Unsolved:History (American TV channel)

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Short description: US-based international satellite and cable TV channel
History
History Logo.svg
LaunchedJanuary 1, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-01-01)
Owned byA+E Networks
Picture format
SloganMade Every Day
CountryUnited States
Broadcast areaNational
HeadquartersNew York City , New York, United States
Formerly calledThe History Channel (1995–2008)
Sister channel(s)
  • A&E
  • FYI
  • Military History
  • History en Español
  • History TV18
  • Lifetime
  • Crime & Investigation
WebsiteHistory.com
Availability
Satellite
Orby TV143
Dish Network120
DirecTV269 (SD/HD)
C-BandAMC 18-Channel 258 (H2H 4DTV)
Cable
Available on most U.S. cable systemsChannel varies 107 (HD)
IPTV
Verizon FiOS
  • 628 (HD)
  • 128 (SD)
AT&T U-verse
  • 1256 (HD)
  • 256 (SD)
Streaming media
FuboTVInternet Protocol television
PhiloInternet Protocol television
Sling TVInternet Protocol television
AT&T TV NowInternet Protocol television
Amazon Videowww.amazon.com
(requires subscription to access content)

History (formerly The History Channel from 1995 to 2008) is a pay television network that is owned by A+E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney Media Networks division of the Walt Disney Company.

The network was originally focused on history-based documentaries and historical fiction series though, during the late 2000s, History would drift into male-oriented reality television programming. In addition to this change in format, the network is also criticized by many scientists, historians, and skeptics for broadcasting pseudodocumentaries and unsubstantiated, sensational investigative programming.

As of February 2015, around 96,149,000 American households (82.6% of households with television) receive the network's flagship channel, History.[1] International localized versions of History are available, in various forms, in India , Canada , Europe, Australia , the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America.

History

The History Channel's original logo, used from January 1, 1995, to February 16, 2008

History was launched on January 1, 1995, as The History Channel,[2] its original format focused entirely on historical series and specials.

History's logo, used from February 16, 2008, to June 1, 2015: The new logo does not have the triangle on the side of the H.

On February 16, 2008, a new logo was launched on the U.S. network as part of a rebranding effort. While the trademark "H" was kept, the triangle shape on the left acts as a play button for animation and flyouts during commercials and shows. On March 20, 2008, as part of that same rebranding effort, The History Channel dropped "The" and "Channel" from its name to become simply "History".[3]

On June 1, 2015, the History logo was slightly updated, completely removing the triangle shape on the left.

Programming

History HD logo, 2008–2015

Programming on History 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, mythical creatures, monsters, unidentified flying objects, conspiracy theories, aliens, religious beliefs, disaster scenarios, apocalyptic "after man" scenarios, doomsday, and 2012 superstitions. Programming also includes mainstream reality television-style shows involving truck drivers, alligator hunters, pawn stores, antique and collectible "pickers", car restorers, photography, and others. Occasionally, some programs compare contemporary culture and technology with that of the past.[4] On March 3, 2013, History channel premiered its first original series, Vikings.[5]

Criticism and evaluation

During the 1990s, History was jokingly referred to as "The Hitler Channel"[6] for its extensive coverage of World War II. Much of its military-themed programming has been shifted to its sister network Military History.

The network has also been criticized for having a bias towards U.S. history. Another former sister network, History International, more extensively covered history outside the US until in 2011, when it was rebranded as History 2 and started broadcasting more material that had to do with US history.[7]

The network was also criticized by Stanley Kutner for airing 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.[8] Programs such as Modern Marvels have been praised for their presentation of detailed information in an entertaining format.[9]

Some of the network's series, including Ice Road Truckers, Ax Men, and Pawn Stars, garnered increased viewership ratings in the United States, while receiving criticism over the series' nonhistorical nature. U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is a critic of the channel and its lack of historical or educational programming, showing particular disdain for the latter two programs.[10]

Forbes .com staffer Alex Knapp writes, "ideally", "The History Channel shouldn't run stuff like this 'ancient astronaut' nonsense,"[11] Forbes contributor Brad Lockwood criticized the channel's addition of "programs devoted to monsters, aliens, and conspiracies" attributing a perceived intent of boosting ratings as propelling the network to feature a focus on pseudoarchaeology instead of facts.[12] Knapp refers readers to the Bad Archaeology website's founder Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews who comments, "I find it incredible and frightening that a worldwide distributed television channel ... can broadcast such rubbish as Ancient Aliens."[11] Archaeologist Kenneth Feder, author of Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology,[13] called the channel's hosting the ancient astronaut theory, "execrable bullshit".[14]

