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The History Channel

Headquarters	New York City
Ownership
Owner	A&E Television Networks

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.

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. 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).

A British version of the History Channel is a joint venture between A&E and British Sky Broadcasting; a high-definition version 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. 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. 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" 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. Programs have been faulted for bias especially in treatment of non-Western societies and customs. 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. In addition, the History Channel has been reproved for giving too much attention to arguably non-historical subjects, such as UFOs. However, the network's Ice Road Truckers series garnered record ratings despite its debatably non-historical nature.

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. Programs such as Modern Marvels have been praised for their presentation of detailed information in an entertaining format.

The History Channel is sometimes humorously and critically referred to as "The Armageddon Channel" for its seeming focus on the apocalypse (In the series "Decoding The Past" alone, there are four episodes about it.). "The Lost Book Of Nostradamus" is the most recent special focusing on such material.

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, including Hitler and the Occult
• Dogfight: Season 1 DVD set

This list related to film, television, or video is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items.

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

1. "About AETN". AETN.com. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
2. "Librarian and Information Science News". LIS News. Retrieved 2007-08-04. I always wondered why the History Channel commercials said not available in Canada.
3. "Indiantelevision.com's interview with NGC India managing director (South Asia) Zubin Jehanbux Gandevia". Indiantelevision.com. 2003-12-20. Retrieved 2007-10-15.
4. "A&E Television Networks & Astro Form Joint Venture". 2007-04-16. Retrieved 2007-06-08.
   "The History Channel Expands Through Asia". 2003-02-10. Retrieved 2007-06-16.
5. "All Hitler, all the time" by Mark Schone (Salon, May 8, 1997).
6. "Time traveller's guide to the Roman Empire". Channel4.com. Retrieved 2007-08-04. The History Channel: The website of the American cable channel has a bias towards American history. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 28 (help)
7. Thomas E. Brewton (2005-11-14). "History Channel Distorts the Crusades". IntellectualConservative.com. Retrieved 2007-08-04.
8. Jump the Shark - History Channel
9. Steve Rogers and Christopher Rocchio (2007-06-20). "'Ice Road Truckers' debut sets The History Channel ratings records". Reality TV World. Retrieved 2007-11-17. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
10. Stanley Kutner (2004-07-04). "Why the History Channel Had to Apologize for the Documentary that Blamed LBJ for JFK's Murder". History News Network. Retrieved 2007-08-04. The History Channel has made a start in the right direction as it has totally disavowed the program and publicly promised it never will be shown again.
11. Scott Weinberg (2007-05-29). "Modern Marvels: Technology". DVD Talk. Retrieved 2007-08-04. If you're trying to throw your kids a little education, but in a fast-paced and colorful presentation, these "Modern Marvels" series come pretty highly recommended. Then again, I'm a mid-30s guy and I'm learning tons of new stuff from these programs. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
12. The History Channel Online Store: The Unknown Hitler DVD Collection

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)

• A&E Television Networks
• TV channels with British versions
• Television channels and stations established in 1995
• HD channels