National Geographic Global Networks (formerly National Geographic Channels Worldwide and National Geographic Channels International) is a business unit within

National Geographic Partners National Geographic Partners, LLC is a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns 73% of shares) and the namesake non-profit scientific organization National Geographic Society (which owns 27%). The company oversees all commercial ...

(a joint venture between

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

and the

National Geographic Society The National Geographic Society (NGS), headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational organizations in the world. Founded in 1888, its interests include geography, archaeology, ...

) and Disney General Entertainment Content (who handles distribution and advertising sales for National Geographic Global Networks) that oversees the National Geographic-branded television channels: National Geographic, Nat Geo Kids, Nat Geo Music, Nat Geo People and

Nat Geo Wild National Geographic Wild (shortened as Nat Geo Wild and abbreviated NGW) is a global pay television network owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). ...

and National Geographic Studios (formerly known as National Geographic Television). The unit itself was a joint operation between

21st Century Fox Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, fo ...

(21CF) and the Society, but it was later integrated into the new joint venture National Geographic Partners which they formed in 2015. On March 20, 2019, 21CF's share in National Geographic Partners was assumed by Disney, following its acquisition of most 21CF businesses.

History

National Geographic had moved towards launching a US cable channel in 1982, but backed out. National Geographic Television,

's for profit TV arm, and

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters ...

formed a joint venture, National Geographic Channels (NGC). NGC then partnered with

BSkyB Sky UK Limited is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television and broadband Internet services, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers and businesses in the United Kingdom. It is a subsidiary of ...

to launched on September 1, 1997 National Geographic Channel services in U.K. and Ireland via BSkyB, Scandinavia via

Telenor Telenor ASA ( or ) is a Norway, Norwegian majority State-owned enterprise, state-owned multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company headquartered at Fornebu in Bærum, close to Oslo. It is one of the List of mobile network ...

and Australia via Foxtel. Foxtel and BSkyB were then owned in some form by Rupert Murdoch. Sandy McGovern was president of NGC at the time. The 50/50 partnership was formed to expand NatGeo's National Geographic Television's productions, head by Tim Kelly, that was producing National Geographic Explorer for CBS. The original American version of the channel was launched on January 7, 2001 with Laureen Ong as president and Andrew Wilk as head of programming. National Geographic Society took down its museum and build a TV studio. At the time, the NatGeo kept its TV production unit and got a "sweet heart" guarantee production contract of 44 hours per year at an estimated $500,000 per hour of TV. Additional National Geographic channels in other parts of the world were also launched under the original joint venture. In 2007, Ong was replaced by David Lyle, from the just closed Fox Reality channel, as CEO and president Howard Owens. In 2010, the company launched

channel in the US to go up against competitor Discovery channel. Ratings dropped as a whole and Lyle and Owens left in 2014. Courteney Monroe moved up from her head marketing post to take over NGC US.

National Geographic Partners unit

On September 9, 2015, the Society announced that it would reorganize its media properties and publications into a new company known as

, which would be 73% owned by 21st Century Fox. This new, for-profit, corporation would own '' National Geographic'' and other magazines, as well as its affiliated television channels—most of which were already owned in joint ventures with Fox. In October 2016, it was announced that the National Geographic Channel, the flagship documentary channel, would drop the word "Channel" from its name.

Brands

Current

* National Geographic: The flagship television channel of the group which broadcasts

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 ter ...

on various subjects, as well as docu-reality shows. *

: It is a sister channel to the flagship National Geographic television channel that focuses on animal-related

wildlife Wildlife refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wild in an area without being introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous to game: those birds and mammals that were hunted f ...

and natural history programming.

Former

National Geographic Adventure Nat Geo People was an international pay television channel owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). Targeted at female audiences, with programming fo ...

: Launched as Adventure One (abbr. A1), it was aimed at younger audiences, providing programming based around outdoor adventure, travel and stories involving people exploring the world. * Nat Geo Music: A channel that focuses on ethnic music. *

Nat Geo Kids ''National Geographic Kids'' (often nicknamed to ''Nat Geo Kids'') is a children's magazine published by the National Geographic Society. Its first issue was printed in September 1975 under the original title ''National Geographic World'' (whic ...

