History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television network and the flagship channel of A+E Global Media, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney Entertainment Television division of the Walt Disney Company's Disney Entertainment segment.
The network was originally focused on history-based, social/science documentaries as well as the news. During the 2000s, the History Channel pivoted into reality television programming and ancient alien conspiracy hypotheses.[2] In addition to this change in format, the network has been criticized by many scientists, historians, and skeptics for broadcasting pseudo-documentaries and pseudoscientific, unsubstantiated, sensational investigative programming.[3]
As of November 2023, the History Channel is available to approximately 63,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 99,000,000 households.[4] International localized versions of the History Channel are available, in various forms, in India, Canada, Europe, Australia, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Latin America.
History
Twentieth century
The company indicated that plans for a history channel were in the works in 1993, it purchased the Lou Reda Productions documentary library and long-term rights for the Hearst Entertainment documentaries archive. The History Channel was launched on January 1, 1995, initially owned by A&E Television Networks. Its UK counterpart in a partnership with British Sky Broadcasting (now Sky UK), followed on November 1, 1995.[5] Its original format focused entirely on historical series and specials.
In the 1990s, the channel was known for the amount of airtime it gave to World War II documentaries. In 1997, Salon.com's Mark Schone wrote in an article called "All Hitler, all the time" that the History Channel "airs as many as 40 hours of World War II programming weekly, and sometimes as many as 12 hours in a single day".[6] Since then, much of its military-themed programming has been shifted to its sister network Military History.
H2
H2 was an American specialty television channel that was owned by A&E Networks, available on multi-channel television providers in the United States. It was launched on November 16, 1998 as History International (abbreviated as "HI" or variations of H-INT), a spin-off of the History Channel that focused on international history.[11] On launch, History International occasionally featured shows in languages other than English, such as French or Spanish for use with the National Cable & Telecommunications Association's Cable in the Classroom initiative. By 2010, this was reduced to an hour-long Spanish language program on weekday mornings titled El Canal de Historia (the English translation of The History Channel).
On September 26, 2011, the network was rebranded as H2, with its programming being refocused to feature documentary content from the main History channel prior to its shift towards more reality programming, along with original programs (such as the special The Universe: Beyond the Big Bang and the first-run series America's Book of Secrets[12]), as well as exclusive new episodes of the former History series The Universe, Ancient Aliens and Modern Marvels, in addition to international-focused programming. H2 did not have plans to add reality series as its sister channel has done.[13]
Programming
Programming on the History Channel has covered a wide range of historical periods and topics, while similar themed topics are often organized into themed weeks or daily marathons. Subjects include warfare, inventions, aviation, mechanical and civil engineering, technology, science, nature, artists, composers, authors, mythical creatures, monsters, unidentified flying objects, conspiracy theories, aliens, religious beliefs, disaster scenarios, apocalyptic "after man" scenarios, survival scenarios, alternate history, dinosaurs, doomsday, organized crime, secret societies, and 2012 superstitions. Occasionally, some programs compare contemporary culture and technology with that of the past.[20]
The channel's programming would expand into scripted dramas with the premiere Vikings in 2013.[21]
Criticism and evaluations
Initially, the network received mixed reviews. In an article from the American Historical Association released about a year into the channel's lifespan, the channel's historical consultant Libby Haight O' Connell noted that professional historians have been enlisted to work on the channel's programs and many letters have come in from viewers both pointing out historical errors and opening up discussion with the channel creators about the events portrayed in the channel's programs.[22]
However, in recent years the network has been criticized for having a bias towards US history. Another former sister network, History International, more extensively covered history outside the US until 2011, when it was re-branded as H2 and started broadcasting more material that had to do with US history.[23]
Stanley Kutner criticized the network for the series The Men Who Killed Kennedy in 2003. Kutner was one of three historians commissioned to review the documentary, which the channel disavowed and never aired again.[24] Programs such as Modern Marvels have been praised for their presentation of detailed information in an entertaining format.[25]
Military History Channel
Military History is a niche spin-off from the History channel that features reruns of programs about the history of the military and significant combat events. The channel's main competitor is Warner Bros. Discovery's American Heroes Channel, formerly the Military Channel.
History
Military History was launched on January 5, 2005, after demand for more military history programs. Beginning on March 27, 2004, a military-history programming block started on now defunct network History International as a prologue. The launch was an open preview, or soft launch, as no cable operators were signed up. Dan Davids, president of the History Channel USA, planned to push for digital basic level cable carriage. Its initial programming library drew from A&E and History's programs. The channel's initial prime time shows were under an umbrella banner of “Battle History”, which consisted of five documentary miniseries featuring each of the US military services. In the second quarter of 2005, the channel had its hard launch.[45]
Like its parent channel, the channel dropped the word "Channel" from its name on March 20, 2008. Its carriage is limited to expanded tier and add-on pay-TV packages as a niche offering, and it is one of the few mainstream American cable channels in English still carried only in standard definition.
Programming
History en Español
History en Español is an American Spanish-language pay television channel. The network launched on June 24, 2004, as a counterpart to History focusing mainly on Hispanic America and world history. The network shows original programming, as well as Spanish-dubbed programs from the English-language version.[46]
Other media
International
North America
Canada
History Television launched in 1997 and was not initially related to its then similarly named American counterpart. During History Television's first several years of operation, despite sharing a similar programming focus, it rarely, if ever, acquired programming from the American channel. The phrase "Not available in Canada" was used heavily during The History Channel's early years in promotional ads on American channels that were imported to Canadian pay television providers, particularly A&E.[60]
Beginning in the late 2000s, several History (US) shows were acquired for Canadian broadcast on History Television. On May 30, 2012, then-parent company Shaw Media announced that it would rebrand History Channel as a Canadian version of the US History channel in the fall of 2012, through a licensing agreement with A+E Networks.[61] History Television would be relaunched on August 12, 2012, with another Shaw-owned specialty channel relaunched as a Canadian version of H2
See also
External links
References
- I don't have a TV package. Can I subscribe directly to HISTORY? – HISTORY retrieved December 14, 2023^
- Dan Clarendon. The Biggest History Channel Controversies in Its 30-Year History TV Insider, 2025-01-01, retrieved 2025-09-07^
- Joshua Catalano, Briana Pocratsky. What's on History?: Tuning In to Conspiracies, Capitalism, and Masculinity