The Science Channel

World Screen Weekly, June 7, 2007

COUNTRY: U.S.

LAUNCH DATE: October 1996

OWNERSHIP: Discovery Communications

NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS/DISTRIBUTION: 47.3 million subscribers

DESCRIPTION: The Science Channel is the only network dedicated to making science programming accessible, relevant, substantive and entertaining. The network explores science’s past, present and future, from uncovering lost worlds to exploring the latest in scientific discoveries in today’s headlines.

PRESIDENT & GENERAL MANAGER,

DISCOVERY CHANNEL & THE SCIENCE CHANNEL: Jane Root

GENERAL MANAGER, THE SCIENCE CHANNEL: Tom Cosgrove

SENIOR VP, PRODUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT,

DISCOVERY CHANNEL & THE SCIENCE CHANNEL: Jeff Hasler

PROGRAMMING STRATEGY: In April, The Science Channel saw a major influx of viewers, doubling its prime-time ratings among people aged 25-54 and men aged 18-49, compared to April of the previous year.

Tom Cosgrove, the general manager of The Science Channel, attributes this growth to the fact that the network is making a big push towards a schedule consisting mainly of original programming, with an emphasis on developing long-running series. “We’re really upping our commitment to both original programming as well as acquisitions but [we’re] trying to develop series that are specific to The Science Channel—[which will] help with the brand definition of the channel,” says Cosgrove. “Our main focus is to come up with a few signature programs that, if you don’t know anything else about The Science Channel, you know these shows.”

The channel has already begun to define its brand identity with the launch of Space Week, which premiered Sunday, May 6 and ran through Saturday, May 12. It was the channel’s first major week-long event, consisting of 21 hours of space programming in prime time. These included programs such as Starship Orion: The Future of Space Travel, about NASA’s new exploration vehicle Orion and the IMAX film Roving Mars, which documents the journeys of two rovers that explored Mars on remote, unmanned NASA missions.

According to Cosgrove, Space Week came about because the channel found that the two nights with vertical strands of space programming—Tuesday and Saturday—consistently achieved some of the highest ratings for the network. Cosgrove has also noticed that the channel has seen a strong late-night audience as well.

Cosgrove believes that the channel has a lot of potential to tap into the large subset of viewers who consider themselves to be interested in science and passionate about science. “We know that they are big consumers of media in general, they watch a lot of TV, they read a lot, they’re online a lot, but they also said that they just don’t feel like they have just one destination on television to get their science,” says Cosgrove.

The Science Channel is currently focusing on its prime-time schedule, from both a revenue perspective and an audience perspective, says Cosgrove. The channel is building on a Friday night prime-time block that is dedicated to technology. It recently launched two new series on Friday, May 18: It’s All Geek to Me and Beyond Invention. It’s All Geek to Me, a new weekly half-hour series hosted by The New York Times writer David Pogue, helps the average consumer unravel the mystery behind complex gadgets. This can range from choosing the right digital camera to learning how to edit your own home videos. Meanwhile, Beyond Invention takes a look at some of the major scientific discoveries and inventions throughout history. Some of the channel’s top-performing series include How It’s Made, a series that reveals the science behind ordinary everyday objects such as chocolate and hockey sticks. “Science is one of the new currencies,” said Cosgrove. “It’s sexy to be smart—it’s really seeing science as something that applies to everyday life.”

Another successful program that ran on The Science Channel The Hawking Paradox, which premiered in October 2006. This one-hour special brought viewers inside Stephen Hawking’s world as he prepared to present a paper designed to show skeptics that his entire theory about black holes was incorrect.

WEBSITE: science.discovery.com/

—By Irene Lew