Discovery TV new Military Channel

[AimPoint 0]

Nice the B-17 Memphis Belle series!!

nice channel

[DB-ERAUPilot 0]

the jury is still out for the new channel... I was a huge fan of discovery wings channel(as any aviator would be ) but we'll see how it goes... the documentary on "Task Force Red Dog" was really good lets hope they don't fall into the repeating the same stuff over and over again trouble that discovery wings did....

[Donnervogel 0]

I have no problem with miliary documentaries, but the Discovery ones tend to be mediocre at best. They do however seem to have an endless supply of them, so I'm not surprised that they've dedicated a channel to them.

I have no problem with military docus too but I find a commet like "all war. all the time" pretty cynical... you always have to consider that what you find so "w00t" is killing people. Docus are interesting but they are serious too... take it with some respect.

[SKULLS_Viper 0]

I was kind of expecting the same thing, but the show "Delta Tanks" about a Marine tank company was a lot less dumbed down than I thought it would be. Of course they mention that the M-1 weighed 70 tons and blah blah blah, but they also talk about a lot of the more mundane details that make documentaries so interesting. Like why the M-1 always has it's barrel pointed at the sky if it's not shooting or scanning for something (something that makes total sense but I never knew the answer to).

And just the combat footage was outstanding - it wasn't sexed up at all and nearly all of it was original (and filmed by Marine combat cameramen). Watching three MICLICs blow through a minefield while M-1s light up the far side with machinegun fire was an awesome sight.

It seems like a good chunk of the documentaries I've seen to date about the military (on the History Channel or other Discovery Channels) uses the same 5 second video clips over and over again - the same scenes you've seen for years. Only the narration and subject matter seems to differ in those documentaries but the combat footage they show is always the same.

I think the Military Channel has gotten off to a great start. Hopefully they can follow up.

That was an awsome show!I kind of thought it intresting when they fired the coax at the mines, but it would have taken all day to clear 'em, so they called in the MICLICs. ;)

Then the bridge crossing was intense!When a morter round landed near them while they were crossing.They also found a dead Iraqi soldier with a detenator in his hand, that would have blown the bridge up, if they hadn't killed him.

Sadly I didn't get to watch it all.

[SpongeBob 0]

What are the commercials like on this channel? Are there any recruiting ads for Army, Navy etc? Someone I know was saying this is a government propaganda tool to boost enrollment, just like that Americas Army game.

[DB-ERAUPilot 0]

What are the commercials like on this channel? Are there any recruiting ads for Army, Navy etc? Someone I know was saying this is a government propaganda tool to boost enrollment, just like that Americas Army game.

actually I haven't seen a single recruiting commerical yet...their still in the transition from Discovery Wings Channel to the Military Channel...I'm sure they will have a couple here and there like any other channel..I don't think there will be a concentration just because the station is supposed to be about the military..and tell ur friend to stop being such a "conspiracy theorist"

[blackdog~ 0]

Unless there is some kind of subliminal message in 1980's-looking Sharper Image "Ionic Breeze Quadra" commercials then there has been no recruiting stuff that I have seen.

Discovery Channel and the History Channel are NOT owned by the same people, by the way. That's why you won't be seeing R Lee Ermey (unless he makes another show) on the Military Channel.

[Billabong81 0]

Sweet. It is already on my DirectTV setup and it has a bunch of documentaries that look very interesting playing tomorrow. Gotta make sure I can watch one of em at least .

[TDogg 0]

Their is a 2 hour documentary on a Marine Unit (Delta Company) in OIF that is on often and it's really good.

[Billabong81 0]

Their is a 2 hour documentary on a Marine Unit (Delta Company) in OIF that is on often and it's really good.

I've been wanting to see that one. I had it all set up to tape it 2 nights ago, then my sister must have went in and changed the channel. I went to go watch it yesterday and some soap opera was on the tape .

[cozza 24]

Damn Australian cable. I want my MTV.......................I mean Millitary Channel

[TDogg 0]

Their is a 2 hour documentary on a Marine Unit (Delta Company) in OIF that is on often and it's really good.