In his book 2012: It's Not the End of the World, Peter Lemesurier describes the channel's Nostradamus series, in which he was invited to participate, as "largely fiction" and "lurid nonsense".[15] He also lists numerous suggestions made in its films on the alleged Mayan "end of the world" and the "rare" galactic alignment that was supposed by John Major Jenkins to accompany it in 2012,[15] while Jenkins himself has described Decoding the Past as "45 minutes of unabashed doomsday hype and the worst kind of inane sensationalism".[16]

In December 2011, Politifact gave the History Channel's claim that the United States Congress stayed open on Christmas Day for most of its first 67 years of existence a "pants on fire" rating, the lowest of its ratings, noting that its own research showed that both the Senate and the House had only convened once in those 67 years on a Christmas Day and adding that, since there's a one in seven chance of Christmas falling on a Sunday (when Congress did not meet in order to attend church), the claim that they would have convened almost every Christmas is "ridiculous".[17] The claim had first been broadcast on the History Channel program Christmas Unwrapped – The History of Christmas before being subsequently picked up by the American Civil Liberties Union's website on the "Origins of Christmas" and by the Comedy Central series The Daily Show.[17] Daily Show host Jon Stewart responded the next day by stating it was their fault for trusting the History Channel and satirized a clip from the History Channel about UFOs and Nazis by stating, "The next thing you know we'll all find out the Nazis did not employ alien technology in their quest for world domination."[18][19]

The History Channel was also singled out for ridicule by Smithsonian magazine. The article took issue with the show Ancient Aliens for postulating the "idea that aliens caused the extinction of nonavian dinosaurs".[20] The online magazine Cracked also lampooned the channel for its strange definition of history. Cracked singled out the programs UFO Hunters and Ancient Aliens as being the very definition of nonhistory by presenting pseudoscience and pseudohistory.[21]

Discredited Amelia Earhart documentary

In 2017, a History Channel documentary, Amelia Earhart: The Lost Evidence, proposed that a photograph in the National Archives of Jaluit Atoll in the Marshall Islands was actually a picture of a captured Earhart and Noonan. The picture showed a Caucasian male on a dock who appeared to look like Noonan and a woman sitting on the dock, but facing away from the camera, who was judged to have a physique and haircut resembling Earhart's. The documentary theorizes that the photo was taken after Earhart and Noonan crashed at Mili Atoll. The documentary also said that physical evidence recovered from Mili matches pieces that could have fallen off an Electra during a crash or subsequent overland move to a barge. The Lost Evidence proposed that a Japanese ship seen in the photograph was the Koshu Maru, a Japanese military ship.

The Lost Evidence was quickly discredited, however, after Japanese blogger Kota Yamano found the original source of the photograph in the archives in the National Diet Library Digital Collection.[22] The original source of the photo was a Japanese travel guide published in October 1935, implying that the photograph was taken in 1935 or before, thus would be unrelated to Earhart and Noonan's 1937 disappearance. Additionally, the researcher who discovered the photo also identified the ship in the right of the photo as another ship called Koshu seized by Allied Japanese forces in World War I and not the Koshu Maru.[23]

Researcher Ben Radford performed a detailed analysis of the mistakes made by The History Channel in building their documentary on bad photographic evidence. In his Skeptical Inquirer article "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Emmys: An Amelia Earhart Special (Non) Mystery Post-Mortem", critiquing the network's lack of professionalism, Radford said: "Given that the photograph's provenance was established—and thus the key premise of the show discredited—in about half an hour of Google searching, it will be interesting to see what world-class expertise ... the History Channel will bring to their reinvestigation of Earhart's disappearance."[24] On episode 82 of his Squaring the Strange podcast, released January 4, 2019, Radford reminded listeners that in excess of 18 months had passed without an apology or explanation from the History Channel as to "how their research went so horribly wrong".[25][26]

Other media

DVD

  • The Unknown Hitler DVD collection,[27] including Hitler and the Occult
  • Dogfight: Season 1 DVD set
  • The Great Depression DVD collection
  • The Making of Trump 2015 DVD[28]

