Animal Planet (European TV channel)

Last updated
Animal Planet
2018 Animal Planet logo.svg
Country United Kingdom
Broadcast area Armenia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Belarus, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Middle East, Africa
Network Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA
Headquarters Amsterdam, Netherlands
Programming
Language(s) English
Picture format 1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 576i for the SDTV feed)
Timeshift serviceAnimal Planet +1 (UK)
Ownership
Owner Warner Bros. Discovery International
Sister channels Discovery Channel
Discovery HD
Discovery Home & Health
Discovery Historia
Discovery History
Discovery MAX
Discovery Science
Discovery Shed
Discovery Travel & Living Europe
Discovery Turbo
Discovery World
Investigation Discovery
DMAX Germany, Austria, Switzerland & Liechtenstein
DMAX United Kingdom & Ireland
Quest
Real Time Italy
TLC Netherlands
TLC Poland
TLC UK and Ireland
History
Launched1997;27 years ago (1997)
ClosedMarch 9, 2022;2 years ago (2022-03-09) (Russia)
Availability
Terrestrial
evotv (Croatia)Channel 112
Zuku TV (Kenya)Channel 416

The Pan-European Animal Planet is a feed of the U.S. channel of the same name, which broadcasts to several countries in Europe, UK, Africa and the Middle East.

Contents

The channel is broadcast in English, Czech, Hungarian and Russian. The HD feed also carries a Turkish audio track. Turkey has its own SD feed. The channel also carries DVB subtitle tracks in Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, Greek, Macedonian, Norwegian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian and Swedish.

There used to be a separate feed for Romania, but the channel closed down in 2013.

Many regions in Europe that previously received the pan-European version of the channel, now receive a localised version.

Ukraine, CIS and the Baltic countries still get the pan-European feed in Russian and English.

History

The channel launched in Europe in 1997 and on 1 September 1998 it began broadcasting in the UK via the Astra Satellite and on analogue cable. [1] It was on air each day from midday until midnight.

In October 2008, Animal Planet adopted the new branding and current logo.

In March 2009, the on-air logo changed its colour from green to white and became transparent.

On September 4, 2012, Animal Planet improved its picture quality by increasing the resolution from 544x576 to 720x576.

Since October 2012, all of the programming - including promos - is broadcast in Anamorphic widescreen picture format.

On 31 December 2017, Animal Planet ceased broadcasting in Africa on DStv. [2]

Currently, Animal Planet is ad-free on its main feed. Some countries, like Romania and Moldova, get localised ad blocks. Animal Planet Italy for Italy and the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland ceased broadcasting on 31 January 2019 after a new distribution agreement between Discovery and Sky Italia.

On 9 March 2022, Discovery Inc. closed Animal Planet in Russia due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. [3]

Programming

Related Research Articles

Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. As of June 2012, Discovery Channel was the third most widely distributed subscription channel in the United States, behind now-sibling channel TBS and The Weather Channel; it is available in 409 million households worldwide, through its U.S. flagship channel and its various owned or licensed television channels internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eurosport</span> European television sports network

Eurosport is a French group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through its international sports unit, it operates two main channels—Eurosport 1 and Eurosport 2—across most of its territories, and streams on Max and Discovery+, which boths superseded Eurosport Player.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M-Net</span> Subscription TV channel in South Africa

M-Net is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, sport and movies. While the TV signal is generally encrypted, M-Net showed some programmes 'free to air' in its "Open Time" slot between 5 p.m. and 7 pm, until the slot closed on 1 April 2007.

Warner Bros. DiscoveryEurope, Middle East&Africa(EMEA) is a division of Warner Bros. Discovery. The division is responsible for managing the collection of their cable and satellite networks around the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Channel (Central and Eastern European TV channel)</span> European version of the U.S. channel

Disney Channel is a European children's television channel owned by The Walt Disney Company Limited, the international business division of the Walt Disney Company and broadcast in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria. It was previously known as Fox Kids, then Jetix. There are several variations of the channel which broadcast simultaneously in seven languages : Romanian, English, Bulgarian, Czech, and Hungarian. Advertising is shown in Romanian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and Czech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery HD (international)</span> Television channel network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery

Discovery HD is the international name of the high-definition television channels owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nat Geo Wild</span> Global television channel focused on wildlife programming of National Geographic

National Geographic Wild 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%). The channel primarily focuses on wildlife and natural history non-fiction programming. It is a sister network to National Geographic TV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disney Channel (European, Middle Eastern and African TV channel)</span> Childrens pay television channel

Disney Channel is a British-managed children's pay television channel owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company Limited, the international business division of the Walt Disney Company serving television markets across the Middle East, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Greece, Cyprus, the Baltics, and most of the Balkans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal Planet Nordic</span> Pay television channel

Animal Planet Nordic is a television channel broadcasting nature-related documentaries to the Nordic countries.

Discovery Travel & Living was a European television channel broadcasting to several countries in Europe. Much of the schedule was taken up by programmes about real estate, most notably A Place in the Sun and its spinoffs, as well as House Doctor.

Discovery Channel Romania was a television channel in Romania.

Discovery Networks CEEMEA was a branch of Discovery International headquartered in Warsaw, Poland. The network was launched in February 2011, previously Discovery Networks CEEMEA was under Discovery Networks Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Animal Planet (Dutch TV channel)</span> Dutch pay television channel

Animal Planet is a Dutch pay television channel broadcasting nature-related documentaries in the Netherlands and Flanders. The channel launched as a Pan-European feed on 1 July 1997. It is operated by Discovery Benelux.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery Science (European TV channel)</span> European pay television channel

Discovery Science is a pay television network, operated by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA. It targets several European countries' television markets. It primarily features programming in the fields of space, technology and science. The channel originally launched as Discovery Sci-Trek. Its programming is mainly in English and locally subtitled or dubbed. It is available through numerous subscription services across Europe. In some countries the advertisement and the announcements between programs are localized.

Cartoonito is the name of two children's channels that air animated series for preschoolers: Cartoonito Africa — broadcast in Africa, and Cartoonito MENA — broadcast in the Middle East and North Africa, Greece, and Cyprus. Both channels are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery EMEA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Discovery Kids (Australian TV channel)</span> Australian television channel

Discovery Kids was an Australian subscription television channel, aimed at 2-6 year olds screening factual and educational programming. The channel launched on Foxtel on 3 November 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MTV Africa</span> Television channel

MTV Africa is an African pay television from Paramount Networks EMEAA. It focuses mainly on rebroadcasting MTV US content as well as airing local-produced reality series. Founded by Alex Okosi and launched as 'Africas MTV' alongside founding members Jandre Louw, Dudu Qubu and Maya Padmore.

References

  1. "Discovery unveils digital TV nets". 19 August 1998.
  2. BREAKING. Discovery's Animal Planet axed from DStv after 14 years at the end of December; MultiChoice says other 4 Discovery channels will remain after a carriage deal. TV with Thinus. 14 December 2017. Retrieved 17 January 2021.
  3. "WarnerMedia and Discovery join the stampede of businesses leaving Russia". CNN . 9 March 2022.