2004 Conference Archives

Seller Profile: Discovery Communications, Inc.

Coming from its brand new landmark headquarters just outside of Washington, D.C., Discovery Communications, Inc. heads to NATPE with a broad slate of programming and an optimistic outlook for the year ahead.

"Our previous experience has been that we're going to capture a lot of people at NATPE who perhaps weren't at MIPCOM, especially from Latin America," says Joe Kennedy, VP of program financing and distribution. "We expect clients from Asia and Europe will be there too."

With more than 2,500 hours of nonfiction programming in the genres of Science & Technology, Natural History, Human Adventure, History and World Cultures, Discovery brings a wide-ranging catalog to NATPE, including: "Journey Through the Valley of the Kings," an hour-long special that uses cutting-edge computer imaging technology to take viewers through a tour of Egypt's most notable pharaohs' tombs; "Hidden History of Egypt" and "Hidden History of Rome," with Terry Jones of Monty Python fame taking a light-hearted look at the Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire; "Kitchen Chemistry," six half-hour shows about the science behind cuisine; and "The Jeff Corwin Experience," 28 hour-long shows from the around the globe featuring the intrepid eco-explorer and Animal Planet host.

"We're looking to show a range of programming that can be used across all areas of a schedule, whether it's kids or daytime, fringe or prime time, one-off events or scripted series," says Kennedy. "From our clients' standpoint that's sort of a new look for Discovery. While we still have lots of the big event, blue-chip documentaries, we have Discovery Kids and Discovery Daytime with formats and non-traditional series."

Citing the success of Learning Channel series like "Wedding Story" and "Baby Story," Kennedy notes that Discovery's new emphasis on the format business and on forging local co-productions to tailor a program to a specific market and culture. "We look at it in terms of bringing our production expertise, the editorial arcs and the way in which we produce these shows, to the broadcaster and production community in these international territories," says Kennedy. "It's been a bit of a learning curve for us. This year NATPE will represent a slightly more sophisticated approach in terms of having this as a specific agenda item."

So as broadcasters fine-tune their strategies to attract the biggest audiences, Discovery stands ready to provide product that works throughout their day parts. "Over the last few years at NATPE we've been pleasantly surprised with the amount of time and resulting business we've gotten from some of our key clients," he says. "It has continued to be a good experience for us even though the market, just like NATPE, has changed substantially."

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