Video serials

  • Legend of the Superstition Mountains 6 episodes in 2015
  • The History Channel: Great Battles of Rome
  • The History Channel: Civil War – A Nation Divided
  • The History Channel: ShootOut! – The Game
  • The History Channel: Dogfights – The Game
  • The History Channel
  • History Civil War
  • The History Channel: Lost Worlds
  • The History Channel: Battle of Britain 1940
  • The History Channel: Crusades – Quest for Power
  • The History Channel: Alamo – Fight for Independence
  • The History Channel: Civil War – Great Battles
  • The History Channel: Digging for Truth
  • The History Channel: Great Battles Medieval
  • The History Channel: Civil War The Battle of Bull Run Take Command: 1861
  • The History Channel: American Civil War Take Command: 2nd Manassas

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.[29]

Beginning in the late 2000s, several History (U.S) 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 U.S History channel in the fall of 2012, through a licensing agreement with A+E Networks.[30] History Television would be relaunched on August 12, 2012; with another Shaw-owned, specialty channel relaunched as a Canadian version of H2 soon after.

On October 21, 2014, Corus Entertainment reached an agreement to acquire Canadian French-language rights to History programming for its own channel, Historia. On March 9, 2015, the network was relaunched under History's logo and branding, although the network still carries the Historia name.[31] Historia was previously owned as a joint venture between Shaw and Astral Media, which made it a sister to History; Corus purchased the network in 2013.[32]

On April 1, 2016, Corus Entertainment merged with Shaw Media, and as a result, now holds the Canadian English and French-language rights to History programming.[citation needed]

Europe

UK and Ireland

The British version launched in November, 1995, and arrived in Ireland on November 1, 1999.

Germany

The German version launched on November 14, 2004, and is operated by The History Channel Germany GmbH & Co. KG, a joint venture between A+E Networks and NBC Universal Global Networks Germany.

Italy

The Italian version was launched on July 31, 2003 as a joint venture of A&E Networks and Fox International Channels Italy; then it became a sole venture of A&E Networks in 2012.

Spain and Portugal

The History Channel is available in Spain and Portugal though cable, satellite, and IPTV platforms, as well as streaming media under the brand Canal de Historia. The History Channel Iberia is a joint venture between A+E Networks and AMC Networks International Iberia.

Benelux

The Dutch version has launched on May 1, 2007.[33] This version is distributed by A&E Networks Benelux. In January 2008, History HD was launched in the Netherlands.[34] It is available on cable providers Telenet and Ziggo. It is also available on the IPTV service KPN.

Poland

A Polish version was launched on April 9, 2008. It is available on cable providers Aster, Dialog, Toya, and UPC Polska, and also through satellite television (with its HD version carried on the n platform since June 1, 2012) and an SD version on Cyfra+ since November 2, 2009).

Scandinavia

A Scandinavian version was first launched in September 1997, broadcasting for three and later four hours a 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 History channel announced their own 24-hour pan-European channel, Viasat launched its own history-oriented channel, Viasat History, in the Nordic region, but with no original programming. On February 1, 2007, the History Channel returned to Sweden and also Denmark, Norway, Finland when the pan-European version was launched as a standalone channel on the Canal Digital satellite platform and later through cable operator Com hem. The History Channel launched on February 1, 2007, on the Canal Digital DTH satellite package for viewers in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. The channel is being launched by The History Channel UK, A&E's joint venture with BSkyB. Although it broadcasts in English with local subtitles, the channel is scheduled separately from the UK version.

Asia

The History Channel started its operations in India in late 2003 with 21st Century Fox's STAR TV as its sales partner, managed by National Geographic until November 21, 2008.[35] The History Channel India closed down on November 21, 2008. In 2011, History was granted permission to relaunch services in India. A joint venture of A&E Networks and TV18 relaunched History TV18 in India in eight languages in 2014.[36] A joint venture of AETN and Astro All Asia Networks launched 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.[37] Some other Asian countries, such as Kuwait, Israel, and Japan , have their own versions of the network. On September 1, 2008, History Channel Asia was officially launched in Singapore and Hong Kong followed by the Philippines.[38][39][40]

South Korea

The South Korean version of History Channel was launched on September 22, 2017, replacing the Southeast version that was previously transmitted. After the launch, A+E networks Korea launched an original series program called History in the Bottle (말술클럽).

