National Geographic is a television channel that features documentaries produced by theNational Geographic Society. It features some programming similar to that on the Discovery Channelsuch as nature and science documentaries. The channel was launched in Europe in September 1997 and time shared initially with the failing NBC Europeuntil NBC Europe's demise in 1998. It was later launched worldwide including in Asia and the United States. Today, the channel is available in over 143 countries, seen in more than 160 million homes and in 25 languages.
It is owned by a company called the "NGC-UK Partnership", which initially was jointly owned by theNational Geographic Society and British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB), but in 2006, Sky's parent company News Corporation (now 21st Century Fox) purchased 25 percent of the stake in the partnership, followed by the acquisition of BSkyB's remaining 50 percent stake by its sister company, the Fox Entertainment Group.
This includes an English-language version for the UK,Ireland, Malta and Iceland. It also includes Dutch, Italian, Norwegian and Turkish speaking channels among others. The channel's musical signature is theElmer Bernstein composed theme that has also appeared on the National Geographic broadcast-TV specials.
