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National Geographic (American TV channel)

National Geographic (formerly National Geographic Channel; abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by the National Geographic Global Networks unit of Disney Entertainment and National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%),[1][2] with the operational management handled by Disney Entertainment.[3]

"National Geographic Channel" redirects here. For other uses, see National Geographic Channel (disambiguation).

Country

United States

Worldwide
Nationwide

720p HDTV
(downscaled to 480i for the SDTV feed)

January 7, 2001 (2001-01-07)

National Geographic Channel (2001–2016)

The flagship channel airs non-fiction television programs produced by National Geographic and other production companies. Like History (which is 50% owned by Disney through A&E Networks) and Discovery Channel, the channel features documentaries with factual content involving nature, science, culture, and history, plus some reality and pseudo-scientific entertainment programming. Its primary sister network worldwide, including the United States, is Nat Geo Wild, which focuses on animal-related programming, including the popular Dog Whisperer with Cesar Millan.


As of February 2015, National Geographic is available to approximately 86,144,000 pay television households (74% of households with television) in the United States.[4]

Theme fanfare music[edit]

The National Geographic Channel's signature theme fanfare music, which is played at the beginning of many of the channel's television programs, was composed by Elmer Bernstein. It was originally written in 1964 for the Society's television specials, which were broadcast on CBS, ABC, PBS and NBC from 1964 until the early 2000s.

Country

United States

Nationwide

480i SDTV

2011 (2011)

Other National Geographic US channels[edit]

National Geographic HD[edit]

The United States 720p high definition simulcast of the National Geographic Channel launched in January 2006. It is available on all major cable and satellite providers.

Controversy and criticism[edit]

In 2013, the network began airing the reality show Are You Tougher Than a Boy Scout?. National Geographic Channel was criticized for their association with the Boy Scouts of America, an organization which, until a vote in May of that year that overturned its ban, had forbidden openly gay members.[14]


Archaeologists have protested that National Geographic shows such as Diggers and Nazi War Diggers promote the looting and destruction of archaeological sites by promoting the work of metal detecting souvenir hunters and collectable dealers.[15] In 2013 the National Geographic Channel set off a firestorm of controversy with its reality show Diggers. Professional archaeologists from the Society for Historical Archaeology, the largest scholarly group concerned with the archaeology of the modern world (A.D. 1400–present), roundly criticized the network for promoting the theft of cultural materials on public and private land.[16] The show Nazi War Diggers was accused of showing unscientific and disrespectful handling of human remains. A promotional quote from a military relic dealer, "I feel that by selling things that are Nazi-related and for lots of money, I am preserving things that museums don't want to deal with," was removed from the channel's website in March 2014. National Geographic expressed regret for how the series was presented by its own website but maintained that many of the accusations against the series were based on misinformation.[17] The show was repackaged, amid controversy, as Battlefield Recovery for air during 2016 on Channel 5 in the UK.[18]

List of documentary television channels

List of National Geographic documentary films

List of programs broadcast by National Geographic Channel

National Geographic Abu Dhabi

National Geographic (Asia)

National Geographic (Australia and New Zealand)

National Geographic (Canadian TV channel)

National Geographic (France)

National Geographic (Germany)

National Geographic (Greece)

National Geographic (India)

National Geographic (Netherlands)

National Geographic (South Korea)

National Geographic (UK and Ireland)

National Geographic (Latin America)

National Geographic Farsi

Nat Geo People

National Geographic U.S.A.

National Geographic Latin America

National Geographic UK

National Geographic Russia

National Geographic India

National Geographic Australia

National Geographic Netherlands

(in Persian)

National Geographic Iran