Discovery Networks

Background

Discovery Networks was the television division of Discovery, Inc. (formerly Discovery Communications and Cable Educational Network Inc.), which was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City.

Discovery Communications was originally established in 1985 as a namesake and flagship brand called Discovery Channel, first launched on June 17, 1985 before its actual establishment in 1994 as Discovery Communications. On September 17, 2008, Discovery Holdings divested its interest in Ascent Media, and reorganized its remaining businesses around a new publicly traded holding company, Discovery Communications, Inc. On July 31, 2017, Discovery announced it would acquire Scripps Networks Interactive, owner of networks such as Food Network and HGTV, for $14.6 billion, pending regulatory approval. On March 6, 2018, the acquisition was completed, with the combined company renamed as Discovery, Inc. At this time, SNI shareholders own 20% of Discovery's stock. Discovery will retain an operational hub in SNI's home city of Knoxville, but planned to move its corporate headquarters from Silver Spring, Maryland, where it has operated since 2003, to New York City in late-2019.

Following the acquisition, Discovery began to integrate personalities from the two companies into each other's programming, and began to produce new programs (such as a revival of TLC's While You Were Out in conjunction with HGTV, and a competition series between the stars of Food Network's Ace of Cakes and TLC's Cake Boss) to serve as vehicles for crossovers between personalities from Discovery and SNI's networks.

In May 2021, AT&T announced that it had proposed to spin-off WarnerMedia and merge it with Discovery to form a single company Warner Bros. Discovery, under Discovery's CEO David Zaslav. In December 2021, it was announced that the deal was approved by the European Commission and the merger was completed by April 8, 2022 afterwards. After the merger was completed, Discovery Networks gained oversight of WarnerMedia's television channels and renamed itself to Warner Bros. Discovery Networks.

1st Logo (1995-2002)

Note: The 2nd video starts at 1:43.

Visuals: On a black background, there's the word"Discovery" in an Aurora font, with the word "CHANNEL" in Futura, placed underneath, and a 3D earth spinning right next to it.

Variants:

The trademark symbol may be replaced with a registered symbol.
Sometimes, the logo is zoomed in.
Beginning in 2000, the word "CHANNEL" was placed in a teal box.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A synth choir note with a timpani beat.

Audio Variants:

Sometimes, it is silent instead.
On some shows, the closing theme is heard.
On shows made by New Dominion Pictures, the beginning of the synth jingle from that logo is heard.

Availability: Used in tandem with the next logo until 2002.

2nd Logo (April 3, 2000-May 17, 2010)

Visuals: On a black background, white lines flicker across the screen, revealing parts of the word "Discovery". A white flash comes through from left to right and creates a radial flash (with blue lines surrounding it) underneath "isc". Then from the radial flash, it reveals to be a spinning globe on a blue line with "NETWORKS" in it and the background changes to an animated background in a blue gradient. The globe spins as the background slowly animates. On some shows, a copyright stamp appears below.

Variants:

A short version exists: it starts as usual, but the background animates faster and with "CHANNEL" replacing "NETWORKS". Another version of the logo also exists with "produced in association with" on top of the logo.
On a show produced with Apartment 11 Productions, "in association with" appears on top of the logo.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A swoosh with a 2-note choir. Otherwise, the closing theme plays over it.

Audio Variants:

On shows made by New Dominion Pictures, the synth jingle from that logo trails from the Discovery Networks logo into the same logo.
On several early-2010s Latin American Discovery Kids airings of Thomas and Friends, the themes from the HIT Entertainment logo play instead of the original music, due to a plastering error.

Availability: It appeared on most original Discovery productions from the time such as Dirty Jobs and How It's Made. In Latin America, this was also known to plaster other logos from syndicated programs. This was seen on Discovery channels such as Discovery Kids and Discovery Home and Health. Since this design's retirement on May 17, 2010, original logos from syndicated productions are now present however.

3rd Logo (May 17, 2010-2018, 2019 [2012-present in LATAM and SEA])

Visuals: On a black background, a small, spinning globe zooms in to the left of the screen. A letter "D" comes out of the globe while the letters "iscovery" appear to finish the word and the word "NETWORKS" appears below.

Variant: A short version exists at the end of some shows.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A deep synth-pad that sounds held-out. The short variant has either part of the theme.

Availability: Seen on most Discovery programs from the era. This makes a surprise appearance come-back on Discovery Southeast Asian prints of The Day I Ran China. Despite the logo being retired worldwide, it is still currently used in Latin America and Southeast Asia, as explained on The Day I Ran China.

4th Logo (2018-July 28, 2023)

Visuals: On a white background is the 3D earth. Then the "D" from before rotates beside it and faces to its usual position. Besides it are the words "iscovery" in the same font as before. The globe continues to rotate until it either fades out or cuts out.

Variants:

On The Day I Ran China, a in-credit version of this logo was used; the logo's animation is superimposed on the show's last seconds.
On Discovery Southeast Asian prints, the previous logo is used instead.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: The show's ending theme or none.

Availability: Seen on episodes of The Rachael Ray Show until the end of the series, replacing the Scripps Networks Interactive logo. It also appeared on The Day I Ran China as a variant.

Legacy: Despite the namesake Discovery Channel having changed their logo in 2019, this logo was still used as a Discovery Networks and Discovery logo.

Discovery Networks

Warner Bros. Discovery

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