: A children's interest channel. * Nat Geo Kids Abu Dhabi: A children's interest channel. * Nat Geo People: Targeted at female audiences, the channel's programming focuses on people and cultures. Currently available in Poland and Romania.

Channels by region

All of National Geographic-branded television channels are operated as a part of this unit's business. The Society provides most of programming on the channels, while Disney's broadcast-related units (

Walt Disney Television Disney General Entertainment Content, doing business as Walt Disney Television, is an American entertainment company that oversees television content and assets owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company. Forming the company's General Enter ...

in the United States and

Fox Networks Group Fox Networks Group (FNG) is a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company that oversees international television assets that were acquired from 21st Century Fox. It produces and distributes more than 300 entertainment, film, sports and factual chan ...

outside the United States) handle distribution and advertisement sales of the channels. In most cases internationally, the National Geographic and Fox channels cross-promote each other. In some territories, the versions of National Geographic channels are directly operated by Disney.

Americas

Anglo-America

;United States * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild * Nat Geo Mundo (Spanish language programming) ;Canada: The following channels in Canada are operated by

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...

under license. * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild

Latin America

;Spanish-speaking countries * National Geographic (with sub-regional versions for Mexico, Colombia, Central America hich also covers Caribbean islands Pacific hile, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia and Atlantic rgentina, Paraguay and Uruguay ;Brazil * National Geographic

Asia

NGC Network Asia, LLC operates all of National Geographic-branded television channels across Asia except Japan. NGC Network Asia previously represented television channels from Fox International Channels (FIC) in the region, but they were transferred to the newly formed Asian branch of FIC in the 2009 reorganization of Star TV.News Corporation Restructures Broadcast Businesses in Asia
(press release)

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

18 August 2009 Archived from th
original
on 27 August 2009 The Asian operations also oversee National Geographic TV channels in the Middle East and North Africa (except Israel). ;Pan-regional channels (except Japan) *

National Geographic (Asia) National Geographic (Nat Geo Asia, formerly NBC Asia and National Geographic Channel and also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is a pan-Asian subscription television channel that features non-fiction, factual pro ...

;Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and South Korea * National Geographic *

;Indian subcontinent:

Star India Disney Star Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Disney Star network runs more than 70 TV channels in eight languages, rea ...

handles channel distribution and advertisement sales in the region. * National Geographic *

Nat Geo Tamil National Geographic (also known as Nat Geo) is an Indian pay television channel that features non-fiction, documentaries involving nature, science, culture, and history, produced by the National Geographic Society. National Geographic Channel o ...

Nat Geo Telugu National Geographic (also known as Nat Geo) is an Indian pay television channel that features non-fiction, documentaries involving nature, science, culture, and history, produced by the National Geographic Society. National Geographic Channel o ...

;Middle East and North Africa * National Geographic (in English) * National Geographic Abu Dhabi (in Arabic) ;Taiwan * National Geographic (in Chinese) *

National Geographic HD National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney General ...

(in English) ;Japan: The following channels in Japan are operated by Fox Networks Group Japan. * National Geographic

Europe

The European operations also oversee National Geographic TV channels in Israel, Australia and New Zealand. It is also responsible for the channels in Sub-Saharan Africa. ;Balkans *National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Czech Republic and Slovakia *National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;France * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Ukraine * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Greece * National Geographic ;Netherlands and Belgium * National Geographic *National Geographic Wild ;Poland *National Geographic * National Geographic Wild *Nat Geo People ;Portugal * National Geographic *National Geographic Wild ;Romania *National Geographic *Nat Geo People ;Nordic and Scandinavia * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;United Kingdom and Ireland * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Spain * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Sub-Saharan Africa * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild * Nat Geo Gold ;Australia and New Zealand * National Geographic * Nat Geo Wild ;Israel * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild

Former

;Italy * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Russia and Belarus * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild ;Germany * National Geographic * National Geographic Wild

References

External links

natgeotv.com
A gateway to the websites of National Geographic television channels worldwide
National Geographic Partners
the parent company {{Fox Networks Group National Geographic Society

Global Networks ''Global Networks: A journal of transnational affairs'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed multidisciplinary academic journal dedicated to the study of globalization and transnationalism. Its focus spans multiple disciplines within social science, includ ...

Disney television networks Fox Networks Group