The History Channel

The History Channel
Launched	January 1, 1995
Owned by	A&E Television Networks
Headquarters	New York City
Sister channel(s)	History International, A&E Network, The Biography Channel, Military History Channel, The History Channel en español, Crime & Investigation Network
Website	www.history.com
Availability
Satellite
DirecTV	Channel 269
Dish Network	Channel 120
DStv (South Africa)	Channel 254
Tata Sky	Channel 553
TrueVisions DSTV (Thailand)	Channel 44
DirecTV (Latin America)	Channel 742
Sky Digital (UK & Ireland)	Channel 529 Channel 530 (+1) Channel 545 (HD)
Sky Italia	Channel 406 Channel 407 (+1)
Sky Brasil	Channel 55
Sky Network Television (New Zealand)	Channel 73
Digiturk	Channel 85
Digital+	Channel 75
Mediacom	Channel 54
DialogTV (Sri Lanka)	Channel 14
Astro (Malaysia)	Channel 555
Austar	Channel 608
Dish TV	Channel 635
Cable
UPC Ireland	Channel 217
UPC Netherlands	Channel 306
StarHub Cable Vision	Channel 008
TimeWarner	Channel 504
Comcast	Channels May Vary
Midcontinent Communications	Channels May Vary
TrueVisions CATV (Thailand)	Channel 44
Virgin Media (UK)	Channel 234 Channel 235 (+1) (EX-NTL ONLY)
Cablelink (Philippines)	Channel ???(Available in January, 2008)
SkyCable (Philippines)	Channel ???(Available in 2008)
Global Destiny Cable (Philippines)	Channel ???(Available in 2008)
IPTV over ADSL
now TV (Hong Kong)	Channel 223

The History Channel is a cable television channel, devoted mainly to historical events and persons—often with observations and explanations by noted historians as well as reenactors and interviews with witnesses. Some of the original programming is also shown on History Television in Canada. The UK version of the History Channel is a joint venture between A&E and British Sky Broadcasting.

Programming and ownership

Programs cover a wide array of periods and topics, while similar topics are often organized into themed weeks or daily marathons. Subjects include military history, medieval history, the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, modern engineering, and historical biographies. Many programs compare contemporary culture and technology with the past, while some programs have a more esoteric focus such as conspiracy theory, religious interpretation, UFO speculation, or reality television. The History Channel maintains a corporate initiative called Save Our History, dedicated to the preservation of history and historical sites and artifacts, similar in spirit but not to be confused with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In 2007 The History Channel launched "Take a Veteran to School Day," designed to foster relationships between U.S. military veterans and students; R. Lee Ermey is the spokesman for the initiative. Launched on January 1, 1995, the channel is owned by A&E joint venture (Hearst, Disney, NBC) and Sky News Corp.^[1] and operates, in various forms, in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Italy and Latin America. The network is also currently available in South Asia under a deal between STAR TV and AETN International. Interestingly, the channel has consistently produced prime time ratings in the U.S. comparable to or higher than the A&E Network itself. The channel is not to be confused with a similar, independently-owned, Canadian service, History Television. Indeed, the phrase "Not available in Canada" became a de facto slogan for the channel in its early years, as a result of its use in promotional ads, at least those aired on A&E (which is available in Canada).^[2] A high-definition version of the History Channel was launched at 8pm BST on Thursday October 26 2006, on the Sky HD platform in the United Kingdom. An HD version of the network launched in the United States in September 2007 on Dish Network. It also launched on DirecTV in September. A Scandinavian version was launched in September 1997, broadcasting for three hours per day on the analogue Viasat platform. Initially time-sharing with TV1000 Cinema, it was later moved to the Swedish TV8 channel and continued broadcasting there until November 2004 when Viasat launched their own history channel, Viasat History, in the Nordic region and closed down the History Channel. On February 1, 2007 the History Channel returned to Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden when the UK version was launched as a stand-alone channel on the Canal Digital satellite platform. The History Channel started its operations in India in late 2003, with News Corp's STAR as its sales partner.^[3] A joint venture of A&E and Astro All Asia Networks plc is launching the History Channel in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Brunei in the second and third quarters of 2007, and in Taiwan and China by the end of the year.^[4] Some other Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea currently have their own versions of the network.

Criticism and evaluation

The History Channel received the nickname "the Hitler Channel"^[5] for its extensive coverage of World War II, though much military-themed programming has now been shifted to its sister network, the Military History Channel, and the network's programming now covers a diverse range of topics on history. The U.S.-based network has also been criticized for devoting most of its coverage to US and Western history.^[6] Programs have been faulted for bias especially in treatment of non-Western societies and customs.^[7] The network has also received criticism for emphasizing the history of relatively recent times, as opposed to ancient or medieval eras. There have been complaints of misleading information in some programs; a special on the history of torture may have provided a misleading account of Perillos of Athens and his torture device, the Brazen Bull. Fact-checking has also been faulted; in American Vesuvius incorrect information may have been given on temperature scales. The History Channel has also received criticism from James Randi for their specials on Nostradamus and Edgar Cayce. Randi asserted that the network was not sufficiently skeptical in their treatment of these figures.^[8] In addition, the History Channel has been reproved for giving too much attention to arguably non-historical subjects, such as UFOs.^[9] However, the network's Ice Road Truckers series garnered record ratings despite its debatably non-historical nature.^[10] The network has won praise from professional historians such as Stanley Kutner for its willingness to examine the biases of its own programming – in particular, a series on the John F. Kennedy assassination.^[11] Programs such as Modern Marvels have been praised for their presentation of detailed information in an entertaining format.^[12]

List of shows

Regular series

Specials and mini-series

Specials

• Blood Diamonds (2006)
• How William Shatner Changed the World (2005)
• Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier (2007)
• The Last Stand of the 300 (2007)
• Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed (2007)
• The St. Valentine's Day Massacre (1998)

Syndication

• In Search of... History Channel Run (Ca. 1998-2003) Original 1976-1982.
• The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones and related historical documentaries

Video games

• The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome
• The History Channel: Civil War The Game
• The History Channel: ShootOut! The Game
• The History Channel: Dogfights The Game
• The History Channel: Battle for the Pacific

DVD

• The Unknown Hitler DVD collection,^[13] including Hitler and the Occult
• Dogfight: Season 1 DVD set

See also

• A&E Television Networks
• The Biography Channel
• History International
• List of DirecTV channels
• List of Dish Network channels
• List of documentary channels

Notes

External links

• The History Channel Official Site
• The History Channel Asia
• The History Channel India
• The History Channel Around the World
• The History Channel Germany
• The History Channel International
• Save Our History
• MediaLifeMagazine website (source of cable network ratings)