Discovery Channel's institutional mission is to "offer the viewer the opportunity to imagine, explore and discover the richness and diversity of our world, through the best in documentary programming spanning all areas of human interest."
Its history dates back to 1982 when its founder, John Hendricks, a great lover of documentary work, conceived the idea of creating a new TV network specialized in this genre, in the same way as CNN began in the news and MTV in the field of music. Programming experts at the time couldn't believe that a documentary major would succeed; but, against all predictions, the boom was extraordinary.
Today, this extensive network, created and operated by Discovery Communications Inc. (DCI), is broadcast in 18 languages through eight networks transmitted by 13 satellites around the world. Its current international reach is 39 million households in 144 countries and 71 million in the United States.
TV&Video: How has your partnership with the BBC developed?
Rick Rodriguez: We've reached a $500 million agreement to jointly produce high-quality documentaries over the course of five years and launch new channels around the world. Latin America was the first region selected to be part of this new alliance and that is why we launched Animal Planet and People & Arts.
One of the things we need to highlight is that we are now starting to influence the BBC's production process. And this has us very excited. In the next eighteen months we will jointly generate very interesting projects for Latin America.
TV&Video: What documentary approach does People & Arts have?
Rick Rodríguez: It is a cultural channel that highlights the human being in its different manifestations. Discovery Channel covered science, nature, world cultures and human adventure; we saw that there was enough material to launch a new signal dedicated exclusively to cultural issues and the response has been very positive.
As this type of programming is usually foreign, we decided that it was important to create an ambassador who represented the interests and knowledge of the audience: that is why each program has a Latino presenter who explains the subject, updates the material and gives it validity within Latin American culture.
TV&Video: What projects is the Discovery channel developing?
Rick Rodriguez: We have been to Peru, with an interesting discovery of two hundred mummies from the Inca culture. On the coast of Cuba we have participated in a scientific expedition that has found new forms of underwater life and will lead to two hours of documentary material filmed in the depths of the ocean, which will be transmitted at the beginning of 1999 with the title: "Forbiden Dephts".
We will broadcast a series of documentaries about the Andes, with magnificent images captured by an Italian team that, during twelve months of hard work, managed to explore remote places of great beauty.
Most international productions are shot in 35 mm or recorded on Betacam SP. We are hiring the best dubbing rooms in Latin America – among which Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela stand out – to achieve the best quality. Our volume is very large and this year we are going to transmit about two thousand hours of dubbed material.
With Discovery Channel, Discovery Kids, Animal Planet and People & Arts / Travel Channel, we intend to improve permanently, make quality productions for each of the different profiles and move forward with our expansion plan. There is a lot to do!
