Video Interview: David Royle

NEW YORK: David Royle, Smithsonian Channel’s executive VP of programming and production, talks about the network’s relationship with the Smithsonian Institution and his programming strategy in this video interview.

The Smithsonian Institution is an American treasure. As the world’s largest museum complex, with 19 museums, nine international research centers and 168 million artifacts, it covers an endless range from history and art to space and technology, even pop culture. The Smithsonian Channel, a joint venture between the Institution and Showtime Networks, taps into this rich selection of subject matter to craft entertaining and informative programming.

In addition to projects such as Born Fighting, Aerial America and Diving with Crocs, Smithsonian Channel also has a healthy roster of kids’ programming. "If the Smithsonian can’t do something for children, I don’t know who can," says Royle. "We do see ourselves as a family channel, and we’ve done a number of children’s programs, mainly in the area of science and natural history," he adds, pointing to series such as Critter Quest, SciQ and Smithsonian’s Weirdest.

Royle is also quite upbeat about the continued strength of the documentary genre. "The evolution of the documentary goes at a colossal pace and one of the things that we’re very conscious of is, you can’t just think of the documentary itself, you’ve also got to think of the multimedia environment," he says. Indeed, Smithsonian is on Apple TV, has an iPhone app and is planning to make its way onto the iPad soon. "Multimedia is part of it, but I also think that there is always a human hunger to understand the world and everything that’s in it," Royle adds. "At the Smithsonian, part of our job is the diffusion of knowledge and I think the hunger exists out there in the audience."