National Geographic (Asian TV channel)

National Geographic (Nat Geo Asia, formerly NBC Asia and National Geographic Channel and also commercially abbreviated and trademarked as Nat Geo or Nat Geo TV) is a pan-Asian subscription television channel that features non-fiction, factual programming involving nature, science, culture and history, produced by the National Geographic Society, just like History and Discovery Channel.

National Geographic
Broadcast areaAsia
HeadquartersHead office Mumbai, Hong Kong
Studios and production facility:
1 Fusionopolis Link, #03-01 Nexus @ One-North, Singapore 138542
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format1080i HDTV
(downscaled to 16:9 480i/576i for the SDTV feed)
Ownership
OwnerFox Networks Group Asia Pacific
(Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International/Disney Asia)
Sister channels
History
Launched1 January 1994 (1 January 1994)
Former namesNBC Asia (1994–1998) National Geographic Channel (1998–2016)
Links
Websitenatgeotv.com/asia
Availability
Terrestrial
Nexmedia (Indonesia)Channel 20

It was launched on 1 January 1994 as NBC Asia. As of 2008, the Asian version of National Geographic Channel is available in over 56 million homes. NGC Asia has six different channels of feeds.

History

NBC Asia (1994–1998)

On 1 January 1994, the channel was officially launched as NBC Asia. It featured mostly NBC programs as well as the NBC Nightly News, The Tonight Show, Saturday Night Live and Late Night. Like its European counterpart, it could not broadcast United States-produced primetime shows due to rights restrictions. It did, however, also air some NBC Sports output. During weekday evenings, NBC Asia had a regional evening news program. It occasionally simulcast some programs from CNBC Asia and MSNBC.

National Geographic Asia (1998 – present)

On 1 August 1998, NBC Asia was rebranded as the National Geographic Channel. The NBC programming moved to CNBC Asia.

Original National Geographic Channel logo (2005–2016)

On 4 February 2008, the Nat Geo Junior programming block of two non-contingent hours, late morning and late afternoon, was launched on the channel. I Didn't Know That, Mad Labs and Wild Detectives were the initial shows on the block.[1]

Feeds
  • National Geographic Asia – Broadcasts in both English and Cantonese via two audio tracks.
  • National Geographic India – It is aimed at India and neighbouring countries. It airs in English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Bengali via five different audio tracks.
  • National Geographic Israel – Includes a Hebrew subtitles track.
  • National Geographic Middle East – It simulcasts the Asian from 11:00pm to 5:00am Hong Kong time. Arabic subtitles are available as well.
  • National Geographic Japan – includes Japanese subtitles.
  • National Geographic Taiwan – includes Chinese subtitles.
  • National Geographic Hong Kong – features two audio tracks airing English and Cantonese programming, as well as a Chinese subtitles track.
  • National Geographic Malaysia and Singapore – the US HD feed is distributed instead of the Asian one. US ads are replaced with Malaysian or Singaporean ads and they switch some latest episodes to older ones. Subtitles are available in English, Malay and Mandarin via all TV broadcasters.

See also

References
  1. "Nat Geo blocks target Asian kids". C21media. 4 February 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.