Latin America

The Latin American version was launched in 2001. It is owned by A&E and controlled in the region by HBO Latin America Group. It airs U.S. programming, translated to Spanish or Portuguese or in English with Spanish or Portuguese subtitles. Also, it develops some Latin American programming in Spanish.

Africa

South Africa

The History channel is part of the DSTV satellite TV package provided by MultiChoice.[41] DSTV is owned by Naspers (Nasionale Pers, which translates as National Press).

References

  1. ↑ Seidman, Robert (February 22, 2015). "List of how many homes each cable network is in as of February 2015". TV by the Numbers. Zap2it. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2015/02/22/list-of-how-many-homes-each-cable-network-is-in-as-of-february-2015/366230/. Retrieved March 14, 2015. 
  2. ↑ Winfrey, Lee. "Golf Channel tees off Tuesday, joining History Channel as new cable fare", Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service, January 16, 1995. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from HighBeam Research.
  3. ↑ International Herald Tribune Television's The History Channel Drops 'The' and 'Channel' from Its Name, Keeps History March 20, 2008
  4. ↑ Gary Richard Edgerton; Peter C. Rollins. Television Histories: Shaping Collective Memory in the Media Age. University Press of Kentucky; 2001. ISBN:0-8131-7111-3. pp. 261 ff.
  5. ↑ "VIKINGS Tops The Ratings With 8.3 Million Viewers". Irish Film Board. 5 March 2013. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130328133730/http://www.irishfilmboard.ie/irish_film_industry/news/VIKINGS_Tops_The_Ratings_With_83_Million_Viewers/2149. Retrieved 11 March 2015. 
  6. ↑ Schone, Mark. "All Hitler, All the Time", Salon.com, May 8, 1997).
  7. ↑ "Time traveler's guide to the Roman Empire". Channel4.com. http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/guide03/explore1.html. Retrieved August 4, 2007. "The History Channel: The website of the American cable channel has a bias towards American history, as evidenced by Extreme History with Roger Daltrey" 
  8. ↑ Stanley Kutner (July 4, 2004). "Why the History Channel Had to Apologize for the Documentary that Blamed LBJ for JFK's Murder". History News Network. http://hnn.us/articles/4504.html. Retrieved August 4, 2007. "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." 
  9. ↑ Scott Weinberg (May 29, 2007). "Modern Marvels: Technology". DVD Talk. http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=28158. Retrieved August 4, 2007. "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." 
  10. ↑ Malone, Noreen (March 20, 2012). A brief history of Chuck Grassley's history with the History Channel. New York magazine. Retrieved April 2, 2012.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 An archaeologist watches the History Channel and questions the part about Ancient Aliens, Forbes , Alex Knapp, September 19, 2011. Retrieved July 12, 2017.
  12. ↑ Lockwood, Brad. "High Ratings Aside, Where's the History on History?". Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bradlockwood/2011/10/17/high-ratings-aside-wheres-the-history-on-history/. Retrieved March 21, 2012. 
  13. ↑ Feder, K. (1990). Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. New York, McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages. ISBN:978-0078116971.
  14. ↑ "Ancient Alien Astronauts: Interview with Ken Feder". Retrieved July 17, 2017.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Peter Lemesurier (July 2011), 2012: It's Not the End of the World, Derwen Publishing, p. 91, ISBN 978-1-907084-15-7, https://books.google.com/books?id=Fi_QygAACAAJ 
  16. ↑ "How Not to Make a 2012 Documentary". July 28, 2006. http://www.alignment2012.com/historychannel.html. Retrieved 22 September 2006. 
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "Comic Jon Stewart says Congress met most Christmas Days in its early years". Politifact. December 11, 2011. http://www.politifact.com/rhode-island/statements/2011/dec/09/jon-stewart/comic-jon-stewart-says-early-congress-met-most-chr/. Retrieved January 21, 2012. 
  18. ↑ Fung, Katherine (December 13, 2011). "Jon Stewart Fires Back At Politifact Over War On Christmas". Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/13/jon-stewart-politifact-war-on-christmas_n_1146118.html. Retrieved January 21, 2012. 
