection of GNU and Linux-related documentation and publishes the collection online. It began as a way for hackers to share their documentation ...

shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows on African animal

safari A safari (; ) is an overland journey to observe wild animals, especially in eastern or southern Africa. The so-called "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant, and Cape buffalo – particularly form an impor ...

s, tours of grand

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a re ...

s and resorts, visits to significant cities and towns around the world, programming about various foods around the world, and programming about

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to re ...

s and the

paranormal Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as being beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding. Not ...

in notable buildings. As of February 2015, Travel Channel is available to approximately 91.5 million households (comprising 78.6% of households with television) in the United States.

History

The Travel Channel was launched on February 1, 1987; it was founded by TWA Marketing Services (a subsidiary of

Trans World Airlines Trans World Airlines (TWA) was a major American airline which operated from 1930 until 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles via St. Louis, Kansas City, and other stops, with F ...

), presumably to boost airline patronage. The channel's name was derived from the travel-related filler programming that aired between programs on the Home Theater Network. TWA purchased the name rights from Group W Satellite Communications in 1986, and took over HTN's transponder spot following the shutdown of the premium cable channel in January 1987. In 1997 the network was later sold to Landmark Communications, then-owner of

The Weather Channel The Weather Channel (TWC) is an American pay television channel owned by Weather Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Allen Media Group. The channel's headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Launched on May 2, 1982, the channel broadcasts weather foreca ...

, and eventually to Paxson Communications.

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chan ...

acquired a 70% ownership stake in the channel in 1997, and subsequently acquired the remaining 30% interest from Paxson in 1999. In May 2007, Discovery Communications sold Travel Channel to

Cox Enterprises Cox Enterprises, Inc. is a privately held global conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major operating subsidiaries are Cox Communications and ...

subsidiary

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

as part of a larger multibillion-dollar transaction. On November 5, 2009,

Scripps Networks Interactive Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) was an American mass media company, which was formed on July 1, 2008, and acquired by and merged into Discovery Communications on March 6, 2018. It was formed in 2008, through the spin-off of the E. W. ...

acquired a 65% ownership interest in the network for $1.1 billion; the deal closed in January 2010. Following the purchase, Travel Channel began to add programming from sister networks such as

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

In 2015, Scripps relocated the channel's headquarters from Chevy Chase, Maryland to Knoxville, Tennessee. On February 25, 2016, SNI acquired the remaining 35% stake in Travel Channel from Cox Communications, giving it full control over the network. Discovery regained ownership of the network on March 6, 2018, after acquiring SNI and headquarters removed to New York City. Available data shows that viewership peaked in Spring 2008 at 27.78 million views per 7 days, and has been in decline ever since. As of Spring 2017, the channel got 17.25 million views. On October 1, 2018, Travel Channel revealed a new logo stylized as Trvl Channel, and shifted its programming to focus on "the paranormal, the unsolved, the creepy and terrifying", akin to its counterpart Destination America when they drifted to paranormal programming themselves full-time in mid-2017. Certain popular shows on Travel Channel that aired on there until 2018, such as ''

Bizarre Foods Bizarre may refer to: *Bizarre (rapper) (born 1976), an American rapper and member of hip hop group D12 *Bizarre (band), a Spanish rock band * ''Bizarre'' (TV series), a Canadian sketch comedy television series * ''Bizarre'' (magazine), a sister ...

'', its spinoff series ''Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations'', '' Man v. Food'', '' Food Paradise'', '' Hotel Impossible'', and ''Xtreme Waterparks'' have shifted over to airing on either Destination America or

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by Food Network, a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media Group (31%). The channel is a spin-off of Food Network, broadcasting ...

. On January 12, 2021, it was reported that there were plans for selected Travel Channel programs to premiere exclusively on

Discovery+ Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discove ...

as timed exclusives.

Programming

Outside the United States

On March 22, 2012, Scripps Networks Interactive announced that it had agreed to pay £65 million (equivalent to US$102.7 million) to acquire Travel Channel International Limited, the UK-based broadcaster which operates across the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific markets, but had no direct relation to the American television channel until then. The deal was completed on May 1, 2012, following regulatory approval.

References

External links

* {{Warner Bros. Discovery Networks Warner Bros. Discovery networks Television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1987 English-language television stations in the United States Travel television Paranormal television Former E. W. Scripps Company subsidiaries 1987 establishments in New York (state)