National Geographic is a British

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel that features

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

. It is a localized version of the original namesake American channel. It features some programming similar to that on the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

such as nature and science

. The channel was launched in Europe in September 1997 and time shared initially with the failing

NBC Europe NBC Europe (formerly Super Channel, and later NBC Channel) was a satellite television network based in the United Kingdom that broadcast across Europe, and it was picked up by various European cable television, cable systems where available. Th ...

until NBC Europe's demise in 1998, at which point it began timesharing with

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

(in the UK, replacing the failed first iteration of Sky 2); with analogue transmission of the channel ending, and the sale of Fox Kids to Disney, timesharing was eventually superseded by 24-hour broadcasting. It was later launched worldwide including in Asia and the United States. Today, the channel is available in over 143 countries, seen in more than 160 million homes and in 25 languages. It is owned by a company called the "NGC-UK Partnership", which initially was jointly owned by the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, natural sc ...

and

British Sky Broadcasting Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers a ...

(BSkyB), but in 2006, Sky's parent company News Corporation (now

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

) purchased 25 percent of the stake in the partnership, followed by the acquisition of BSkyB's remaining 50 percent stake by its sister company, the

Fox Entertainment Group The Fox Entertainment Group (FEG) was an American entertainment company specialized in film studio, filmed entertainment owned by 21st Century Fox. Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by Disney, the group's assets were dispersed to va ...

. This includes an English-language version for the United Kingdom, Ireland,

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and Iceland. It also includes Dutch, Italian, Norwegian and Turkish speaking channels among others. The channel's musical signature is the

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

composed theme that has also appeared on the ''National Geographic'' broadcast-TV specials.

Company

The channel is owned by the NGC-UK Partnership, which was formed in 1997 as a joint venture between National Geographic Television & Film, a division of the National Geographic Society and British Sky Broadcasting through its Sky Ventures division. The NGS provides programming expertise, while BSkyB provides its expertise on distribution, marketing, commercial and advertising sales. The partnership builds and operates National Geographic channels and services across Europe. It is headquartered in London. In December 2006, News Corporation purchased 25 percent of the Society's stake in the company. This meant that BSkyB owned half company, while the National Geographic Society and News Corp held 25 percent share each.News Corp · 10-Q · For 12/31/06
/ref> In December 2007, BSkyB sold its stake in the partnership to the Fox Entertainment Group, through its

Fox Networks Group Fox Networks Group (FNG), formerly known as Fox International Channels (FIC), was the television broadcaster, television networks division of News Corporation and later 21st Century Fox that operated from 1993 to 2021. It oversaw the production, ...

subsidiary.

HD feed

The channel launched its own high-definition feed on 22 May 2006 on

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

. The channel joined

Virgin Media Virgin Media Limited is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, television and internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, England. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 ...

's cable TV line-up on 30 July 2009. On 5 August 2009, it was also made available on

UPC Ireland Virgin Media Ireland is Liberty Global's telecommunications operation in Ireland. It is the largest digital cable television provider within the country. the company offers broadband internet, digital television digital (VoIP) telephony and ...

's cable TV service. The HD version available in the UK and Ireland was not originally a simulcast of the standard definition version of the National Geographic Channel, with some of the content coming from Rush HD, however from 1 December 2010 National Geographic Channel HD became a simulcast feed.

Programmes

* '' Air Crash Investigation'' * ''Ape Man'' * ''

Banged Up Abroad ''Banged Up Abroad'' (rebadged as ''Locked Up Abroad'' in Asia and the United States, and ''Jailed Abroad'' in India, for the National Geographic Channel) is a British documentary/docudrama television series created by Bart Layton that was pro ...

'' * '' Be the Creature'' * ''Big Bang'' * '' Britain's Greatest Machines with Chris Barrie'' * '' Built for the Kill'' * '' Car S.O.S.'' * ''Cruise TV by LoveitBookit'' * '' Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan'' * '' Doomsday Preppers'' * '' Drain the Oceans'' * '' End Day'' * ''Escape Tech'' * '' Explorations'' * ''

Explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

'' * ''Family Guns'' * '' Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted'' * ''Gospel of Judas'' * '' Highway Thru Hell'' * ''Hollywood Science'' * '' Hunter Hunted'' * '' Interpol Investigates'' * '' Is It Real?'' * '' The Living Edens'' * ''Living Wild'' * ''Megacities'' * '' Megafactories'' * ''

Megastructures A megastructure (or macrostructure) is a very large artificial object, although the limits of precisely how large vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building. Some sources define a megastructure as an enorm ...

'' * ''Mysteries of the Deep'' * '' Naked Science'' * ''No Borders'' * ''Planet Football'' * '' Planet Mechanics'' * ''Predators at War'' * ''Rough Trades'' * '' Scam City'' * ''Science of the Bible'' * ''

Seconds from Disaster ''Seconds from Disaster'' is a US/UK-produced documentary television programme that investigates historically relevant man-made and natural disasters from the 20th and early 21st centuries. Each episode aims to explain a single incident by anal ...

'' * '' Situation Critical'' * ''

Storm Stories ''Storm Stories'' is an American non-fiction television series that airs on The Weather Channel (TWC) and Zone Reality. It is hosted and narrated by meteorologist and storm tracker Jim Cantore. ''Storm Stories'' showcases various types of sever ...

'' * '' Strange Days on Planet Earth'' * ''Strippers: Cars for Cash'' * ''

Taboo A taboo is a social group's ban, prohibition or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, offensive, sacred or allowed only for certain people.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

'' * ''Thrill Zone'' * ''Thunder Beasts'' * ''

Totally Wild ''Totally Wild'' is an Australian children's television series that premiered on Network 10 on 12 July 1992. The series aired on 10 Peach (formerly Eleven) from 2013 to 2020, and 10 Shake from 2020 to 2021. It had a current affairs program for ...

'' * ''Trading Faces'' * ''What Would Happen If...?'' * '' Wicked Tuna'' * ''World of Wildlife''

Continuity / Voiceovers

Rob Jarvis Robert S Jarvis (born 1965) is an English television and film actor. He is best known for his roles as Eddie in ''Hustle'' the long-running BBC series, Graham Shand in ''Luther'' and as Russell Posner in ''Emmerdale''. He currently plays the part ...

, who is well known as Eddie in '' Hustle'' is one of the two main male promo voices for this channel, along with Adam Longworth from XFM radio station.

References

External links