I've been wanting to see that one.  I had it all set up to tape it 2 nights ago, then my sister must have went in and changed the channel.  I went to go watch it yesterday and some soap opera was on the tape .

lol it comes on a couple times a day sometimes.Good luck

[SpongeBob 0]

Article at the NYTimes on military cable channels.

Quote[/b] ]

Military Channels Are Competing on Cable TV

By MARK GLASSMAN

January 24, 2005

NYTimes, reg req

Americans want their military TV.

In a pop culture allegory of military might, three cable channels now feed news, information and entertainment about the armed services into millions of living rooms 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Military Channel, the Military History Channel and the Pentagon Channel are soliciting viewers with similar interests (war, for example), but network executives and military personnel say each channel has a distinct audience in mind, one that is reflected in the content.

"Our approach to the subject is comprehensive," said David Karp, senior vice president and general manager of the Military Channel. "We're looking at the military in a historical context, but also in a very recent context. We look back but also look to the present times and look forward."

The Military Channel, which is in about 37 million homes, is an expansion and rebranding of Discovery Wings, a niche channel run by Discovery geared toward aviation. "Probably 50 percent or more of the programming on the network was military-related," Mr. Karp said. In response to viewer demand, Discovery added combat on land and by sea.

The network made the change on Jan. 10, kicking it off with a two-hour special called "Delta Company," which followed the First Tank Battalion of the Marine Corps' Delta Company as it closed in on Baghdad during the early stages of the conflict in Iraq. The channel plans to show over 200 hours of original programming this year.

The Military History Channel is an offshoot of the History Channel, which is owned by A&E Television Networks. The company's most recent addition, the History Channel en Espańol, began last June. The lineup of the Military History Channel consists primarily of documentaries and feature films and includes series dedicated to the historical combat missions of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. This month, the channel will run two-hour specials entitled, "The Complete History of the Green Berets" and "The Complete History of the Navy Seals."

The Military History Channel is in an open preview, which means that satellite and cable companies can add it at no charge. On April 2, the preview will end.

The third military network, the Pentagon Channel, is run by the Department of Defense and includes programs called "Army Healthwatch" and "In Step With Fort Riley."

"Our focus is solely the men and women in the military," said Allison Barber, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. The news and information channel has more than two million viewers mostly military personnel and their families, Ms. Barber said.

"Sometimes we have special features that educate and help the morale," she added, referring to archival footage from old battlefields, including clips from the Korean War. "We've found that our military audience finds that interesting to see some of our old camera footage that the D.O.D. put together years ago."

Several systems, including Time Warner, are distributing the channel, which is streamed live on the Web at www.pentagonchannel.mil and beamed via satellites to military bases worldwide.

A small battle for viewers and advertisers could be looming.

Jon Mandel, the chairman of Mediacom, a media-buying agency, said he did not think there was a large enough potential audience to support three military networks.

"You're not going to do huge numbers," Mr. Mandel said. Still, he said, if the Military Channel and the Military History Channel aimed small and catered to their niches, they could both survive.

The Pentagon Channel should not pose a credible threat because it runs as a public service without advertising. Nonetheless, the Defense Department could unintentionally pull viewers away from the other channels.

Buying advertising time on niche channels can be risky because few attain an audience large enough to be rated by Neilson Media Research.

"Both Discovery and A&E have a lot of credibility with advertisers, and they have great programming, but as far as showing numbers of niche channels, it's difficult," said Shari Anne Brill, the vice president, director of programming at Carat USA in New York, an ad-buying media agency that is part of the Carat division of the Aegis Group. "You're buying something on faith."

Ms. Brill said niche channels could occasionally recruit niche advertisers but that kind of synergy would be difficult for this genre. "What are you going to be selling," she said, "Military fatigues? Gas masks?"

Mr. Karp said the Military Channel had advertising contracts with a wide array of sponsors, including automobile makers and consumer electronics companies.

[blackdog~ 0]

Hmm, never heard of the Military History Channel or The Pentagon channel... in fact, when clarifying on a forum thread that the Military Channel was not owned by the History Channel, "Mail Call" producer Rob Lihani didn't even make a mention of the MHC...