Travel Channel

Travel Channel
Country	United States
Broadcast area	Nationwide
Headquarters	New York, New York, U.S.
Programming
Language(s)	English
Picture format	1080i HDTV; (downscaled to letterboxed 480i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
Parent	Warner Bros. Discovery
Sister channels	List American Heroes Channel; Animal Planet; Cooking Channel; Destination America; Discovery Channel; Discovery Family; Discovery Life; Food Network; HGTV; Investigation Discovery; Magnolia Network; Motor Trend; Oprah Winfrey Network; TLC; Discovery Turbo; Cartoon Network; Cinemax; Adult Swim; TNT; TBS; HBO; TCM; CNN; Cartoonito; ;
History
Launched	February 8, 1987; 37 years ago
Replaced	Home Theater Network
Former names	The Travel Channel (1987–1997)
Links
Website	www.travelchannel.com
Availability
Streaming media
Affiliated Streaming Service	Max
Service(s)	Philo, Sling TV, Hulu With Live TV, FuboTV, Vidgo, DirecTV Stream

38°57′44.7″N 77°5′6.8″W / 38.962417°N 77.085222°W / 38.962417; -77.085222

Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in Manhattan, with offices in Silver Spring, Maryland and Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.

Travel Channel features documentaries, reality, and how-to shows related to travel and leisure around the United States and throughout the world. Programming has included shows on African animal safaris, tours of grand hotels and resorts, visits to significant cities and towns around the world, programming about various foods around the world, and programming about ghosts and the paranormal in notable buildings.

As of November 2023^[update], Travel Channel is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in the United States-down from its 2011 peak of 96,000,000 households.^[2]

History

Original format

The Travel Channel was launched on February 1, 1987; it was founded by TWA Marketing Services (a subsidiary of Trans World Airlines). The channel's name was derived from the travel-related filler programming that aired between programs on the Home Theater Network. TWA purchased the name rights from Group W Satellite Communications in 1986, and took over HTN's transponder spot following the shutdown of the premium cable channel in January 1987.^[3] In 1992, the network was sold to Landmark Communications, then-owner of The Weather Channel;^[4] five years later, Landmark sold it to Paxson Communications.^[5]

Discovery Communications acquired a 70% ownership stake in the channel in 1997, and subsequently acquired the remaining 30% interest from Paxson in 1999. In May 2007, Discovery Communications sold Travel Channel to Cox Enterprises subsidiary Cox Communications as part of a larger multibillion-dollar transaction.^[6]

On November 5, 2009, Scripps Networks Interactive acquired a 65% ownership interest in the network for $1.1 billion;^[7] the deal closed in January 2010. Following the purchase, Travel Channel began to add programming from sister networks such as Food Network^[8] In 2015, Scripps relocated the channel's headquarters from Chevy Chase, Maryland to Knoxville, Tennessee.^[9]

On February 25, 2016, SNI acquired the remaining 35% stake in Travel Channel from Cox Communications, giving it full control over the network.^[10] Discovery regained ownership of the network on March 6, 2018, after acquiring SNI.^[11]

Available data shows that viewership peaked in Spring 2008 at 27.78 million views per 7 days, and has been in decline ever since. As of Spring 2017, the channel got 17.25 million views.^[12]

Rebrand and shift to paranormal programming

On October 1, 2018, Travel Channel revealed a new logo stylized as Trvl Channel, and shifted its programming to focus on "the paranormal, the unsolved, the creepy and terrifying".^[13] From 2015 to 2017, Destination America had undergone a similar shift to paranormal programming themselves.^[14] Certain Travel Channel shows (such as Bizarre Foods, its spinoff series Bizarre Foods Delicious Destinations, Man v. Food, Food Paradise, Hotel Impossible, and Xtreme Waterparks) would move to either Destination America or Cooking Channel.

On January 12, 2021, it was reported that there were plans for selected Travel Channel programs to premiere exclusively on Discovery+ as timed exclusives.^[15]

Programming

Outside the United States

On March 22, 2012, Scripps Networks Interactive announced that it had agreed to pay £65 million (equivalent to US$102.7 million) to acquire Travel Channel International Limited, the UK-based broadcaster which operates across the Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific markets, but had no direct relation to the American television channel until then.^[16] The deal was completed on May 1, 2012, following regulatory approval.^[17]

In Canada, Travel Channel's programming has aired on T+E, and later, DTour.