  19. ↑ Stewart, Jon (December 12, 2011). "War on Christmas - Historical Fact-Checking". The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-december-12-2011/war-on-christmas---historical-fact-checking. Retrieved March 24, 2013. 
  20. ↑ Switek, Brian. "The Idiocy, Fabrications and Lies of Ancient Aliens". Smithsonian. http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-idiocy-fabrications-and-lies-of-ancient-aliens-86294030/?no-ist. Retrieved 13 March 2016. 
  21. ↑ "The History Channel". http://www.cracked.com/funny-5720-the-history-channel/. Retrieved 13 March 2016. 
  22. ↑ Greshko, Michael (July 11, 2017). "Amelia Earhart 'Lost Photograph' Discredited". https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2017/07/amelia-earhart-lost-photograph-discredited-spd/. 
  23. ↑ Domonoske, Camila. "Japanese Blogger Points Out Timeline Flaw In Supposed Earhart Photo" (in en). NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/11/536620463/japanese-blogger-points-out-timeline-flaw-in-supposed-earhart-photo. Retrieved 11 July 2017. 
  24. ↑ Radford, Ben (18 July 2017). "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Emmys: An Amelia Earhart Special (Non)Mystery Post-Mortem". CFI. Archived on 9 December 2017. Error: If you specify |archivedate=, you must also specify |archiveurl=. https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/an_amelia_earhart_special_mystery. Retrieved 9 December 2017. 
  25. ↑ Radford, Ben. "Episode 82 - Grab Bag 2018". Libsyn. http://directory.libsyn.com/episode/index/id/8129540/tdest_id/607796. Retrieved 12 January 2019. 
  26. ↑ Palmer, Rob. "Squaring the Skeptic with Celestia Ward (Part 2)". Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. https://www.csicop.org/specialarticles/show/squaring_the_skeptic_with_celestia_ward_part_2. Retrieved 5 February 2019. 
  27. ↑ The History Channel Online Store: The Unknown Hitler DVD Collection
  28. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5239180/
  29. ↑ "Librarian and Information Science News". LIS News. http://www.lisnews.com/index.pl?issue=20040722&mode=. Retrieved August 4, 2007. "I always wondered why the History Channel commercials said not available in Canada." [yes|permanent dead link|dead link}}]
  30. ↑ Shaw Media and A&E to Launch Two New Specialty Channels , Broadcaster Magazine, May 30, 2012.
  31. ↑ "Historia: new logo, new look, new shows!". Corus Entertainment. 2015-03-09. http://www.corusent.com/home/Corporate/PressReleases/tabid/1697/Default.aspx?Id=2936. Retrieved 2014-03-09. 
  32. ↑ Corus Entertainment (2013-03-04). "Corus Entertainment Expands Interests in French-language Specialty Television Market through Major Deals with Bell and Shaw Media". http://www.corusent.com/home/Corporate/PressReleases/tabid/1697/Default.aspx?Id=2455. Retrieved 2013-03-31. 
  33. ↑ Robert Briel (April 5, 2007). "History Channel comes to Benelux". Broadband TV News. http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2007/04/05/history-channel-comes-to-benelux/. 
  34. ↑ Robert Briel (November 14, 2007). "History Channel HD to launch in Holland". Broadband TV News. http://www.broadbandtvnews.com/2007/11/14/history-channel-hd-to-launch-in-holland/. 
  35. ↑ "Indiantelevision.com's interview with NGC India managing director (South Asia) Zubin Jehanbux Gandevia". Indiantelevision.com. December 20, 2003. http://www.indiantelevision.com/interviews/y2k3/executive/zubin.htm. Retrieved October 15, 2007. 
  36. ↑ History TV 18. "Contact Us - History TV18 India". https://www.historyindia.com/contact-us. Retrieved January 11, 2016. 
  37. ↑ "A&E Television Networks & Astro Form Joint Venture". April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on May 22, 2007. https://web.archive.org/web/20070522150853/http://www.aetninternational.com/news.jsp?id=17683138. Retrieved June 8, 2007. 
    "The History Channel Expands Through Asia". February 10, 2003. Archived from the original on January 6, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060106090500/http://www.aetninternational.com/news.jsp?id=9992256. Retrieved June 16, 2007. 
  38. ↑ History HD channel launched on SkyLife in Korea retrieved via www.medianewsline.com May 5, 2009
  39. ↑ History Channel Asia HD launched on SkyCable Philippines retrieved via www.skycable.com September 6, 2009
  40. ↑ The History Channel HD to launch in Singapore and Hong Kong retrieved via www.aetninternational.com August 26, 2008
  41. ↑ "Archived copy". http://www.dstv.com/channels. 

External links




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