DISCOVERY CHANNEL LAUNCHES NEW ON-AIR AND ONLINE PACKAGES DISCOVERY SUNDAY AND AWESOMESUNDAYS.COM IN AUGUST
(Silver Spring, Md.) Beginning in August, Discovery Channel is launching a new on-air and online campaign to expand the packaging of Sunday night specials and reinforce the network's top position as a destination for high-quality programming for the curious. Under president and general manager of Discovery Channel John Ford's leadership, the network has spent the last several months developing, producing and creating packaging for a focused Sunday night block.
"The new 'Discovery Sunday' programming, marketing and companion digital block, awesomesundays.com, will entice viewers with amazing stories across our core genres � natural history, science and history, just to name a few," said John Ford. "We created special packaging that contains a new logo, factoids, and viral games centered upon the core theme of the night, with the hopes of sparking our viewers curiosity. If viewers walk away knowing 10 new things, then we have done our job!"
On August 2, awesomesundays.com will launch featuring fansites with Sunday sneak peeks and topic driven information for upcoming programs. To further fuel people's curiosity, additional content will rollout including an Awesome Sunday viral game (a user-generated puzzle via discovery.com and facebook), information pertaining to the on-air factoids powered by howstuffworks.com, and thousands of trivia quizzes.
On August 9, as a complement to the landmark programming, the on-air packages will feature a new franchise moniker called 'Discovery Sunday' wrapped into fresh promos that include opening factoids questions at the top of the program and answers revealed deeper in the shows. In addition, the channel will evolve the on-air bug and roll out "Sundays are Awesome on Discovery," tying into the award-wining brand campaign, "The World is Just Awesome," that launched in April 2008.
Beginning August 9, viewers will see the excitement that comes from extreme weather in RAGING PLANET, an all new eight part series that takes viewers on a thrilling ride right into the heart of the planet's most amazing forces revealing the speed of a twister, the lethal force of a lightning bolt, the power of a hurricane and the instant devastation of a flood. Each edition of RAGING PLANET looks at different weather event: Tornados, Lightning, Hurricanes and Floods. Capturing nature at its wildest and most furious, RAGING PLANET takes viewers into the eye of the storm and the heart of the action.
Other special events populating Sundays through the summer include an encore of the award-winning, ground breaking television event PLANET EARTH and an all new multi-part special event MEGABEASTS that showcases ferocious species of dinosaurs, creatures of enormous size and deadly force. Using mind-blowing CGI to bring these creatures to life, MEGABEASTS reveals how these mysterious creatures functioned and behaved, what they looked like, how they fought, what they ate�and what ate them. Meet a few of the MEGABEASTS: The Terror Bird, a giant bird that bashed in its victims' brains with its mighty beak; and The Mosasaur, a fearsome marine monster with an extra row of teeth on the roof of its mouth and that dined on giant sharks. Each episode is an action-packed detective story, bringing the mega beast back to life from fossil clues and modern analogues.
About Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel (DSC) is dedicated to creating the highest quality non-fiction content that informs and entertains its consumers about the world in all its wonder, diversity and amazement. The network, which reaches 98.1 million viewers in the US, can be seen in over 170 countries, offering a signature mix of compelling, high-end production values and vivid cinematography across genres including, science and technology, exploration, adventure, history and in-depth, behind-the-scenes glimpses at the people, places and organizations that shape and share our world. For more information, please visit www.discovery.com.
About Discovery Communications
Discovery Communications (NASDAQ: DISAD, DISBD, DISCK) is the world's number one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 170 countries. Discovery empowers people to explore their world and satisfy their curiosity through 100-plus worldwide networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Planet Green, Investigation Discovery and HD Theater, as well as leading consumer and educational products and services, and a diversified portfolio of digital media services including HowStuffWorks.com. For more information, please visit www.discoverycommunications.com.