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 business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

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

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, with offices in Silver Spring,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

and

Knoxville Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, U.S. Travel Channel 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 ...

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of everything in existence; everything that is not imagination, imaginary. Different Culture, cultures and Academic discipline, academic disciplines conceptualize it in various ways. Philosophical questions abo ...

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

safari A safari (; originally ) is an overland journey to observe wildlife, wild animals, especially in East Africa. The so-called big five game, "Big Five" game animals of Africa – lion, African leopard, leopard, rhinoceros, African elephant, elep ...

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 In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

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. , Travel Channel is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 96,000,000 households.

History

Original format

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 airline in the United States that operated from 1930 until it was acquired by American Airlines in 2001. It was formed as Transcontinental & Western Air to operate a route from New York City to Los Angeles ...

). 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 1992, the network was sold to

Landmark Communications Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC (a spinoff of Landmark Communications, Inc.) is a privately held technology company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. History The ''Norfolk Landmark'' was established in 1873. It had various editors. K. C. Murray ...

, then-owner of

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

; five years later, Landmark sold it to Paxson Communications.

Discovery Communications Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1982, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Cha ...

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 an American private company, privately held global conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, with approximately 55,000 employees and $21 billion in total revenue. Its major ope ...

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 comp ...

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. ...

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 unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, who manages and operates it as a division of the Warner Bros. Discovery U.S. Networks Group. The channel airs both televi ...

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. 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.

Rebrand and shift to paranormal programming

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". From 2015 to 2017,

Destination America Destination America is an American cable television channel owned by the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks unit of Warner Bros. Discovery. The network carries programming focused on the culture of the United States—including food, lifestyles, a ...

had undergone a similar shift to paranormal programming themselves. Certain Travel Channel shows (such as '' Bizarre Foods'', its spinoff series ''Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations'', '' Man v. Food'', ''

Food Paradise ''Food Paradise'' is a television series narrated by Jesse Blaze Snider (formerly by Mason Pettit) that features the best places to find various cuisines at food locations across America. Episodes were originally shown on the Travel Channel. O ...

'', '' Hotel Impossible'', and ''Xtreme Waterparks'') would move to either

Cooking Channel Cooking Channel is an American basic cable channel owned by and spin-off of Food Network. Both are owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (69%) and Nexstar Media ...

. On January 12, 2021, it was reported that there were plans for selected Travel Channel programs to premiere exclusively on Discovery+ 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. In Canada, Travel Channel's programming has aired on T+E, and later, DTour.

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)