Discovery MAX

DMAX is a men's lifestyle channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery International owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.

It broadcasts free-to-air in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy and Spain; Turkey has their own version of the channel too. It is also widely available throughout the rest of Europe. It is seen as the only free-to-air mainstream channel with a focus on non-fiction entertainment, unique in German media.

DMAX broadcasts from the Astra 1H, 1L, and 3A satellites and is uplinked by SES Platform Services (later MX1, now part of SES Video).

History

Background

DMAX is the Discovery Communications creation from the originally German sourced and owned station XXP. Discovery purchased XXP on 1 January 2006. DMAX was launched as a free-to-air channel from 1 September, targeted at men.

Its name was invented by Discovery Creative Director James Gilbey who asked design agencies to submit names in an innovative competition. RedBee based in London were the winning agency.

Its most recent rebrand was created by Artillery Design Ltd based in Brighton UK.

DMAX focuses on men's hobbies, and its range of programmes is aimed at men looking for more than the current offer of sports and news programmes. DMAX involves a mix of adventure and discovery, cars and technology, popular science, DIY and travel. DMAX does not include football or erotic programmes.

Patrick Hörl is managing director, while Katja Hofem-Best, who comes from RTL II, is CEO.

DMAX

DMAX is the successor to the television station XXP, which was taken over by the US media group Discovery Inc. in January 2006 at 98%. The remaining two percent remained with the former main shareholders dctp and Spiegel TV. On September 1, 2006, XXP was merged into the new channel DMAX. In 2007, Spiegel TV GmbH and Alexander Kluge's DCTP development company for TV programs sold their remaining shares of 1% each to Discovery Content Verwaltungs GmbH, so that the American Discovery Channel has now completely taken over the broadcaster DMAX. The station name DMAX is the abbreviation of the original station name Discovery MAX.

Since 8 January 2008, an English language version of DMAX has been marketed on Sky Digital and Virgin Media pay-TV packages in the UK and Ireland. DMAX +1, DMAX +1.5 (since closed) and DMAX +2 (later replaced by TLC +2 in 2013) were created promptly, which broadcast the main program with a time delay. Since February 2010, the station can no longer be received via MonA TV. In contrast to the German version of DMAX, the English-language channel is aimed at a female target group until 2013 when it became more male skewed while continuing to use the same presentation from 2010. In 2019. The UK version rebranded and became a free-to-air channel and replaced Travel Channel on Freeview. And in 2020, Discovery's UK free-to-air channels including DMAX rebranded with new promo endboards while still using the idents and break bumpers from 2019.

DMAX has been broadcasting in a new design since February 29, 2012. A DMAX 3D logo can now be seen at the beginning and end of the trailers. Since May 1, 2012, DMAX HD has been broadcast on SES Astra's basic encrypted HD+ platform, but it was not broadcast in native HD until August 1, 2012. Since January 15, 2013, DMAX HD has also been broadcasting in Unitymedia's modernized networks.

Since October 1, 2014, the station has had its own Austrian offshoot called DMAX Austria. A separate advertising window for Austria has been broadcast on this channel since October 25, 2014. Goldbach Media Austria acts as advertising marketer. Otherwise, the program does not differ from the German program, and programs specially produced for Austria are planned for the future.

Additional DMAX channels

In Spain, it was launched on 12 January 2012 as Discovery MAX, a specialty channel fully owned by Unidad Editorial and it renamed in September 2016 when Warner Bros. Discovery acquired the full ownership. With the success of the German speaking DMAX a separate channel was launched for the UK and Ireland markets on 22 November 2007. DMAX was launched in Italy on 12 December 2011, and now is the ninth most watched channel of the country. In the Asia-Pacific market, DMAX launched on 7 July 2014 replacing Discovery Turbo (Asia). In the Turkey market, DMAX launched on 18 March 2018 replacing NTV Spor after Doğuş Media Group's NTV Spor channel was acquired by Discovery, since February.

Some programmes shown on DMAX

*''Was geht? Experiment am Limit'' ('What works? Experiments at the limits') – answers questions like 'can a gun be fired underwater?'
*'' Die Ludolfs – 4 Brüder auf'm Schrottplatz'' (The Ludolfs – 4 brothers at the scrapyard) – observes Peter, Manni, Uwe and Günther eating pasta and fiddling around on broken cars
*''D Tech'' – Presenter Daniel Hartwich takes viewers on an entertaining journey through the world of knowledge.
*''Fish 'n' Fun'' –beautiful landscape shots, fishing tricks and shows men how to make delicious dishes using the fish they catch. The male desire for adventure is also satisfied, for example with the documentary series on crab fishers in Alaskan waters
*''D Motor'' – presented by Tim Schrick and Sabine Schmitz, who has to prove her own driving skill against an opponent on her local race track, the Nürburgring
*''Moneycoach – Rette dein Geld'' (Money coach – save your money) – presenter Michael Requardt helps viewers with debt problems

The channel also features many Discovery Communications programs, including:

*'' Jack Osbourne: Adrenaline Junkie'' – a British reality series focusing on Jack Osbourne's globe-trekking six-month quest to get in physical and mental shape to climb the rockface of California's El Capitan mountain
*''Knight Rider (1982 TV series)'' – an American television series created and produced by Glen A. Larson. The series was originally broadcast on NBC from 1982 to 1986. The show stars David Hasselhoff as Michael Knight, a high-tech modern crime fighter assisted by KITT, an advanced artificially intelligent and nearly indestructible car. This was the last series Larson devised at Universal Television before he moved to 20th Century Fox.
*''Long Way Round'' – documentary television series of the 19,000-mile journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska and continued by road from there to New York.
*''Magnum, P.I.'' – drama series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a successful private investigator. Episodes broadcast are edited.
and
*'' 30 Days'' – with Morgan Spurlock
*''An Idiot Abroad'' – with Karl Pilkington, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Warwick Davis
*''American Chopper'' – with Paul Teutul Jr. and Paul Teutul Sr.
*''Auction Hunters'' ''(Auction Hunters – Zwei Asse machen Kasse)'' (2012–present)
*'' Auction Kings'' (2013–present)
*''Austin Stevens: Snakemaster'' ''(Austin Stevens – Der Gefahrensucher)'' (2006)
*''Battleground: Rhino Wars'' ''(Rhino Wars – Kampf den Wilderern)'' (2013-2014, 2016)
*'' Better Late Than Never'' ''(Besser spät als nie)'' (2017–present)
*''Car Matchmaker'' ''(Der Autovermittler)'' (2017–present)
*'' Cops'' (2017–present)
*''Fast N' Loud'' (2012–present)
*'' GQ TV'' – based on the same format as the popular men's magazine
*''How It's Made''
*'' Teleshopping'' broadcasts when DMAX is off air.
*''Jail'' ''(Texas Jail – Unter Arrest)'' (2017–present)
*''Lone Star Law'' ''(Lone Star Law – Die Gesetzeshüter von Texas)'' (2016–present)
*''Louis Theroux''
*''Man vs. Wild (Born Survivor: Bear Grylls)'' ''(Abenteuer Survival)'' (2009–present)
*''Miami Ink''
*''Monster Garage'' – with Jesse James
*'' Mountain Monsters'' ''(?–present)
*'' Misfit Garage'' (2014-2015, 2017–present)
*'' Queen of the South'' (2017–present)
*''Rick and Morty'' (2016–present)
*''Storage Hunters (UK)'' (2017–present)
*''Street Outlaws'' (2013–present)
*'' Texas Car Wars'' (2012–present)
*'' The Last Alaskans'' ''(Nordalaska – Überleben am Polarkreis)'' (2017–present)
*'' Vegas Rat Rods'' ''(Las Vegas Hot Rods)'' (2014–present)
*''Wild Frank'' (2015–present)
*''Yukon Men'' ''(Yukon Men – Überleben in Alaska)'' (2015–present)

Audience share

Germany

Asia-Pacific

DMAX is a Southeast Asian pay television channel centred on broadcasting documentaries, factual-entertainment, lifestyle and reality programming TV series for male audiences.

It is owned by Discovery Asia-Pacific, a division of Warner Bros. Discovery In South Asia, the channel is available under the Discovery Turbo name carrying the same content and schedule.

The channel was launched in 2004 as Discovery Real Time and rebranded as Discovery Turbo in 2008. It was rebranded on 7 July 2014 as DMAX with the airing of ''American Digger'' at 6:00 AM (UTC+8).
Some of its shows are also broadcast on Discovery Channel in Motor Mania every Thursday nights.

Programmes

* ''Airplane Repo''
* '' Alaska: The Last Frontier''
* ''American Chopper''
* '' American Digger''
* ''American Loggers''
* ''American Muscle''
* ''America's Worst Tattoos''
* ''Around The World in 80 Ways''
* ''Artifact or Fiction''
* ''Backyard Oil''
* ''#BikerLive''
* ''Bounty Wars''
* ''Car Chasers''
* ''Car Crazy Central''
* ''Car That Rocks with Brian Johnson''
* ''Chasing Classic Cars''
* '' Chop Shop: London Garage''
* ''Chrome Underground''
* ''Dallas Cars Sharks''
* ''Desert Car Kings''
* '' The Devils Ride''
* ''Dukes of Haggle''
* ''Extreme Car Hoarders''
* ''FantomWorks''
* ''Fat N' Furious: Rolling Thunder''
* ''Fast N' Loud''
* ''Fifth Gear''
* ''The Fighters''
* ''Flying Wild Alaska''
* '' The Garage''
* ''High Tech Rednecks''
* ''Inside West Coast Customs''
* ''Last Car Standing''
* ''Mighty Planes''
* ''Mighty Ships''
* ''Machine Morphers''
* ''The Motorbike Show''
* ''Out of Control Drivers''
* ''Outrageous 911''
* ''Overhaulin'''
* ''Porter Ridge''
* ''Property Wars''
* ''Railroad Alaska''
* ''Restoration Garage''
* ''Rods N' Wheels''
* ''Smokin' Sundays''
* ''Swamp Loggers''
* ''The Super Hero Squad Show'' (After Machine Morphers)
* ''Trick My What?''
* ''Twist the Throttle''
* ''Unique Whips Special Edition''
* ''Warlock Rising''
* ''What's in the Barn?''
* ''Wheeler Dealers''
* ''Wrecked''

Middle East and North Africa

DMAX is a former TV channel in the Middle East and North Africa. beIN Media Group and Discovery, Inc. announced in February 2016, that they would launch a version of DMAX in the MENA market. The channel was launched on 1 August 2016 and broadcast on beIN Network.https://beinmediagroup.com/ar/article/bein-تدشن-6-قنوات-جديدة-في-الشرق-الأوسط-بال-2

References

External links

dmax.de

{{Television in Germany

Television channels and stations established in 2006
Television channels and stations established in 2011
2006 establishments in Germany
Television stations in Germany
Television stations in Austria
German-language television stations
Warner Bros. Discovery networks
Men's interest channels
Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA
Television channels in Italy
Television stations in Switzerland
Arabic-language television stations